Pulsation

Ocean pound relentless deep crevices in the rock

Caves gouge into the dark

Air diffused in life, the gills, spiracles, trachea

Oxygen scour bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli and attach hemoglobin

The eddies I faintly sense on the nostrils

Is it the trepidation for profound act of life?

Every breath a reminder, a memory

Baton passed from every tribulation in every turn

From molecules to complex to me

Creating this moment

My body is my reality

In this sparkling scene

The earth material dissolves into earth

The star material resonates with stars
A pulsation that is shaped in universe     

ChatGPT's horror

 So, I had taken break for 12 odd days. No connection with the world in any form. I used to do these quite often in the past, if not always complete disconnect atleast partial. In the last few months I found myself working overtime, a kind of frenzied reading and writing. This is quite unlike me, probably I am sensing mortality with body indicating serious signs of breakdown and winding up. So I had to gather myself. Add to it the social media and constant urge to go online and scroll even while reading. I prefer to do nothing, sit quietly, go for long walk in quieter places, observe things and then maybe enter into good reading or scribbling something I fancy. This is the pattern that truly awakens me. And here I am in crowded noisy places, frenzied reading and writing that surely is not the way I am. A break was needed. So, I asked ChatGPT to summarize the international, national and local news for me including prominent obituaries of last two weeks. The generative Chatbot informed that David Attenborough has passed away. Devastated I immediately searched for details, shocking to find that no much attention was given by international media, and soon found that he is very much alive. Horrified by this unpardonable gaffe I confronted Chatbot. The Chatbot nonchalantly apologized "for the confusion" and thanked me for "attention to detail!". Apart from absolute impersonal response the attempt at exclamatory mark to lighten such serious oversight is what left me lost and vacant. Then the realization that it is quite possible for even humans to behave this normally these days. AI is emulating the abstraction of people I come across quite often that has stopped stupefying my sensibilities.

Tapping unpredicted pattern

 

I am totally into AI (frankly I am totally into anything that interests and excites, I get sidetrack quite often and loose my way). I also like to observe my wacky brain -messed up jelly that goes haywire, that I chase even to the darkest corners (and I am quite sure each brain is as messy). It is an interesting ride, provided you keep it in leash not to cross the law and poke too much into social norms that offend herd, not that I am bothered. What is remarkable about human brain (incidentally the most sophisticated thing in the universe) is that, eventhough it is distracted quite easily and is mostly restive and in danger of doing absolute crap, when it concentrates it can go on for hours without you even realizing. Left to my own I can go on forever. There are instances where you start reading a book in the night, and then start hearing crows and ask yourself ‘what’s with the crows?’ and realize it is morning!

AI is emergent alright, and can connect patterns which may not be accessible to us (the other day Hassabis was quoted saying that within five years we will get enough sophistication to make black box transparent, like a brain scan!). So, it can connect nuanced and sophisticated patterns hence emergent creative qualities. It is therefore more than what it is fed is settled thing. What is really interesting is unintended. This grey area of gibberish referred to as hallucination. I recall interesting take on it as mutation (Suleyman). So, it is possible to be alive to another reality that is yet to be explored. Studying how my brain works -particularly in acquiring english, and the strategies I aligned to, helps me to understand working of generative AI better. There is something much interesting that happens sometimes, and that is tapping into unpredicted pattern, and this is what I am quite excited about when it comes to AI, apart from all the latest breathtaking innovations.

When I access an idea or an interesting complexity or an ephemeral thought and want to convert it into writing I am more focused on few keywords and so immediately push in chain of words into the slots to create a sentence. Many a times the jumble spreads to intended meaning and you can refine it further but mostly it is gibberish, so you access the iterative learning of structure of language from persistent reading to work a logical sequence. And when it feels right you know you have done the job as a communicator, as a writer. What is remarkable here is sometimes words sequencing into unintended pattern. This has happened to me many times, particularly while scribbling poems and occasionally while writing paragraphs. Some line, that is unintended pattern, carrying insightful idea appear from nowhere and wrench it into entirely different direction and take you by complete surprise. This is what is immensely exciting, the access to unknown -not as well thought out deliberate logical action but unexpressed and unexpected, and you really have to be ready for it. It is like walking in crowded Chandni chowk with myriad bylanes and turns and you accidently step into one and end up at an interesting place! Sometimes I end in unintended pattern as I mistook the meaning of word and use it without realizing and later when cross check with dictionary I get meaning and a hint of a new thought. What is clear is unintended pattern exist and is within the realm of reach. I am quite excited about this as I do the parallel possibility with AI. Imagine the best of writers from all the languages and the possibility of AI that could bring out sophisticated unintended pattern from extremely sensitive and talented writings, it is accessing something deeper than complex subconscious. This is one space worth watching.          

