Today is World Migratory Day (second Saturday of October -this year’s focus is ‘Protect insects to protect birds’) and so decided to go for evening walk along the nearby wetland extending to paddy field. It was overcast sky, it rained quite heavily in the morning. Birds were quite active. Mostly resident species as migratory season is about to begin. Spotted early migrant Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) and its characteristic nervous oscillating tail as he busied himself along the waterbody.
deconstruction is evolution
happens all the time
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Evening birding
Friday, October 11, 2024
Hibakusha poems: expressing the inexpressible
Hibakusha poems broke the silence through stillness of haiku and tanka while they detached into meditative universality of pain. Soon, as the life start to flow and vigor returned, they became aware of the responsibility of unique experience. This unique voice that has witnessed the horrors of atomic bombs vaporizing happy thriving lives into nothing in an instant and are now forced to witness the ignominy of forgetfulness of humanity -of some arrogant humans, as they dabble in nuclear bombs with horrifying carelessness incapacitated to understand the devastating consequences. Hibakusha free verse poems are visceral in its simplicity and overwhelming in its impact. Truth is always in sincere, and trauma carries the urgency of earnest description. Language is stripped bared to its basic necessity so as to keep the experience palpable and immediate. You feel as if you are there as a witness as each line grip you into immense suffering. This urgency of trauma maybe the reason why many survivors live longer (i have seen these with holocaust survivors too) probably the prolonged life as a persistent reminder to a witness to human stupidity, to temper their tall claims.
Wittgenstein (the philosophical moorings of AI is undeniably in approximation
of meaning, bravo Wittgenstein!) was onto
something about limits of language (“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must
be silent”) but it is ingenuity of humans to cross the confines of logic and
describe the indescribable.
This copied from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/hiroshima-poems/
Let Us Be Midwives! An untold
story of the atomic bombing
by Sadako Kurihara, translated by
Richard Minear
Night
in the basement of a concrete structure now in ruins.
Victims of the atomic bomb jammed the room;
It was dark—not even a single candle.
The smell of fresh blood, the stench of death,
The closeness of sweaty people, the moans.
From out of all that, lo and behold, a voice:
"The baby’s coming!"
In that hellish basement,
At that very moment, a young woman had gone into labour.
In the dark, without a single match, what to do?
People forgot their own pains, worried about her.
And then: "I'm a midwife. I’ll help with the birth."
The speaker, seriously injured herself, had been moaning only moments before.
And so new life was born in the dark of that pit of hell.
And so the midwife died before dawn, still bathed in blood.
Let us be midwives!
Let us be midwives!
Even if we lay down our own lives to do so.
Sadako
Kurihara (1913
– 2005) was a poet, writer and peace activist who survived the Hiroshima
bombing.
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Living Planet Index
Living Planet Index (LPI) tracks the
average trend rather than increases or declines in the total number of animals.
The global LPI 2024 shows a decrease of 73%. Imagine that! Common observation, like
the birds that we used to see so often have become rare, is an indication of cumulative
staggering loss.
The report https://www.livingplanetindex.org/
also elaborates on five tipping points of global significance that we are
nearing. 1). Amazon rainforest drying off which will have devastating
consequences for people, biodiversity and the global climate. Tipping point will
reach if just 20–25% of the Amazon rainforest is destroyed -and as much as 17%
has been deforested already. Read that again 17% of amazon forest is
already destroyed, and so within a decade or so we could tip into no return scenario.
2). Coral reef die off due to coral bleaching have become frequent. Coral
reefs will not be able to function as ecosystem (known as the rainforest of
oceans). For instance, Great Barrier Reef have faced mass coral bleaching
events in 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024, as you can see
the frequency and intensity have increased (I have seen videos of desolated
coral reef and divers virtually crying for the loss…the more aware you become devastating
it is. I too sometimes go into deep depression when I go for walk and don’t see
much biodiversity that I used to). 3). Melting ice sheets, two massive ice
sheets -in Greenland and the West Antarctic, are at risk of passing a tipping
point where melting becomes irreversible disrupting ocean circulation and cause
sea levels to rise several metres. 4). Collapse of Atlantic Ocean Circulation
would devastate marine ecosystems, disrupt other ocean currents and
dramatically change global weather patterns. 5). Permafrost thaw
as a result of global warming will release more greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere further exacerbating the impacts of climate crisis..
Apart from other suggestion the report call for nature-based solutions.
