A WIDE CANVAS
MASS CULTURE OR MASS MURDER
This is the age of 'massness'. Mass production, mass consumption, mass entertainment, accompanied by massive wastage and pollution.Massive gatherings, mass feeding, massive demonstration,etc.
Quantity changes quality
We hardly ever notice how quantity changes quality. In the school, if a student misbehaves, it is a discipline issue; the rules will be enforced. But if a group misbehaves and flouts rules, it is occasion for the rules to be bent or abandoned! In organisations we have experienced: if an employee is irregular or disobedient, it is a disciplinary issue, to be dealt with under 'service' rules; but if a group resorts to it, it becomes a trade union issue, to be dealt with under different rules! In the name of democracy and popular rule, people (vested interests) have learned to organise numbers to thwart order. We see in cities: an errant auto-driver is booked; soon a hundred fellow auto-drivers gather to support him and the issue is quietly given up.
The reverse process is also seen. Individual protests, however just the cause, are ignored. Unless organised into groups, no one is heard by the authorities. In India, almost every cause requires political backing, or 'minority' tag to attract official attention, or elicit a response. In the process, it is the sober elements which suffer.
Mass education= massive ignorance
The effect of 'massness' is seen best perhaps in education, at all levels. Mass schooling- compulsory elementary education- has spread, with a massive decline in basic literary abilities: most school children can hardly read and write properly. Even in the US, we had books like ' Why Johnny Can't Read', 'Why Johnny Can't Add' etc!
The teachers cannot enforce standards! The teachers cannot 'punish'! In their anxiety to enrol numbers, the govt does not want teachers to even assess how well the children have learned things! No, you cannot test them! It has come to such a pass that if a school does not show enough percentage of passes, it is the teachers who are blamed! (And how teachers are trained and recruited is another story!)
In the old days, it was believed that a teacher addresses the average student; those above, have to be engaged with some extra work; those below were to be brought up with special effort. But now in this mass culture, the very idea of 'above average' is anathema- indicative of 'elitism' and so to be abandoned. Everyone is reduced to one standard; no one is to be considered 'below' average.
High scoring- no scientist
The result is for us to see,clearly. Most of our graduates are said to be unemployable. No one relies on the degrees and certificates awarded by the educational outfits; whether for employment or further studies, everyone insists on their own 'entrance' tests. The 'system' has simply lost its credibility.
The overall effect on society is so tragic, but hardly noticed. Many students are reported to get over 98 or even 99% marks and choose medicine or engineering for further studies and career. Yet, how many top-class , international-standard engineers or scientists have we produced since Independence? We had to bring a Le Corbusier to design Chandigarh ( and get a 'cold and joyless' modern town). And India has not produced a single Scientist like C.V.Raman after him!
Nobelprize.org Nobel Media AB 2014
The case of Ramakrishnan is significant: he studied physics in India and went to UK, studied and researched in chemistry, in which he got the Nobel award! Such a thing is unthinkable in our 'system'. Long live the system!
@prolineserver 2010/wikipedia/wc via wikimedia commons.
One result of this mass culture is that we cannot recognise or encourage talents which are not in conformity with the system. The syllabus in the secondary schools is so bulky and includes so many subjects that no ordinary student can pay proper attention and learn. It results in the neglect of languages and humanities and focuses on science subjects, and maths. And those who cannot cope with science and maths have no choice at the plus-two level. The morons and the murkhas who devise our curriculum have probably never heard of 'left brain'/'right brain' issues , leave alone the theories of "Multiple Intelligences" of Prof. Howard Gardner.
Front cover of the book,10th Anniversary Edition, 1993.Basic Books.#
Mass culture -the basis of commercial exploitation
Mass culture kills individuality, and is innately prone to commercial exploitation. Processes have become so expensive, it will simply not be attempted unless there is prospect of commercial profit. At the same time, such mass production results in bad quality- exemplified best by that ugly specimen of commercial publishing: mass market paperback! By their own admission, the paper is of poor quality, the size is small, the font size guaranteed to trouble your eyes, the binding non-durable. Yet, a cult book like Jacques Ellul's ' The Technological Society' is available only in such editions- at least only that is affordable for a middle-class reader. ( In India, the mass market stuff costs Rs.770, while the regular paperback costs Rs.2670 on Amazon . A Hardcover edition will be "a sight to dream of, not to tell", to quote Coleridge!)). It is clear that the producers have their eyes on their balance sheets, not on the reader. This is one effect of the mass culture.
