Indian sycophancy, Darwinism, and Thomas Sowell
By Anang Pal Malik
Currently I am reading the book A Conflict Of Visions by Thomas Sowell.
In the book he makes the assertion that in a society; customs, mores, rituals, patterns of behaviour, rules of conduct, and laws evolve over time, and what works is retained, and what doesn't is discarded, not by conscience decision of the society as a whole, but incrementally, people acting subconsciously, over generations. In short, he says, Darwinism works in above fields also. The behaviour that ensures survival/growth is reinforced and retained, and that doesn't, is discarded. To me, the most pathetic aspect of Indian official life has been the rank sycophancy, wretched abasement, fawning like pups around the persons in position of power, that we display in public. You can see it on TV as adults prostrate before politician, run like headless chickens at his each word. And persons in authority, in the seats of power, love it. They never feel embarrassed, never discourage the behaviour. In fact they reward the sycophants, in bureaucracy through ACRs and transfer/postings, and politicians by giving tickets, ministerships and sine cures. And the disease is just as viral in private sector. India never sees innovations, breakthrough discoveries, no world class Corporations, nothing extraordinary. Because people do what advances their careers, not what they are capable of doing. I have seen most stupid ideas of persons in authority being taken up for implementation, with subordinates just one step below, that is themselves in very high positions, vigorously nodding in agreement, and hailing the idea as the words of a genius. Because sycophancy works in India. Behaving like cattle ensures survival and advancement, rewards, behaving like a human being brings a truck of bricks over you. Of course genesis is simple to locate. For 1000 years, we were slaves, and dhimmis to boot for 800 of the 1000 years. Masters like slaves fawning around them. They do not like slaves behaving like human beings. It has been the biggest failure of our ruling class after 1947, that unlike American Freedom Fighters, they never proclaimed and never practiced that all men are born equal. They never discouraged abject abasement by those around them. They encouraged and rewarded it.
Leftists attribute our poverty to colonialism. But colonials are supposed to have departed in 1947. And countries in similar situations are far ahead of us now. We are poor because our ruling elite made no efforts to discard customs, mores, rituals, patterns of behaviour, rules of conduct which evolved because of slavery. They in fact enjoy the power it bestows on them.
And we have retained the behaviour that works.