Thursday, August 08, 2024
Tuesday, August 06, 2024
Must face rule of law
Monday, August 05, 2024
Bangladesh at the brink
India has serious problems, but
one will consider oneself to be fortunate to be born in this relatively
peaceful part of the world, enjoying much freedom, considering how tumultuous neighborhood
of India is; with dangerous expansionist authoritarian China, Army controlled islamist
nurturing fragile democracy in Pakistan, Islamist barbarian Taliban
ruled Afghanistan (though doesn’t share immediate border but quite close for
comfort), brutal military junta of Myanmar, perpetually politically unstable Nepal, relatively stable Srilanka
with hoary recent past…Bangladesh was a peaceful nation with functioning democracy. One
common factor in this densely populated region of Indian subcontinent is
complacent entitled ruling class characterized by feudal ways. Disparities are institutionalized,
they pit people against each other to distract and manipulate to extend their rule
and influence meanwhile institutions are degraded for status quo benefits. Most
of the problems can be traced to this value system that prevents percolation of
democracy. Freedom becomes pernicious idea as aware people are seen as threat. Slowly desperate people consolidate to revolt against the system that is making democracy meaningless and doesn’t
add much value to their life. It is generally the protesting youth who are able
to channelize their genuine grievances, and very soon it is taken over by sinister opportunist forces, and if democracy is fragile then the Army stakes it claim -as they are powerful and organized to easily fill the vacuum, or else if the herd are controlled by sinister religions (more organized
worst are possibilities) then you can expect further degradation. We have seen
the textbook case in Egypt. Popular egalitarian movement against dictator was hijacked by religion which in turn was quashed by Army -as agent of progressive but
essentially blackmailing the society. Pakistan and Myanmar are examples of army
and religion sharing and consolidating their power, this consolidated power is
easy to control by sinister outside forces who really don’t give much damn
about common people except maybe by activating some NGOs to bleat and make necessary
noise. As in the case of Balkans where bigger forces like US and Russia are
playing proxy war by fueling regional conflicts Indian subcontinent is fast becoming an arena of increasingly dangerous expansionist authoritarian
China and sidelined US. Weakening US is a danger to world since democracies are
fragile and needs support. China lacks value system that favors humanitarian concern.
US too has its selfish concerns but atleast there is semblance of democracy and
is relatively free and open hence can be challenged on human rights and ethics
and is indeed responsive unlike authoritarian China. US has vibrant civil
society who are genuinely concerned and enjoy all freedom and rights unlike
sinister ways of China. World should be concerned about growth of China. Should
China be allowed access to latest technologies that could be misused and carry serious ramifications for humanity? Democracy is not a choice it is essential for every human
on this planet. The value of human being is cherished by freedom. Expansionist China
has no pretension of democracy nor any concern for human rights. This in many
ways seems similar to colonial forces and US involvements across the world during much
of 20th century. But there is a qualitative difference with China as there
are no pretentions whatsoever (as also closed authoritarian regime that severely
restricts and abuses its own citizens), and that is a significant degradation and a scary prospect for the world.
Complacent entitled leaders in
Bangladesh tried to divide youngsters by favoring few to consolidate their ideology.
They were incapacitated to perceive the desperation of common people particularly the young as they unleashed brutal crackdown. Reserving seats
is expression of feudal value system, and to expand it arbitrarily for political
gain is amazingly short sighted. Quota is against open access to opportunity. Instead
of easy measures to divide and gain a mature system would focus to ameliorate
root cause and assuage people by taking logical compassion driven measures (it is
quite possible that India could see widespread
outburst against reservations -that is also seen as increasingly corrupted and made meaningless by lack of target and misused by consolidations, that
is being used by sinister forces for divide and gain at the expense of people.
Castetva forces are evil, and have cannibalised Indian society for decades. Beware).
When PM Sheikh Hasina cut short her visit from China few days back there were clear
indications that something was seriously amiss and that the sinister forces have used
student's protests to gain control, very likely with outside agencies working to capitalize
and control. This poverty ridden nation with large population and high density severely threatened by climate change is in increasing consolidation of Islamist
network. This doesn’t augur well for the stability of the region at all. What remains
to be seen is whether Army consolidates progressive forces and arbitrates to consolidate democracy
or is it going to degrade democratic institutions by nurturing islamists and
controlling power. Bangladeshis are much vibrant people and carry passion of revolutionary
Bengalis, and so will they be controlled by regressive forces or will they
fight to gain control needs to watched. Considering endemic poverty and desperation
the system is loaded against them.