Mass culture and money economy have ensured that the fine arts,especially of the traditional type, do not survive, except in some small,isolated pockets.It therefore comes as something of a pleasant surprise that yesterday,14 June,2015, Central London witnessed one of the biggest gatherings of free people for a religious purpose- the ISKCON Rath Yatra where people turned up in all the richness of sortorial elegance-voluntarily.
Mass culture and monotheism
Mass culture in religion translates into monotheism in belief- a type of monoculture of the mind: where only one belief in theological and philosophical matters is permitted. In course of time, this results in numerous attempts at division, subversion, defiance, deviation and open revolts and splits. Attempts at control result in violence, as in Islam or abandonment of faith, as in Christianity. The rise of numerous cults in the modern day, including the various types of 'paganism' is the direct result of the main mass culture, which does not permit healthy expressions of diversity within the system.
Mass culture enforces conformity in ever subtle ways. If you have ever been in Bombay, and tried to move in a direction against the 'current' of masses coming out of Churchgate station during busy hours, you can realise what it is to go against the current! Uniform in schools, dress code in the office, etc are signs of such mass culture. More than conformity, it seeks to eliminate individuality. In course of time, the traditional culture is painted as unfashionable and is not allowed in the public space. Its adherents or advocates are dubbed as being against progress, which in their vocabulary means 'mass culture'. They have to turn defensive, and apologetic. Gradually, people come to feel comfort and safety in numbers, in anonymity! Mass culture achieves its final victory when all individual thinking is snuffed out, and people hesitate to express any opinion contrary to the current trend, and the media refuses to allow them expression! As it is happening now in the main English language newspapers and electronic media in India!
NOTE:
# The idea of 'Multiple Intelligence' is not so novel as it may look at first. We have always observed how some children take to different subjects naturally, or different forms of arts. Our school system does not recognise such differences as being vital expressions of the child- every one is sought to be brought into the same mould.
Indian psychology has always held that people are born with certain innate talents , temperaments and tendencies, and their mind is not a 'tabula rasa' or clean slate. It is this which accounts for geniuses. No university has produced another Einstein or Beethoven or Shakespeare.
Our old teachers knew this. Over 60 years ago, we had a test to pass for admission to the high school- the subjects being Tamil and Maths. (English was taught from the IForm or 6th std.) On the day results were announced, the boys had all gathered under the tamarind tree in the quadrangle. The headmaster first read out the names of those who had been selected on the basis of over all marks. Then , he explained that all boys could not do well in all subjects, he had selected whichever boys had done well in either subject, individually! So he announced the names of those who did well in Maths, and he announced the names of those who did well in Tamil! In the end, almost everyone was taken! What a great man that Headmaster was! His name is Sadasiva Udayar! It is now over 60 years, but what he said has remained with me! (But his insight and example are lost on the system!)
When we entered high school (IV Form or 9th Std) we had a choice: we could study the main language more intensely, or we could learn a new language- this helped all those whose mother tongue was not the main language. We had a choice in Maths too: we could either go in for 'general maths'- mainly arithmetic and geometry, or we could go in for 'composite maths'- algebra, calculus, trigonometry, etc! This restricted the choice of subjects at college, but at least one could study what one liked or avoid what one feared! We have no such choice at the school level now!
What the theory of Multiple Intelligences does is to recognise the basic fact that our minds do not work in the same way or equally well in all areas and frame it in academic jargon! "existence of several relatively autonomous human intellectual competences". ( page 8, chap.1) These are the "frames of mind" with which we are endowed! Prof. Howard Gardner has gone thoroughly into this subject and related it to the concept of "Human Potential". Unless such distinct intellectual competencies are recognised and encouraged, one is not likely to realise one's full intellectual potential.
Prof.Howard Gardner, developmental psychologist at Harvard.
"Howard Gardner, the early years" by original uploader, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Today, children have no choice but to fall on the computer!
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