                  

Another world

There is a world

Where every possibility of potential finds expression

Every path pursued to its infinite fractals of repeats

To meet and assimilate as dream of self in all possible realities. 

In a train that appears to travel parallel

I sight myself looking out of window

A counterfactual life that took off from some untaken turn

Was that a reflection or limits of reason?

Surprised I look carefully

Time halts to moment

A continuum of crisscrossing thoughts

Collapse into particles and vanish

I bathe in moonlight of hundred moons

And wait for thousand suns to rise.   

Carbon emission responsibility

 

So, they are fighting over who is developed and who is developing at COP. While we are still at the basics the monarchist feudal hedonistic theocratic fuel guzzling Saudis are doing their do, that is, being irresponsible and carefully skirting the line which could see West fall in their own trap of Islamophobia and so angst back off! Well, ruffled feathers could be mend with expensive gifts. Nice. Meanwhile in 2025 arrogant Americans will present the savior of white gun hugging racist christians to the world. Every charlatan will find a readymade scapegoat on the world stage to point finger and take eyes off them as they cut loose and go digging for oil. The herd is blissfully unaware, and when there is a deluge and find themselves stranded in flood they realize there is no help coming from anywhere. As these becomes normal, they will be forgotten and dumped into nearest pit. There are next cyclones, forest fires, heatwaves, food price to worry about.

There is no binary of developed and developing in climate debate. There is no them and us in global crisis. Some regions have historical pollution that gave them all the luxuries -ofcourse they were smart to invent and discover science and technology and new ways to prosper, good for them, but now when we calculate the carbon in the atmosphere their contribution cannot be negated, and they will have to take responsibility, and will have to pay according to their share. Which also means we cannot hinge everything on historical polluters and not fix responsibility on present days wanton emitters. Instead of fixed nations and binary of developed and developing some new mechanism of fixing responsibility must be thought about. World has advanced in last few decades the knowledge of these must be included. Essentially it is a multinational effort involving multidisciplinary experts and professionals from crucial areas. With my limited understanding, using the knowledge of punting (wherein there are various factors that influence the outcome of a race, historical data -past performance, incidents, races in various distances, timing after handicap factoring, age, shift in equipment and performance so on, latest data -training details, weight gains, handicap, distance, trainer record, jockey skills/weight, equipment change so on, dynamic data -that is evolving including look of the horse at paddock, grapevine information, cheating pattern so on and open to new unexpected factors), there are more complexities. Hence the system must be attuned to cater to these. For instance, historical pollution is a factor that include reparation as compensation, and for the contemporary pollution, per capita emission be taken and then use measurements like Gini coefficient -assign some value so that we get a fair representation. Total emission of nation must also be a factor, and be calculated on the areas/size of the nation, so that population increase is not an incentive and shouldn’t hide under capita emission ruse by richer sections in poor countries. There are many factors including dynamic, like, actions taken by state (and not promises), after comprehensive evaluation all these be given weightage (indeed the discussion should have been on this) and with the use of sophisticated AI come out with a new understanding on fixing responsibility and strategies. Mitigative actions carry complexities and conditions of region hence resources be assigned accordingly. I am sure much smarter people with experience have better insights.                      