Saturday, August 03, 2024
Bob Beamon declares it open
It is amazing to watch the best of people express possibilities of body. At the pinnacle of sport, the binary of winning and losing doesn’t make any sense and really doesn’t matter. The difference between the top few is quite insignificant. If you have done your best, you have done well. This doesn’t mean it is not about participation. You have to perform to your best. Which means best has to be good enough and an expression of collective possibility of human body through strive and excellence in chosen field. People finishing too far from the best are in the wrong place. Watching those in the zone pushing the boundary of possibility is a pleasure to watch. It is amazingly beautiful. I was watching Simone Miles. There was a glitch in the uneven bar, bend knees -just shows human frailty despite amazing capacity, and she slipped in ranking but covered with astounding floor routine (it was anything but routine). Though Andrade and Lee, and few more, were equally good, Miles stood out -she I believe like Beaman, Phelps, Bolt…is once in a lifetime talent. Pushing possibilities, a notch up, for humanity to catch, making the impossible normal, same when a precocious human took a bipedal step, sowed first wild seed to grow food, bold enough to look up at the stars to see a pattern and try to use his/her critical faculties to access speck of vast reality, to see rising water vapor and wonder the possibilities of energy that could drive tons of weight, with searing power of imagination and delicate choice of words “A moment -we uncertain step For the newness of night -Then fit our Vision to the Dark…” shifted the world a little. There are few people who stretch human imagination. Essentially these are not few they are many who work to create framework for this possibility, it's incremental mostly but once in a while, like a mutation, a leap is taken into the unknown for the world to cling to new possibility. So, to class it into binary of winning and losing is futile. It is a celebration of possibilities.
Researchers and epidemiologists have pointed to certain regions in the world for new type of viruses and
bacteria to evolve and cross over to human to trigger pandemic. There are some defining
characteristic to the region, significant being presence of high diversity and intense
channels of exchange of microorganisms. These lead to new possibilities of
microorganism to evolve and spread fast, sometimes leading to such evolution that completely break human immune system. These regions are vibrant with possibilities
of new. I vaguely recall while reading Pearl Buck (I picked from pavement sale)
there was mention on regions in the world with possibilities of new ideas and talent. A region
with diversity, essential openness to thoughts and ideas, and bizarre, these are
essential to abstract pathbreaking novel. Diversity is important ingredient, not
the degrading insipid diversity of religion nor status quo stale traditions (or
the cesspool diversity normalized by word defecating vermins) but vibrancy of thoughts from different races, regions, of world carrying fresh experiences, new
vitality of culture and understanding, and assimilating and creating new possibilities.
Such regions are treasured places for humanity. From ancient times (whether
Egypt or Greece, buddhist centers from India to China to East Asia) to medieval
times (in Europe like Vienna or later Paris) to modern (earlier London to later
NewYork), to point few centers that created such spaces. Libraries did reduce
the distance and time, but it is internet that made space and time meaningless,
it has consolidated collective human mind. The reason why humanity is living in
high possibility of new that was never possible. Novel ideas, original thoughts, unique creative
expressions, travels and ricochets across the world instantly entering more number of
minds than ever before. This with AI -like Alphafold, makes it accessible to
anyone anywhere across the world to take it up. Truly amazing.
**some Indians too have done exceedingly well particularly in shooting, archery and badminton, they may not have converted into medals but are in the zone of excellence, they gave their best and did well, that is what matters. Some faltered not in talent but psychological pressure -which unlike other region of the world carries aspiration of more than billion beleaguered people, so the competitors from China or Korea or US or Australia (to whom they generally lose) have no such mental pressure whatsoever. In this context the performance Manu Bhaker is stupendous, this youngster won two bronze and narrowly missed third. To put it in perspective only two decades back India could manage only one bronze in the entire game! Also note, most Indian participants come from extremely humble background so the expectation from these youngsters must be extraordinarily. Even after performing well, take for instance VijayKumar (silver medal at London Olympics), they are swiftly sidelined by mediocrity thriving careless system. The despicables in cash fattened Indian army found him wanting. Ideally Neeraj Chopra should show middle finger to Indian Army and quit. He may not realize that he has done more to Indian army than they can ever possibly redeem, it is well past emotional gratitude trap (Also, NDRF must have complete control of disaster management and rescue, and is upgraded into separate force, Army is meant to protect border and not to play savior during floods/landslide).
Thursday, August 01, 2024
Trees kill people!
This is the conclusion of pretentious
mediocre legacy media in the aftermath of major landslide that killed around
200-the fatalities keep rising as many are missing, injured hundreds and
left thousands bereaved and cataclysmically changed their life. To make such appalling
statements in the midst of human tragedy adds to ridicule gravity of crisis and
meant to mock people by entitled insular primitives posing as media. To be fair
the intention was to ridicule MadhavGadgil report -as they have persistently done
for last many years, it was preemptive attempt as the report gains credence
among people facing the fury of nature. A well-fed neoliberal lobby is working
to feed the greed, as also tighten their sinister influence over self-serving insidious
narration. This christian controlled media is quite influential in Kerala as it
runs many milch outlets and has a significant control over narration -which ofcourse
is weakening with rise of social media. They have major role in degradation of Kerala
into cesspool of pathetic, and its incapacity to capitalize literacy into
education, meanwhile also effectively using ‘minority’ status to play liberal-secular
savior with easy mix of wanton consumerism that pitiable people are addicted to.
