Public discourse has descended into the shallows. Where is the space left for citizens to engage in deeper deliberations about their future?

[Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay]
[Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay]

Dear friend,

Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg challenged world leaders at the United Nations: “People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing….and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” She challenged the dominant paradigm of economic growth driving policies everywhere, including in India. A more humane and ecologically sensitive paradigm is required. “How dare you turn to us (the children) for hope,” she said. You, the emperors, must change your clothes—the ideas with which you strut around—she implied.

“Are Western democracies becoming ungovernable?” asks The Economist. Elected governments are in office, but not in power, it says. Many countries in Europe cannot form stable governments because the largest party does not command a majority. Coalitions are unstable. Parliaments are unable to pass laws. “The home of failure to pass meaningful laws is the United States,” it says. Systems of electoral democracy have been exported by the West to the rest of the world, even by force—like in Iraq. Now the system is failing even in the West. People are becoming fed-up with politicians, who only want to be elected. Politicians in office don’t much care about finding solutions for long-term issues such as those that Thunberg highlighted. They are concerned about winning their next election.

Elected governments do not have incentives to think long, and to invest in policies whose outcomes will not come about during their period in office to boost their next election campaign. Media used to keep the public attention on citizens’ long-term concerns through short election cycles. Electronic media is now scrambling to hold viewers’ interests in very short news cycles to improve TRPs to sell more advertising. And social media, which has become ubiquitous, has reduced attention spans even further. Public discourse has descended into the shallows. Where is the space left for citizens to engage in deeper deliberations about their future?

An inspiring example of concerned citizens taking charge of the discourse is the Think Long Committee for California. It was formed by a non-partisan group of persons—labor leaders, community advocates, entrepreneurs, economists, and former government officials—none of whom were in an official position, but all were concerned about the future. Following a systematic plan for their year-long deliberations, they found an institutional solution for California’s governance which is now being adopted by the government.

India’s elected politicians, like their counterparts everywhere, are caught in their short-term interests. India’s media—print, electronic, and social—has become very shallow too. Who will step up to convene democratic, non-partisan deliberations amongst Indian citizens? How can technology be used to facilitate them and increase citizens’ participation without losing the richness of face-to-face dialogues?

I am grateful to Founding Fuel for curating a conversation about how we will deliberate thoughtfully about shaping our collective future.  

Personally, I find that there is nothing like a good book to make me think deeply. Books demand sustained and deep attention, much more than videos do, and much more than the tweets of presidents and celebrities of course! Technology is helping my reading. Kindle enables me to carry many books around with me, to read in the spaces in my time that I make for them.   

Happy reading.

This blog post appeared on Founding Fuel on November 10, 2019.