When will they wake up?
In his ‘Adventures of Ideas’, Alfred North Whitehead says “the enjoyment of power is fatal to the subtleties of life. Ruling classes degenerate by reason of their lazy indulgence in obvious gratifications”. In such a state ‘people of power’ fall asleep, for it is in sleep that ‘we’ each turn away from the world […]
Revolution and the law of change
Unfortunate it is, but true nevertheless that Kashmiri society has, in general, permitted and patronized a suicidal situation here wherein ‘revolution’ has been confused with ‘sure-loser confrontations’. A good mass of society, in fact the most vibrant and productive chunk (the young) has somehow been led into believing that the panacea of the political […]
Igniting ‘national myths’ for polarizing people
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, […]
Don’t bombard us with meaningless figures
Raouf Rasool “Padshaham Drag Wouth, Ada Palaav Khiyew!” This is exactly how it is for the political bosses who treat us to hollow rhetoric — of whooping figures and romantic fantasies. Every now and then we are told what the magnanimity of New Delhi looks like – most part of the Prime Minister’s Rs 80,000 […]
Pot calling the kettle black!
For the past some time now, and particularly after some shady recruitments in Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) and elsewhere came to light, National Conference (NC) working president Omar Abdullah has been accusing the PDP-BJP government of “destroying public institutions” in the state by sidelining legal and established recruitment processes. The trend, he […]
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 […]
We’re tolerant people!
“As a young man in early nineties, most of my actions were, instead of rational thinking or logic, programmed by the adrenaline rush in my body. But today I am different; I have learned to tolerate dissent, and I am tolerant of even the worst of my detractors.” This is how one of Kashmir’s ‘leaders’ […]
Beyond traditional stances
Every manufacturer, the simple business logic goes, constantly tries to come up with goods that are in great public demand. Personal likes and dislikes doesn’t matter much, because at the end of the day, every business is market-driven, and in order to be successful one has to cater to the requirements of the consumers. […]
God bless those who say what they feel must be said!
Even as it is a known fact that all revolutions must have ideologies to spurn them on, however, it is also true that “in the heat of the conflict these ideologies tend to be smelt into rigid dogmas claiming exclusive possession of the truth”. And this is where the tragedy lies, because dogma is the […]