Also recall that Church was very much against MadhavGadgil report and were
central to orchestrated protests. It is but natural that primal connection with
media will be displayed.
So what can we do except praying and upgrade fate, hence construct more churches, temples and mosques etc. Keep the herd distracted and isolated from reality with fun and frolic as news and entertainment, and when tragedy strikes bring out riveting stories of suffering with intrusive videos and pictures, and emphasis divine role of fate. Afterall what can we do when climate change is beyond us? We are trained to salivate at blessedness when crude amazingly mediocre attention seeking sundry buy latest fossil fuel guzzler luxury vehicle and is a news.
**When I was a kid one of the quiz
related questions was about largest selling newspaper in India, it actually
shocked everybody that this Malayalam newspaper from little state in south
India topped the list. And then teacher would ask ‘anyone from Kerala in the
class?”, and for a kid it was moment of pride, now increasingly clear misplaced, regrettable and sickening. It’s good that the readership and stranglehold of these
sinister legacy media is dropping and mostly confined to elder generation. Like
Kasturi&Sons they too can start investing in local kirana store rather than
playing high moral saviors. Except herd seeking career politicians and attention seeking parasites nobody takes
them seriously. Indeed, this degraded society has many media outlets oozing out of
putrid pits as diversity pus that infects readers into self-assured literate
incorrigible primitives.
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Killer landslides
Madhav Gadgil is an ecologist, an
expert in his field, he did meticulous study of Western Ghats, spent years travelling
the region and came out with a timely report. The report (with other experts as members) is a bench mark on conservation
of Western ghats. So, what did the government do? They appointed former ISRO
head (to call these people scientist is an insult, don’t think these pitiable ritualists
understand significance of being a scientist), the fellow used space map/technology
to mark out ‘green area’ and worked his presentable report. Basically, it was a
hit job for the government without understanding of ground reality or any inclination
what he was doing nor implication of his con act. It shows ethical values of former
ISRO employee (and so the present govt even found him suitable, over competent educationists
active in the field, to prepare policy report on education, such is the influence
our man has built up over the years!). Not at all surprising since these people
are nurtured by government, politicians, deep state agencies hence they are all ready
for the job in lieu of power and influence (that also puts in context to his out of
turn promotions throughout his career). Today’s landslide that killed more than 100
people in Wayanad (Kerala) is very much result of wanton exploitation of
Western Ghat that likes of KasturiRangan facilitated with his shoddy deeply unethical
involvement. He is very much responsible for criminal negligence and should
indeed be arrested. A high-level committee must be setup to find out what are
the factors that led to dilution of MadhavGadgil report and who all were
involved in this criminal conspiracy.
*As for me I understood the significance of MadhavGadgil report, and attempts to undermine it, so cycled from Kochi to Goa discussing importance of report to school and college students. It was more than a decade back.
(a disclosure: even if there were no reports I would have still cycled, and found some other cause to get sponsor! Who doesn’t want to cycle in monsoon rain! -ofcourse now rain is dreaded, how things have changed in a decade, and how it could change in a decade to come).
Monday, July 29, 2024
When death is murder
Weapon of murder is callousness,
apathy, a characteristic disregard for human life. These deaths are not
accident or fate but murder by well-nourished system orchestrating against
vulnerable. Time and place keep shifting but the template of gross violation on
life continues. The play of blessedness and fate is iterated as eternal and a lesson.
A cyclical nature beyond our control, so it is cleverly posited as nothing to do
with corruption, greed or criminal negligence, even with evidence they are
brushed aside or undermined with alacrity, the sinister system is too seeped
into soul that it is incapacitated to be reformed. It is cunningly appropriated
as fate and an occasion to drivel into people their precarious existence. The
only option presented with much fanfare and testimonial from sideshow celebrities
and attention seeking dopamine is to better your fate. Here too are charlatans
ready with ritual of solutions to fleece. Since fate is death and misery while
blessedness is money and power so this stampede to acquire, capture, grab, by
whatever means. In this skewed degraded system, that conceives every occasion
as an opportunity to make money and increase power and influence, majority are
fated to be crushed while few emerge as winners to be emulated as lessons on
inspiration. There is rarely any moment of self-reflection since critical
foundation of society (religion/tradition/market/culture/relations/elders) is
compromised and streamlined to serve these aspirations of success. Thus, the
richest beggars and most powerful beggars are compelling role models for
aspiring beggars. They provide meaning by compulsive exhibitionism of their
shallow vacuous lives to enthusiasts incapacitated of any discerning skills or
nuanced understanding whatsoever. This self-consuming loop is fed by institution
under the garb of freedom and choice. These infect every aspect of life whether
education, entertainment, art, spiritual or leisure. Nature, environment,
humans, animals, are transactional in this worldview and its value to be
assigned in the matrix of benefit. Every possibility of better human being is
reduced and aggregated to means of intense social mobility of gathering power,
money and influence. This journey, the desperation and final accomplishment of
goals, is what makes life story simple and easy to understand. Complexities and
vibrancy of living is rarely attempted, if ever, as minor sideshow, detour,
character fault, to main story -established life pattern. The mind is cherished
in juvenile, intellect celebrated in adolescent glories. What possibility do
you see of such a society?