Trees face extinction

 

At the COP16 Biodiversity summit in Cali, Columbia, IUCN released first ever Global Tree Assessment report. It presents shocking state of world trees. 38% of the world's trees are now threatened with extinction. Tree species are at risk of extinction in 192 countries around the world. Trees now account for over one quarter of species on the IUCN Red List, and the number of threatened trees is more than double the number of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined. Human being has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970. Insect population has decreased by 75%. Freshwater habitat are the worst hit with population collapse of 85% (from 1970-2014 WWF report, and yes last ten years must have made it worse). So even if the destruction were to be paused today it will take atleast 5 to 7 million years for the natural world to recover. The recovery period is increasingly alarmingly moving to tipping point of no return.  

Trees are defining component of many ecosystems, and are fundamental to life on Earth through their role in carbon, water and nutrient cycles, soil formation and climate regulation. They provide habitat for many species as also livelihood to people. Trees cool the surrounding and provide shade, as also contribute to identity and aesthetics of the place. Trees are part of myth, folklore and stories, and are soul satisfying presence. Many species of plants and trees are saved by “kavu” -sacred groves in the forest or dense vegetation mostly inhabited by snakes, quite common in Kerala and Coorg (Karnataka). These are preserved for thousands of years and traces to proto religion that respected nature (possibly for fear of unknown forces that dense dark forest represented). There are no deity but some rocks or shape of cobra's hood. You light a lamp and do a silent pray, and leave everything as it is. As basic and as profound. Ofcourse in recent times religion has claimed these spaces and vandalized with structures and noise, but the sacredness remains and is therefore protected. These spaces are now refuge for rare species of plants and trees, and possibly microorganisms that will have much significance in future.

Clearing forest for farming and agriculture are the biggest threat to trees apart from logging, as also pests and diseases that is set to rise with increase in temperature. Increasing number of forest fires have significantly impacted the species biomass. Recent study points to possible extinction of legume tree, Vachellia bolei, along the TamilNadu coast mainly due to sand mining and conversion for cultivation. Human population and increasing consumption is the common factor in all the problems we face. Yet devious people are worried about falling fertility rate in some regions (as society evolves and increase in sophistication population will decrease, it is now for the technology to compensate as also increase comfort with more efficiency and less consumption of resources). Dark empaths working on neoliberal needs and primitive parameters of religion perform worry for falling human population and sniff out these as ‘news’. These opportunists shouldn’t be allowed to control narration. There cannot be any incentive for increasing human fertility.

*According to the report magnolias are most threatened tree species. Sampige (Magnolia Champaca) is a special tree, I used to carry those light-yellow tepals (tepals are fused petals and sepals -fun fact here is magnolias evolved before bees and depend on beetles for pollination hence these sturdier tepals) in my pocket -such agreeable light fragrance. Sampige road in Bangalore is now crowded and noisy hell but in mid-2000s was much quieter and a lovely place to walk.     

The rise of dark empaths

 

There is consolidation of extreme forces in democratic societies across the world favoring authoritarian leaders. Rising insecurity and disconnect in globalized world and lack of worth in increasingly transactional nature of society could be factors. What is not given much attention is the sinister rise of dark empaths and how they systematically degraded institutions. The reason why there is no caution against dark empaths is because they are quite comfortable in neoliberal value system hence have occupied crucial positions and narration controls. They define success hence the characteristic of dark empaths is positioned as desirable. Dark empaths moved in into the mainstream in mid-1990s as the neoliberal world went about globalizing. Consumerism defined every aspect of deal from news to entertainment to education to even human relations and emotions. If it has market value then it is useful, everything else can be dumped or strive to find monetization potential. Unthinking youngsters trapped in the system earnestly go about working out career in jobs that seeks monetization possibility from anything anywhere. The neoliberal claws are ready and constantly sharpened to grasp any possibility of monetization even in bleakest of situation. In this extractive system technology adds to the efficiency of exploit and effectiveness of control.             

