Gods of great things…

This is not in reference to any of Ms. Roy’s novels nor it is an indication of my religious credos. With that out of the way let us direct ourselves to the booming industry of self proclaimed gods of great things. Dare I say God rather than ‘influencer’ and ‘self proclaimed’ rather than ‘socially worshipped’ ? I guess we’ve taken a drastic hit on our ability to take criticism or unpopular opinion. The increased use of social platforms accrued to the pandemic has exposed us to fast paced changes and not so realistic expectations. This might in fact have wide ranging impact on the impressionable minds who’d have a heightened sense of entitlement , tremors of which can culminate into a generation that remains largely discontent with whatever they achieve. This may look like an oversight to many and they could brush this off without giving it a second thought but ripples of this psychological shift in mental structures could very reasonably impact the creative conscience and scientific temper by any conservative standards. The development and progress of the nation depends on these young minds many of which are still struggling to understand themselves and hence cannot be expected to have critical faculties to deconstruct the impact of what they are taking in. Onus comes on more experienced figures in their life , no the government can only do so much and freedom of speech can’t be gagged without reasonable evidences. With people spending more time in virtual world with respect to real , it becomes counterintuitive to question which is real ?
The great expectations of 21st century might well go beyond the scope. It thus becomes imperative to have stories of failure to tell enriched with real world experiences, to have some level of responsibility in household and to engage in discussions. The times are unprecedented and so we adapt. Isn’t it the most human thing ? A race famous-infamous for adaptation as that is how we survive. Secondly, the socio-cultural fabric of the society doesn’t go untouched. The long term effects of these might get reflected in the interpersonal relations of individual and society as a whole that makes us vulnerable to divisive forces. People become susceptible to the propagandistic attacks from the enemy. If you think it is too far stretching it, look around have you seen highly polarised version of just about anything ? Are you allowed to have your opinion without a touch of being divided into sides ? The nationalist fervour , the anti-nationalist narrative, the left , the right , are you sure you are freely thinking or just buying into narrative. As Aristotle remarked,” it is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it” by that standard how many of us can be called educated ?
These influencers are almost religiously worshipped without you being able to criticize them.
So I leave you with this question, aren’t they Gods of great things ?