The Right Thing To Do

John Rawles was an American philosopher. 

Well? 

Well, you should look him up, if you want to. But one of the things he opined on is designing a fair society. By the way, it's impossible to do so. He said that the way to do this is to make rules regarding a good or fair society behind a veil of ignorance - i.e the people who make these rules cannot have any idea which social bucket they'll end up in or they're already in.

This "original position" bias exists today in our conversations regarding the #coronavirus. There are umpteen points of view on what to do about it, & how to balance health, economy, & other stresses, but there's simply no consensus. 

And there, in all likelihood, never will be on matters that are inherently quasi-scientific in nature because of this "original position" bias.

Getting into soup

Of all the gastronomical practices prevalent in this muddle of a country of ours, the one which never ceases to make me raise a three-fifth astonished and five-sixth annoyed eyebrow is the unreserved splatter of all available sauces into the soup without even a forethought of if a chicken clear soup indeed merits a marriage to tomato ketchup, with soy sauce & chili sauce spreading themselves far & wide much like expansive men in a wedding party laced with something slightly strong for civil consumption.

Tut, tut, I mean.

Point & shoot

The standard Indian explanation of terrorism by the way of pointing fingers toward Pakistan seems rather shallow at this point. Even if it is true, we still cannot justify the failure of our intelligence, police & the general rise of civil unrest in the country based on religious grounds which includes Hindus, Muslims & Christians alike - the difference being one of degree. This is a moot point, however.

Nothing that I know of tells me that the Pakistani government has even an iota of control over a lot of these home-grown terrorists. Pakistan is as much a victim of the situation as we are. Their military & intelligence are way outside government control. So by lobbying against the Pakistani government, if government is the right term for the the structure in place in Pakistan right now, I do not see how we are taking any measures of consequence in solving the problem.

One of the aspects of this closed, parochial mentality is epitomised in the failure of SAARC as a political organization, as opposed to the EU - which, in spite of its many internal disagreements, has been able to structure an organization which gives it clarity & definition as a body of nations united for many geo-political purposes.

If India does not understand & act upon the notion that the idea of national peace & prosperity in a region of economic, societal & political distress is just banana oil, this kind of thing will continue to happen. And acting in the regional interest is something that each country has to evolve a consensus & a mentality for. And their respective citizens will need to have the voice & purpose to do this.I can't imagine that the solution to any of this, whatever the solution is, will come from & involve just one country in the region.

South Asia is in tatters. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka - all of us battling endlessly against internal strife based on a variety of factors. South Asia has not really had any kind of a movement resembling the Renaissance, but we're sure not going to stop ourselves from slipping into our own "Dark Age". So lets go ahead & pull that trigger - an eye for an eye, right?