dont blame pakistan..try blaming the washing machine
NOTE: i dont have a solution to the problem of terrorism. if you are looking for something concrete to do, read no further :)
dont blame pakistan...
mostly 'cause it is not a country. just like india is not a country.
pak is looking like it is taken over by extremists (read ISI/Army/JeM/LeT) and india is most definitely taken over by corruption. a nation is some place where the will of the common people is expressed, atleast to a certain measure in the will of the administration. is this true about our two countries? i.e. does the pak govt look serious in its efforts to curb terrorism, and does the indian govt look serious in its efforts to curb corruption? and these are not some fringe issues. they are central to the safety and well being of commoners in both countries.
i would say the US is a country. most of its citizens were against the war in iraq and that has cost its president and his party dearly. there is atleast a hope that the new guy will deliver closer to the peoples expectations.
so if we are not a country then what are we? just a billion people without an identity? what happens to our patriotism. what happens to all those songs and speeches that we were made to recite as kids and are imprinted on our minds? this whole idea of belonging to a "country" 'cause you were born in it, feels much like the caste system. you get your nationality by birth, you are taught that your country is the greatest and that all others are fine but not as great as yours. so when there is a conflict of interests, anything (even killing!) is fair if it is done in the name of your country (replace country with god and you have..viola jihad!).
believing in god and country is great, do it by all means. maybe a long long time ago these institutions were really unadulterated, so people got used to believing them easily. but in todays day and age are priests and politicians the most charitable people around?
problem here is that we outsource our thinking. i dont want to get into the nitty-gritties of issues. i just want a notion which everyone accepts to be sacred so that i can make my peace with the stupid questions (how can we help end terrorism) and merrily focus on the important ones (how will i get a pay hike :P).
we need to move from geographical location based loyalties to value based loyalties. it would mean a paradigm shift in todays political order. and i dont see it coming any time soon, 'cause for that to happen most humans will have to think for themselves :P
gandhiji once said "the only tyrant i accept in this world is the still small voice within me" :)
try blaming the washing machine....
"we accept the reality of the world that we are presented with" - The Truman Show
brainwashing is not very hard. all it takes is a clever and systematic control of information. you take away that control and the machine stops. if we want to stop this hate between india and pakistan and the grass root level, all that needs to be done is let the media in. allow all indian channels private and public to be seen in pakistan and vica-versa. i am sure there will be a lot of propaganda channels too, but who cares? most extremists are that way because they have never seen the other side. you show them that and you give them atleast something to think about.
it is hard to believe that whole of pakistan hates india and visa-versa. sure we are not the best of allies but the khunnas sud be limited to cricket matches and hockey games. i dont think the common man is really very different in the two countries. so when there are blasts in mumbai why do we feel that we should retaliate against pakistan? its because its engraved in our brains that the basic unit for war is a country. and that is the exact wrong assumption on which terrorism thrives. we need to change the unit of war to organizations, not countries.
once pakistanis realize that most hindus are peaceful and do not hate muslims, and indians see that most pakistanis are peaceful too, then we will we able to focus on the real enemy
until then...ignorance will take its toll
dont blame pakistan...
mostly 'cause it is not a country. just like india is not a country.
pak is looking like it is taken over by extremists (read ISI/Army/JeM/LeT) and india is most definitely taken over by corruption. a nation is some place where the will of the common people is expressed, atleast to a certain measure in the will of the administration. is this true about our two countries? i.e. does the pak govt look serious in its efforts to curb terrorism, and does the indian govt look serious in its efforts to curb corruption? and these are not some fringe issues. they are central to the safety and well being of commoners in both countries.
i would say the US is a country. most of its citizens were against the war in iraq and that has cost its president and his party dearly. there is atleast a hope that the new guy will deliver closer to the peoples expectations.
so if we are not a country then what are we? just a billion people without an identity? what happens to our patriotism. what happens to all those songs and speeches that we were made to recite as kids and are imprinted on our minds? this whole idea of belonging to a "country" 'cause you were born in it, feels much like the caste system. you get your nationality by birth, you are taught that your country is the greatest and that all others are fine but not as great as yours. so when there is a conflict of interests, anything (even killing!) is fair if it is done in the name of your country (replace country with god and you have..viola jihad!).
