It is very interesting that the ploy
adopted by this Administration in Sri Lanka today, is to use the action of the
opposition when in Govt. to justify their move action or inaction. The latest
was just yesterday, when the reason given to the Newspaper Editors at a
breakfast meeting in Temple Trees, that the UNP wanted the CJ removed by
impeachment, and so the Govt. was doing that job for them.
How innocuous was that statement? Putting
the blame on the other party for your faults is a time and tested political
game, and is the art of a skillful if not cunning politician. Further when the
electorate accepts it hook line and sinker, then it looks like a huge political
win in this game of double speak.
It is safe to say that excesses of a prior
UNP regime, pale in comparison to the excesses being carried out today. However
each time one of the numerous excesses are queried, reference is made to the
same being carried out in that administration, as if to justify why it is being
done again, and to put in bad light the complaints of the opposition, and the need
for some transparency.
It is this strategy consistently and very
calculatingly used by this administration that is the cause of the overwhelming
belief of the masses that whoever was in power, the problems shall remain, and
that another administration despite what it says, is unable to make a
significant dent in the perceptions of the electorate.
Until this vicious canard is laid bare and
accepted, it will be very difficult for the Opposition to clearly show the
differences between the actual happenings in this administration and how it
would differ in another one. Namely theirs. It is this message that they
singularly fail to give partly due to lack of control over media.
So the art of political double speak, is
one of the most cunning ploys in fooling people that black is white, and right
is wrong. It is up to the recipient of the message to evaluate and come to his
or her own conclusions. The question then is whether that person is
sufficiently independently minded and mature to ascertain the truth, or is so
biased, that no event or exercise is going to sway his opinion.
It is therefore important to obtain a
psychological profile of the audience one is addressing, debating and lecturing,
to make the judgment call on how to address their particular prejudice in the
society. Without that one’s efforts are in vain. It is time that anti
government rallies and speeches, take cognizance of these facts in order to
maximize the productivity of this time that is allocated. If not the whole
event is a waste of time and money with the audience misunderstood.
1 comment:
interesting recommendation for politicians about obtaining a psychological profile of the audience before you address them. won't this lead to a further situation of telling people what they want to hear constantly, thereby reinforcing the cynicism the people have with politicians?
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