Shooting Our Future: When Leaders Choose Spectacle Over Sanity

George Orwell’s powerful essay Shooting an Elephant offers a disturbing mirror to today’s war cries between Pakistan and India. The story follows Orwell as a colonial officer in Burma, forced to shoot a tame elephant not because it posed any real danger, but because an excited crowd demanded the spectacle. Though the elephant was calm and harmless, the roaring mob left Orwell no choice – to walk away would brand him a coward, while killing the innocent animal would make him a hero in their eyes. This tragic dilemma perfectly illustrates how leaders today often make decisions based on public pressure rather than moral conviction or rational judgment.

What we’re witnessing across the subcontinent today follows this same dangerous pattern. Masses whipped into nationalistic frenzy clamor for war not out of necessity, but because violence has become a form of entertainment. Politicians and military leaders, like Orwell’s colonial officer, frequently yield to this pressure, sacrificing wise statesmanship for the sake of appearing strong. The consequences are all too real – lives lost, tensions escalated, and peace made hostage to mob mentality.

This bloodlust isn’t confined to battlefields or political rallies. Our very social media feeds have become digital colosseums where commentators and ordinary citizens alike cheer for conflict with the same enthusiasm as Roman spectators watching gladiators fight to the death. News channels ratings soar when tensions flare, while YouTube and Facebook algorithms reward the most inflammatory takes. Even intellectuals and journalists who should know better often join the chorus, their measured analysis drowned out by the louder, angrier voices.

Orwell’s haunting final question – whether he shot the elephant merely to avoid looking foolish – demands we ask the same of our leaders today. Are military standoffs and aggressive posturing truly about national security, or about saving face before an angry public? When crowds chant for war on television and Twitter, how many decisions are made to satisfy this thirst for spectacle rather than serve genuine strategic interests?

The path forward requires courage to resist these dangerous impulses. True leadership means standing against the tide of popular sentiment when that sentiment calls for violence. It means recognizing that the loudest voices don’t always represent the wisest course. Before we demand another confrontation, we must ask who truly benefits from this cycle of hostility, and what price we’re all paying to maintain the illusion of strength. Orwell’s lesson remains vital: when leaders govern by crowd approval rather than principle, everyone loses – especially those cheering loudest for destruction.