{"id":12027,"date":"2016-12-07T10:36:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T05:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=12027"},"modified":"2021-01-31T12:35:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T07:05:04","slug":"dealing-with-the-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/12\/07\/dealing-with-the-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with the revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of last week&#8217;s post &#8220;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/11\/26\/understanding-the-revolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Understanding the revolution<\/a><\/em>&#8220;, one of the points I wanted to emphasise was our individual role in dealing with it. I had mentioned two factors that I believe have led us to this point &#8211; rising inequality, and intersubjective realities. An attempt to fix also needs to begin here.<\/p>\n<p>When demonetisation first hit us, I tweeted this<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Our maid is the most disciplined person I know in that social strata. Her currency struggles tell me I cannot even fathom my privileges. :\/<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 manu prasad (@manuscrypts) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/manuscrypts\/status\/796576823354134528\">November 10, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!--more-->Surprisingly she didn&#8217;t have an active bank account. We had a reasonable amount of Rs.100 currency notes and D suggested that we should help her with five of them for her immediate needs. I wasn&#8217;t averse to it, but caught myself hesitating for a\u00a0moment. It was only a moment,\u00a0but it served as a reminder that habits <a href=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/06\/29\/life-menus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accumulated over a lifetime<\/a> aren&#8217;t easy to dislodge. Acknowledging one&#8217;s privilege is hard enough, and going beyond empathy into compassion even more so. In my case, I have a scarcity mindset on both time and money, and it&#8217;s a struggle to go against it. I&#8217;ve learned to take small steps, and to not grudge the small difference I can make to the lives of those less fortunate than me in my immediate surroundings and daily interactions. One need not contribute to global causes. A smile, a help, an encouragement to the maid, the watchman, the Uber driver, the delivery folks &#8211; it can be anyone, but\u00a0I can contribute everyday. And in an infinitesimal way, fight the divide.<\/p>\n<p>The intersubjective reality is a more tricky proposition. I instinctively understand that rhetoric on the lines of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2016\/06\/28\/its-time-for-the-elites-to-rise-up-against-ignorant-masses-trump-2016-brexit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Time for the elites to rise up against ignorant masses<\/a>&#8221; will most likely do more harm than good. My mind also immediately nods at the conversational approach\u00a0that will breach filter bubbles &#8211; explained by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/moments\/796716612158160896\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vimoh<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/shefaly-yogendra.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/09\/of-pigs-and-predictions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shefaly<\/a> already. While it might be easy to blame social media platforms for bubbles, our <a href=\"http:\/\/qz.com\/839982\/social-media-loves-echo-chambers-but-the-human-brain-helps-create-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">brains are equally culpable<\/a> because it loves shortcuts and easy labels. Expanding perspectives and spheres of thinking, and creating more balanced intersubjective realities requires engagement. But then I think of the effort involved &#8211; what if the other side does not want to understand\/listen? I am also worried whether we are unwittingly\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2016\/11\/23\/opinions\/bannon-spencer-white-supremacy-trump-zuckerman\/\">normalising the abnormal<\/a>! \u00a0Sometimes\u00a0I even humour myself that\u00a0I can keep myself detached enough to survive my own lifespan. That&#8217;s wishful thinking though, and I realise that compassion, an open mind and conversations are probably\u00a0the only way forward. (though it&#8217;s going to be a struggle) Access and inclusion are key, whether it be ideas or wealth, and it is up to us to be a part of it. And thus the goal<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12064 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/openmind.jpg\" alt=\"openmind\" width=\"480\" height=\"480\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/openmind.jpg 480w, https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/openmind-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/openmind-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/openmind-50x50.jpg 50w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 480px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 480\/480;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>P.S. An <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vox.com\/first-person\/2016\/11\/17\/13642864\/trump-election-empathy-baratunde-thurston\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">excellent perspective<\/a> in the Trump context<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of last week&#8217;s post &#8220;Understanding the revolution&#8220;, one of the points I wanted to emphasise was our individual role in dealing with it. I had mentioned two factors that I believe have led us to this point &#8211; rising inequality, and intersubjective realities. An attempt to fix also needs to begin here. <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/12\/07\/dealing-with-the-revolution\/\">[&hellip;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6052,1479,6051,412,6268,6056],"tags":[599,5221,5218,4890,5153,5029,5216],"class_list":["post-12027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-choices","category-thoughtstream","category-internet-thoughtstream","category-life","category-self","category-society-culture","tag-compassion","tag-conversation","tag-filter-bubble","tag-inequality","tag-intersubjective-reality","tag-privilege","tag-revolution"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12027"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15561,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12027\/revisions\/15561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}