Samizdat. I learnt this new word recently. I thought I should - TopicsExpress



          

Samizdat. I learnt this new word recently. I thought I should explore this topic more; as we were earlier discussing Narcissists and stonewalling, etc. This note is in continuation Samizdat initially represented dissident activity (such as underground literature) in Soviet Russia. Enough of that floated around, rather beneath, in that population and eventually that helped in bringing about a lot of changes in that society. Nowadays, Samizdat is used to represent similar dissident activities all over the world -- for example, the Palestine. Let us take that to few levels deeper into society, -- to see how this can affect individuals. That is the area of concern which I am most passionate about. I have always advocated the need of each self I advocate that one need to respect each selfs own original individuals point of view, works and thoughts. A lot of my posts here and on my blogs are about that. We can only get fresh inputs from the foutain-head called individuality. I have always believed that each of us have to simply deal with each individual we meet on a one-to-one basis. And do those interactions the right way. I feel it is a simple, practical philosophy. I believe life would work out just fine if we did that. I know for sure that the properties of a collective known as society (or any other grouping) is NOT the same as that of an individual. For example; one cannot say this group/religion/society/whatever is bad. Only individuals can be bad or good. But let me not stray from this topic This approach is not as naive as you may think: Why bring in artificial connections with groups and stereotypes and use those to paint those individuals, tainting our impression of them forever? There is a wonderful talk on TED by the Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who eloquently argues against the tendency that some of us have to look at people via top-of-the mind stereotypes, the single stories we carry around, in a talk titled The danger of a single story I now believe (and so do some other authors, see link below), we need the Samizdat at the individual level too as that is one way to ensure that the individual is respected. Alvin Toffler spoke long time back of the rise of the individual and why the individual would make a difference. That was quite prophetic. He possibly did not realize that ANY individual today has a far more potent capability than individuals of the past. During the past centuries, of course there were individuals who stood out: There were the Charles Darwin, the Karl Marx, and so on. The impression that we all got is that not anybody can be a Darwin or a Marx. All those individuals had to struggle hard, really hard, to exercise their influence over the world. Not so anymore. Internet and this information driven new renaissance has empowered individuals. A whole lot of them. A kid with sufficient mixing talent on a video software can easily make a viral video on YouTube and he can then exercise his influence all over the world. A shy artist with a 3D printer, can actually design, make and sell his exquisite flower vases all over the world. The unknown author putting out an e-book can achieve a similar feat. In fact, such stories have become so common nowadays that we have actually started forgetting the names of these influential individuals. So the technology is in place for Samizdat. Internet is giving us that technology. So why Samizdat? And why should an individual be so empowered with dissidence? Individuals need to dissent appropriately. For without dissidence, such individuals would not have got noticed. Each of them did something that shook the establishment in some meaningful way. Hopefully a better way. I believe (and so does many others) that for far too long, society has been manipulated by those who have the power money and connections. It is those who can exercise influence and the first to do it are the scum who often surfaces up first. You have the insincere doctor/architect (insert professional of your choice here) who still holds on to some ancient knowledge in his field, and tries pushing that on his user/client/patient. We all know that, and some of us have used Google, blogs and other devices as our personal Samizdat literature to help make sense of such professionals advice. But that still talks about a field of study -- a profession. That is not only the place where there can be a revolution We are often silent about a lot of social injustice that we see happening around in the world. That is all about to change. Some of us do know of some distressed family who is not able to handle the drug addiction of the teenage child. Some of the friends/acquaintances around that family would know that the teenager is actually in touch with the pusher and have actually witnessed both of them at some street corner. But in the real world, we are often forced to turn a blind eye, because of social norms. We turn silent. Who would want to break that silence and help that family? Most likely, talking to that family may be difficult because that family is a rich, influential one. We hear of a married man with children of his own surreptitiously having an affair with someone else -- sometimes with a woman who is married herself, creating total havoc in both the families. We can easily hear the heated arguments next door, but we all maintain our silence and do not step in. Again the reason is that the married man (or the mistress or both) is well respected in society, or it is too embarrassing and so on -- and so why go against them? Most of us are deeply ingrained with what one author calls the No-Talk rule. This hidden social rule is seen in abusive societies. It is also seen in abusive families. And it is also used by those around the abusive families With the rise of the individuals in todays Internet era, what also rises are those personality disorders that encourages individuality beyond its normal limits. Look at what happens on Facebook: Anyone who can cleverly copy famous quotes, even obscure ones, can get the upper hand. (Though not for long. Somebody would usually bring out an appropriate Samizdat against such people) I feel (intuitively) there are more narcissists and psychopaths and sociopaths in todays Internet based times than ever before. These are the scums who are trying to divert the tools available to serve their purpose I have been hearing of Hike, a mobile chatting app from India, that is proudly advertising that unlike Whatsapp, their app truly gives complete privacy. They claim that a persons need for privacy is so sacrosanct that they possibly even make us believe that they are actually doing a holy, much needed, service But privacy is a double-edged sword. The good need it. So do the scoundrels, to hide their dirty deeds. I fear, that the first lot of people who are using such tools are such dastardly individuals who are creating havoc in families. The drug pusher is confabulating with the rich teenager on where to pickup the drop using Hike -- they know that Hike is carefully sweeping away the tracks. There is no online status. The quiet, socially powerful man is quietly using Whatsapp to setup rendevouz with his lover, as that also does not leave any trace ... and so on. The individuals with good intentions, as seen in any era, are actually the laggards who are getting exploited. I guess, the need for a scoundrel to privately do harm and the joy he/she gets from the pleasure principle is far greater than the privacy needs of the normal lay person who wants to interact normally. Some of these damaged individuals think they can get away with it. They know that the rest of us use the No-talk rule. I know of many teenagers, especially women, who are quite scared of using whatsapp and other such tools. If they do, they then think of hiding their status, etc. which manytimes do not work as the scoundrels still find a way out. But there is growing evidence, that many of such individuals who are doing harm to their own near and dear ones are getting a fitting reply via Samizdat, The truth is not easily hidden. A lot of tools/websites are already in place. A lot more are getting developed. I am sure that this cat and mouse game would continue between the good and the evil. We have seen this in all eras. The scoundrels would figure out ways to overcome the Samizdat based resistance. However, I am sure it would be dissent like this which would help all of us eventually See galewarnings.blogspot.in/2008/03/samizdat-and-no-talk-rule.html
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 16:00:46 +0000

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