My request to the members of an email-discussion group. Posted yesterday.
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Hi all,
I went through the Economist piece. Please also go through the
comments posted in that post. One comment points out a false
information in the post, about Nepal having no reservation bill. The
comment states that there has been a reservation bill for about a
decade in Nepal. I thank whoever wrote the comments, some of them are
very interesting.
Someone said, “the best way to deal with incorrect information on the
internet is to post the correct information next to it.” I would like
to request the members of this group to participate in such
activities, and I hope you’d take my request seriously. I present my
arguments in the following paragraphs.
This Economist piece, along with few others, is an echo of some voices
we already see in some of Nepal’s papers. Some editors and columnists,
hand in hand, are vigorously promoting certain political agendas.
Criticizing them inside closed email discussion groups is not going to
be of much help, especially if the aim is to intellectually counter
their arguments.
First, on newspapers and social media like blogs and twitter, the
noise made by the aforementioned group of editors-columnists is
increasing each day. This closed group is content tweeting and
re-tweeting amongst themselves, many times over. So much so that,
hardly an hour goes without seeing a very similar statement being
emanated from one of them and then retransmitted again and again by
their friends.
As much as they’d like to blame others as elite, their own behavior
most closely resembles of one. People who are writing alternative
views are becoming easy targets because this coterie which, like any
close-knit group of elites, is quick and rapid at making personal
abuses, racist slurs, and other ways of discouraging the
speaker/writer.
We may call this uncivilized or undemocratic, but we can’t just be
silent spectators. It becomes our duty to protect the diversity of
opinions and ideas, and encourage free speech from alternative sides.
Especially, in debates which has been taken to multiple forums and
being fought in many fronts. People should come out and participate,
provide solid reasoning and arguments, and let critical discussion
take place, instead of the one-sided onslaught currently seen.
So, here’s to you all: start writing, on blogs or twitter or papers.
Become visible, and participate. Do not limit your arguments to
tea-table talks or closed-group discussions. Not all can manage the
time and interest, but a small number would be enough to start with.
If there’s a need for a such a platform, we can start one.
To understand the shortcuts humans use when making decisions, take this quiz based on the work of a Nobel Prize winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman.
Be careful of the kind of mind-manipulations some thinkers, writers and politicians make to convince you with their agendas.
“
Death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.
- Robert Maynard Hutchins
”“
Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem.
- G.K. Chesterton
”
Then came the biggest dissapointment of all. What should have been the most modern hospital for the entire district, serving 45,000 people with full care for all things is lost because of political fighting. Prem Tamang and his damn maoist people only want Maoists to have a hospital not all Rasuwa, so we walked away from this too. Happy Prem? You are the leader for Rasuwa and you screw your own people out of a hospital for your party needs. Welcome to the new Nepal where politicians rule and people get nothing. Well done, Prem my lad.
लेखक: मिलन बगाले
—————————————-
राजतन्त्रको जरोमुलो मास्सिदा,
सामन्तीतन्त्रले नेटो काटने
हावाका रङ्गीचङ्गी वेलूनहरु
टायरले किच्न लागिसके
कमरेड पजेरो रोक,
हावाको वेलूनभित्र
तिम्रो सक्कली अनुहार र
जनताका अटेसमटेस सपना छन
पानीको फोकोझै फुट्ला !
——————————
लुटन तिमिले सिकायौ
लुछ्न तिमिले सिकायौ
गरेर होईन,
खोसेरै खान सिकायौ
कालो सिसाभित्र बसेर
कमरेड ज्यादती रोक्छु नभन
वाईसिएले तिम्लाई नै कुटला!
————————
र्सवहाराको नेता भनेको
सवैतिर हार्नु हैन,
र जनता भोकै राखेर
एक्लै तर् मार्नु हैन,
कमरेड बादल मडारिदैछ ,
हिउदमा छाता सिईराख
बर्खामा पानीले चुटला !
————————
गाडी चढ्यौ खाट चढ्यौ
घोडा बनाई जनतालाई
दशबर्ष ढाड चढ्यौ
कोशी फुट्यो कर्णाली फुट्यो
दुख पिडाको मुल फुट्यो
तर तिम्रो हृदयको पथ्थर फुटेन
हातमा हतौडा बोकेर
कमरेड खप्पर फोर्छु नभन
धागाको डोरीजस्तो
नेपालीको धैर्यको बाध टुट्ला !
The true size of Africa
(source)
“I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
- Stephen Jay Gould”
(छेत्रप्रताप अधिकारी का सुन्दर शब्दहरु)
————————————————-
मान्छेहरु
मेरो कवितामा
राजनिति पस्यो भन्छन
कस्तो फसाद!
फोहोरको थुप्रोमा उभिएर
फुलको कविता कसरी लेख्नेहोला ?
प्रजातन्त्रको पछि लागेर
कमीसनतन्त्र आयो
र देशै खायो
यो सत्य
घामझै छर्लङ छ
अब यो घामलाई
हत्केलाले कसरी छेक्नेहोला?
………………….
देश जताततै हारिरहेछ
हारको मुन्टो झुकाएर
जीतको कविता
कसरी लेख्नेहोला ?
अधिकाश मनहरु
अध्यारा छन
अब यो अन्धकारमा
उज्यालो कसरी देख्नेहोला?.
…………………….
फोहोरको थुप्रोमा
उभिएर देखेको लेखेको छु
…………………..
साभार: ’ तर देश हारिरहेछ ’ कविता संग्रह, २०५७
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