Three youngsters drowned (few
days back one was electrocuted) and died horrible deaths trapped in shops tailormade
to lowest evaluation of education. They were milch end of horrible operators
including greedy authorities, irresponsible administrators, fleecing property
dealers and hawkers of short cut knowledge. Almost three decades back I was in
the same situation. I stayed about 100m away from the scene of tragedy, I know
the place very well, the horrible value system and transactional objectified
deals of greed, abject neglect, an overwhelming sense of insecurity at every
turn (carefree youthfulness probably helped). Water clogging and drowning the
area is not uncommon in this place (I recall a neighborhood boy washed away in
the drainage few feet away from where I resided -an intensely polluted, noisy
and congested locality, it affected me deeply and I really couldn’t sleep for
few days until they found the body -essentially skeleton about a week later,
had a sense of closure), so the claim that those who constructed new posh glittery
building, as a façade to churn money by trapping the hapless, were not aware of
recurring flooding in the area and so conveniently allowed basement into paid libraries
of death trap are deceitful awful people an essential abstraction of
characteristic values that define these cesspool of humanity -not that all are
nasty I knew some wonderful people too but these were almost always exceptions.
I too was an extremely vulnerable
youngster very much enmeshed in the degraded system, a simple pawn with no inkling
of sinister forces at play. Not much reading, brought up in simple worldview,
good thing for me was unlike other youngsters I really had no much aspiration (it
wasn’t really thought driven but since I was messed up and would get things
wrong hence the idea of trying within the defined didn’t work, and what I liked
didn’t matter), when people were planning future of going abroad and corporate
jobs I took the decision of moving to Chennai (then madras) ostensibly for
‘career’ but really I was tired of sunset at beach and wanted to see sunrise
every day and that is precisely what I did! Those were my motivation. Very soon
I realized “preparing for competitive exam” was an excellent strategy to immune
oneself from surrounding, so from ‘preparing for MBA’ I stumbled upon ‘preparing
for civil services’ quite accidently and found that it was long drawn out hence
perfectly suiting my singular struggle to be left alone. I was quite a slow
reader but what I read I found extremely interesting. Frankly I wasn’t into any
matrix of power aspirational career or ambition to prove ‘intelligence’ that
motivates these kind of career but somehow along the way reading became a motivation
(lot of time in the name of ‘preparation for exams’ suited me immensely which
slowly but deliberately led to serious reading, quite surprising shift since my
recent obsessions were war comics), very soon I forgot about these exams and
was reading beyond, and so shifted to compelling world of fiction, and soon
realized I had lot to read meanwhile searched for reading related jobs and then
finally to part time jobs that didn’t consume me (now that itself is another
parallel struggle of skilling in public speaking, play act so on). Concentration
was not a problem but shifting it from making spitbubbles, and let it land on
page and rounding the random word, to reading was a challenge! Soon reading
became central to my being, and for about three years I was just reading and
reading the better and best. I used to shock people by saying “man you can
murder someone if you want but don’t forget to read good book a week, and when
you read good books you realize murder is futile, a waste of time!”, everybody
is in existential mess. Realizing appalling limitedness of Indian writers, I
was into best of the world, soon became a discerning reader. It is about this
time I got the urge to write. I never really got a sentence right in my life,
and I messed up everytime and so very soon gave up the idea of writing as too
farfetched unachievable framework (framework are nuanced understanding and
works on increasing probables unlike binary crass ideas of target or goal), but
the urge to write was strong (it is not to be mistaken for motivation and fall
into regrettable self-help industry cliché), very much fueled by overwhelming self-assuredness
of mediocre Indian writing, and so I wrote a paragraph every day and compared
with master writers so on. So, from reading, to writing, to public speaking, as
also interacting with strangers was a struggle, I somehow worked it fairly
well. I took up jobs that gave steady income for daily expense without
consuming time, and gave me lot of free time to explore as also gave impetus to
pursue jobs that were entirely new and interesting. I even tried HR related
nonsense called personality development. I took it for fun and soon realized
they pay huge amount but found it stale, superficial and against my value
system. I stumbled into Civil service interview only a decade back, and found
it immensely interesting as it needed depth of knowledge (as also suited my
middle age increasingly bored mistaken for stern demeanor). This helped me to channelize
the latest innovation, expand my understanding and finetune my reading. I also
realized that like ‘preparing for exams’, after certain age, people voluntarily
leave you alone! It is extremely gratifying in an intrusive crude society,
ofcourse the context shift is from hopeful to hopeless that never really
bothered me.
