
The blogs have bought a kind of an information revolution with anybody having an iota of interest becoming a Citizen Journalist. But in some ways revolution hasn’t been for good. Before you pull the trigger and tag me as a Luddite allow me to give my arguments.
In last few days going through various blogs by Indians I have found that everybody has condemned the terrorist attacks; as they should have. But the surprising or appalling part has been that the most of criticism was in the same tone and having similar keywords. Like terrorist, blood-thirsty, un-human, fear, security, Muslims, politics, intelligence, corruption, etc.
And most of them had blamed without even knowing how or who has done it. It was more like reading same things again and again with some paraphrasing. Over that it all gave one a feeling that writer is just writing for the sake of writing and you are reading for the sake of reading. There is no emotional attachment; but of course full of similar larger-than-life words; giving you a feel that words may have meaning but no connection; and which have after repeated usage are no more significant than a passing remark.
Maybe it also coming in our culture in some way; the thing we call the city returned to normalcy and failed the terrorist intentions. I am not against recovering from a loss, but at least one should feel a loss. The next day to any terrorist attacks every city looks as if nothing has happened apart from troubling policemen who are further choking the traffic. The local trains are again full after Mumbai bomb blasts, the shopping mania continues after Delhi bomb blasts; the life is same everywhere until and unless your own dear one is one of the victims.
I don’t know why but nobody even tries to ask or answer why terrorist does such acts, as if it doesn’t matter. By having such attitude we may be failing terrorists’ intentions but we are for sure failing the humanity.
When blogomania came it was thought that people would be able to resolve far more amicably by interacting; but it doesn’t look the case. Blogs have become a tool of infinitely duplicating of more prevalent idea.
The end of history and the last man, an idea but forward by Francis Fukuyama, may support liberalism but not one where everybody becomes a kind of clone, and stops thinking for oneself. I really hope it doesn’t lead us back to the time when it became necessary to convert right to speak into a privilege, which had to be won.
You really feels good when someone can really understand you.
And it;s infuriating how the reactionaries just pay lip service and do nothing else.
A blase society is so ridiculous for its inability to learn lessons.
But tel me man, wat can we ordinary ple do practically?
Say even if we write in an innovative way and an insight, will it make a difference?
I dont know...
If somebody feels that writing is a just a way of posting everything that is happening around without feeling the pain. s/he should do so. But s/he should be able to justify it him/herself.
Making a difference is a difficult question. I really don’t know what making a difference is, because I don’t know what is regular or normal.
But I do know that writing can only be done if you believe in that from heart. Without that writing is just something scribed.
All that is my personal opinion, and I prefer to write what i feel, not what I am supposed to.
Regarding ”what can ordinary people do”, here are some thoughts regarding how to effectively add to an important conversation / topic...
- Be clear to yourself whether your response is a ’fan’ response or a ’plan’ response.
- If you want to say ’me too, I love / hate that....’, you are probably a fan of the conversation or of the author or of the topic etc and so it’s important to recognize that your response may not move the discussion forward. To be fair, it may help to build momentum amongst like-minded people, and that is very important, but an over abundance of similar ’me too, I love / hate...’ responses becomes noise pretty quick. Maybe there are better ways to separate fan from plan, but that is for another topic...
- If, on the other hand, you want to say something like ’good/bad point, also consider X and take a look at Y’ or ’building/stepping-back from Z, consider the perspective of...’, then you probably have a plan or at least some actionable ideas on where to go from here. Though these can also introduce noise to the conversation, there may be a greater chance of useful points to help the conversation progress and thus help it to get to where it’s heading. These days, helping things stay on topic is a good thing.
- Use your voice and energy to support those who have a plan. It’s still good to hang out with other fans, but choose wisely where / how you add to a conversation if you really are interested in conveying what you feel and helping to move forward what you feel is right.
Cheers again...
We could really help ourselves from having mob mentality, where things are done more on the basis of being told what is fashionable.
People adopt these methods to achieve their goal. The degree and intensity increases on the basis of certain factors.