Empathy is important and a valued attribute that defines human being. To be attuned to other’s emotions and care for their feelings is even exhibited by most toddlers before they even learn to speak. Empathy makes us social beings and for a considerate and caring society -evidence shows that the extinct humans Neanderthals also exhibited empathy and cared for their sick. Dark empaths however use empathy to manipulate for gains, named after a 2021 study, it is characterized by dark traits combined with empathy. Dark empaths use cognitive empathy, so they cognitively recognize how something might make you feel, and use that knowledge to manipulate you. Cognitive empathy is logically understanding other’s feeling and needs. It is different from emotional empathy wherein the person feels the worry and pain as if they are jointly experiencing hence cannot keep detached, there is a genuine remorse. There is another much deeper empathy referred to as compassionate empathy -a strong desire to help others and will go out of the way to make other’s feel better. I have come across compassionate empathy they are rare gem of a people who really shouldn’t be existing in this cruel world. Long time back as a witness to an accident on Pusa Road, and here I was emotionally empathizing and distressed, this girl went out of the way to help the man, she poured water and used bare hands to carefully wipe his face to reduce pain (it’s a nasty world, and sincerely hope she is in better surrounding with her world intact, such people don’t last long). I also have come across nurses with zero empathy who probably wouldn’t mind pulling the plug. Some 16years back I wrote about psychopaths in media who filmed a dying man, you may visit https://depalan.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-put-value-on-human-life.html. 

Dark empaths use cognitive empathy to understand how you are feeling and make it seem that they care but are manipulating for personal gains. They keep an emotional distance while performing empathy (in a cognitive way) this help to keep sharp focus on their sinister intent and control. They carry dark traits -maladaptive personality constructs (in mainstream these are commonly referred to as the 'Dark Triad', of Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism, I recall discussing these few years back while discussing the book Corruptible -Who Gets Power And How It Changes Us by Brian Klaas). Dark empaths overlap is more towards narcissism, a sense of entitlement, grandiosity and self-importance, but unlike narcist dark empath -as they are aware of empathy, carry self judgement capacity not as a remorse but to improve. They also carry some attributes of Machiavellian and psychopaths, the callous superficial charm. Through their cognitive empathy dark empaths know what others want to see and so can don a mask of kindness and caring. This is precisely what neoliberal vandalism of last few decades have nurtured as they exploited people and nature: a competitive space for angst. So, carefully working the system they positioned as caring and concerned for people. With the spread of neoliberal there is competition for angst capital by NGOs (granting that some are doing tremendous work at grassroot level but most are posturers). These dark empaths work around the power centers and are active in debates and issues that presents to showcase empathy. They carefully observe the powerful (who themselves are in varying dark triad, thanks to extractive system that nurture these) and position to what is appreciated. With charm and guile they present themselves as benign concerned souls, mostly mediocres they compensate through manipulating and exaggerating their worth. Empathy being the lynchpin to work their ruse. So you have stampede of lawyers, journalists, actors…so on working overtime to showcase their empathy through activism. Carefully orchestrating to the needs of plum positions, awards and other goodies. Dark empaths degrade institutions, and are active agents of nepotism and crony capitalism. They exaggerate crucial issues in their zest for empathy to ridiculous and hence the backlash that further degrades. Woke is the work of dark empaths. Every issue from migration to LGBTQ to minorities are spoiled and made meaningless and divisive. Narcissist overlap creates high sense of entitlement and grandiose that brush genuine concerns of common people or even common sense. An empathetic person will be concerned and will know the limit beyond which it hurts. But for dark empaths there are no such concerns, there are no limits. Empathy keeps flowing as much as opportunities widens, and as the backlash creates divisions and vitiate the matter they charmingly position as benign empathy driven arbitrators and representors of morals. Henceforth there are only opportunities, and their aggressive pursuit among competing dark empaths that the extractive system keeps nurturing as stories of success. They have contempt for people (justified since most are herd and unthinking mass that are easily charmed) and instead of addressing issues or even attempting to retrieve humanity from herd they actively go about complicating the issue, lacking humility or restraint, using jargons of human rights they take highest moral ground to taunt common people for their lack. Their self assuredness solidifies with increasing insecurities of common people. Instead of simplifying they complicate in the egos of issues without any attempt to nuance the complexity. The mystification is for the ease of manipulation. The arrogant complacency of the system and condescending attitude results in charlatans providing simplistic version to stupefy populace.