One of the most significant sustainable solutions that I have come across few
years back was biomimicry (biomimetic solution). It was a life changing experience
for me. Having spent lots of time in nature, and trying to work out a career in
the field -quite difficult for an outsider in a primitive insecure society, I quite
accidentally read about biomimicry (I wouldn’t say accidental since I was
watching nature quite closely and so was naturally aligning to understanding)
and got into depth of it. Created it as a subject for college students (again
it's arduous in this amazingly mediocre ego driven small minded society), it
really has so much potential considering that India has such amazing biodiversity unlike
West.
Systemic changes can only come from powerful controllers (dubious narration of GDP so on as development) as also more enlightened concerned people -this can only happen with value education as also people not trapped in the rigmarole of daily survival as also society stuck in greed of money and power lacking collective values or concerns. Future of world is in the hands of few enlightened spaces across the world -who nurture some wonderful people (like the one who produce such reports, who explore all across the world to study these). They bring awareness for better world. And thanks to technology common people across the world are able to access these and become aware -trapped as we are in daily vicissitudes of life in increasingly bleak surroundings, these reading does change our mind and receptive for collective action.
*pic is that of Hoopoe -a spectacular looking little bird, that used to be so common when I was kid. I recall spending lots of time watching these birds -they spent most of their time on ground digging and foraging. These birds have become so rare that I haven't really seen them in years (last rare sighting was probably in Mysore -recall it quite clearly inside open area at Mysore zoo -such a pleasant surprise). Sometimes I have dreams about these birds. These vanishings create such devastation.
Tuesday, October 08, 2024
Climate breakdown
Sunday, October 06, 2024
Beware the mockery
Trump is a mockery, not only on the
idea of democracy, but humanity itself. That US nurtured this colossal BS (there
is absolutely no other way to describe this fellow) into leadership position is
a mockery on its tall claim as leader of the free world. Musk is a realtime mockery
on the idea of capitalism and an exact representation of neoliberal horror. It is not
surprising that both lack any redeeming human quality whatsoever, and without the
system that nurtures these, they will be utter useless and not even be allowed in any decent human gathering.
Most powerful man and richest man are shallow people with underdeveloped adolescent
minds is a stark presentation of systemic failure that nurtured these ridicules into topmost reckoning. The lunatic fringe is amplified and mainstreamed. Truth no longer matters. It's a breakdown of sanity and civility. US is a lesson on complacent
world. Whatever you cherish could vanish within moment if you are not alert and
vigilant.
Saturday, October 05, 2024
Technology activates social change
Social movements have had a significant
impact on consolidating egalitarian values and humanistic concerns. Education is instrumental in spreading awareness. These urgent pressure of awareness as changing
norms get embedded into democratic institutions. This looks like a logical template
for social change. Ofcourse it is a successful model but quite limited. In the
recent times I am quite convinced that technology is an activator and consolidator
of social change and has significant impact than social movements. The much-maligned
technology is prime initiator of social change than science could. Eventhough science
needs enlightened value framework to nurture and prosper it can work in narrow context
of society. Society, or even the scientist, could be feudal or racist while science
progress in the midst. Much of science developed and consolidated in this
framework. It has claim of superior that fuels justification and refinement of
process as inquiry. Superior to mundane worries of society. Humanistic concerns
in science are accidental and mostly personal. Vastness of knowledge can be humbling but the system is not driving
social change nor aiming a better society -by implication maybe. It is social neutral as much as value neutral. So, ironically science needs egalitarian
value system and open mind to sustain but is mostly isolated from social
reality. So is the case of technologists but implication of technology on society is cataclysmic.
Technology is application of science
for mass consumption. By its very nature it is meant to reach remotest and make
the most isolated and vulnerable access the world. The initial stage of technology
is always feudal, manipulated by few for greed and gains. As the technology spreads
it reaches a saturation stage -commonplace essential, and that is when the real impact of technology as
potent means of social change felt. From slow spreading printing press to fast connecting
smart phone it brings in a new paradigm of social change through changing minds
instead of social physical involvements. A person is virtually exposed to possibilities
that were not even conceivable. Once the initial excitement of technology settles
it gets to the responsibility of these possibilities. The freedom seeks more
awareness of the world. The diversity of ideas, cultures and regions opens to
understanding, subconsciously mind is priming for change. It necessarily leads to self-reflection, evolving and associating
to better ideas and possibilities. This is the greatest instigator of social change
than what was ever possible. It has potential to uproot ossified feudal structures
and juvenile control of religion. Atomized awareness reverberates into synchronous collective of better world. Answer to manipulation is more technology, more transparency
and more awareness, with a foundation of quality education. Significant social changes
have happened in last two decade than in last many centuries. We are
still in flux and once the new technology saturates change is expected to consolidate
into something better. Each human will access their uniqueness and work the potential
herein and connect to wider world. If swarm intelligence could achieve such
brilliant feat imagine swarm of each unique intelligence synchronizing into a whole. Imagine that!