What can we do? Well for the beginners, I may say that much of it because of the insensitivity of the government or ruling machinery. We may engage them in dialogue at the appropriate level through passion and care.
Can you give a specific example? For instance, can you describe a specific scenario (e.g. an example of one such appropriate level) and in what form you would engage them in order to make a difference? I ask this because it sounds like you may have done this already and your particular / practical experiences may be interesting.
Neither Francis Fukuyama, nor Samuel Huntington Phillips managed to understand this new world order. There is a new type of human being doing its own history and unfortunately I have the impression that this new generation will become increasingly blasé.
The new generation, like earlier generation, can never become blase. Because life has so much to offer.
On the contrary I fear that they may become too stereotypical, without ever trying to find or understand themselves.
We all are blase for something or the other at one time, and there is nothing wrong with it. But problem can arise if we try to be too much attached with something. Because then we can’t have a fair or neutral perspective.
I may sound contradictory, but my main intention in righting that article was that we are just following things blindly. That is not being blase, but that is also not being human.
Anyway i just don’t buy this Huntington guy. I believe he is a just a big propaganda guy.
at least you didn’t wear the mask of hypocrisy of having crocodile’s tears. It’s bad and there are too many bad things happening every second, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live our lives. But that also doesn’t mean that while laughing we say poor chaps.
Indifference is another issue, hypocrisy another.
your observation is no wrong. However,in this age of information revolution, people usually react homogeneously. To think independently one needs to allow more time for oneself and a bit of research. I think the Bloggers attempt to pour their minds instantly and hence so much self-similarity in the bulk of writings.
The ’sake of writing’ or the ’sake of reading’is, however, can be no lesser engagement that may purify your soul. Just wait, revolution (of writing things, I mean) is on the way, more beautiful things will emerge!
My main fear is that again we may be forced to give power in selected hands who should guide or inform us. And then we may enter in to a cycle, which will turn into a vicious one.
Excellent is the word Arjun!
But to look at the positive side there are original, heart felt blogs also and we can find our way to them. So at least we get to do that because of blogging.
”I really hope it doesn’t lead us back to the time when it became necessary to convert right to speak into a privilege, which had to be won.”
Now that is heart felt and therefore compelling.
Exactly.. We don’t feel anymore.. We are all desensitized.. We don’t want to feel sorry for anyone.. It is like saying ’sorry’ when you don’t mean to.. Blaming bloggers is ok.. But look at the mainstream media! They get paid for it and they work full time.. Do you think any of those media guys on NDTV or CNN or wherever give a damn about what is happening? All they want is their ratings to increase and probably become some kind of a celebrity themselves.. It is in us.. We are all insensitive. We become insensitive because the barrage of sympathy inducing information is too much to handle for the tiny human heart.
And what Arjun is trying to highlight here is the need to enter a new world that lies beyond that question mark. It is upto us people- whether we want to cross the border or stay cozily at this side and ask this question infinite times. Do we care?
Does your leaders panic as much as you do, or not as much as you don’t?
Your indifference is only directly proportional to your government that is supposed to protect you.
There ain’t no leaders nowadays. I suppose you are trying to ask about the politicians, aren’t you?
Hence, it is upto us people ultimately.
There’s a BIG difference between ’I’ and ’We’. :)
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But I disagree about quality of discussions on blogs and cjs. CJs by definition are not qualifed journalists or reporters. So everyone finds their own groups to brainstorm, condemn and interact. Maybe it all looks directionless, shallow and meaningless repetition but what else can an insignificant hardworking citizen do?
My only intention while writing the piece was that many times we just write for the sake of writing.
And even a professional journalist can have the same problem; which is evident on every news channel in India.
Of course one finds a group, and that is the beauty of internet but I still believe that we should not join a group so that we can speak without really believing in what we say.
I totally agree we just use serious issues and write for the sake of writing without emotionally connecting.
For any media these days only readership, viewership, circulation and popularity chart matters.
I got a feeling you expect something more from blog world.
Why do you expect blogging and social networking groups to go a step further and dive a bit deeper into issues and act as an cataylst?
Fake is real.
BTW I forgot to compliment you for this post. Good observations:)