Minority Report

I was discussing philosophy and politics with an old friend of mine, and a phrase that he used instantly took me by surprise and stuck with me. The phrase was "Democracy is the tyranny of the majority" . I instantly realized how true these words are. Here I am, born and brought up in a democratic country and now pursuing higher studies in another democratic country trying to justify that this is the best system that can ever exist anywhere. But what is my basis of justifying democracy? What do I know of other systems? Is everyone truly happy in this system?

Have you ever been in a minority oppressed by a majority? Minority is always a subject of ridicule. Right from my birth, I was a minority. I was born a left- hander in a time when left was considered "wrong". (The parts of the body were the right hand and the 'wrong hand' --ulta haath..) I am so proud of my parents that they did not forcefully convert me to a right hander. It would have been such a big disaster curbing my natural instincts. Right from desks to a computer mouse to a guitar, I had to face the oppression of the majority. (Its logical from a business sense point of view, but when you stand in my shoes, its oppression alrite!)

I was also a religious minority. Jainism however, did not ruffle anyone's feathers and so I luckily faced no huge oppression on this front.

Women have been trying to fight so long for equal rights, however where are we still? If you look in rural areas, equality is a distant dream!

The point I'm trying to make is that the majority is not always right, one needs to adopt a more balanced and sensitive view towards everyone to ensure the success of a democratic system.

Lowly vote-bank politics should be a thing of a past. One needs to target an inclusive growth.

Musings

This is a sincere attempt to get out of a massive writer's block that has been stifling your humble friend for long. You might be gravely worried what compelled your friend to lay low and sing small; but whatever it was- the hatchet has been buried and phase two of the blog series has begun.

Life teaches you many things. I want to share with ya fellas some of the lessons it has taught me, or atleast what I was able to decipher in terms of simple laws--

1)--Hindsight is an exact science. Foresight is an art.

I want you to think about this for four minutes. Anything I add here to describe it will only serve to take away the charm from the above statement.

2.)--Genetics describes why you look like your father, and if you don't- why you should.

On a more serious note, it means that however hard you try to rub them off, some values that you inherit always stick to you. These values are to be cherished and should make you love yourself as a person. Take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and say out loud-I Love You- It should do a world of good.

3)--91.32 % of all statistics are useless

This is not saying that people majoring in statistics are a bunch of fools. The take-home message is that numbers can only help you float to a certain extent. Your thoughts and learnings are your real lifeboat. You can speak in terms of averages or medians, but stand true to yourself in the rat-race.

4) --Basic Law of Maths -- 2 is not equal to 3; even for large values of 2.

It seems contradictory when I just told you numbers are not everything--(they are still something :P) All people are not the same-- even when you try to force someone to be like some other--you just cannot.

5)---The specialist learns more and more about less and less until, finally, he knows everything about nothing; while the generalist learns less and less about more and more until, finally, he knows nothing about everything.

Where do u belong?? Its important to be at a sweet spot between a generalist and a specialist to enjoy life in full perspective

Now some light ones:

6)--You definitely run into someone when you least want yourself to be seen with someone

7)--The probability of a young man meeting a desirable and receptive young female increases exponentially when he is in the company of a) a date b) his wife c) a better looking and richer male friend

8)-- If there is a wrong way to do something, most people will do it every time.

9)-- If things seem under control, you are not going fast enough.

10)-- Law of thermodynamics-- Under excess pressure -the shit hits the fan and bad things happen

11) Too much social networking is injurious to the mind

(I have a friend who actually "said" LOL ! in response to a joke instead of laughing :| )

12) If you are unable to explain a particular thing to someone, just say -Its intuitively obvious :P

If you cannot convince , confuse them