**Thanks to technology I can access anything, anywhere, anytime. And so, I was reading Ursula Le Guin. Le Guin, I am embarrassed to admit, is a late involvement. I love scifi and IsaacAsimov, ArthurClark, HG Wells, PhillipDick many more were my staple, wasn’t much aware of LeGuin. To bracket her as SciFi writer is not doing justice, her concern was using scifi framework to question contemporary social context and philosophical inquiry. Landscape and technology can change but some questions are persistent, here she immerses her charming stories into an entirely different social context to eviscerate contemporary concerns, scifi is an accidental construct. I am reading ‘The Dispossessed’ that explores capitalism, utopia, collectivism so on (I have read poems influenced by Taoism. Taoism, as is the case with Buddhism, is something I too find interesting). ‘The One Who Walks Away from Omelas’ explores the trolley problem ethics, not participating (wu wei -non action) is an option of powerful statement. I haven’t read much but yes ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ has an interesting premise of fictional planet of human with no fixed sex, exploring themes of gender and sexuality. This in an overtly sexualized and gender determined world. I was reading ‘Dreams Must Explain Themselves’, collection of essays. ‘Introducing Myself’ is a hilarious piece about no reference to ‘her’ in mainstream discourse or reporting. The gender is assumed to be him. “If we have anything to learn from politicians it’s that details don’t matter. I am a man, and I want you to believe and accept this as a fact, as I did for many years”… “Women are a very recent invention. I predate the invention of women by decades. Well, if you insist on pedantic accuracy, women have been invented several times in widely varying localities, but the inventors just didn’t know how to sell the product. Their distribution technique were rudimentary and their market research was nil, and so ofcourse the contempt just didn’t go off the ground. Even with a genius behind it an invention has to find its market, and it seemed like for a long time the idea of women just didn’t make it to the bottom line. Models like the Austen and the Bronte were too complicated, and people just laughed at the Suffragette, and Wolfe was way too far ahead of its time”. “So when I was born, there actually were only men. People were men. They all had one pronoun, his pronoun; so that’s who I am. I am the generic he, as in, ‘If anybody needs an abortion he will have to go to another state’, or ‘A writer knows which side of his bread is buttered on’. That’s me, the writer, him. I am a man.”
Friday, October 04, 2024
Monetizing desperation
Primitive societies work on
control. Desperation of common people is a potent site for control. Religion is
an effective means to capitalize and systematically create followers to assuage
desperation and tag it to other worldly cause. They actively create narration
of heaven and hell, blessing and fate, to capitalize desperation into morals as
control. As humanity progress -thanks to very few spaces around the world that
placed systems for nurturing some brilliant empathetic people while much of
world remained barbarians, education as consolidation of best of thoughts and
ideas from across the world presented a significant means to progress as a human
in a free society. Meanwhile awareness creates spiritual meditative space and provide
enlightened means to face existential absurdity and everyday gratitude. Associating
these wholesome humans create synergic progressive society and diversity of possibility…Well
things haven’t really worked out that way. Possibilities of liberty and freedom
has created much insecurity in minds incapacitated to value life. Medieval primitive
systems are nurtured and consolidated by devious forces capitalizing on people’s
insecurities. Feudal structures, while severely degrade democratic institutions,
are cunningly presented as stabilizing presence. These too-big-to-fall inviolable
chicanery consolidate argument for much sinister neoliberal structures that
parasite on people and nature. Ascriptive value systems find ways to exploitative
and mediocrity thriving status quo thus severely degrading society and
initiating further desperation. Crony capitalism, nepotism and wanton corruption
make democratic institutions and progressive values meaningless. Degraded values
nurture degraded institutions which in turn foster worst of people into responsible
positions thus further demeaning any possibilities of progressive ways. Desperate
herd hooked to blessing as expression of authority -of power and money, easily
fall for cognitive bias. Lacking critical thinking nor emotionally equipped for
empathy and better possibilities of human they desperately bang their heads
around to find means to please and improve fate. Desperation is carefully nurtured
by sinister sadists. Authority bias actively promote what is bad for individual
but good for herd. So as population balloons resources dwindle, consumption
increases environment deteriorates…they are incapacitated to connect these
dots. They exist disconnected to reality in desperation for more.
