Monday, July 13, 2009

To be like water, formless

I've been thinking of setting up an alternate, anonymous blog. When you have a blog that a lot of friends follow, you start to sub-consciously filter what you really want to say. One becomes a prisoner of one's 'image'.
But that's also what I wanted to explore, questions of free will. Free Will not in terms of going where you want or buying what you want, but in being free at all levels. We're all prisoners of society and biology.
I discovered that I was tailoring a lot of my thoughts to fit this blog because there was the question of political correctness. When one has liberal friends -- those who identify themselves as liberals politically -- one is expected to conform to the political ideas that are currently in fashion.
This blog will still be functional, of course. Not that I've been prolific on this.

Meanwhile, I wrote this note on my Facebook page:

Communists
The problem with Indian communist parties is they think they have a copyright over communism. Kerala CM Achutanandan may or may not be a good communist, but by punishing him for 'acting against party interests' (rather than ethical interests), the CPM behaves exactly like the entities it is ideologically opposed to -- structured religions. The Party has become a citadel, like the Vatican, with the general secretary acting like the Pope. At least the Vatican has some moral codes to live by.
Look at The Hindu, look at how it toes the Party position. Today there was an edit piece by a Chinese 'journalist' stating that the violence in China's Urumqi, the site of clashes between the Hans and the Uighurs, was the work of 'external' forces. The communists have long revelled in the pleasure of crediting all disturbances to their governance to an external bogeyman. The newspaper dutifully carries the Party position (the Party in this case being the entity to which all dutiful communists genuflect to -- the Chinese government), forgetting its role as a newspaper that's supposed to at least air both sides of the story.
I like the scene in that beautiful movie, Arabikatha, where old-world communist 'Cuba' Mukundan, having given away his life's savings to a Chinese girl, says: 'He who lives for the needy -- he is the true communist.'
The true communist is not required to subscribe to stupid Party positions -- he is above that. He follows a higher calling.
Prakash Karat should go get himself a... a... haircut.

2 comments:

Arati said...

Hi Dev,

Enjoyed and agreed with your facebook write up.Not so happy about your anonymous blog site. Wouldn't it make more sense to learn to say the same, even though you friends follow your blog? It might lead to interesting or even heated discussions, but that's ok, isn't it?

Dev said...

:) well, I think 'Identity' locks one up in a certain position. I'm unsure if one can express opinions with the same freedom -- anonymity is also power.
You're right, though.
But I doubt I'll take the trouble to maintain another blog, considering how lazy I am.
:) Thanks for coming by.
Dev