Our society has shown some worrying signs lately. It does have made progress and come a long way in different aspects. However, our society in large is heading towards more troubles. We all are not aware or have not probably thought it thought but the early warning can already be seen in significant proportion. I personally believe we are heading towards major disaster with enough preparation and homework.
Our society has normalized/institutionalized within itself the recipe for crackdown and failure. Some of my observations that lead me to this conclusion are:
i) We have normalized violence. The use of violence does not bother us as much as it should. Whether it states actor or non-state actors the general response to violence has been less than what we'd aspect from responsive society. We read about the death of fellow countryman and pass on a shallow comment on it. Our society is being less and less concerned with the use of violence as a tool for various gains. It is now widely accepted as "something normal."
ii) Corruption isn't something that bothers us. Most of us know corruption has been institutionalized in various fonts in Nepal. We have accepted it as part of the system. Some even call it "speeding money" to make it sound legit. We have been so used to it that we are no longer offended by the fact corruption around us. We have normalized/institutionalized corruption.
iii) Being unaccountable isn't a big deal. We have seen it in recent time, we are going through a phase where expecting accountability from those exercising authority is not normal. Those in position say and do what pleases them without feeling the need of being accountable for it. Those who are in the position of exercising authority are blinded by the power that they no longer feel the underlying accountability. Being unaccountable isn't something new...its normal.
iv) We have politicized everything aspect of social life that could be politicized. From students to professionals even the religious groups now come in political colors. We have politicized everything that could possibly be politicized and its normal to do so. There is nothing wrong in political lens overriding everything else. Politicizing everything is normal too.
v) We compromise with the quality of everything. From the food we eat to service we receive. We compromise with the quality of everything including our basic necessity education, health, drinking water, clean environment. Our compromise with the quality of everything isn't a bad thing at all. This is how it works and there is nothing we can do about it. Compromising with the quality of everything we need and consume and receive is new normal too.
vi) Not valuing professional competence is normal too. We value our near and dear one, who need the competent when we can replace them with our own. Why bother with all the competence crap when we can do it easy. We prefer easy over right and beneficial over right. So, appointing incompetent over competent is totally normal, provided they pay well for it. Look at the recent instances and you'll understand what I am talking about.
vii) We are draining both labor and brain and are happy with the remittance we receive. It is normal for us that our productive population is working to make other nations great or in some cases GREAT AGAIN. We are not being able to hold onto our youth and that's fine. It's normal for youth to migrant and we are totally fine with it.
As Chris Hedges rightly observed, We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy. The more alarming concern is that "WE CONSIDER IT NORMAL".
Everything that we have considered normal will have huge impact in our society and we are not even bothered about that.
It is high time to wake up from the "illusion of normalcy".
I sincerely hope that I am wrong about it. I hope our society move on from this without significant bump.
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