Cheap labor is another of neoliberal construction of wanton greed, devaluing human into their lowest possibility as discounted resource for narrow deal. In the ecosystem of greed and crave for money and power desperation is weaponized. Corporate jobs become battle ground for cheap labor and replaceable human commodity who’s ‘resources’ is now well and truly depleted for investor's pleasure and profit. Feudal values undermine democratic institutions hence nurture neoliberal vandalism preventing strict humane rules for working conditions and revaluing resources as individual humans. Compromised state is incapacitated to question narration of capitalism and dubious semantics of development and progress. The investor has to be perpetually pleased for sacredness of economic development. The meaning and intent of which nobody understands or cares while the development collapses life sustaining ecosystem and egalitarian values. Meaningless jobs and reckless systems alienate human being. Many give up, some suicide, while most morph into successful monsters that normalize exploitative narrations.
Tuesday, October 01, 2024
Dangerous escalation
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Need to urgently reevaluate capitalism
Monday, September 23, 2024
Saturday, September 21, 2024
Hooliganism to the fore
It was expected that Hindutva
works the benign aspect of religion -that in itself is deeply troubling
context, as opposed to vandalism by Castetva forces over the decades. Castetva cleverly
played on to western narration with adept working of semantics and devious posturing
as liberals. West -with recent angst over colonialism, and feudal compromised Britain,
desperately seeking lowest denominator for redemption reckoning found these
posturers worth cultivating. Hindutva is a necessary revolt and a closer association
to reality of this society, and as it is turning out to be, a deeply contaminated
one lacking humanistic concern and scraping worst of religion. Nevertheless despite
these serious unraveling -and cannot be isolated from what is happening across
the world, it is a necessary evolution over castetva -which surely has no place
as central role in society.
This astha pastha nonsense has gone too far, and has potential to severely damage the society -which in itself is primitive. Milk is produced by cows and buffaloes for its calf, definitely not for human consumption (centrality of human is an infection of most religions) so to ‘steal’ it and work it as ‘pure’ is morally flawed. So, this angst for purity is a mental illness, an infection of soul. The issue here is contamination of food. Corruption and greed sought cheaper options. And the cheaper it gets worst it becomes. And so animal fat was used. In a society with lackadaisical value system and nonexistent concern for rules life of human is cheap and is used as lessons on fate -an occasion to work brownie points for better blessing in next life, such is the deeply immoral and unethical society. The idea of vegetarian as pure is in itself flawed and spread by knucklehead squatters with narrative control. This society was never vegetarian. Hinduism was never about vegetarianism, nor are hindus vegetarian. It is the fringe sickness of purity that worked to degrade the society. Many ancient temples used to offer animal sacrifice and still do, some even serve sacrificial meat as 'prasadam' (quite common in many temple rituals in south India, infact when I was with Jaunsari tribes in Uttarakhand - who claim themselves to Panchali of Mahabharata, they sacrificed a goat at the temple top hill and distributed it to devotees). Vegetarianism is an evolved understanding, a choice, that comes with compassion which necessarily extends to every living being including humans unlike “pure vegetarianism” perpetuated by castetva cannibals as diversity and now settled into hindutva hooligans. These attempts to ask shopkeepers -who sell food and sweets, to reveal their religion is deeply troubling. The only thing that matters is whether rules are followed and food sold clears safety and hygiene standards.
Tirupati is worst demonstration of religion. These are patronized by rich and powerful and impressed upon herd hence making this ‘god’ as potent dispenser of power and money. Moral and ethics are least concern. With immoral squatters hereditarily occupying sanctum (hence authenticating caste system as also moral foundation of religion) to accepting corrupt money as gift is how these people normalize the worst. Asking devotees to pay extra money to break queue and offering VIP treatment for chosen few -that too in front of ‘god’, is how they codify morals for herd. The incapacitated bovine herd accepts these as fate. Noisy and crowded they lack contemplation of spiritual but torment of greed. To make matter worse auspicious days and timings are marked by unenlightened cunning creating extra crowd and stampede -in the mind of herd this is akin to happy hours of gods! With easy money and power by cannibalizing and fattening some even migrated to different part of the world. Inbred dimwits are arguably the most mediocre in the world but carry highest estimation of itself. This gap in expectation and reality is where the ridiculous claims and myths are vigorously worked history retrofitted. In a parallel universe a chimp with typewriter can write a bestseller -it can happen in infinite combination and permutation stretching to infinite time and space. So, an odd ball worthy is celebrated as normal outcome meanwhile the price the society has paid is immense indeed debilitated. A little recognition from anywhere in the world (the situation is pathetic) is worked to create the aura of blessing back home and inevitability of forces to acknowledge the brahmaand wisdom -that is already known by blessed and the world is yet to know, indeed such is uniqueness, that the world may even be incapable to know! So flying machines were already known and common! It had to be such is the blessedness that anything is possible! Indeed, some claim fueled by mercury -that ‘science’ will ultimately find out and acknowledge the brahmaand wisdom. Mercury vortex engine! Getting the sophisticated semantics is how knuckleheads awe, it is a lifelong ambition, indeed the only ambition hence almost always shoddy work lacking soul or competence whether spiritual, science or literature. The monkey jump was from sanskrit to english. This jump also worked as metaphor for modernity and liberal by castetva -and for many years correctness of language was definite signs of intelligence. The fact that they couldn’t even see the potential of everyday water vapour is least of humbling matter.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
What is lesser evil?
