Crazyfinger

(C) "In praise of the parasitic blogger"

If blogging to you then was "a new and still embryonic literary form," then in acknowledging the parasitic nature of your avocation now, you not only endorse the dilution of such a literary form, but, in doing so, I believe you give in, rather without a fight, the hijacking of this blogging medium by "journalism," and "news/views and opinion making."

Come to think of it, if blogging these days is anything, it is an exercise in a convenient and repeated conflating of such a "literary form" with the nearly form-less act of opinion-making, by the acknowledged shit-collectors.

(C) "Demand and Supply"

Believe it or not, most of what goes on in corporations that people think as bad ethics, is really simply a poor understanding of their own markets and a poor execution of the business itself. Any smart business person will look at your statement: "the need for different sizes to suit different shapes," and see nothing but an opportunity to make more money (by tailoring different sized products for different shapes). If this business person is not doing that, then it is simply a matter of him/her not being a slick one. I don't think ethics comes into picture here.

(C) "A response to crazyfinger"

Who are these people for whose beckon and call you are awaiting, fuming that they should call you earlier rather than later? Are these men and women an exclusive club exclusivelyauthorized to cure developmental ailments of the country? Were they awarded a patented monopoly on solving people's problems? Why should anyone look up to them while the people in need are down below? They are not like telecom service providers in U.S. with blanket ownership to airwaves which rightfully belong to people, are they?

(C) "'young, educated, energetic, and frustratingly under-utilized'"

If I were you, I'd instead ask myself: "What can I do with Akili Dada that perks up the imagination of these world-movers and shakers and they come seeking me, curious why Akili Dada is working when their efforts failed, eager to learn if they can take Akili Dada model and scale it up, and ready to even steal some of Akili Dada's thunder?" That would be something, isn't it?

(C) "Indibloggies 2006"

During my initiation phase into Indian blogosphere, I was kindled and run over – gladly – by an almost Pushkin-line simplicity, directness and power of emotions, the getting right down to it quality that I found rampant in the expressions of Indian female bloggers. Anything they touch, they do it with refreshing callouts to that nearly-forgotten syntax and the grammar of life. It may be that the unforgivable self-obsession of men, the Indian kind, that goes back to centuries has smothered these voices until now, or that there is really a new birth, a new reproduction – this time without the awkward and the necessary prodding from the other kind – that we are witnessing, or so I thought.

(C) "a belated 9-11 post"

...It seems to me that these two entities, the desire for the ideal and the longing to be in our own community, are continuously negotiating with one another in a human being throughout the workings of the history.

(C) "Just Heart Alone Won't Suffice"

Something along the lines of what Franklin said: “Just as we should account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence,” applies here. ...In this present situation, the credibility loss is not Sainath’s but the government’s, for all obvious reasons this post highlighted.

(C) "I am a coward"

These are the times when during the day we are asleep everywhere except on the islands of our own selves, and during the night we wake up to sights and sounds from another world, afraid like little children.

Leaders vs. Media: Know Which is Which

You think the media and the politics of today are depressing?  Take a peek at the newspapers during American Civil War.  For a sample, an 1861 article in New York Express has this to say about Abraham Lincoln's election to the Office:

"This was a part of the game of deception played by the Republicans upon the people, to foist a man upon the country for its chief magistrate who was never regarded by his most intimate acquaintances, as anything more than a jocose, cunning, country politician.
[...]
The election of such a man at such a crisis is undoubtedly the greatest evil that has ever befallen this country.  But the mischief is done, and the only relief for the American people is to shorten sail, caulk the hatches, put in the dead-lights, send down the topmasts, and prepare for a hurricane."

Yes, that was referring to Abraham Lincoln.  See, what a little piece of historical knowledge can give us a wholly renewed perspective? 

Lesson: It is the individual actions driven by a deep sense of moral vision that leads to a real change.  Reading news and media analysts' articles, listening to talking heads on TV is an aftermath, and should be kept that way.  Don't mistake one for the other. 

More of the above article here.  The Valley of the Shadow, a digital chronicle of the American North and South communities during the American Civil War, is here.

(C) "Exploding By-Lines: Update on NewAssignment.Net"

...With "reliability ratings" line of thought, expect to walk into the vagaries of reputation management like schemes, their ins and outs. By that I mean, in specific, that most of these "ratings" are, for want of a better technology, discrete (as in from 0 to 5 etc.) Perhaps that is ok but I wish a necessity like the NADN would lead to a bit more of a more apt invention.

(C) "The Pyramid Has a False Bottom?"

An interesting question is: would BOP-theme survive, would there be any takers in the private business world, if poor people are presented as producers? Who in the business world would benefit if I give you a scheme to turn poor people into producers? Who would care?   

Also: While our poor folk are at the bottom of the pyramid, the folks who are in the governance are like mummies in the pyramid (MIP), inured to everything.  So, we have here a case that the barriers to empowering the BOP are the MIP, the Mummies in Pyramid.

(C) "The Era of Networked Journalism Begins"

...Though the response to Ronan's query, and hence to the NADN, is skeptical at best, it is nothing out of the ordinary. Somewhere along the way in this long discussion thread, the basic purpose of NADN got all cluttered, without anybody's fault.

(C) "Introducing NewAssignment.Net"

...For NewAssignment.Net, this specific kind of authentication problem may not exist, I don't think. But a concern is it might lead to a lot of "truthiness" because the responsibility of verifying, authenticating (I am probably not using the journalistic lingo here) and certifying etc., might be a bit tricky. It is an obvious point, but the problem may be much much bigger than most people think.

