The article on ‘Online Civic Engagement’ by Min, this week and the corresponding discussion posed some questions about deliberative democracy – a term that was totally new to me, but it kind of made sense in that it aims at creating an atmosphere of informed discussion among citizens that would lead to better democratic practice. Theoretically, deliberation is believed to induce active political participation. The discussion questions took me further into this aspect and what it really means to participate politically. I was awed by the backgrounds of some of my fellow classmates, that led them into active political situations.
As I am pondering over the question of what really constitutes political participation, I am reminded of my time in India - we used to get at least three different newspapers every morning - the first one my parents had a historical attachment with, the second was considered the most happening in the entire nation and the third carried the best local supplement each day. Needless to say, our large extended family was all seen poring over newspapers most of the time during the day. There were political discussions (which I passed off as 'drawing room talk') and everybody was expected to know 'the news'. Oh, and we didn't watch TV in our house at all pretty much, except for.. guess what... 'the news'!
Given all of that, it is probably very ironical that I developed into a political non-participant. I attribute this to the following factors: one, my family never went beyond the phase of putting forth their opinions and/or inviting comments (akin to blogging/twitter of the modern age?) and second, my personal lifestyle seemed to be practically uninfluenced by any real political issues. We learnt to accept red-tapism in our out-of-house dealings, helplessness of the common man and other every-day struggles because active engagement seemed to lead to more frustration and many sorry stories were highlighted each day. I got some experience with different forms of media while doing a diploma in Journalism and I realized that the stance of the media does not really give a true picture of the state of affairs anyway. My university studies kept me extremely busy due to the nature of work I was into (Biophysics - involving rigorous research and a lot of time and effort), so I tuned out of politics. Moving to Canada resulted in having to be even less bothered with such issues. As Clare pointed out in the discussion on deliberate democracy, “In a country like Canada, where we are relatively comfortable, and relatively safe, and relatively economically stable”, there is a culture of general indifference towards politics.
Getting to read this article was very timely for me. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking of how ‘out of it’ I was when it came to current affairs and so I was sort of gearing myself up for staying more in touch with the latest. After finishing the article, I got all motivated and went to watch some news on TV. Now I don’t know if that often happens to other people as well, but at least for me, it turned out to be a futile attempt. Not one channel (out of the hundred that my cable claims to provide – which really isn’t the case, but that’s another story) was broadcasting news! I managed to find one in the end that was telecasting some local news from a different province, but that was it! It was pretty frustrating. Being informed, enhancing political efficacy, increasing political participation seemed like pretty challenging goals all of a sudden. Yet again, it was the Internet to the rescue.
Makes me wonder if looking out for own selves has become an expectation for the times? Has the world transitioned into so much customization and self-learning, that you have to actually go look for what you need to learn? With RSS and other such information-management tools, it probably is one’s own prerogative to decide what one will choose. Open access to resources and universal availability of all kinds of information comes with a slight catch I guess. It’s all out there somewhere (on the cloud? In the air? Floating around?), but the onus is on you to tune into it. ‘The News’ ain’t comin' walking to me no more!
As I am pondering over the question of what really constitutes political participation, I am reminded of my time in India - we used to get at least three different newspapers every morning - the first one my parents had a historical attachment with, the second was considered the most happening in the entire nation and the third carried the best local supplement each day. Needless to say, our large extended family was all seen poring over newspapers most of the time during the day. There were political discussions (which I passed off as 'drawing room talk') and everybody was expected to know 'the news'. Oh, and we didn't watch TV in our house at all pretty much, except for.. guess what... 'the news'!
Given all of that, it is probably very ironical that I developed into a political non-participant. I attribute this to the following factors: one, my family never went beyond the phase of putting forth their opinions and/or inviting comments (akin to blogging/twitter of the modern age?) and second, my personal lifestyle seemed to be practically uninfluenced by any real political issues. We learnt to accept red-tapism in our out-of-house dealings, helplessness of the common man and other every-day struggles because active engagement seemed to lead to more frustration and many sorry stories were highlighted each day. I got some experience with different forms of media while doing a diploma in Journalism and I realized that the stance of the media does not really give a true picture of the state of affairs anyway. My university studies kept me extremely busy due to the nature of work I was into (Biophysics - involving rigorous research and a lot of time and effort), so I tuned out of politics. Moving to Canada resulted in having to be even less bothered with such issues. As Clare pointed out in the discussion on deliberate democracy, “In a country like Canada, where we are relatively comfortable, and relatively safe, and relatively economically stable”, there is a culture of general indifference towards politics.
Getting to read this article was very timely for me. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking of how ‘out of it’ I was when it came to current affairs and so I was sort of gearing myself up for staying more in touch with the latest. After finishing the article, I got all motivated and went to watch some news on TV. Now I don’t know if that often happens to other people as well, but at least for me, it turned out to be a futile attempt. Not one channel (out of the hundred that my cable claims to provide – which really isn’t the case, but that’s another story) was broadcasting news! I managed to find one in the end that was telecasting some local news from a different province, but that was it! It was pretty frustrating. Being informed, enhancing political efficacy, increasing political participation seemed like pretty challenging goals all of a sudden. Yet again, it was the Internet to the rescue.
Makes me wonder if looking out for own selves has become an expectation for the times? Has the world transitioned into so much customization and self-learning, that you have to actually go look for what you need to learn? With RSS and other such information-management tools, it probably is one’s own prerogative to decide what one will choose. Open access to resources and universal availability of all kinds of information comes with a slight catch I guess. It’s all out there somewhere (on the cloud? In the air? Floating around?), but the onus is on you to tune into it. ‘The News’ ain’t comin' walking to me no more!
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