THE PRICE OF TRUTH
It was an interesting time spent the other evening,watching the now-oft-discussed TV show-SACH KA SAAMNA. The concept,which perhaps needs no elucidation,has been borrowed from a popular American reality TV show where a contestant is bluntly asked to answer highly sensitive questions about his/her personal life,in front of family members and close relatives,a live audience present in the show set,and in front of cameras which present the entire show in front of a million TV viewers. The topics touched by the questionnaire are about socially controversial incidents that might have occured in one's life,realities which one would like to hide from his/her social and family profiles.A instant polygraphy is done to determine whether an answer given by the contestant is correct or incorrect. The contestant proceeds to win considerable amounts of money in millions with every 'correct hit',to move to higher levels where the questions get more and more personally sensitive,and the amount of prize money increase substantially.
A few weeks back I had read in the newspapers about the controversies the show had created,with protests coming in from some of the contestants themselves seemingly embarassed(who often happen to be celebrities)questioning the deterministic accuracy of the polygraph which deemed certain answers "incorrect"(which essentially mean that the answer was a Lie),and also from a section of the audience following the TV show,questioning the ethical propriety of the concept of such a show as the questionnaire covers confessions about cheating,stealing,infidelity,abuse of 'banned' substances,acts of sexual aberration and immorality,to name a few.
The protests of some of the contestants seem ungamely,at least from a relatively superficial referrance,as they had volunteered to contest in full knowledge of the flavour of the show and the nature of the probable questions.It is useless and irrelevant here to comment on that.
The wave of protest voiced by detractors in the audience is understandable.It is truely difficult to judge the show's propriety as the audience consists of children and adolescents who might be subjected to unwanted and 'unsavioury' feelers about the qualitative validity of the ethical code standardised by our society around social and personal life in general which they shall grow up to follow one day.Also such gross public confessions in front of one's family,close relatives and friends-all near and dear ones,can potentially create disharmony in and even a complete breakdown of relationships.The detractors have even protested against the confessions by the contestants,commenting on the 'taste' of such confessions,and questioning the correctness of the very act of 'such' confessions.
This "protest" seems paradoxical to me and it perhaps reveals an inherent insecurity deep inside us.Maybe we are not prepared yet to face upto the situational precedence and a possible moral demand in relationships in future which such public confessions might be setting up. That is how our society is,and that is how we all react in our preconditioned masks of cognition and comprehension,in paranoid guard ly guard of our deepest fears and weaknesses,and our darkest secrets. Supporters of the show have reacted back,seated in the cushion of Moral Freedom,to thestrong protest of detraction saying that the confessions have all been volitional acts,and if one doesn't like a TV programme,he may as well switch it off or simply choose not to watch it,instead of crying hoarse to stop airing the programme altogether.
Personally I find internal support,how much thinly balanced it may be,to this point of view.I am a member of the human society.If I ponder upon the thin strength of my internal support,I find myself weak,my conscience seated on a fence between an urge to break free and a possible fear of the circumstances my breaking free might lead to.Otherwise how do I explain my confused weakness to qualify the very propriety of the voices of protest against the TV show? How do I explain my stark inability to Strongly question the very act of protest that tend to hold wrong an effort of a human being to confess and come clean,the effort to be Honest once and for all?If I am not afraid,my conscience is not strongly prepared yet to Face the Truth at least.And perhaps I am afraid.
The TV show will cease to exist soon,and so will the commendable efforts of bravehearts to embark upon a journey destined to end in honest acts of confession on my TV screen.I might choose to ignore everything.The TV show is after all a commercial venture and not a social reformist movement.It thrives on TPR ratings,and on our weakness to give in to the saucy meal called Controversy.The lure of monetary prize attracts applications to be part of such TV shows from all over the world.The voices of both detraction and support get their parasitic nourishment from Publicity.
Yet the stormy ambiguity of my own conscience or the moral confusion that I discovered in myself that evening in front of my TV set(that I shall continue to guard as one of my darkest secrets),is here to stay for quite sometime,it having been churned out of my own subconscious code of judgement by watching man wanting to cleanse his soul and man trying to choke the effort,drawing archaic arguments from the very code of ethics that cradles humankind's universal conscience.Even this storm will wear away.But I discovered one truth - everytime I shall be subject to self-introspection by observing human behaviour,a new storm shall rise.
The eldest of the Pandavas had identified the Heaviest thing in the Universe as Sin.Perhaps the burden of Conscience is heavier.Perhaps not.I am confused.
In fact,this is an attempted confession..
ReplyDeletePeople coming on the show willingly to let their near and dear ones know the truth of their life..its their wish,,then who are we really to judge anything for them.Their family members have supported them..anyways this is all commercial,dont know how much truth does this show really carry??
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