(C) "The unspoken and the unspeakable"

I think it was Georg Lukacs who thought that realism in arts takes its roots in the culture particularly when the society's middle-class consciousness is on the rise, i.e., coinciding with the social change.

Be There or Be Square

OK folks, only one more week to go for the blog-post contest deadline! (See below post)

I know there are scores of you out there who have already expressed cogent and reasoned thoughts on the art of conversation elsewhere, so what's keeping you mum?  Come on, don't be shy, and don't be afraid to "stick your neck out."  After all this is blogosphere! 

If your blood curdled at a partisan debate, if you shook your head in shuddering disbelief, if you found yourself throwing up your hands at the blatant "one-sided-ness", at the head-in-the-sand attitude, and at the growing discontent about where our conversations are going, then this is your moment!  Step up, put your best foot forward, and be heard! 

What the heck are you hesitating about?  So you think you are a fortunate son, content with "Hail to the Chief," are yuh?   Time to awaken your sleeping 21st century schizoid! 

With apologies to King Crimson, what do you want your epitaph to be?  Haven't you noticed?  The wall on which the prophets wrote is cracking at the seams.  Upon the instruments of death the sunlight brightly gleams.  Are you waiting for every man to be torn apart, with nightmares and dreams, with no one to lay the laurel wreath as the silence drowns the screams? 

Or, are you trapped between the iron gates of fate?  Look around, the seeds of time were sown all around you!  And watered by the deeds of those who know and who are known!  Don't you know, that knowledge is a deadly friend, when no one sets the rules?  Don't you know that the fate of all mankind is in the hands of fools!

Are you going to just sit there?  Is confusion your epitaph?  Will there be anyone to listen, if tomorrow you'll be crying? 

Remember, August 4th is the due date, so keep your eyes on the prize! 

Win a Free Copy of Stephen Miller's "Conversation: A History of a Declining Art"

Some of you probably know the recent Radio Open Source show featuring Pankaj Mishra, Suketu Mehta, and Atanu Dey: “Open Source with Christopher Lydon” (July 19th, 2006) “A Class Profile of India“.   Amardeep Singh's preview post on Sepia Mutiny here.  Atanu Dey's impressions on the show in the aftermath here.  My comment on Atanu's blog here.

OK, so you now have the background.  Like I say in my comment above and most everywhere else I comment, a big problem with the debates and discussions in the Indian blogosphere (just as in much of the blogosphere, not to single out Indian blogs) is the rank polarization that has seeped in.  Polarization of all sorts: right vs. left, capitalist vs. communist, women vs. men, desi vs. NRI, and on and on, over and again just killing the conversation.   The above-mentioned radio show is a good example of how negative and pointless the conversations, even when they involve respected writers and an economist, can regress to.  Blogs, after all, are great tools for conversations but even here we somehow manage to "regress to the mean" again and again.

After listening to the Mishra, Mehta and Dey's conversation radio show, I got to thinking in what way we can improve the way we converse.  As it happened, A. G. Noorani wrote a good review of a very timely new book, "Conversation: A History of a Declining Art" by Stephen Miller.   Amazon link for the book here. 

One thing led to another and I ended up listening to On Point's radio show with the author Stephen Miller, titled "A History of Conversation."   A really, really good show, which spurred me to announce the following.

I am offering a free copy of Stephen Miller's book, one each to three "winning" participants.  What I'd like you to do is:

1. Listen to the two radio shows, i.e., i) the Radio Open Source show that featured Pankaj Mishra, Suketu Mehta, and Atanu Dey, AND ii) the On Point's radio show featuring Stephen Miller.
2. In the light of the two shows you've just heard, write a blog post on what do you think was wrong with the manner in which the Mishra, Mehta and Dey's conversation took place and more important, in what ways one could have improved the conversation.  Obviously I consider Stephen Miller's show to be far superior and that it offers several insights and lessons for us to conduct our conversations better.
3. Either post your blog entry on your own blog, or if you don't have a blog then I am more than happy to post your essay on my blog on your behalf (i.e., with your name as the author). 
4. Send me links to your posts by the end of day August 4th, New York time (i.e., EST).  I will pick three posts that I like and send the author of each post a free copy of the book.  You can have more than one author per post, but please understand that the reward is still only one copy per post.  Please make an effort to give me US mailing address, if you can.   

Sounds like fun?  Interested?  Please email me if you have any questions.  Needless to say, anyone can participate, any number of you can participate, out of which will emerge three winning posts.  Don't worry about the length of the blog post.  Keep it interesting.  When you've listened to both the radio shows, you'll know enough about what makes a good conversation and the purpose of this exercise.  There is no other agenda here.  Let's hear from you all.  Please pass on the word, thanks!

(C) "Profiting from Terrorism"

"the whole set up, with its positioning of “left,” “right” and the “middle” worldviews, appeared doomed from the start...."

(C) "The Better, Faster Road to Development"

In fact peeling this onion shows us what ails our current debates. Simply put, we excel at identifying how bad any proposal is, but we suck at identifying what exactly is wrong; we don’t isolate the good from the bad...

(C) "Goodbye, Blog"

This comment was first posted on Indianwriting blog as a response to this article by Alan Jacobs.  That post disappeared, taking with it my comment, so I am reproducing my comment here.

(C) " V. Sanil: What is called "Merit"?"

My response to Sanil's writeup.