The rise of attention seeking economy have only empowered dark empaths as they spread wide and across. The woke backlash consolidated them as defender of higher values that has diminishing takers. Meanwhile common people across the world pay a heavy price as democratic institutions takes beating and so the critical issues of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. Dark empaths for their nefarious gain have significantly contributed to rise of authoritarianism and diminishing crucial issues and polarization of society. I was reading Han Kang’s Human Act -strongly recommended book, these few lines are pertinent “…we’d all performed the miracle of stepping outside the shell of our own selves, one person’s tender skin coming into grazed contact with another, felt as though they were rethreading the sinews of that world heart, patching up the fissures from which blood had flowed, making it beat again. That was what captured me, what has stayed with me ever since…”. Other is not imagined. Other is lived. Lived in experiences that binds to profound realization of humanity.      

**the pic herein is of common place black empath in India. 

The attention seekers before attention seeking was an economy! The pic is morphed since it is not about any particular person, it is a snapshot of grandiose of dark empaths. Imagine the utter lack to post this. Essentially mediocre they claw their way up with nepotistic connection and very high sense of entitlement (matching the castetva cannibals and positioning to fight hindutva). Few decades back I observed these regrets carefully before being appalled and shutting them out. Most dark empaths are slick, and they wouldn’t make such mistakes. It is exaggerated self-worth and itch to exhibit blessedness as fate to teeming population placed in crude society is what makes this noteworthy unhinge. Same as another unhinged dark empath creep conjuring ‘slum cake’ in an hedonist exhibition of wanton impunity from reality.        

The ber tree*

The lone tree in the crowded street

Has withdrawn to itself

Covered in vehicle soot and dust

Tied for banner, drilled for adverts

It doesn’t wave to anyone nor acknowledges the plastic chewing cow

Leaves drooped in the weight of everyday chaos

It doesn’t shimmer in rain nor unfurl in the bright sun

Like a mirage in desolate desert

It stands neglected in the streaming crowd

Inhaling softly all day long

(the carbon and pollutants)

And exhale all of it into the night

Quietly ascend the stars

To work the magic of glossy mushy drupe

That delight the children on the way back from school

A gentle deference to everyday lived

So that no creature is devoid of divine quest 

*Indian jujube tree

Listen to her

 

Mia Mottley, the PM of Barbados, is the person who presents glimmer of hope in an exceedingly bleak world as it cruises towards the titanic iceberg of climate flip and breakdown. We know we are heading for a head on, and the distance reduces at an alarming rate as we keep assuring that it is still too far. Atleast the passengers on the Titanic didn’t have to go through this agony of imminent disaster. Ms. Mottley is an urgent and extremely articulate representor of vulnerable small nation on the brink of the onslaught of climate breakdown. She is therefore relentless and quite clearly passionately committed to seek solutions and unite for global action. Her views therefore carry earnestness of practical solutions hence gets to the crux of the matter without any pretensions. 

Climate finance is a matter that needs urgent attention to immediately initiate mitigative and adaptive measures. Her call for innovative source of finance, as also suggestions like making business class flying expensive, tax on stock and bond trade, $5 per ton tax on fossil fuel emission so on are doable. Something modelling Tobin Tax is the need not only as a climate finance but also reduce debilitating speculative trade. This is also the occasion for innovative reparative justice (must be noted that Barbados recently removed colonial feudal british system and declared itself a republic, asserting dignity is beginning of nation building, shunning extractive systems that nurture regressive mindset is foundation of a just society). Historical pollution is an important space for framing justice, therefore the obligation for sustainable technology transfer to poorer and vulnerable societies.                

 

 

I carry words

I light the fire to heat the word

Pound and chisel to get the shape

Squint to check the dimensions

Does it fit the image or align emotions

Not my concern

Every night I sneak into the darkness

Through the crack in the wall

I pass it to anguished poets of banished world

To scour sediment of neglect

To witness the whimsical in multitude

And save myself as everyone     

     

Media is dead

  

Importance of liberal democracy is not understood since nobody is bothered. Everyone is selfish and playacting concern to consolidate power. Social media has empowered people no doubt but also to fully act on their own selfish opportunist ways that they observe and emulate from powerful people as they amass riches with least effort. Collective news source no longer exists. People are living in alternate realities. Media is dead (to paraphrase Nietzsche). Whatever media may say they no longer hold the narration of collective. Ofcourse, most do source check the facts but their narrative are agenda driven and controlled by extremely rich people seeking more influence. Their focus and prioritization are biased to their ideology and profit from sponsors. Legacy media worked to extend the status quo and balance the regressive. To assert that they stand for truth is spacious. The reason why people desperately look for alternate source of news is because they don’t trust, or else they choose the easy ways of daily sedation by dumbed down infotainment of least responsibility.

