Studying impacts of violence
Human life, which, those in the realm of the make-believe, developed world are so fond of taking for granted so much as to think that “everything one wants to happen will/must happen in the best of all possible worlds” is after all not as simple – at least not for the huge majority in the […]
‘Peace is won only by effort and resolve’
History has an uncanny habit of repeating itself. Unfortunately at a place like Kashmir, it is only the bad precedents that get repeated, and almost at regular intervals. What is still more unfortunate is that all these bad things happen at times when there is visibly no reason for such occurrences – whenever the Valley […]
Once the ‘lid effect’ is gone…
Human life, which those in the realm of the make-believe, developed world are so fond of taking for granted so much as to think that “everything one wants to happen will/must happen in the best of all possible worlds” is after all not as simple – at least not for the huge majority in the […]
Simplistic inferences lead to wrong conclusions
The “successful” conduct of recently held urban local body and panchayat elections has once again surprised many – though political realists had anticipated it to be so. Given that the separatists had called for boycott and their calls were endorsed by a wider cross-section, including the vocal civil society actors who make it to media […]
Selling ‘differences’ as political myths…!
DIFFERENCE, though an inherently natural and important behavioral characteristic, is also a dangerous trait in socio-psychological make-up. Beginning as a minor difference in (of) opinion, left unchecked and uncontained, it takes no time in acquiring monstrous proportions of difference of (in) interests. Once interests — be they selfish personal ones, or the social, political, cultural, […]
When will our ruling class wake up?
Alfred North Whitehead was an English mathematician who became a philosopher. Having written on algebra, logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education, Whitehead also supervised the doctoral dissertations of Bertrand Russell and Willard Van Orman Quine, thus influencing logic and virtually all of analytic philosophy. In his ‘Adventures of Ideas’, Whitehead […]
Using ‘national myths’ to polarize people
William Ury once said: “dealing with the differences is today one of the greatest challenges facing human beings.” True, what we are seeing happening these days is that the differences of opinions and worldviews are actually being exploited to breed conflict. And what is really unfortunate is that it is not only the regular “conflict […]
Finding meaning in meaningless political speeches
It is ‘promise time’. With elections round the corner, people are being treated to a whole lot of promises and pledges – that ‘if you vote us to power we will bring you moon and stars!’ And every single group is doing it these days. Some are seeking support on the basis of what they […]
Simplistic inferences lead to wrong conclusions
Peoples’ participation in the just concluded Urban Local Bodies and Panchayat elections has once again surprised many – though political realists had anticipated it to be so. Given that the separatists had called for boycott and their calls were endorsed by a wider cross-section, including the vocal civil society actors, the people choosing to cast […]
You heard it right, it’s about manufacturing wars!
Bosnian Serb scholar and politician, Vasa Cubrilovic, who was part of the gang that assassinated Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, which is believed to have triggered the World War I, once said that the “countries that still go to war have not evolved.” When asked ‘evolved from what?’, he was unequivocal: “From fear. From […]
