Facts and fads

 Most of the stories that occupy the lion’s share of front page across the leading newspapers gradually push into the lesser-read middle pages, then turn into a few voices and eventually slip into oblivion. The frenzied social media acts in a similar way, trolling and mocking media events in multiple ways, until a new obsession catches public eye. How relevant is all this noise, if it leads to nothing. How illusionary are the promises which never materialize into action and die down with the voices of social and mainstream media.

The thought might sound impractical at first, as not all news are meant to fit into the first page forever, not all things hold significance for long, not many trends are anything more than fad. Even then, at the risk of sounding irrational, it amazes me the fall from pedestal of innumerable stories and people, day-in and day-out.

it is amazing how every such issue is blown out of proportion,  dissected and sliced by opinionated men and women in print, discussed ( or shouted?) in prime time shows, taken to a different level by the memes and twitterrati, and turned into an altogether different issue-colored with communal, religious and often sensitive views. The political parties chip in to make most of the issue for mud-slinging at opposition camps. The opportunistic leverage it as the stage to hog limelight. The output is a distorted version of truth, far away from facts-wrapped in shroud of machinations and pretense.

‘Little knowledge is a dangerous thing’- a clichéd phrase plays its part. Opinions start coming from those who don’t understand the issue, from those who hold biases, from those who borrow opinions, from extremists, and the sound of intelligent opinion dies down under all this din, unheard and buried under millions of colored and irrelevant voices.

In this age of half-truth, what do we believe in? Which fad is an actual issue, and to which degree? Who is right and who is wrong? As the channels of opinions increase and the era of fads rolls on, one wonders if his own opinion is a painted one.