We therefore live in post-media world. When collective is no longer source for information it creates its own problems. It is responsibility of the state and tech platform to authenticate facts, create systems to red flag and tag misinformation and disinformation. There is explosion of variety of opinions, that is not controlled and disseminated by elite and narrow interests. With access to authentic facts, it is for individual to choose what to read and frame his or her thoughts on. Value education, compassion and aesthetic sensibilities will create the framework for better. Therefore, in this post media world the state has a huge responsibility to invest in quality education and critical thinking. It must invest collective activities for young, active involvement in nature like kitchen gardening, butterfly parks, maintaining trees, bird watching so on. Best of education is rooted to uniqueness of each life and biodiversity in which they nurture. Such connectedness nurture understanding and therefore compassion for other life. This is investment for better future. Social institutions that actively value and strengthen framework of empathy and compassion. Creative people who extend creative sensibilities of society. Technology has increased speed of access to the world and rapidly multiplied possibilities of senses but that shouldn’t be the reason to hasten pace of life. There is a need to slow down. Our experience of life needs slower introspective involvement to bring in the best possibilities. State is dutybound to create framework for people to find their uniqueness and connect to surrounding. It should no longer be an individual pursuit, long delayed. State must invest in public areas where people are actively discouraged from using smart devices. Spaces for people to sit around for as long as they want, parks and garden with biodiversity, unique attributes of the habitat and value the ordinary. Quieter ‘boring’ places needs to be part of life’s experience that is being actively sought to be negated. Too much excitement over inane is not adding to anything but people on dopamine rush with low attention. It is a mix that surely cannot produce anything worthy. There is an urgent need for new narration to redefine what we value.

Cycle lanes and footpaths actively slow down pace of life while being sustainable and healthy. Work space can encourage a day without technology every month or so. Areas to spent leisure time without much activity or purpose must be encouraged. More information and awareness need space for cooling the mind, ability to evaluate and understand, space to think. Slowing down makes delicate nuances and astonishing complexities accessible. Connecting to world fast is exciting but shouldn’t decide conduct of life and how we experience. Neoliberal value system has created this framework of fast technology equated to fast pace of life so as to work their ‘development’ model which is based on fast consumption defined as ‘growth’ on juvenile assumption of unending resources and no consequences. Apart from environment impact and individual wellbeing what is not discussed is how it is working to define collective sensibilities and connection to surrounding. People are increasingly getting alienated through technology, further isolated from surroundings through in social media, they create alternate world through virtual associations that is not able to distinguish fantastical from real hence easily fall prey to all kinds of fake narrations. A strong foundation of quality education, compassion and refined sensibilities is a barrier from the pull of rot of hate groups, extremist views, supremacist chauvinistic ideas and exceptionalism, conspiracy theories and all the worst possibilities. Since they are not able to find alternate to neoliberal capitalism nor refine and reevaluate the premise of development and growth it is for people to insist on slow down spaces so as to retrieve their being. We are not cog in neoliberal greed nor does job define our value or need to occupy ourselves from fear of our worst selves.                    