Pope Francis must answer. He is an influential figure and as the religious head cannot shirk responsibility. He is also responsible for these deaths and misery by nurturing this brutal crude ecosystem in the garb of religion. When critically scrutinized he is very much criminally liable. He must also explain what is lesser evil?
Dystopian Eaarth
We
have changed Earth in fundamental way. The physical feature of Earth is changing
rapidly. The hospitable Earth that we know is gone. We are now on dangerous Eaarth
-a dystopian reality. We have warmed the
planet, warm air holds more water vapor than cold, it rains harder and evaporate
faster. With sea ice melting, the albedo, or reflectivity, of arctic changes as
the mirror of white ice replaced by sun absorbing blue. Global temperature, heat
wave, rainfall, landslides, forest fires…have increased dangerously. Thunderstorms,
cyclones/hurricanes, lightning are more frequent and last longer. Methane chimneys
are opening up rapidly heating the planet further. The great rainforests are
dying. Plant yields and nutrition are falling, life giver phytoplankton are
dying, species are vanishing, biomass reducing and resilience of biodiversity
is falling. Oceans are acidifying, incapable to hold carbon nor sustain diverse
life, coral reefs are barren. Bacteria, parasites, algae blooms flourish, water
and mosquito borne diseases increase and spread. Extreme catastrophic events
are leading post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and variety of phobias,
and increased numbers of refugees. Add to it, warmer world is predicted to lead
to more wars and discords over shared water, rivers and arable land, violent
storms can even topple weak governments. The terrifying reality of end of cycle
of growth that institutions are hinged on. We don’t know how to regrow rain
forests, defreeze arctic, recreate ecosystems…
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Contrived narration
Narrations are controlled. Powerful
control narration that is deemed to be true and mainstreamed into herds through
regulated influence, communication and entertainment. In the last few years
these legacy instruments of control are seriously dented by social media and platforming
of grassroot voices. Despite serious misuse there is a strong element of dissemination
of democracy and diversity of views. As long as facts are nearer to the truth interpretations
of vibrant divergent voices matter.
Migration is constant feature in
nature, and so is with humans being an indelible part of nature. National borders
are quite a new understanding and seems like a recent aberration in long
history of free movement. Migration of people brings fresh ideas and energy
into hospitable community. The reason why there is migration to certain regions
of the world is an indication of better opportunity for enhancements which in turn
reflects value systems nurtured that creates better societies and space for
evolved ideas, thoughts and innovation. It is not an accident that recent progress
of humanity is nurtured in certain parts of the world. Much of freedom that
world experiences through ideas and technologies is largely due to regions of
the world nurtured by vibrant thoughts and humanistic concerns. This is not to say
that there aren’t any problems but these are idealized and percolates into
populace. Evolved society provides space for development, that doesn’t mean it will
be utilized for better by all. Most humans by their very nature seek security of community
in its lowest commonest denominator of responsibility and intellect. It is only
very few who consolidate and enhance progressive thoughts and scientific
thinking. Waves of immigrants from West due to famine (Ireland) and
prosecution (jews) found best possibilities in USA hence contributed to its
amazing progress. Sometimes society progresses so fast, essentially with free
speech and technology, that much of people are stuck in past. Despite technology
driven globalization last few years have seen consolidation of nationalist
feelings and rising insecurity among common people. Neoliberal value systems
and catastrophic impact of climate will make matter worse.
Other as enemy is easy to
construct. For charlatans dividing people on myths is to divert attention from realities
of poverty, corruption and existential crisis. The other is always a construct around which prejudice
and worst of fear are build. Fantastical narrations of juvenile religions creates
myths of grand herd obfuscating history of barbarians. Herd carry these crude identities
hence ease of the other. Skin color is oldest of the other that primitives associate
degrading values to demean the other. And, in societies with large migrations
this other is easy to spot and construct prejudices and myths of dire. It is
not to say that the other is always benign needy or carry vibrant possibilities
of difference and diversity. Examples of Europe, especially feudal-values-compromised-carrying-high-estimate-of-itself Britain, shows primitive other as immigrants
can severely degrade society and incite regressive revivalism and xenophobia. It
is therefore responsibility of society to decide what kind of people enter and assimilate
into them as also the numbers so that herd demography shift doesn’t pose the
worst and impact progressive values. As societies evolve it is but natural that
fertility rate reduces (barbarians, insecure and egoistic irresponsible breed
like pigs), as it is human population is significant cause of deteriorating
conditions across the world, serious impact on nature and debilitating pressure
on other species. Neoliberal market, religion driven charlatans and cunning politicians
have eternal need for breeding populace. Advancement in technology must suffice
the shortage of humans in advanced societies. Cheap labor cannot be an incentive
for immigration since it stands on the foundation of the other as cheap -less
valued, this degrades progressive values. Democracy, liberty and freedom are
cherished ideas on which progress of humanity is hinged hence cannot be
bartered. These are not religion based. These are humanistic evolved ideas through
best minds over centuries.