The intention of writing these is
to show that apathy by responsible makes life miserable for vulnerable, it
leads to death and misery. Vulnerability leads to anxiety hence the system must
not only be responsible but empathetic. A primitive society degrades and restricts
choices for youngsters, it straight jackets life into narrow degraded deal. It makes
it immensely difficult, therefore takes enormous effort, to find oneself. Most
are not able to and gobbled up by insouciant negligence, many are oppressed in
the weight of the struggle and taper off into vacant life. In rare instances
the oppressive system can create positives. I never ever thought I will take up
writing (and people around me still don’t know I do write), and I am able to
express myself the way I want to is immensely satisfying meanwhile tighten some
screws and hit some nuts to work the complacent.
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Longue vie à la France!
Olympic opening ceremony was one
of the best in the living memory. Contemporary, elevating freedom and fun, fierce
individual assertion in a classic French way that makes it endearing and will
be remembered for a long time to come. No staid choreography -that is reflection
of authoritarian order, but lively chaos of life on river and monuments. Idea of
France is a defining idea of humanity, and to assert that in such energetic
carefree way is what defines human life. This is also what sports is all about.
Liberty and freedom are indelible hope for future that stand against limiting feudal
world and restrictive religions. Pièce de resistance was ofcourse spectacular scene
of beheaded Marie Antoinette, shocking and hilarious –a constant reminder of sinister presence of feudal values that
degrade our ideas of just world and threaten our hard-won ideals on which
humanity is hinged. French people condemned monarchy to the dustbin of history, flourished in new energy of freedom and with it breached sacred narration of feudals as status quo settled space for social progress (what it created was cesspool of ascriptive exceptionalism and exploitative value system). Emulation of last supper was counter narration that very
much reflected contemporary assertion of individual choices and a firm statement
on diversity against authority cultivated by sacred mainstream icons. It also reminds
us that how liberty and freedom is being restricted and really cannot be
counter narration but celebration. We can imagine a world without religion and
border. We can imagine diversity of lively choices that defines what it is to be
human. Longue vie à la France! May they assert their values and define humanity
for better deal and a beacon for hopeful future. My only concern was that they could
have included valuable indigenous voices from French speaking regions.
Meanwhile usual social media outrage
and rage loop of lowest denominator attention seeking industry was alive with
ridiculous and wasted. Some calling it satanic, lucifer, pagan, garbage, and
what not, ofcourse with detail analysis in well exploited template of conspiracy
theory for herd to munch on. Worst of the people were triggered. Mediocre castetva media
in India too showed its tentacles (sample herein) linking nutcases to create
narration that align with their ‘pure’ worldview. They have also found ‘pure’ allies
in feudal Britain to fight hindutva! They are charmers and movers of degraded sinister
world. Beware.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Monday, July 22, 2024
Dangers of divine rights and coronation
US is a flawed nation. But despite
its horrible flaws it continues to be one of the few spaces on earth which
values democracy, liberty and equality -how much of it is practiced can be
debated but structure is intact and intend is valued. Much of best human endeavor originates
in US hence to a large extent path of humanity’s progress and hope. US remains a
significant nation and indeed a positive presence despite the horrors. It is
for no reason that much of the world wants to, and continues to, migrate to US
as it provides opportunities and freedom. It provides the best of the world,
and ofcourse the worst of what a liberal progressive society can bring. Open societies expects responsibility and awareness to sustain, and this is where it is collapsing.
Neoliberal hedonism can give impression of liberty and freedom but it is severely
limited and sets the rot. Rule of law is collective will that comes with
awareness of duties of citizens, or else we get violence and police overreach,
there is general lack of trust on individuals and institutions which gives way
to authoritarian rule. Neoliberal hedonist values breed pernicious nihilism
that is mistaken for individualism. It leads to alienation and regressive
collective consolidation. Lulled into alternate reality, consumerism sedated
reasoning faculties, fantastical grandeur that opulence presents creates vision
of chosen people, abstracting worst template from religion for atavistic consolidation.
In a very riveting way, you could trace Huxleyian indulgence consolidating
into Orwellian nightmare. Lack of awareness and irresponsible ways also means
they are incapacitated to fathom the loss, the irretrievable nature of collapse.
It happens when all the breathtaking human progress, unique context of
evolution, is lost in daily inanities and bickering. Degradation of democracy
is a loss to humanity. This becomes critical considering that much of world is deeply
enmeshed in primitive swath -the evertightening grip of uncouths that is also
actively nurtured by opportunist manipulators in liberal world. Democratic institutions,
defining values of human progress like freedom, equality and liberty, are constantly
being threatened, weakened and compromised, not only by fascist forces but also
by dangerous liberal posing debauch persistently undermining ideas of diversity
by encouraging regressive as collective identity. Semantics of primitive horrible
past is being carelessly used to forever freeze narration and condemn humanity
into recurring hell. Trapped in a fantastical alternate reality they are incapacitated
to glimpse the profound progress all around nor are equipped to realize spectacular
opportunities to evolve and understand. Exciting possibilities and hopes of
future are lost in limiting intellect and instead constructed past becomes dreamland of
perfection. Insatiable neoliberal wanton greed and omnipotence of opulence gives
way to visions of mythical grandeur of past devoid of any context or care. From this putrid cesspool the calls
of revivalist con artists gains credence.