 

Wokeism and profound disconnect

 

I value words therefore with deep sense of anguish I use this word: woke. I refused to give in as the word was being appropriated and vandalized. Woke is a beautiful word that traces to 1930s black American call for staying politically and culturally awake “stay woke, keep eyes open”. Essentially it means to be alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice, along with being aware of what's going on. It was widely used during BlackLifeMatter movement and quickly broaden to include other issues, seeping into frivolous posturers hence lost intend, very soon the backlash saw it being used as sarcasm for ‘performative activism’ and mocked as ‘overrighteous liberalism’. Now the word is used as a sort of abuse in social media. ‘Woke culture’ ‘woke mind virus’ is free for all space for all kinds of slur. It is a study on valued word being reduced to insult. So I too will go along with it since it appropriately abstracts the contemporary context that is becoming too common. We are therefore living in woke world where everyone is performing for attention, righteousness has clientele in West and fits in narration of angst. Western angst is a feeling that arise when you know you are compromised and want to cover it up with overindulgence of righteousness that is essentially at the expense of others. This angst is carefully packed to showcase themselves as benign arbitrators, the civilized presence. It doesn’t ask for systems change nor critical scrutiny since it will negate their significance and expose their complicity. Woke is fake indulgence that severely degrades society. Woke’s performative activism takes matter to extreme to show its hold over common people as also a challenge to its competitors in the game of righteousness. It also cleverly morphs their role in systems that perpetuates the same. Historical injustices must be studied and understood to the context of time, and when you understand you realize that there are systems which controls and nurture individual actions essentially to perpetuate the system. A primitive society nurture such institutions and unevolved humans in different stages of barbarity will thoughtlessly indulge in these atrocities. Hence, it’s important to remove systems that nurtures injustices and discriminations. Systems that undermine democratic ideals, equality and liberty. Performative activism is carefully orchestrated to avoid questioning the system. Wokeism is here and now without any complexities or difficult questions.    

Horrors of slavery and untold trauma committed on blacks as they were dislocated from Africa and transported to Europe and US has no parallels in history. Hence no one should attempt to play surrogates for blacks. It must be understood clearly that racism against blacks is not same as racism against Asians or anyone else, it is also woke travesty to conflate racism with religion. Which also means any institution and system that nurture racism against blacks have no place in contemporary world and must be dismantled. Any racism against black must be dealt severely with all the understanding and significance of historical injustice. Which also means the humans living now are not to be treated as extension of past instead every attempt be made to remove any injustice in the present. Dismantling systems that continue injustice of past must be priority with quality education and nutritional security for children. Woke performative justice creates dissension and is meant to keep the infighting going for benefits. They rarely question anything that doesn’t benefit them. Clearly, performance is orchestrated for benefits. They uniquely lack compassion (except as posturing in front of audience) and are mostly obnoxious people with serious attention seeking needs. They cunningly use people to score points among their ilk. They stampede for power, awards, extract benefits from those whom they are purportedly fighting, they grab as they playact their woke concerns that is increasingly disjointed from realities of people they are vying to save. Comfortably placed, and rarely affected by vicissitudes of life that engulf most people, they actively vitiate the situation to gain attention as savior. They are clever status quoist conniving to replace and not change anything. Their beliefs are tailored to the need, a ruse to exact price for effort and a tool to compete for status. Hence the effort is always symbolic, lacking any motivation to improve the system, positioning themselves as actively involved representation. Their self-obsession is matched by stampede for self-aggrandizing relevance that will keep attention on them. The one on the left side of wokeism seek puritanical idealism that is further disjointed from common people, and is meant for scoring high moral grounds and intellectual bearing. They manipulate egalitarian intents and democratic institutions to their specific needs and narrow interests, not surprisingly against the interest of people whom they seek to represent. Beleaguered people also face backlash that is directed against woke making situation worst for them.  

Minority rights matters in a democratic society, but to reduce diversity into extremism of narrow religious identity, and to fixate humans into this primitive conception, is woke. Also, not to question transgression of religion into democracy is woke. Not to question how it segregates and dehumanizes gender (and race in US) is woke. To tolerate intolerance is not liberal, nor democratic. Issue of migrants is having serious ramification all across Europe and consolidating rightist response. Migrants are important contributors in any society but migrants don’t have divine right to enter any nation-state. Illegal migrants are a threat anywhere in the world. The state in its wisdom and compassion will take its call understanding the consequences and impact on its society, importantly citizenship to migrant has to go through stringent process. Invoking history doesn’t help, nobody is interested. Speak the contemporary reality. Even recent migrants to US (now citizens) don’t want new immigrants to the country and seek stricter control of migrants. They voted for Trump. This is what happens when elitism loose contact with reality of common people. They will vote for any plain-speaking charlatan to protect what they estimate as threat to their livelihood and security. 