For the very reason allowing
immigrants is not religion based compassion, nor a moral right. It is a reasoned decision by state
weighing in conditions and situations. Devious forces may conspire but increasing
human population is never good for society, nation or earth. Ideally richer
society must evolve into compassion but it must be firmly hinged on realities
of state as also awareness of forces working to misuse as also need for assimilating into progressive values. Pope Francis comparison
of American presidential candidates is patently dangerous and irresponsible. There
is no comparison here. He need to comprehend the serious
situation. Migration happens because of unequal world. It is this inequality and
brutality of state and non-state that must be focus. You cannot slate
immigration to compassion and balance it with brutality of denying right for abortion (also, he needs to educate himself on the meaning of assassination,
really disgusted, totally unbecoming). Further, this religion-based balderdash of
human life being sacred exceptional must be dealt. Capital punishment must be appropriately
used in rarest of rare circumstance and cannot be given away as evolved value system.
It isn’t. It is an expression of religion (that centers human life) at the expense
of victim and family who faced heinous crimes and limited resource of poor society that must provide for law abiding. This ofcourse doesn’t mean eye
for an eye barbarian value of another religion extreme. Religion must face
logical exigencies of modern world and learn to value individual liberty or
face obsolesce as nuisance. Meanwhile Pope must urgently reconsider his stand on
American election and unconditionally support progressive candidate.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
well done!
Monday, September 09, 2024
Sunday, September 08, 2024
Exceptionalism of stupidity
What was once considered embarrassment,
an occasion to introspect and attempt to improve, is now seeking exceptionalism.
We entered the age of stupidity. Stupid people,
stupid occasions and happenings -a mischance now a norm, are watched and rewatched
and connected to deeply satisfying meaning of existence of appalling. Stupidity
was always present but in the sidelines deeply cognizant of its lack. With herd
hunters mollycoddling herd of their special bearing presence and unique attribute
as collective -that doesn’t pass any basic critically scrutiny, in a primitive society
history becomes a hunting ground for obsessive narrative control. Myths and
fiction replace the reality and is keenly worked to hold its say in the
present and worked into bleak future. Stupidity demands no strain on the intellect
and is easily swayed by glib and glitter. It helps nurture mediocrity and general
ugliness all around. It thrives on quantity and is deeply suspicious of quality
or anything that needs strain. Stupidity is in the comfort of laziness,
easiness of dealing and confidence of assertion. It is incapable, and is no
doubt incapacitated, to see beyond the veil of ignorance and self-righteous morality.
With social media providing unbridled access stupidness, lacking any discernible skill or redeeming quality, is now a vehement choice. Being stupid is no longer an embarrassment when you are bombarded with everyday stupidity as choice that see immense gain. Attribute of self-conscious, an indelible aspect of human to be circumspect and try to create a better version, is seen as inhibition -a problem. Choosing crass and crude is an expression of self that consolidates into collective sedation and acceptance of ugliness and irresponsible. In the overwhelming presence of mediocrity and ugliness truth and beauty shrinks. An ugly public space -building, statue etc., a mediocre shoddy work, crude unruly uncouth people…all conspire against subtleties and evolved possibilities. This diminishes humanity and pushes into violence of all forms.
With misinformation and disinformation, chaos and alienation, old world crumbling rapidly and technology intruding at breathtaking speed, the incapacity to accept complexities of meaning and absurd, the existential crave for certainty becomes urgent. Sedated unthinking mass is floating for anchor. Since responsible dealing with present needs incisive empathetic mind, and acceptance of ordinary lacking glitter or glamour or attention seeking, the insular primed in exceptionalism and grand myth of its collective becomes easy target for manipulators. Evil has logic and pattern hence can be dealt by analyzing and systematically negating. What when evil uses stupidity as its front? Stupidity by its very nature lacks logic or pattern, the crass excitable hops from one near catastrophe to new possible catastrophe. And with power to destroy world many times over we move from one precipice to another with baited breath while stupidity immune to immense urgent challenges celebrates its latest attention while the self-help industry and spiritual charlatans goad to enjoy the scene -live in the present, without any awareness or knowledge whatsoever, connect to pristine and pure stupidity!
