Viewpoints : Crises or Crying Wolf?

There's 2 or 3 sides to the world now. 

One set's enjoying the orchestra of the numerous fiddles hired, well paid Neros are playing on an exquisitely crafted stage (to be followed with a master-chef prepared multi course dinner). They tolerate little argument or interference that breaks this engrossing, rapturous music and do everything in their power to try and make sure it continues - forever.

 

The other is a set that is not inside those concert or dining halls - for reasons as varied as opportunity, ability, circumstances, or a mere continuing of whatever they were doing earlier. Many of these end up supporting the wheels that keep the concerts running, without necessarily even knowing about them. Change has already happened to these, in the other direction - and they're paying the price already.

 

Then there's those who see bigger change coming, or even here, and cannot ignore it. Often they could just switch off and get into the concert, but cannot. They're trying to build lifeboats, and arks, and grow food in a pot, and grab electricity from the wind and sun and everything. Everything as it is seems wrong, worrying and worth questioning. The future is unknown but the present is certainly not pleasant. They see what's happening with the second set, the power that the first set possess but refuse to use, and worry even more.

 

Perhaps it always was like this. But the tension seems pretty heightened right now.

We, The Corrupt

We're repulsed by the numbers from the 2G scam, from CWG, by what Bangaru Laxman did, and whats been happening with mining, land allocation, tribal "resettlement" etc across states.

 

Should we be? 

 

Some of the HR teams at some MNCs and other large organizations have a pretty sullied image amongst techies. There's nepotism, and money changes hands on a regular basis for recruitment services. 

 

Land deals for big corporates are opportunities to make money directly and indirectly - just like it happens at the level of the government of the state when deciding on infrastructure projects. Many an employee in admin has been known to build a huge house soon after a big deal.

 

Doctors approving/recommending clinical trials at the behest of drug companies was big news in today's papers. And Aamir Khan revived the discussion around their culpability in sex determination and illegal foetus termination on the TV recently.

 

These are folks amongst and around us. Rich, well off folks. 

 

Someone in the extended family has been facing tons of issues at work because they refuse to "fit in" at an quasi-government hospital - every little opportunity to make money is exploited. Someone else I know was brought in to fix large-scale corruption issues at one of the companies of a very well respected (for its ethics!) business house we all know of.

 

And we take umbrage at the bus conductor - a comparitively very poor bloke - making 2/- off a ticket. 

 

A couple of generations ago - it did exist then too (though perhaps on a much smaller scale) - it was not acceptable socially to be known to have such sources of income. Folks would resign, and retire from society, perhaps in shame. Today, thats almost turned into pride, if not something to gloat about.

 

Has is just become part of our ecnomically-motivated-all-else-be-damned fabric? Is is just about opportunity and the risk of getting caught? Are we all funadamentally too weak when face to face with the little packet of cash that'll get us our iPad or new phone or this or that?

 

I fear the answer is not nice one. I fear what we see in the politician and big deals he does is a mere reflection of who we've become fundamentally. Grab-when-possible is our mantra. Damn what its doing to us, and damn the long run. 

 

If we really ever want to fix this, we have to change. We have to stop respecting money irrespective of its hue and colour. We have to also respect efforts that do not yield hard cash. We have to make things other than a big bank balance cool, acceptable and a desirable goal again. We have to make get-rich-soon socially undesirble - as long as thats ok morality will be bent. We have to make morality itself cool again - its an often-mocked notion right now.

 

Stricter rules won't cut it unless we fundamentally find it reprehensible, and are unable to look at ourselves in the mirror if we sway. Today, we almost admire it and the outcry is almost merely - well - envy.

The Story of Stuff, the Price of Things, Etc

Came across this awesomely done video that explains in brief what we've been doing wrong.

I'd written earlier about us not paying for the "real costs" and the need for building those into economic models so long term damage to the ecology, our health, our social structures is tougher to get away with. The video talks about that point, amongst other things. Its a very good way to understand what is really broken holistically.

The sad part is, the consumption led model and its associated economic, marketing theory was sold very aggresively through all the literature created around it, and all the institutions that sell it through multiple fora - both economic and social. Our world trade models, the basis of and assumptions for free trade, and even key economic indicators of growth, poverty and properity are influenced by these motivations and models. Its all pretty broken, and depressing. Modern economists are more or less at a loss when it comes to figuring out fixes that look beyond these problems that have led to ecological, social and more recently, even financial distress across the globe.

I think the solution is not top down, but bottom-up - like the video suggests as well. We need to move away from consumption at our individual levels, and stop identifying and defining our lives through the brands we own or consume and consumer choices we make all the time. It'll force a rethink and change at various levels, and best of all, will lower aspirational stress, improve our conenctions as producers and nourishers - not just consumers, and force the evolution of alternative models for economic success and growth.

Silent Majority

They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

Most recent trigger for the above - a biker got beaten up on the flimsy premise of his attire. The mailing list on which I read this got into a debate about the off-topic-ness of the story and reactions to it!

Overall, the spiritual leaders forgot to speak out strongly against the association of weapons with religion. The political leaders at the top got into marriages of conveniences with the terrorizers of local populations for short term "gains". We stay shut on the roads when there's a brawl, or a woman gets beaten up by some neanderthals.

None of my business. Thats what it is all boiling down to.