PAKISTAN is passing through a phase of acute polarity. People, their families and friends are sharply divided on political discourses. Everybody is trying to convince his close ones over political debates going on in this country. Everybody is well-equipped with facts and figures endowed upon them by their favourite YouTubers, but nobody seems willing to get convinced by others’ facts. Why do facts not change us? Why do we become stubborn in the face of reality? To reach close to the resolution of this issue, I shall present two episodes in a bid to discover the psychological complicacies of a human brain when it comes to a particular ideology.
Many years ago, BBC started a documentary programme to discover the contours behind a man’s being so hardcore in his views that he is least ready to accept truth laid in front of him with facts & figures. His prejudices do not let him see the light of day. For example, there are people who believe that man’s landing on moon is a myth. They will not trust your scientific convictions. Another category of people says that 9/11 was a ploy by the Americans to seek inroads in the heart of Asia to disrupt China’s geopolitical strategy.
BBC conducted live programmes and experimented upon the brains of such people. These people were presented clear evidence against their settled assumptions. But they were not ready to accept the versions that clashed with the diehard content entrenched deep in their minds. It was concluded that it’s very difficult to change the people’s decades old biases – decades old in the sense that some prejudices travel down to posterity from elders.
Some time later, psychologists contended that people’s hardcore narratives can be cracked. Their perceptions can be changed if they are given the facts and figures endued with the hues of emotionalism. Yes, emotional appeal carries its weight and leaves great impact on human brains. If the person, who believes that 9/11 was a plot, is made to see the crying & sobbing children languishing for the gone-parents, it may have the potential to influence the brain, and the person may thereby accept the change. This is how today’s propagandists work on these lines. A political theory presented with the colours of sentiments may leave huge impressions upon humans. Songs with sad music, slogans & revolutionary poems can produce the intended results.
Seen in the context of Pakistan, you must have observed for the first time that the politicians from a political class pouring out of incarcerations with crying and sobbing demeanours. Earlier on, we have always witnessed a tradition of the politicians making victory signs with smiles on faces while coming out of jails. Today’s politicians are smarter than erstwhile political prisoners – they are well cognizant of the fact that the crying faces later exploited by adding sad music can produce sensation on social media. Let us now go through another episode of staunch followers attached to a particular philosophy advocated by a radio broadcaster of America.
Harold Egbert Camping was an American radio broadcaster and evangelist. His radio station used to broadcast in more than 150 markets of the United States, and 30 other countries. For 50 years he was the charismatic host of the network’s “Open Forum,” a 90-minute weekday call-in program of inspirational commentary, discussion and advice. Millions of people across the world followed him with passion & belief. He predicated that 21 May, 2011 will be the day of judgement, and the world will end. The people who believed him got terrified. A 14-year old girl committed suicide in fear; people made bunkers to get rescued from the tempests that would cause the end of the world. 21 May came and passed peacefully, nothing happened. The curious journalists went out to interview his followers. The believers responded that it was only a test of their beliefs; they still trusted Mr. Camping.
Meanwhile, Mr. Camping announced another date for the day of judgement – and that was 21 October, 2011. His followers started awaiting the day with beliefs. The sun appeared on the 21st day of October and set down the horizon with ease and peace. Now the question to many was about the belief of the believers. Would this bereave his followers of the strong faith in him after the second prediction had gone false. Yes, the followers still counted on his narrative. They now chiseled out a new theory that Mr. Camping in fact was alluding to a spiritual doomsday and not the physical one.
After some time, Mr. Camping himself confessed to his being wrong in these predictions; but even this could not crack the credence his followers reposed in him. Episodes over episodes recurring in various phases of human history reveal that it is really hard to rupture the beliefs of a person – wrong or right, imaginary or real. When he finds evidence that goes against his dogmas, he crafts a new theory, and seeks solace in that.
Such stories and the psychological conclusions have always been interesting subjects for the propaganda agents. In today’s world, these agents keep manufacturing theories supporting particular ideologies & disseminate them on social media platforms. People having bent towards a specific political thought, through click, like and share system, receive only those videos and ideas which satisfy their narrative. So, watching the videos of a specific content & reading the same theories make people uber-stubborn in the face of realities. This is how today’s man has turned into: a hardcore believer of his own truths. But as already pointed out that the orchestrated sobs and cries can crack the stiff veneers of hardcore political narratives.
—The writer is an educationist and historian.
Email: tahiriqbalstars@gmail.com