believing in god and country is great, do it by all means. maybe a long long time ago these institutions were really unadulterated, so people got used to believing them easily. but in todays day and age are priests and politicians the most charitable people around?
problem here is that we outsource our thinking. i dont want to get into the nitty-gritties of issues. i just want a notion which everyone accepts to be sacred so that i can make my peace with the stupid questions (how can we help end terrorism) and merrily focus on the important ones (how will i get a pay hike :P).
we need to move from geographical location based loyalties to value based loyalties. it would mean a paradigm shift in todays political order. and i dont see it coming any time soon, 'cause for that to happen most humans will have to think for themselves :P
gandhiji once said "the only tyrant i accept in this world is the still small voice within me" :)
try blaming the washing machine....
"we accept the reality of the world that we are presented with" - The Truman Show
brainwashing is not very hard. all it takes is a clever and systematic control of information. you take away that control and the machine stops. if we want to stop this hate between india and pakistan and the grass root level, all that needs to be done is let the media in. allow all indian channels private and public to be seen in pakistan and vica-versa. i am sure there will be a lot of propaganda channels too, but who cares? most extremists are that way because they have never seen the other side. you show them that and you give them atleast something to think about.
it is hard to believe that whole of pakistan hates india and visa-versa. sure we are not the best of allies but the khunnas sud be limited to cricket matches and hockey games. i dont think the common man is really very different in the two countries. so when there are blasts in mumbai why do we feel that we should retaliate against pakistan? its because its engraved in our brains that the basic unit for war is a country. and that is the exact wrong assumption on which terrorism thrives. we need to change the unit of war to organizations, not countries.
once pakistanis realize that most hindus are peaceful and do not hate muslims, and indians see that most pakistanis are peaceful too, then we will we able to focus on the real enemy
until then...ignorance will take its toll
Labels: economics, governance, politics
posted by siddhya at December 01, 2008
7 Comments:
I have even heard that terrorists attack the common man because its the common man that elects the leaders that cause all the problems. Alas, if only they knew how elections are rigged in India and the poor common man's votes hardly count :( So it is better that the politicians are targeted rather than the common man.
on what basis do you compare corruption with terrorism??? do you think they are problems with same magnitude and seriousness????
anon1: i dont believe th proverbial "common man" sud be termed innocent anymore (minding ur own business does not make u innocent, it makes u ignorant at best) but thts not th point :P
simple point it is be _vry_ careful when we generalize.
eg. i saw photo of a mob crying anti-US/anti-India slogans in islamabad today. if i look at tht and _assume_ th most of pak is anti-US/anti-India, i am stupid.
u dont hve 2 assume its pro-US/pro-India either. only info tht we get from tht snap is tht ~100 pakis _maybe_ hate US/India. and tht too is a maybe (who knows, maybe thy wer ther 'cause some1 promised thm a wada-pav later :P)
anon2: i dnt hve a frekin clue abt th magnitude/seriousness of any of these probs! ("till im nt critically affected, i wont bother" principle) so i did nt intend to compare. sry if it came out tht way.
i was merely commenting on why our 2 democracies r nt working. in pak their army/ISI is strong and overrides the ppl's govt, in india their is a culture of corruption which overrides any public benefiting action of th govt.
Okay, maybe I misinterpreted :)
Nonetheless, on your "till im nt critically affected, i wont bother"
This is just acting indiffrent buddy, trust me, when you are critically affected, you wont be in a shape to bother, even if u want to...(god forbid!)
:)
-anon2
Precisely what I believed and realized while leaving with my friend from Peshawar for 4 Months. We Shared a Apartment and we discussed these issues and our conclusions were pretty much similar to what you have said.
--
Sandu
"we need to move from geographical location based loyalties to value based loyalties"
Totally agreed :)
Exactly my thoughts... but you have put them forward so well :)
Here is my piece : http://pallutai.blogspot.com/2008/09/citizen-of-worldwant-to-give-it-chance.html
thanks :)
ata mukaTyani indian team sathi cheer karayala lag ;)
Post a Comment
<< Home