Sometimes people leave. Sometimes they are taken away from us for no reason. Sometimes we leave them. All the same, it is never easy. Maybe it is, if it never affected us in the first place. But what of it did? What if the loss hurts us more than we allow ourselves to feel or show? It is a funny world we live in today. We have cell phones and wi fi, bullet trains and plains, roads to remote parts and boats to far places, phones for the poor people and phones for the rich people, cafes to catch up in and bars to sit and talk into the night, we have beer to bring our walls down and dances to break walls-and somehow after all this, I feel we get farther and farther from what we first set out to do- get closer to others and the ones we love.
The very mediums to ‘connect’ have become mediums to pretend. The photos are not memories, they are a shout out to the world that you are happy and everything is brilliant and you are having a great time. And the status is a place where friends know what movie you are watching at the moment and other friends to judge for what you are doing/saying. Any feedback is great feedback, any like, comment, reply, thread, fight, emoticon, sticker, handle is great because it increases visibility-increases traffic to your site. And that is great. Works for publicity. And that’s the problem. We are living towards greater publicity and definitely bigger traffic, but we are definitely not moving towards greater moments of life. The block/report button has become an increasing tool to delete anyone who is a nuisance/irritating/pestering and cut them out. By all means, it’s a great option- gives you a larger control over who can and cannot enter your life. But I ask here, what does it really signify?
You block that annoying ex, that spamming page, that friend you never want to talk to again, that creepy stranger-and for what? Peace?
As I look at newspaper headlines these days, I am overcome with a sense of dread. And as I see it getting reflected in our daily lives, in our conversations, our interactions, all I see is the growing intolerance in people. A no-nonsense attitude that is not willing to accommodate difference or dialogue. By all means, block that creepy stranger or that spamming page; that is why the button was created in the first place. But when I see people block each other because of an argument, or an unwillingness to talk anymore, I fail to see the rationale there.
Is the ‘block’ option an empowering tool? Does it make one feel like he/she is in control? Does it really give one peace? Is it about ego? Does the Self feel stronger after blocking the Other? How does the other feel when blocked, when one finds he/she has been blocked? How do you unblock? I read a fable a long time ago, when there’s a knot in the rope, even if you manage to open it, the knot never remains the same after that. If that is true, by blocking, one is essentially changing the dynamics of the relationship and doing so quite consciously. I see classmates blocking and unblocking each other over and over and I fail to understand how that works! There’s a shared workplace in question here, physical proximity which enables uninhibited communication, then how the does the ‘block’ button triumph here?
This growing intolerance is reflected in our larger daily lives and in a country like India, famed for its secularity and hospitality, the increasing domination of Hindu rights and holidays over other religions, like the recent Good Governance day scheme on Christmas alarms me. This is just one example and I will probably take it up in detail in another post. All over the world, the self has taken over priority over the other. It’s probably a Machiavellian world at its best. I find his arguments valid to a certain extent too. Certain measures must be taken to succeed. What troubles me is the ease with which this has happened and how widespread it is today. We are aware and yet we are not. In the 21st century, with the rise of capitalism, our sense of self too has increased exponentially. Our needs/wants are based on us, each race for his own, each religion for his own and each country for her own. It’s argued that this is necessary for development, for prosperity.
I ask, development, prosperity of what kind?
Sparks in Vacuum 