LGBTQ rights are important, they are vulnerable minority who are prosecuted in most part of the world. Compassion to their plight is what defines humane society and to institutionalize their rights is democratic. But this cannot be taken to extreme. They cannot start asserting (“identifying with”) all kinds of nonsense and create nuisance in public space. Nor can it be allowed to diminish and override women’s right. Individual right is valued and must be protected but not over others. Woke is arrogant estimation of one’s special place in people life and complacency of this self-assuredness. A compassionate leader would easily understand the problem common people perceive and actively involve to assuage. If Trump speaks of children coming back from school with gender change it is not about facts but putting the centrality of issue into people’s daily discourse. Whether you criticize or not you end up discussing it, and once you discuss you bring in your bias. So even though it has nothing to do with you or your reality you have fallen for the divisive agenda. Woke inflated for righteous indulgence and presented to charlatans to play savior. It is easy choice for common people. A logical compassionate leader would have clearly asserted that children cannot decide hence there will be law for no sex change until they are adult nor any violations on their body until they reach age of consent. Period. Since woke values did not allow this, charlatans worked overtime to exploit this minor matter into major threat posed to idea of family and really worked into common people's fear. If Trump talked nonsense about Haitian immigrants eating pets. It is not about pets. It is about migrants. It is a devious strategy to trigger and inflate the issue in people’s mind. Fantastical the claims the better. And if it has even a sliver of experience to their life or what they have understood from media as a threat they will latch on. It is not difficult to present pattern of migrant violence in Europe, it may be biased or minor incidents in spiraling violence but that inconsequential sliver of truth creates a narration and is inflated into their reality and conflated to their problem. Issues related to transgender is too insignificant matter but they are exaggerated with general threat to way of life.  They didn’t vote for stuttering old wind bag, they voted for a man who took vulgar potshot against insular elites. He himself is the rich elite was lost since woke was worked to represent elitist threat.

Views must be engaged and responded with skills of argumentation and critical thinking faculties and not cancelled if it doesn’t fit in one's narration. Nor should it be classified into silos of binary and dismissed. Those in public space as leaders and opinion influencers have arduous task and immense responsibility. Not to fall into cliché or totalizing ideologies, and actively pursue to create narration that address challenges of contemporary world. Unfortunately, very few people understand gravity of Nazi association and horror, they have no time nor caliber to contemplate on history. They go by easy narrations that synch with their world and challenges they face or made to perceive -we live in world of perception primed by neoliberal system. If responsible compassionate people don’t get actively involved in deciphering complexities into simple terms for common people, then opportunist charlatans will provide the simplistic versions to occupy the mind and vandalize. One shouldn’t undermine the misogynistic framework that is nurtured by patriarchal values of religion. That ‘cheap grace’ estimate women as second grade citizen who cannot even have control over their body is easily extended to resistance to women in leadership position. Kamala Harris was way better than Trump on every parameter but she lost has also to do with toxic masculinity fostered by religion in its sickening patriarchal moral euphemisms that comes alive in modern institutions and crucial discourses. Even a man of the stature of Pope -a moral authority for millions of followers, couldn’t locate the evil in simplest of binary choice is indicative of predicament of common people.   

The horror

     USA is diminished and has become a burden on humanity. Our mistake we took them seriously and placed high expectation (they though presents an interesting study on complacency and arrogance). It will be difficult to contain the splatter (the disgust as the world will have to again tolerate this obnoxious narcist for next 4years, and if he dies in office the next one). World has become significantly unpredictable in such a crucial juncture. US has failed, failed very badly. Looking back I think defeat of Al Gore (who had the potential to be one of the greatest American president ever) -that was orchestrated by the system, was the turning point. They didn't find the need to rectify the flaw. It is steep downhill from here. Brace yourself. Feels like passengers on Titanic as it hit the iceberg, they couldn't believe what they thought as invincible is drowning. Imagine the consternation, and then the utter horror. 

 Violent souls, but only
 As the hollow men
 The stuffed men. (TS Eliot)