PUBLIC POSTURES AND PRIVATE ACTIONS

A WIDE CANVAS

PUBLIC POSTURES AND PRIVATE ACTIONS

We are familiar with the hypocrisy of big public figures in India: the politicians, men of letters, etc. Politicians decry English medium education, but send their own children to choice English medium schools; Tamil politicians oppose Hindi in govt schools, but their children quietly learn it on the sly, or outside the state. When Anbumani was a central minister, children from his family were found learning Hindi in Delhi schools; but when a Tamil newspaper dared to publish photographs, it was attacked by the party men! We know how even politicians professing 'socialism' amass huge wealth; we know how every party has legislators who have criminal records. 

Leading activists like Teesta Setalvad, Arundati Roy and even journalists from leading newspapers spread falsehood about the Gujarat riots of 2002 and have gone scot free, in spite of all the documentary evidence. Corruption cases involving politicians take decades for resolution, but the verdict leaves loopholes and raises more questions. A Cine actor who kills protected wildlife or even people in drunken driving is treated with kid gloves even by the courts.It seems all our laws apply only to law-abiding citizens- not to the law makers or the super-rich! On top, we have a Prime Minister who wants ordinary people to give up their cooking gas subsidy, while the legislators vote for liberal enhancement of their salary and perks. The parliament has a hugely subsidised canteen- those who have been there know how lavish it is! Such hypocrisy in our public life is so common, we take it like we take the mosquito bite.

Recently, I read a book on the subject of  the hypocrisy of the so called 'liberal' politicians in the US. I was really stunned. " Do As I Say (Not As I Do)" is a book by Peter Schweizer, published by the well-known Doubleday, a division of Random House. (It is important to note this because it is not by any small time publisher.) It covers the public pronouncements and the private activities of some of the iconic  figures in American public life : Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Al Franken, Ted  Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Ralph Nader, Nancy Pelosi, George Soros, Barbra Streisand, Gloria Steinem, Cornel West. The hypocritical gap and deception is appalling.

All these figures are the leading lights of the so called American "liberal" establishment-  equivalent of our leftists, self styled intellectuals and progressives. The causes they espouse are about the noblest a human being is capable of: anti-war, anti-capitalism, feminism, minority rights, inclusive (multicultural) society, public schooling, freedom for children from strict parental control (children to be treated as young 'adults'), gay rights, etc. And in every single case, every one of them has not only failed to live up to these precepts which they preach, but have gone ahead and done the very contrary things. 

These include, for instance:-

• while they all publicly condemn capitalism for the greed, every one of them has invested in the very companies they condemned , and made huge profits.
• while they all condemn war and companies having defence contracts with Pentagon and the 'military industrial complex', they all have invested in those very companies and reaped huge profits. Academics like Chomsky have shamelessly benefited from funds provided by the very Pentagon!
• while they all plead eloquently for giving more opportunities for the minorities like African Americans, they themselves do not employ them in their staff or among assistants.
• while they all plead for the cause of labour unions, they avoid any dealing with unionised labour, discourage union-forming in their own business, deal with companies which do not engage unionised labour. Film personalities like Streisand and Michael Moore go to Canada to shoot and complete their productions (even when it involves American scenes) as it is 20-30% cheaper than American wages, and to avoid engaging unionised labour in the States.
• all of them choose to live in neighbourhoods which have very limited or no coloured population
• all of them send their children to select private schools, with strict moral codes, while openly advocating more liberal public schools for others!
• while they speak eloquently about global warming and environmental protection, they themselves openly defy all such concerns in their own cases.Senators like Ted Kennedy even draft legislation, circumventing those very concerns.
• Hillary Clinton profited enormously through her partnership in a law firm,though she had no expertise in the area for which she was engaged, while her husband was President. While she advocated freedom for 13-year olds to decide on abortions without parental consent, she did not permit her own daughter to have  her ear pierced when she was 13!
• while all of them advocate higher taxation on the rich, and estate duty to reduce inheritances, they themselves adopt all means to reduce their own tax burden; they create trusts to avoid taxation, and pay only the minimum required to charity, to retain that status. And the trusts are registered outside the US- in remote tax havens to avoid attracting US taxes! Thus they save the inheritance for their own children.
• Before the Clintons left the White House, their friends invited friends to buy up things for their new home- all costly items. And the Clintons lifted many items from the White House, which did not properly belong to them.
• while all these people have made enormous money in the capitalist system, by using the very system which they openly condemned, they made donations to leftist magazines and causes, often nominal, to keep them good-humoured, and purchase their loyalty or silence. The one exception is Geroge Soros, who donates millions to such causes; but he makes billions by exploiting the most damned element of the rotten capitalist system- the currency trade which is pure speculation, and which often involves impoverishing huge number of innocent people, sometimes even small countries. In one deal, he siphoned off billions from the Bank of England while openly saying that his philosophy or morals did not come in the way of his business!
• Gloria Steinem, a leading light of the feminist dispensation, openly denounced marriage for long, wrote against Romanticism ( even while having her own affairs) and influenced thousands of young women against marriage. Then one day, in her middle age, she quietly went ahead and married a multimillionaire.