Tuesday, September 03, 2024
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Middle class moralism hops out of woodwork
Kerala surely is scenic,
despite high density of population and not very agreeable people, the greenery
is soothing. The reason why I prefer Goa since it is a much refined version of
Kerala -very likely because Goa had violent past that also led to severe break down of
regressive value system and later impetus of international tourism as also vicinity
to mega cities like Mumbai, and relatively sparse population, created a fairly open
society. Sequestered between mountains and ocean Kerala assimilated outside influences
into its regressive clutch. An incorrigible provincial mind despite constant
exposure to outside world. A materialistic consumerist society even evaluated literacy
into its utilitarian fold. I have rarely seen such desperation for wealth from materially
comfortable people, a pathological insecurity of souls that is in constant
dread of how they are being evaluated by equally depraved other -the society. Arrogance,
ego, pride, pettiness are defining factor of human relations while simultaneous
hallucination of grander version of themselves that the world is in awe of. The
complexities of pathetic is to be lived to understand. Except for my college
days I really haven’t spent much time in Kerala, I never really was comfortable
in this oppressive place. Possibilities of Communism and Christianity have well
passed its utility -the Kerala model, and now is a mask of ridicule that cannot hide grim reality. Hinduism and
Islam rarely contributed anything of value except these versions of competitive
regressive grand that is now a sickness, an increasingly violent sickness that has enthusiastic participation from communists and crude christian revivalist moralism. Best of ideas
have found the worst of possibilities (here I am not referring to creative expressions
of music, art and colours -contribution of religions is significant but has
reached lifeless impasse). Language binds but literature is still wanting and
withers into appalling standards of newspapers and mass publication with futile
expectation to carry atleast some minimum creative humanistic subtlety from
long exposure to literate society. It is an extended middle class lacking vibrant intelligentsia or sophistication, the best is always in fringe and seen as threat. The size of their house, money in bank, level of literacy, may vary but what rivets them is same, they watch the same thing, eat the same stuff, talk the same and dream, crave, the same. It is as if benefits of material comfort, tremendous possibilities of education and subtleties of life have bypassed them. An extended needy puritanical
middle-class moralism assimilated through worst possibilities of religions, lacking
any cosmopolitan glimmer despite material richness, astounding natural sights, confluence of religions/philosophies and uncommon social development. This society is caught dead flaking itself to
find its soul.
Entertainment is extension of this limited worldview. For last many decades they entertained the herd into grander versions of themselves in sickening patriarchy and depraved traditions, pandering to the middle-class oppressive moralism and normalizing brute violent patriarchs as saviors. Lacking crude flashiness that is seen among crass - in other part of the country, they produced compelling movies that consolidated middle class moralism in its persuasive everyday narration. Not denying there were rare flashes of brilliance but overwhelming patriarchal cannibalistic concerns crested the deal with dangerous outcome for wellbeing of society and needs of responsible humans. In the recent times lots of malayalam movies have taken up progressive themes but is still shackled in deeply dehumanizing degraded social reality hinged to appalling past. The aftermath of Hema commission (that ofcourse has initiated well-meaning soul searching, and yes guilty must be punished starting with exemplary speedy punishment to blatant heinous crime allegedly orchestrated by an actor on an actress) has unleashed worst of people in the social media who really don’t understand value of freedom. Poking sarcastic malayalee primed in middle class moralism morphs into deranged regurgitator spewing venom. They have come out of woodwork in hordes satisfying the primal urge to watch the rich and famous tumble. In this fall is collective resurrection of middle-class moralism of mediocres and essential defining characteristics of gleeful primitives. Malayalam film has nobody to blame but itself. They nurtured the slime. Fat slimy chickens have now come home to roost. Rule of law must catch these chickens and tandoor them.
*When I was in college we had college fest, and as is the case there was dancing and crap. Newspaper (ofcourse MalayalaManorama -repository of depravities) took it up in a big way and reported it as immorality of college students, the defining word was “koothattam’ -meaning drunk dancing -hence breakdown of social order! This was my early brush with sophistication of middle class semantics. There are trigger words for middle class morality that easily seep and grip the psyche of listener, the meaningful nod is an indication from the recipient of full import with all the seen and unseen contexts. This deluge of trigger words is what is seen in social media in last few days. These are shared and liked as middle class self righteous puritan muck seeks redemption.