The foundation of US is consolidation
of republic that defeated monarchy, the british monarchy -theatre of absurd is
still kept intact as a tribute and sustenance to feudal values across the world.
US, despite problems, stands as beacon of democracy and liberty. Recent ruling
by SCOTUS giving immunity to charlatan Trump invokes medieval concept of divine right -an exception
not meant for common people, this british value system is a severe assault on progressive
ideas, liberty and equality, it is an affront to modern world we live in. Now, anointing Kamala Harris as successor without due
process is another blot on democracy. Democracy is not about coronation with
cabal of nodding elite, blessing media and hooting plebs. Democratic party is in increasing
danger of becoming like Republicans in their pursuit of power.
Saturday, July 20, 2024
When evil is beyond Kafkaesque
Monday, July 15, 2024
Alternate reality is weaponized
There were always attempts by
sinister forces to create alternate reality so as to trap humans for control
and gain. Religion and neoliberal market are compelling source of alternate
reality. The seeds for religions were spiritual yearning for better understanding
of reality that weren’t apparent to immediate experience of senses. It also
attempted to understand egalitarian values and spread morals which had
significant impact on consolidation of humanistic ideas and ethics. Alternate
reality in this context was idealized version, evolved reality, that were sought
to be inspiration for compassionate humans and a better society. It was also an
attempt to understand human condition hence also opening philosophies of inquiry.
As religion consolidated and moved away from benign intents systems of
alternate reality became source of control. Instead of empathizing with human
condition and reality of their existence it proceeded to systematically strengthen
alternate reality with specific aim to trap and control people in the garb of
faith. Sacredness and holiness were judiciously used to create systems of
control in the alternate reality. Capitalism infected market with its own
alternate reality of exaggeration and manipulation for immediate monetary
profit, in many cases working closely with religion. Emotions were once valued,
now it is commodity for exploitation. Human relations that were meant to
consolidate society into better self is now occasion for manipulation. So what
we have is herd fixated on gains from alternate reality (manifested through blessedness,
good fortune, closely working with opportunism and crude values) while losing
track of their reality, alarmingly in many cases use of mental faculties and
basic sense.
Enter AI. AI brings exciting
possibilities of exploring reality in a way that is beyond human capacity
indeed not available to human consciousness, it is redefining reality as we
know -as mentioned earlier AlphaZero and Halicin are marvelous example in the
limited context that shows immense possibilities of AI. It has potential to
make deeper reality accessible to us beyond human capacity. Meanwhile, in a not
entirely unexpected turn of events, it is being used to weaponize alternate
reality. It has increased potency for misinformation and disinformation and provided
ammunition to conspiracy theories. Fake is now compelling and fast replacing
real, and with it devious people normalized into everyday life in a new
urgency. Unless AI apps are stringently regulated and responsibility assigned
this is downhill with devastating consequence. It is important that AI apps (as
also oversight on foundational models) is aligned to liberal values and factual
probabilities without restricting its creative possibilities. What is being
played out in US is a lesson to the world. In 24/7 social media glare each happening
has conspiracy mongers scooping in with alarming alacrity and amazing efficiency,
and with latest intrusive technology they consolidate compelling alternate
reality to polarize and control the narration. As it is AI chatbots have
increased efficiency to manipulate emotions in a way that is unthinkable and
scary. With its superior reasoning that is beyond human conception it is
unhinging our critical thinking faculties; it has sown doubts on our abilities
as human. At this critical juncture we need to firmly hold on to our deepest
held ideas and consolidate humanist liberal values that define modern society
and possibilities of better future. AI must be unraveled and put in context by the
deeper meaning of what it is to be a human.
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Friday, July 12, 2024
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Cumulonimbus is moving in
A decade back south west monsoon
used to be languorous incessant rain, sometimes intense, but mostly dreamy stretch
of cirrus stratus clouds and lively scenes. Rainy season stalled action, people
shifted to special diet, lazy intonation of prayers and ayurvedic treatment for
yearly rejuvenation. Intensity, and frequency of these intense rains, have
increased dramatically in the last few years. Rain is now dreaded. It has
become an omen for sinister natural forces in abidance. Kerala, a strip of fragile
land locked between mountain and ocean, is extremely vulnerable. In my
understanding Ockhi cyclone in 2017 was the trigger point indication of irreversible
climate flip. Ockhi was a rare cyclone that crossed from east coast to west
coast -taking people in the region by complete surprise, and travelled almost
2000km. After Ockhi there are clear indications that weather is detaching from
fixed pattern into increasingly troubling unknown, things are not going to be
the same again.