The strange fact is that though all this information is openly available, through authentic official sources like the IRS and their own declarations, the leading newspapers like the New York Times or the Washington Post will hardly publish such items! The appalling hypocrisy of these people goes unreported and unnoticed by the main media, which these people have pocketed in some way, while they occupy the moral high-ground, belting out all high precepts, and freely calling their opponents names. 

This book by Peter Schweizer is thoroughly researched and every detail recorded is extracted from authentic sources which are listed. He calls some 'liars' openly and this goes unchallenged! One really wonders how in an enlightened society like the US, such things are possible and these people still go around as role models. I felt particularly bad, as I had been an avid reader of  Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, George Soros, even Gloria Steinem, while I had admired Barbra Streisand for what I considered to be her public concerns. I had no high opinion of Ted Kennedy since the day his girl-friend was drowned  in a car,and he ran away from the scene, years ago. I had read enough about the Kennedys to know that there was a dark streak in all of them. I have long known enough about our newspapers not to trust their wisdom or judgement. I do not go by the public image, but mainly by their writing. But this book has shaken my confidence in all public figures.

It is generally known that many poets, writers, politicians are not good people to know personally. It is even said about philosophers that if we knew the kind of life they led, we would not care to study their philosophy. And Bertrand Russel is perhaps the prime example in modern times, though he was not a hypocrite.But what we learn in this book beats all that we might imagine. Fact is really stranger than fiction. I am only reminded of what Shakespeare wrote:

And be these juggling fiends no more believed

That palter with us in a double sense;

That keep the word of promise to our ear

But break it to our hope.

At the end of the day , all politicians everywhere seem to be alike, for , as Coleridge wrote in some other context, "the blue sky bends over all"!


NOTE:

We have a general feeling that none of our politicians -of whichever party- is really clean. But it is so difficult in our system to bring anyone to book. Nehru shielded a known crook like Krishna Menon involved in the 'jeep scandal'. He supported TTK, involved in the Mundhra affair, till he was compelled to yield to the moral force to appoint an enquiry commission. Indira Gandhi made corruption fashionable and justified it as an 'international phenomenon'. Hitendra Desai govt. in Gujarat was brought down by money power and this money was physically shown in the Assembly, but nothing was done.We know what finally happened in the Bofors case, though  leftist activist N.Ram of The Hindu made so much noise at one stage.. Every govt in Tamil Nadu, after Kamaraj and Bhaktavatsalam, has been corrupt. The Sarkaria commission clearly established that Karunanidhi was corrupt- in fact, he was said to have invented very clever methods. But nothing was done to book him. Though some occasional noises are made in the media, no one seriously believes that any thing can really be done- the system is rotten to the core, including the judiciary.

Now, thanks to the Internet, we get lot of information about our public figures. But it is difficult to vouch for their authenticity. Allegations have been made about the financial irregularities of activists like Teesta Setalvad. Financial irregularities have been reported even in respect of Amartya Sen during his stint in the Nalanda University. Such  allegations do not carry conviction unless they are checked at the source- a very difficult process in India, but not altogether impossible. It is just that we do not have investigative journalists of calibre- a point brought to sharp focus by Peter Schweizer.

It is only Arun Shourie who has taken pains to research his subjects and bring out facts,boldly. In his book "Eminent Historians", he has shown how the leading leftist historians who control the academies have resorted to falsehood , favouritism and even financial fraud, and managed to go free.In his book "Worshipping False Gods" he has revealed aspects of the life , thought and conduct of Dr. Ambedkar which reveal his anti-nationalist stand and seriously damages his claim to greatness and leadership. Yet, such is the regard for Truth in this country that all political parties, including the BJP are eager to embrace Dr.Ambedkar for political mileage. We wait for our own Peter Schweizer who can undertake a thorough study, check the facts at the source and bring out a book revealing the real face our eminent public figures.