Telling Right from Wrong

Op-Ed

Watching as they talk, our politicians, political activists, political commentators and political media, it is practically impossible to tell right from wrong in politics. We, the watchers of politics, keep watching it patiently, frozen in one attention-grabbed pose, our shoulders shrugged to stiffness and our eyes goggling. And here is what’s happening: one category of political information enters our brains via the left ear, and information of totally different content penetrates our heads through the other, exploding within our poor skulls as a result of a deafening and debilitating clash.

Regular mental capacity is not enough to, based on what we hear from our unrestrained public figures and voluble media, make reasonable deductions thereof to tell right from wrong. We, the listeners, are compelled to use all our talent, time and skill to appreciate the intricacies of our motley political plaid, but all in vain.

There is even more to it: on this side of the television screens there is us, the public, whose social and political behavior totally depends on the ability to tell right from wrong in the conglomerate of information that we receive on an hourly basis. If we have the ability to tell right from wrong, our socio-political activity will become more educated and hence more helpful to the nation, making us feel better equipped and ready to cast a fair, rather than unfair, vote once we find ourselves in front of a decision-pregnant ballot box.

On top of that, the electorate, a.k.a. the voting public, will never take to the streets if it is given a well-informed chance of telling right from wrong in politics. Incidentally, those who want to move from the oppositional platform, which carries less responsibility to the people, to the more-accountable stand of governing the country, prefer to keep us public in the position where telling right from wrong is virtually impossible, thus exacerbating the electorate to the point where street politics becomes indispensable. This is happening only because the opposition to the government knows well that a change will not take place unless they see the crowds in the street, angered by the frustrating sense of incapability to tell right from wrong in politics.

The opposition, whose current activity is devoid of fresh social, political and economic messages that could work as bait for the voting masses to go for change, keeps saying that they expect change only via electoral process. Not true! Their most cherished daydream is to see thousands of their fellow citizens out in the streets, demonstrating their indignation against the ruling power. Every once in a while, for some, more or less serious reason, people do revolt in protest.

This is the kind of exhaust that any normally-functioning society needs to have to operate within the tranquil normalcy of social life. This kind of occasional public pressure is even useful for democracy. It feels like the pulse of a human heart, indicating social tachycardia, which could be eased by means of a myriad of different means of immediate or long-run treatment. One should see the wistful radiant oppositional faces at the moment of another public upheaval, the faces that emanate the anticipation of the possibly approaching change. To wit, some of the oppositional parties directly call for street actions without delay, even without reason to do so, but the change-oriented public is not so easy to trigger. How can you instigate a desperate and decisive social movement, turn it into street petitions and manifestations unless society is distressed, and anxious enough to want to bring about change? Georgia’s recent history has recorded more than a few memorable social incidents of this sort and caliber. On top of everything, talking about the current socio-political situation in the country, people are no longer as naïve and politically undereducated as they used to be. So let us remain assured that they will not take pains to revolt without a strong enough reason to rush to streets; not unless they are 100% confident that their movement will bring them fairer rule and more stable and lasting welfare.

By Nugzar B. Ruhadze

Image source: courtneyclark.com