Satellite TV is a Liberator

Satellite TV is a Liberator or the first time inpreferences by golden-hearted leftists, who have
history, India's Republic Day was seen live all overthe moral right to shoot those who disagree.
Asia on Star TV, and the fuming politicians andDemocratic governments can claim to represent
intellectuals of Pakistan could do nothing about it.the people of their country. But many also claim
The budget speech of Dr Man Mohan Singh ;willthe right of determine what their people can
be broadcast all over Asia by Zee TV, and oncewatch, which is not democracy but monopoly.
again the censors in Pakistan, Burma andDemocracy is about the freedom of people to
elsewhere will be helpless to prevent theirchoose, not the freedom of politicians and
countrymen from tuning in. What Doordarshanintellectual goons to impose their views on the
and the external affairs ministry could never havemasses. Earlier, technology enabled governments
accomplished, in spreading the message aboutto exercise a TV monopoly. But satellite TV has
India's economic Renaissance, is being donebroken that monopoly, and allowed people to
through the purely commercial channels of satellitechoose what they wanted to see. This is not
TV. Whatever else you may call this, this is notimperialism but liberation. Imperialism implies that a
cultural imperialism imposed by the west on India.foreigner is using force to enter India against the
On the contrary, it is the spread of cultures of allwishes of Indians. Satellite TV is not and cannot
Asian countries to one another. The new liberalismbe forced on viewers, who have the option to
means the Indians can see Pakistani programmes,tune in or not. Those who complain about cultural
and Pakistanis Indian programmes. For decadesimperialism are in fact cultural monopolists, wishing
Pakistan refused to allow the import of Indianto imprison the minds and tastes of viewers in
films on the ground that Pakistan's film industrypre-determined cages. Fortunately satellite
will be ruined by the competition. Today, Zee TVtechnology has destroyed those cages. That is a
and Jain TV are beaming down umpateen Hinditragedy only for the self-appointed guardians of
films to Pakistani audience. Yet Pakistan's filmculture. UNPARALLELLED VEHICLE: Satellite TV
industry has certainly not been destroyed. Onlyshould be seen as an unparalleled vehicle for
the monopoly of Pakistani rulers and vestedspreading Indian culture, ideas and views to the
interests has been broken. Indian viewers canrest of Asia, and eventually to the whole world.
bow see excellent plays on Pakistan TV beamedProgrammes like The India Show and India
down by satellite, which are generally far superiorBusiness Report of Star TV do far more for
to the stuff dished out by Doordarshan. This hasIndia's image that anything that Indian embassies
dismayed self-righteous Indians who think Indianor All India Radio ever could. Stat TV an Zee TV
viewers are gullible fools who must be protectedbeam many advertisements of Indian companies
from Pakistani propaganda by wise Indianall over Asia, but carry virtually no ads from
intellectuals. There is of course anotherPakistani or Bangladeshi companies. This shows
possibility-that TV viewers are quite wise enough,how satellite TV has transformed India's clout as
and the self-righteous intellectuals are the gulliblean audience into international commercial clout of
fools. NOT DECULTURISED: Indian viewers havenational importance. From Amjad Ali Khan to Baba
now been exposed for a long time to TVSehgal, from Sonal Mansingh to Jasmine Barucha,
programmes from BBC and Pakistan, and IndiaIndian performers are now visible all over Asia
has not been subverted or deculturised in theand Indian films and TV shows have an
process. It is evident that Indian viewers are quiteunparalleled foreign audience. Because of the
capable of deciding what they wish to absorb orlanguage barrier, many such programmes have a
reject from foreign programmes, and neitherlimited reach in South East Asia. But there is not
need nor want protection from the self-righteouslangurge barrier in the case of Pakistan, with
crowd. Indeed, this follows from democracy itself.whom satellite TV is building cultural bridges, which
In a democracy, ordinary people, illiterate orpoliticians and intellectuals oppose. India and
otherwise, are deemed wise enough to selectPakistan will not reconcile their political differences
their rulers. And yet the self-righteous intellectualsin the near future. But when that day comes, I
would have you believe that the same voters arebelieve the reconciliation will owe a debt to the
not wise enough to choose their TV programmes.cultural cross-fertilisation that satellite TV provides
It is no accident that many of these intellectualstoday regardless of religion or nation. Keith Londrie
are (or have been) Marxists, who have longII is a well known author. For more information on
peddled the theory that the washed massesSatellite TV, please visit Satellite TV for a wealth
must be protected from their personalof information.