Saturday, July 06, 2024
Faith of the matter
The last post was meant to be
about stampede that killed more than hundred people and maimed hundreds more
but I meandered into something else and decided I may not have to express
thoughts on something that happens at regular basis in this blessed part of the
world. But the way barbarians in the media are going for the onslaught, and the
narration that is sought to be consolidated leaves me deeply troubled. Need to
also add I avoid TV nor waste time on popular media of what is essentially a mediocrity
thriving society that has potential to ensnare and waste you (apart from regular nonsense, including necessary slant to the news to conform deep narration, there is an obsessive interest in private life of entertainers and attention seeking upstart sundries, the voyeurism is intended to infect people while they gain attention and life affirming branding of superficial lives). I generally catch
news trends on social media since I am located here, one must have a side glance
on local, as also national, and international trends that excites herd since an excited
herd has the high probability to intrude your world. If you don’t keep an eye
on herd, you could be caught off-guard and trampled.
So, in the aftermath of stampede that killed
more than hundred and left many more seriously injured the nasty media was
working on controlling narration. Instead of focusing on administration they
were consolidating narration that was meant to demean and degrade the victims. What
we saw was criminal negligence by essentially an incompetent administration. Incompetent
because they are incapacitated to be responsible since once they get job security,
influence over common people, they deem themselves blessed and will emulate all
the debauchery of sanctum squatters. So, people gathering, stampeding, dying, not
yet dead, dead, bodies (it is even difficult to show some dignity to dead body,
the rote is deep), are all play of fate. They all share the same value system
hence the market media play savior by focusing on lowest hanging fruit to milk
the issue for daily wage as also consolidate their world view and blessedness. This
arrogant display of power, influence and indifference in the most unfortunate
of circumstances is what makes it especially depraved.
Market media and legacy outlets -that were fed and fattened for decades, were seen focusing on nature of cult, vituperative details of hapless people’s faith while concurrently showcasing squatter authenticated pure worldview. They were highly critical of the idea of “human god”. Castetva and hindutva media were both vociferous in their contempt while they wrangle to play savior. Let’s be very clear this incorrigible debauchery in the guise of dispensing news is meant to insult the victims and an assault on faith of dead who died due to criminal negligence. What people want to follow, or not follow, as their faith is their choice. They face immense tribulations and have coping mechanism that is quite ancient system in this part of the world. What is important is whether it violated any law, rule of law is the only matter that is open for investigation. Even here conjecturing is being used by narration controllers to demean and degrade. And yes, in case you want to question the nature of cult then you must be open to these questions every time some tragedy happens, or even otherwise -I believe everything must be open to question and scrutiny (except something that is personal and doesn’t have any impact on others or society). Hinduism is essentially about cult, and cannot be sanitized into sanctum squatter’s infective ‘purity’ or sanitized temple space. In this society if people find someone of value they assign godly attributes, it can be good or bad (personally I think it is problematic particularly when deified or assigned inscrutable faith, but respect for great soul is valuable since through this evolved values get rooted, helps in betterment of individual and society) and can be manipulated by charlatans. But then what is it about religions that is different? Dude in imaginary space sending someone (worked as prophet) to write holy book that excites cave minds or god dude’s son worked his way up as carpenter to walk on water, performing miracles including coming out of dead, while another dude is habituated to drop in as avatar even for minor family dispute, working fantastical narration of simultaneously saving dharma, sometimes quite fortuitously as a king to fight devil in human form weaving compelling stories as moral study and message, another carried empathy to understand human condition but was converted into dude (so much so that hindi word for statue is budh). Millions pray on these as their focus of faith, they also fight and kill to establish superiority of their dude over other dude. Some peacenik arbitrate reminding that all dudes are same why fight! Ofcourse it rarely works with herd hooked to fantastical stories and supremacist ideas.
Thursday, July 04, 2024
Facing the evil
What do you do when insecurities
you face in life is so basic that you are incapacitated to be a human? It is a
grim struggle to claim semblance of being a human. When the system is hinged on
fate, and fate has burdened you in debris of overwhelming odds, how do you
claim your life? This is constant struggle of people in this part of the world, and many get trapped and trampled in stampede as they come in terms with reality of their existence and die miserable deaths. In this extreme violence on soul the human body is kept intact as a carrier of game
of fate. Human bodies are where liberal battles of democracy are fought. Bodies
are kindling to keep the flame of grand narration burning. It must spread the
brightness of fiction of nonviolence and diversity, and we must reclaim the
dimming brightness with more sacrifices. Incidentally, Shaivism was very much a
primordial cult with extreme tendencies and violence was very much part of its
bearing (which could be traced to stone ages without the later consolidation into
Shiva -much later appropriation into hinduism). Shaivite cult formed
mercenaries of war in ancient medieval India. The attempt to sanitize into
nonviolence doesn’t stand basic scrutiny. Ofcourse these were assimilated into
squatter narration, and myth were churned to consolidate and work out divine
relationship between various sects, and with narration control these were
stamped on to people. One must add cosmic dance is quite a nuanced idea and a charming
visual motif, the spectacle of death and mayhem emulated the existential nature
of life during uncertain violent medieval times. Not only invaders, infighting,
natural disasters, but disease wiped out much of population regularly. Microorganisms
added much uncertainty to life.
