It is terrifying to see train accidents, every time i see one i feel so very lucky and cannot help thinking for unfortunate victims. I guess this is what makes people fatalists, when things are not in control what else can one do? And then you have reports that maybe policy makers are not being competent. Railway ministry is a plum ministry, i hear. Everything said and done accidents shouldn’t happen but one has to consider comparing the number of trains and the passengers travelling (it almost is a size of a nation on the move), therefore statistically one may say that accidents rates are not very high. I guess it was last year and i was on a train from Bhuvneshwar to Howrah and for few seconds there was this huge clattering noise as if train is going through mound of gravel. That probably was longest few seconds for all of us. Some people really got panicky; i too went into maybe-this-is-how-it-is-going-to-end kind of thought. Fortunately for us nothing happened, and everyone exchanged some nervous smile and went back to their business. Collective fear can be a terrifying moment, it takes precious time to extricate oneself and think as an individual and pretend to be unconcerned (some mistake it for courage).
What individualism means to Murdoch and what it meant to Oscar Wilde
It is to be noted that individualism does not come to the man with any sickly cant about duty, which merely means doing what other people want because they want it, or any hideous cant of self sacrifice, which is merely a survival of savage mutilation. In fact, it does not come to a man with any claims upon him at all. It comes naturally and inevitably out of man. It is the point to which all development tends. It is the differentiation to which all organisms grow. It is the perfection that is inherent in every mode of life, and toward
s which every mode of life quickens. And so individualism exercises no compulsion over man. On the contrary, it says to man that he should suffer no compulsion to be exercised over him. It does not try to force people to be good. It knows people are good when they are let alone. Man will develop individualism out of himself. Man is now so developing individualism. To ask whether individualism is practical is like asking whether evolution is practical. Evolution is the law of life, and there is no evolution except towards individualism. Where this tendency is not expressed, it is a case of artificially arrested growth, or of disease, or of death. Individualism will also be unselfish and unaffected...That was a paragraph from The Soul of Man Under Socialism. In the same essay – incidentally written more than a century ago, Oscar Wilde writes something that is so very prescient “English public opinion, that is to say, tries to constrain and impede and warp the man who makes things that are beautiful in effect, and compels the journalist to retail things that are ugly, or disgusting, or revolting in fact, so that we have the most serious journalists in the world and the most indecent newspapers. It is no exaggeration to talk of compulsion. There are possibly some journalists who take a real pleasure in publishing horrible things, or who, being poor, look to scandals as forming a sort of permanent basis for an income. But there are journalists, i feel certain, men of education and cultivation, who really dislike publishing these things, who knows that it is wrong to do so, and only do it because the unhealthy conditions under which their occupation is carried on oblige them to supply the public with what the public wants, and to compete with other journalists in making that supply as full and satisfying to the gross popular appetite as possible. It is a very degrading position for anybody of educated men to be placed in, and i have no doubt that most of them feel it acutely”.
Writing in today's Guardian Newspaper Columnist George Monbiot suggests a charter for National union of Journalist . What is true here for Britain is also true for all the world
“Our primary task is to hold power to account. We will prioritise those stories and issues which expose the interests o
f power. We will be wary of the relationships we form with the rich and powerful, and ensure that we don't become embedded in their society. We will not curry favour with politicians, businesses or other dominant groups by withholding scrutiny of their affairs, or twisting a story to suit their interests....We will stand up to the interests of the businesses we work for, and the advertisers which fund them. We will never take money for promulgating a particular opinion, and we will resist attempts to oblige us to adopt one...
We will recognise and understand the power we wield and how it originates. We will challenge ourselves and our perception of the world as much as we challenge other people. When we turn out to be wrong, we will say so".
This is what Press Council of India had to say "News is meant to be objective, fair and neutral – this is what sets apart such information and opinion from advertisements that are paid for by corporate entities, governments, organizations or individuals. What happens when the distinction between news and advertisements start blurring, when advertisements double up as news that have been paid for, or when “news” is published in favour of a particular politician by selling editorial spaces? In such situations, a section of the reader or the viewer can hardly distinguish between news reports and advertisements/advertorials. Marketing executives use the services of journalists – willingly or otherwise – to gain access to political personalities. So-called “rate cards” or “packages” are distributed that often include “rates” for publication of “news” items that not merely praise particular candidates but also criticize their political opponents. Candidates who do not go along with such practices on the part of media organizations may be denied coverage. Sections of the media in India have willy-nilly become participants and players in such practices that contribute to the growing use of money power in politics which undermines democratic processes and norms –while hypocritically pretending to occupy a high moral ground. This has not merely undermined democracy in India but also tarnished the country’s reputation".