Sunday, August 25, 2024
The sickness
White people in West have taken
the burden of racism -which they brutally perpetuated, but much of the world is
racist in varying degrees of brutality. South Asians when they are in West -essentially
gained from feudal system, whine about racism against browns but nowhere I have
seen shops referred to as brown hotels or brown homes, nor black homes or black
lodge. Ofcourse, english language has embedded racism hence dark is valuated as
sinister while white as fair but that doesn’t and cannot exonerate local racism
and value systems that nurture these. Forget humans even animals are not spared.
We are aware of white cows in north India, in here, elephant that are kept as props for degrading rituals are evaluated on whiteness! Imagine the sickness.
They have worked features of magnificence and white being important marker in an essentially dark-skinned region -indeed the same had much sympathy towards white
people hence evaluated higher hierarchy. The dark magnificent creature is not
only exploited but has been assigned hierarchy on the level of whiteness! It’s
a deeply flawed society.
Worst of these are noted in Tamil Nadu –a region that had much potential and was attuned to face realities of medieval times and thrived into east Asia, and how sinister forces worked to undermine egalitarian movements and reduced it into caste cesspool. Tamil movies had a major role in this degradation. Meanwhile Hema Commission has opened pandora's box in Malayalam film industry- they make relatively better movies but overall amazing level of mediocrity while pandering to social morass, regressive ways, feudal references nurtured as valued identity while patriarchy morph into modern as sexist fun. What is seriously problematic is the story and intention, incapacitated to face pathetic reality it hinges on mythical grandeur and crude expressions, ofcourse in recent times there is marginal shift -as people access better entertainment options, but still is overwhelmingly degraded. The idea of entertainment as complex and elevating is rarely understood and appreciated in primitive society. It always falls back on lowest commonest denominator and in Indian case it really is a pit. It is a sexist world no doubt, there are exploitations but allegations cannot be taken on face value. In the overwhelming attention seeking value system, where everything is seen as opportunity for branding, an actress making allegations cannot be put on high pedestal, also the social context of exceptionalism and entitlement that is nurtured cannot be negated. Assault is a legal matter and must be dealt accordingly and not in the realm of wild speculations as entertainment. Two factors become paramount; one is whether there is pattern of allegations -that is multiple instances blaming a person, is a serious matter. Hence one-off incident, maybe serious, must be understood in the context -chance of fictitious cannot be ruled out. Also, in a profession where physical involvement is common everything is subjective, and in Indian context situation is complex. The idea that women cannot be perpetrators doesn't stand the scrutiny of cannibalistic society. Also, there are lots of low talent manipulators trying to gain attention in high stake money churning glamour world. Attention is branding. Director Ranjit (who is extremely talented and widely respected) being treated like this is deeply disconcerting and doesn’t augur well. Voyeurs and hooters are having field day, tarnishing lives and muddling issue is not how you deal. Secondly, serious allegations of rape and child molestation must be dealt strictly (the actor against whom grave allegation of orchestrating assault is still able to act in movies while process of justice languishes is a sick joke on society). How are some able to control the system in their favour must be scrutinized. Is the film industry under the control of exploitative cartel? Hopefully these are unraveled and guilty punished. WCC has done remarkable work.
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Lackadaisical system, scyophantic theatrics and britishery
Watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86LjZ0Gak2U
This is what I commented on the above video in the site. This in the aftermath of brutal rape murder in Kolkata. So, after brutal crime facilitated by horrible social values, insensitive police -there were cases against him on brutalities committed, appalling lack that led to his recruitment in sensitive role, apathy of hospital administration, worst of possibilities facilitated by system that led to heinous crime, and then in the aftermath criminal 'conspiracy' and worst of people, political posturing, hooligans unleashed to scuttle the matter, media drama ...and now the sterling performance at the Court. Quite tired of these incorrigible buffoons while common people are exploited.
"it's an absolute travesty on people of this country that apart from lackadaisical systems that they endure on daily basis now we see judges referred to as lordship, reeks of obsequious drawl. These ridiculous theatrics of british value system (britishery) further burdens what essentially is feudal primitive society (also note little details like difference in size of chairs -these crude nuances are passed on to common people/sycophants as reference of power display and hierarchy details cringe). Be professional and cut the nonsense. Refer to him as Mr. Chandrachud or a curt Sir or Mr. or Shri or something neutral without regressive context. They are not f*cking lords, they are appointed to arbitrate justice by carefully studying and evaluating facts (and yes we are also not interested in their unsolicited regressive views on matters which they are least competent). Also, look at the 'celebrity' lawyers who are paid ransom -that in itself is criminal, creating ruckus instead of working to get to the truth of the matter (also, unethically using his/her position to barter for position like RS member/minister). Disgraceful"