Given the current political environment, I am not at all surprised at the belligerent attacks being made on Rahul Gandhi for his comments, that attempt to draw Indian parallels, with the beginnings of Coco-Cola and Mac Donalds. However, RaGa is on point here.
Fact is that many trolling him have barely any idea of the origins of both! But then, who cares about underlying facts in these days of over-the-top drum-beating to make a point, even it meant overseeing the truth for what it is.
As someone who’s studied both these brands at B-School, case for case, I should know. It is common knowledge that Coca-Cola began its journey selling at a soda fountain (the ‘shikanjiwalla’ equivalent) while Mac Donald’s had its humble beginnings at an airport food-stand (the ‘dhaba’ equivalent)
Interestingly, this whole shenanigan of portraying RaGa as a “dolt” , also brings to fore another keen observation about Human Behaviour - perception (fed by ideology - right or wrong immaterial) drives acceptance and impacts credibility.
And once that has been established in the mind, facts barely seem to matter anymore; the focus then on shifts to selectively viewing events from a lens that only validates this perception, leaving little if no scope for making change.
Perception is a dangerous beast, only because once created, it organically assumes life and a character of its own - for better or for worse - allowing its victims only enough room to play to its written script.
Interestingly, from an Indian political standpoint, we seem to have gotten that behavioural algorithm bang-on alright.
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