Nice piece. It is always so easy to view the problem of corruption & related ills as one of personal morality; that it happens because the people who have discretionary power, particularly politicians, are fundamentally "bad" people. If they are replaced by "good" people, the outcome will be fundamentally different. It is this view that gets the urban middle class so excited about the Hazare-like premises.
I have tried to understand why this seems to be a collective social view, though individually almost all of us have the basic intelligence to understand the time immemorial adage that "one who goes to Lanka, shall become a Ravan". Quite apart from the fact that reforming Lanka is nowhere as entertaining or appealing as burning Ravan, it reflects a fundamental desire in us to differentiate ourselves - "they " are the bad guys so they bring misery, "I" am good, if "I" were there, "I" would perform differently; "I" or someone like "I" can do it. By saying this, "I" exult my moral superiority. It is so easy to sell this creed to "I". "You?", well I am not so sure about "you" :-). Santanu. ________________________________________ From: assam-boun...@assamnet.org [assam-boun...@assamnet.org] on behalf of Altaf Mazid [altafma...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 8:31 AM To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world Subject: [Assam] The Rorschach Effect in Indian Politics The Rorschach Effect in Indian Politics By Amit Varma http://in.news.yahoo.com/blogs/opinions/rorschach-effect-indian-politics-053923332.html _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