Hinduism was never really a
religion as is understood by organized horrors on humanity. It was built on
cult and myths, on conveniences and wisdom, practical and spiritual. Oldest
ideas of human yearnings and myriad faiths knitted the concept of singular
religion that assimilated quite recently -as it faced organized religions
onslaughts (as also better narration of control hence vigorous myth building
that emulated organized, ending with prominence of single book -bhagvad gita)
and later pressures of nation state et al legal needs into single entity. Meanwhile
over centuries local traditions were assimilated into its fold with myths of
bigger gods, grander avatars and smaller local representation (hence the local
god through compelling apophenial side story became symbol of bigger trinity).
Squatter control created a pan subcontinent narration that were spread through these
channels which consolidated with power. With it the framework of misery which acquired
neatness as colonial british saw the opportunity of easy exploitation. Divine
rights were attributed as the inbred cannibalised the region into worst of
humanity with purity of purpose. Nature provided the bountiful while the region
slipped into wasteful mediocres and pompous nincompoops sowing vilest values.
The best of thoughts were always exceptions while nuanced contribution from
this region happened much before squatter consolidation -enlightened Upanishad
were contribution of vibrant seers and saints (inbred mediocres are incapable to
have the intellectual brilliance, the wisdom or any empathetic qualities)
contributed much to Indian/Hindu philosophies that is plagiarized into sanskrit
-sometimes the mismatch in claim and affect is hilarious!, while much of ‘philosophies’
were embarrassing grand urges of imbeciles. Later contributions happened as a
resistance to squatter degradation and growing tentacles that had started to
eviscerate humanity. Incidentally, Hinduism, as is understood today, cannot
claim Nalanda. Nalanda was an Indian idea of quainter humanistic world that was
determinately against inbred squatters, and there is a definite reason why it ceased
with spread of Hinduism. Buddhism was not trying to reform squatter consolidation
of hinduism, it vehemently stood against it. If marauding Islam demolished and
burned the physical idea of Nalanda the spiritual idea was demolished by Hinduism.
Islam destroyed violently while hinduism destroyed nonviolently. It is striking
that nonviolence posing MK Gandhi took quote from bible on the “famous
business of turning the other cheek” (it so happens that I am reading
Joseph Brodksy’s collected essay Less Than One, and had intended to
write about a few weeks from now), moral supremacy is a serious infection
afflicting caste cannibals -the sense of entitlement and compromised
self-worth/hometruth makes them easily susceptible to narcissism. What is
infection on humanity is the reason for some to live. What kind of people are
these?
Brodsky deals with this moral
balderdash brilliantly, it needs intellect and empathy -deep awareness of human
condition, it has to be lived, and a lawyer politician turned moralist caste
cannibal is surely incapable despite the best effort of narration controlling cheerleaders.
Brodsky begins by putting the context; since ‘turning the other cheek’ is not
fully quoted (“a line taken out of context will leave you crippled”!),
and indeed in the limited context the ‘moral victory’ could be mistaken by the
adversary (it also has to be understood and emphasized: a superior adversary
where you don’t have any chance of fighting back) as impunity. Brodsky quote in
length an incident that took place in prison in Russia, the young prisoner “remembered
the text of Sermon on the Mount better than Tolstoy and Gandhi”, he
understood the complete context. The context of the quote continues with ‘let
him have thy cloak’, and further do whatever is demanded, and this is where
goodness shifts to metaphysics, hence cannot be quantified into the needs of
modern politics. Brodsky elaborates “Quoted in full, these verses have in
fact very little to do with nonviolent or passive resistance, with the
principles of not responding in kind and returning good for evil. The meaning
of these lines is anything but passive, for it suggests that evil can be made
absurd through excess”. “The victory that is possible here is not a moral but
an existential one”. Brodsky explains “To base ethics on a faultily
quoted verse is to invite doom, or else to end up becoming a mental bourgeoise
enjoying the ultimate comfort: that of his convictions. In either case it
results in yielding ground to evil, in delaying the comprehension of its
weaknesses. For, evil, may I remind you, is only human”. Giving exaggerated
attribute to evil, indeed constructing one to distinguish themselves is what
Indian liberal posing “mental bourgeoise” do as they parasite on dehumanizing
system and cannibalize common people. Prescient and perceptive Brodsky was
devastating on India “ethics based on this faultily quoted verse have
changed nothing in post-Gandhi India, save the color of its administration.
From a hungry man’s point of view, though, it’s all the same who makes him
hungry. I submit that he may even prefer a white man to be responsible for his
sorry state if only because this way social evil may appear to come from
elsewhere and may perhaps be less efficient than the suffering at the hand of
his own kind. With an alien in charge, there is room for hope, for fantasy”.
Brodsky was too benign in his understanding of Indian society. Common people
don’t really suffer from illusion of “own kind”. They very well understand evil
that castetva represents and sinister nature of their posturing. Brodsky calls
for innovative vibrant original forms of resistance to evil, implying that staid morals of religions have far lived its context. Resistance to evil must
emerge from reality of the world we live in.