Variations on a theme by Salman Rushdie. Inspired, plagiarized and paraphrased from his novel “Fury”, Vintage Books, Random House, London, 2002.

What makes the world go round should not be the renunciation of all that is important. (Paulo Coelho)

1. The industry of popular culture is replacing that of ideology. Nowhere more can this be seen than in the influence advertising and propaganda has gained over us. We all have lived long enough to witness the absolute victory of advertising and propaganda.

2. Advertising is the notorious enemy of promise; it is nakedly capitalist and as far away from human rights as can possibly be imagined; everything, as well as everybody and every principle dear to us is for sale; advertising sooths our pain, our anguish of loneliness and of ignorance; the pain of wanting without knowing what is wanted. No wonder advertising is popular; “it makes things better”; “it shows us the road ahead”, it is thus not part of the problem; it solves things the easy way. It does not brainwash us, it stains our brains. It is based on the belief that ignorance, if backed up by sufficient dollars, becomes wisdom. Through it, knowledge exercises power over us from on-high. On issues that matter in the world (for instance human rights), “Mall America” and the aspirations of the “gym generation” lead to the distraction of our contemporaries. Uncertainty is at the heart of what we are; nothing is written in stone, everything can crumble, we are told.

3. Furthermore, to complicate things, fundamentalist arguments are used over the media to tell us that there is no morality without religion. Does this mean that we are an insufficiently devout citizenry…? …and that human rights are a matter of creed? This only highlights the paradox of human life: its creator is fictional, but life itself is a fact –with all its nice and not-so-nice, often shameful features.
[We note that until the advent of hyperlinks, only God was said been able to see simultaneously into past, present and future alike; such omniscience is now available to all of us, at the merest click of the mouse].

4. Taking this allegory to the wider contemporary context of our globalized world, the lingering danger is that the confidence in what-we-are-told becomes political currency… American-style success has become the only real validation of one’s worth. Nobody (seems to care or) knows how to argue with big money or with the negative consequences of today’s globalization…
[But the globalization age, too, must end, as do such periods in the human chronicle. Maybe this truth is just beginning to slide into our consciousness].

5. In short, the possessors of the “truth” and the defenders of the lie are strong; is it better to bend before their combined force? Or by standing against it, may one discover a deeper strength in oneself and lay the despots low? What are our limits of tolerance? How far, in the pursuit of what is right, can we/should we go?
[Where are the laws against sins of improper omission? Have we really fought for them?].

6. So, we are left with the question: Will tomorrow just rewrite yesterday? (Or, how will next week unmake the past five, ten, fifteen years?).

7. To close, it is good to remember: Human rights are never given by those who enjoy them (and who are living in the American-style success mode); human rights must be taken by those who do not enjoy them.
So, if you think there is something to be said and to be done on human rights, say it! + do it! Do not meet trouble halfway… Get your house in order; know the whole house, not just select rooms; remember who owns the house; home improvements mean human rights improvements. (K. Weerasuriya)

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
cschuftan@phmovement.org

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