Need never aroused in history to lay emphasis on the claim that books played a marvelous role in bring change in outlived ideas and concept of socio-political life but the fact is that all books are not books. There exists a unanimous consensus in the world of wisdom, intellect and reason that the majority books in every age did not qualify as the books which caused a change in dogmatic mind sets; rather that books were written to prolong the age of decadency and indoctrination. Whereas the books are not the books but a tool of propaganda, self-projection and timely impact, they reflect the spirit of age, and ethical decline of state and society. By exposing the dominating trends that promote idiosyncratic perception of commentators, talkative persons who are only experts in saying or writing igniting phrases, catchy words, mischievously framed so-called revelations and tarnishing the targeted institutions or individuals such kind of books make yet another addition of fuel in the rising flames of fire already engulfing the minds and bodies of the peoples suffering from societal split and division. Though these books carry no place in history, philosophy and other human faculties, their impact is widely and deeply devastating and, of course, result oriented.

The post-cold world era came with scientific responses to the challenges but at the same this age itself is the mother of bigger challenges: One is how to protect people from the assault by the most powerful network of merchants of propaganda. Throughout the age of great divide between the heretics and believers, communists and religious people, the majority books were bulky advertisement of selling lies, killing truths and mutilating facts. The defender of God, the USA won the war in 1990s, yet she encountered challenges with her self-created world of dogmas and indoctrination. And now she is exactly at the stage the USSR had been facing during the cold war.

This outcome of well-conceived propaganda is depressing, as only three decades after celebrated victory, the capitalist world virtually lost the glamour and pride, testifying the fact that propaganda, no matter however powerful and effective it is, inherits a short span of life in a long history of a nation state. Even then, for the merchant of propaganda, every day comes with variations in swings of human behaviors and perceptions. Therefore, they frame their activities on day to day basis and live a one day life, without getting involved in the intricacies of human complexities. This is a new phase of modern civilization the consequence of which is yet to be known. For, we are passing through the age of advertisement; inculcating the seeds of confusions and particularism.

Primarily, the advertisements were the specific devices in the hands of the capitalists and industrialists to sell their products for undue profit. The art of advertisement, as we see even today, was a creative idea to deceive the fools on their own cost. German nationalist, Alfred Hitler was the politician who publically declared that his government would sell political ideas on the lines and patron the industrialists and merchants who market their products and commodities. He succeeded, invariably. At a stage, it looked immensely surprising that 80% of the European continent was considering first Mussolini’s and then Hitler’s ideology genuine. The anti-imperialist forces succeeded partly due to the fact that the imperial age had outlived long ago, and partly due to the people’s innate weakness by which they are easily deceived. According to Marxism, the decision of the majority is always right but the technology and innovative techniques tell the truth otherwise. That doesn’t mean that Karl Marx was wrong but there are certain gimmicks and chicaneries that disappoint the majority having withdrawal proclivity, and activate the furious minority to be involved in decision making process. Since the time of electoral democracy caught feverish preeminence, by the maximum 15% of the total population attained victory to elect the government while the rest of the 85% people remained either in opposition or in passivity. Thus, the majority failed to exercise the right to elect its ruler. Owing to this inbuilt deficiency, electoral democracy has failed as the thin minority is misled, elections are stolen and the minority government is installed.

However, time and space has its eternal law and mechanism to reveal the truth and defeat fallacies. For instance, the American Republican presidential candidate Mr. Donald Trump was sure-short to lose the race to White House; however, he won it due to a manipulated game by an agent of a secret agency that tarnished the image of the Democrats’ presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the last days of elections campaign. If a nation of the great champion of democracy is vulnerable to change her mind only on the basis of an email, then the days are not far off when only jokers and magicians will defeat the insightful and sane leaders. For, the Republicans had occupied the White House but lost a stature in the democratic world, for example, in the eyes of the Freedom House. The USA as a whole received a setback not for the reason that Mr. Donald became the president but for the way he was elected.

Here lies a case with the advertisement-like-books which are planned to launch particularly at a time when the schedule for the elections has been announced. As the commodities and products are sold not on quality but on the basis of advertisements, these manipulated books further damage the state and society, establishing the fact that a moral standard of the so-called authors and readers is extremely low and bizarre . But at the same time, a great boom of propagandist material for a specific purpose is not without cause and reason. Fallacies and malicious propaganda is always a by-product of misplaced priorities of the nation state, institutions and societies, authenticating that the social institutions have been cultivating the congenial environment of propaganda for hidden motives that finally have produced individuals of below average mental capacity. Propaganda can only flourish and succeed in a state that has a long history of deception and illusion, giving free hand to mediocre and laymen. If the readers and listeners are the fools, then the authors and commentators are the greedy, liars and partisans. It is the revenge of time and Nature that a certain situation does arise when the children of the wicked mother are wickeder than the mother. Historically, the promoters of fallacies fall victim to the fallacies, as well.

An inviolable law for establishment of a fair, judicious and balanced society is fairness of behavior (Husain-e-sluk), eradication of lies and promotion of truthfulness. To the contrary, if a state lays its foundation on a compulsive ideology immune to scrutiny and review, the ultimate outcome is the strengthening of single dimension folklore which lacks ability to defend the mother land, thus, becoming enemies of their own survival. As such, the worst and immediate victim of particularism is the state having no wiser voice to plead her case. Subsequently, social institutions and organizations are full of men and women whose loyalty, intellect, proficiency and ability are always purchasable. When committed talent disappears in society, only the stupid are privileged to transact the commerce of the state and society. As every innovative idea is for sale, the prominent intellectuals, surely pseudo intellectuals, become successful traders of truth, for money making remains the top priority of everyone, flinching a grave challenge to the actors of the paradigm shift in the scheme of things.

n          The writer is Ex-Director General Senate of Pakistan.