The english word 'politics'

Lately, I have been listening to a lot of political interviews and debates and that is probably why i had to think about this word. I got so bemused at the usage of this word in the recent past that i went up to the dictionary to look at what this meant and it read thus:




Looking at this defenition, it din't appear to me, for even a sec, that it has such a negative connotation to it. After the mumbai attacks, almost all of the politician's interviewed faced a question like "Don't you think politics should be kept out of an attack like this and treat this as a national crisis?" and what appalled me was the fact that most of them responded in affirmative stating clearly, "We should not be doing politics in this hour of crisis".

Wait a minute. The word politics is not such a derogatory one after all. The interviewer tells him that this is a national crisis and aren't politician's supposed to act in such a situation? If politics is to be kept out of a national crisis situation then when is the time for politics to function?

In India, we have become so used to seeing a lot of politician's being under a cloud that an earnest politician is looked upon as a 8th wonder, all right. So, I dint mind when they say "Arasiyal pannadha.." in Tamil. But, English, In spite of being such a widely spoken language and in spite of being the language of developed countries like the UK and the US, has attributed such a negative connotation to that word.

So, does that imply politicians all over the world have become so defiled that all the languages have adapted themselves?

Is it the same case with other languages such as german, french etc.., too? If that is the case, how is it that the people who govern us, proudly call themselves politicians? Shouldn't they be trying to change the negative connotation that the word has gained? Or, if it is too difficult to change, look at coining a new term for themselves, like say, 'regulatitian', 'governatitian' etc.., If you feel my choices are bad, feel free to coin your own terms :)

On a more serious note, where are we heading? If all of us have accepted and have resigned to the fact that politics is such a derogatory term that we alter the language to reflect the situation, there is indeed a serious problem ahead. After all, democracy is the only sensible choice we have!!

Just a thought to ponder upon :)