Gaurav Sabnis, a not very ’eminent’ liberal ‘intellectual’, recently shared on Twitter the effect politics has had on his familial relationships. He expressed his anguish at being boycotted by his extended family for saying ‘mean things’ about Prime Minister Modi in the family WhatsApp group.
I’m just amazed at their intense Modi-bhakti. Just 2 months ago, we met, hung out, bonded etc in Indore. But I say something critical of Modi and they have all decided to just completely cut me off. Very 1930s Germany.
— Gaurav Sabnis (@gauravsabnis) March 7, 2019
Considering Sabnis is someone who chooses to embarrass his family on social media to score liberal brownie points on Twitter, one is likely to think there are other significant reasons behind his extended family’s decision to boycott him.
Meanwhile, A Times of India journalist has tweeted in response to one of the replies expressing her desire to discuss the matter further with the person, presumably, for a story on the matter.
Hi this is with reference to your tweet. Can we please talk? You can DM or mail me. Thanks
— Himanshi Dhawan (@himanshidTOI) March 7, 2019
That mainstream media journalists have fallen to reporting on personal squabbles within families, which have an obvious political slant, speaks volumes of the agenda that they try to peddle.
The series of events that led to this says something about the dystopian nature of modernity. It’s hard to think of a time in the past when it was regarded as socially acceptable to shame one’s family in public to score brownie points in one’s political circles. Since the advent of liberalism, however, it has become an unfortunate reality.
The mainstream media, on its part, provides incentives to people to embarrass their family by lionizing them and portraying them as some sort of heroes in liberal circles for standing up to ‘fascism’. The normalization of such despicable behaviour and even lionizing those who participate in it is one of the many ways in which the mainstream media fuels divisions within the country.
As a matter of fact, proving one’s commitment to the preferred political ideology by denouncing one’s family or near and dear ones publicly is one of the most significant contributions of liberalism to politics. In the liberal world, blood may be thicker than water but loyalty to political ideology transcends them all.
In a sane world, people would sort out their differences with others in the family by having a rational discussion on the matters of import. But in the clown world of liberalism we live in, people use these differences to augment their position within their political circles and use their family as tools for grandstanding.
To complete the circle of comedy, journalists run helter-skelter to publish testimonials on such people and lament how a certain politician is causing family members to abandon each other. Of course, the problem is not with the politician. The actual problem, of course, is with people who advertise their familial squabbles on social media for political objectives and those who rely on such people to peddle their political agenda through their media outlets.
To be fair to the TOI journalist, she was only showing the new tricks she has learnt from her Western counterparts. Blaming politicians for ‘tearing’ families apart is something that began with President Trump in the United States. Progressives spun yearns on how their relationships with their families have deteriorated after Donald Trump rose to prominence.
Liberals have written at great length how Donald Trump has played a role in the degradation of their relationship with their parents.
Some have even blamed him for their marriages falling apart.
Considering the track record of the Indian mainstream media, it is fair to assume that this is exactly what the TOI journalist was attempting to do. The motive was to paint Prime Minister Modi as a divisive figure who is causing fissures within families. The objective appears to have been to absolve Gaurav Sabnis and others like him who shame their own family members in public of their sins and put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Narendra Modi, even though helping people maintain peace within the family is not the job of a Prime Minister.
The invasion of the sacred is one of the intrinsic principles of Liberalism. After invading our religious spaces, it was only a matter of time before an attempt was to invade the sacred space of familial relationships. As I have mentioned earlier, liberalism demands its adherents put their political loyalties before familial bonds. It’s only one of the many reasons why liberalism is antithetical to a cohesive society.
