BATTLE OF NARRATIVES
   Date :17-Jan-2025

rhyme and reason
 
By KARTIK LOKHANDE :
 
Understanding the battle of narratives helps in knowing if something is authentic or not. As various ideologies, political, socio-cultural identities are competing for space, a lot is being invested in this battle these days. Though the attempt of those peddling false narratives has not succeeded beyond creating ripples for a while, its presentation in an easy-to-consume format creates favourable perception in favour of an entity. False or fake narratives pose greater danger in the future than now. Hence, there is a need to counter any false or fake narrative right when it is floated. 
 
NOT all battles are fought on borders. Some are fought within and also in the realm where human perceptions are shaped. While the enemy at the borders may be visible and neutralised through effective counter-measures, those operating to shape the human perceptions are not visible, and may even be untraceable. By the time one realises that a particular piece of information or interpretation is false, damage is already done besides creating a ‘content’ that may be potentially recycled until it ends up getting sanctity as a ‘reference’. Welcome to the era of the ‘Battle of Narratives’. Last year only, the Government of Odisha had to issue an order prohibiting use and access of social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, ‘X’ etc through the internet as the administration had expressed concern regarding misuse of the internet for spreading communal violence in Bhadrak district. It was not the first time that such a measure was taken.
 
In Jammu and Kashmir, and also the areas where communal conflicts are erupting following circulation of some unverified posts, internet connectivity is often interrupted to stem the spread of malicious information. But, why, in the first place, a malicious piece of information is created and circulated? The answer is simple: To influence the public mind so that some perceptions could be altered or created. Circulation of unverified information may take for a ride even those in the field of technology. The latest example being Meta CEO Mr. Mark Zuckerberg. He irresponsibly said that incumbent parties lost the post-COVID polls in various countries including India. Since what he said was utter falsehood in case of India, the latter hit back, following which Meta apologised. When someone known for founding a popular social media platform like Facebook and spoke of fact check could go wrong, common unaware and unsuspecting people are always at risk of ‘believing’ what reaches them especially through social media.
 
Sometimes, even an adversary can peddle fake narratives about another country. For instance, the Communist China has been resorting to disinformation. Not long ago, an authoritarian China altered the names of 11 regions in Arunachal Pradesh, which is an Indian state. Why? Because, China wants to project Arunachal Pradesh as its territory! China amplified such a brazenly false narrative through posts on its social media platforms like Weibo and Douyin. Apart from disinformation, two other tools are used in the battle of narratives. These are misinformation and malinformation. While misinformation is false information not created with an intention to harm, disinformation is blatantly false and created with an intention to harm a person or a social group or an organisation or a country.
 
Malinformation is information that is based on facts but ‘manipulated’ to inflict harm on a person or an organisation or a country. Together these three form the ‘MDM’ (misinformation-disinformation-malinformation) triad. Certain forces inimical to India have been making use of all three, along with newer methods like ‘alternative history’ to cloud the collective fact-based understanding of history by present-day Indians. This creates controversies and also plants seeds of potential social conflicts. Rows over Bhima-Koregaon battle, Fatima being pioneer of women’s education alongside Savitribai Phule, Dadoji Kondadev being a mentor to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj or Swami Ramdas being a contemporary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, so on and so forth have clouded public thinking. Several narratives were tools of political strategies during Lok Sabha elections held last year, and also during Legislative Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and may be used in future to score political brownie points over the rivals. One can cite several examples of how narratives and any of the MDM factors are being deployed to destabilise social harmony by tweaking history -- old and recent.
 
Those peddling false narratives particularly in the domain of history take advantage of the confusion prevailing in the society, especially among youngsters, because of collectively fading memory of original material through the withering habit of reading books. Technology, no doubt, has made available seemingly unlimited choices, but it has also imposed restrictions. Which search result should show what, is still being decided by the big tech companies. What if someone in these companies wants to hide a crucial piece of faded history? What if only selective material is made available on the internet to (mis)guide or deprive a researcher? People who read books gradually develop the equipment to discern truth from falsehood. They evolve as individuals who do not get swayed by any false narrative, and are able to see the larger picture, and become thought leaders in respective domains.
 
The best way to counter MDM and protect oneself from false and fake narratives is to read books quoting authentic material. Interpretation of facts, field visits, interactions with people, emphasis on verification of material available, tallying information about an event or a person as available today with specific mentions in the original source material, may be some ways through which one can establish authenticity of a book or a research paper or a publication. Unfortunately, since this is a longer route requiring real hard work, even many researchers shy away from it. It is in this space that those creating and spreading the false or fake narratives operate. The situation is not bleak, but definitely alarming. Understanding the battle of narratives helps in knowing if something is authentic or not. As various ideologies, political, socio-cultural identities are competing for space, a lot is being invested in this battle these days. Though the attempt of those peddling false narratives has not succeeded beyond creating ripples for a while, the presentation in an easy-to-consume format creates perception favourable to an entity. False or fake narratives pose greater danger in the future than now. Hence, there is a need to counter any false or fake narrative right when it is floated.