Media: power misused

Today, India and the world bemoan the dastardly act of terrorists in Mumbai. Global terrorism and religious fundamentalism have been inextricably tied together. The need to tackle this deep rooted problem in today's world cannot be overstated. It is a pity that terrorist attacks of today are compared and contrasted to terrorist attacks of yesterday. It just goes to show the unenviable position we have gotten ourselves into. I believe we as fellow human beings need to act responsibly in such a situation and display basic humanitarian traits. As a civilian, I am obviously extremely disappointed and aggrieved at the nature and impact of the attacks. What disappointed me even more today is the role of media to add fuel to a raging fire.

India is the largest democracy in the world. It is virtually impossible to have the foresight to predict accurately decades into the future while writing the constitution of such a nation. Even the greatest of visionaries cannot possibly foresee the growth of technology and the change in society far into the future. Hence, it is probably important to address the problem at hand by interpreting the constitution objectively and not be a fundamentalist. Sometimes, democracies are weakened by the liberal nature of their constitution and incapacitate themselves from regulating freedom of speech and expression. With the power of media and the internet, communication has taken a different meaning altogether. It is the government's primary responsibility to enforce regulatory measures to ensure that these tools are not misused.

The coverage of the Mumbai terror attacks by CNN IBN made me write this post today. A hostage from inside the Oberoi hotel calls the CNN IBN helpline which is flashed all over the tele. The channel answers the call and puts that person who is in distress on air...live! Mind you, the person is still helpless in Oberoi hotel which is hijacked by terrorists and the media was having a ball trying to find out who he called last, which floor he was calling from, whether there was fire near him and wanted to know if he could hear the gunshots. Give me a break! The reporters pray for the well being of that person and then continue with their coverage of the scene. I say CNN IBN should have its dick taken out of its ass for this act! Also, a video that was flashed repeatedly showed stray gun shots from a jeep commandeered by terrorists outside a popular cineplex. Not surprisingly, there were two video cameras scrounging for great footage and revenue by filming a victim's injured hand without calling the paramedics.

These acts are not only a transgression of humanitarian values and basic ethics, they are acts that can potentially sabotage the operation carried out by the police forces. If it can enter my pee brain that talking to a hostage during a crisis is insanity, I am sure the people in these industries already know what the merits of their actions are. It is time to tidy up before continuing with their moral policing crap on others!

Oxymorons

I find oxymorons interesting. Below is a list I found on the web...some of them are really funny

A 12-Ounce Pound Cake
Accurate Horoscope
Act Naturally
Adult Children
Advanced BASIC
African American (Italian American, Polish American, etc.)
Agree to Disagree
Airline Food
Almost Done, Almost Exactly, Almost Ready
Alone Together
Amicable Divorce
Anarchy Rules!
Anxious Patient
Appearance Hearing (court appearance)
Approximately Equal
Artificial Intelligence
Assistant Supervisor
Auction Winner (you still have to pay for it!)
Audience Participation
Authentic Reproduction
Awfully Good
Awfully Nice
Baby Grand
Bad Health
Bad Luck
Bad Sex
Bad Sport
Ball Club
Benign Tumor
Black Gold (slang for crude oil)
Black Light
Black Russian
Blue Bird of Happiness
Blue Green
Big Baby
Birthday Suit
Bitter Sweet
Boneless Ribs
Books on Tape
Bridegroom
Bright Night
Buffalo Wings
Bulldog
Business Ethics
Butt Head
Cardinal Sin
Casual Dress
Catfish
Cautiously Optimistic
Charm Offensive
Chocolate 'Nilla Wafers
Christian Militia
Christian Scientist
Civil Disobedience
Civil Servant
Civil War
Classic Rock
Clean Litter
Clearly Misunderstood
Clever Fool
Click the start button to shut down
Close Distance
Cold Fever, Cold Sweat
Comedic Tragedy
Commercial Art
Common Sense
Compassionate Conservative
Computer Jock
Concession Stand
Congressional Ethics
Conscious Sedation (hospital term)
Consensual Rape
Conservative Stock (as in the Stock Market)
Conservative Think Tank
Constant Change, Constant Variable
Constitutional Amendment to Ban Flag Burning
Conventional Wisdom
Couch Potato
Crash Landing
Creation Science
Criminal Justice
Criminal Mastermind
Crisis Management
Critical Acclaim
Cruel to be Kind
Cupboard
Current History
Dark Star
Date Rape
Deafening Silence
Death Benefits
Definite Maybe
Detailed Summary
Devout Atheist
Diet Ice Cream
Disinformation
Dodge Ram
Doing Nothing
Domestic Violence
Double Solitaire
Down Escalator
Drink Responsibly (hypocritical tag line on liquor and beer commercials)
Drug War
Dry Gin, Dry Ice, Dry Lake, Dry Martini
Dull Knife
Economic Science
Educational TV
Elementary Calculus
Elevated Subway
Elevator Shoes
Evaporated Milk
Even Odds
Exact Estimate
Executive Assistant
Express Bus
Extended Limits
Extinct Life
Extra Time, Extra Money
Extra Virgin (the opposite of "A Little Pregnant")
Factory Air
Family Planning Association (you go there to not have a family!)
Family Vacation
Fatally Injured
Female Sperm Whale
First Annual
Foreign National
Forward Lateral (football term)
Found Missing
Free Gift
Freezer Burn
Fresh Cheese
Fresh Frozen
Fresh Smelt
Friendly Argument
Friendly Fire
Front End
Fun Run
Functional Illiterate
Fuzzy Logic
Garage Apartment
Gentleman Bandit
Gentleman's Club
Gentle Turbulence
Girly Man
Global Village
Good Cigar
Good Grief
Good Loser
Good Riddance
Good Shit
Gourmet Pizza
Government Organization
Government Intelligence
Government Worker
Graduate Student
Graphic Language
Great Depression (what was so great about it?)
Greater Cleveland
Greater Evil
Group of individuals
Growing Smaller
Guest Host
Gun Safe
Half Full (or Half Empty)
Hamburger Steak
Happily Married (groan)
Hard Curve
Hard Liquor
Hard Pillow
Hard Roll
Hard Water
Haitian former President-for-life Jean-Claude Duvalier
Head Butt
Healthy Tan
Heavy Gas
Hermitage (where multiple hermits live)
Hell's Angels
High Minimum Wage
High-Speed Computer
Higher Ground
Highway Underpass
Holistic Healing
Hollow Point
Holy Crap
Holy War
Homeopathic Medicine
Honest Cheater (click for proof)
Honest Crook
Hopelessly Optimistic
Horse Fly
Hot Chili
Hot Ice
Hot Water Heater
House Boat
House Plant
Humane Slaughter
Humble Opinion
Ice Water, Iced Coffee
Idiot Savant
Incredibly Convincing
Independent Financial Advisor
Industrial Park
Inexpensive Car
Inside Out
Instant Classic
Internet Security
Invisible Ink
Irate Patient
Jet Lag
Jews for Jesus
Job Security
Jumbo Shrimp
Junk Food
Lamp Shade
Last Initial
Lean Pork
Least Favorite
Legal Brief
Legally Drunk
Legitimate Ruler
Liberal Bias
Liberal Republican
Light Heavyweight
Light-Skinned Black
Limited Edition Print
Limited Lifetime Guarantee
Liquid Crystal
Liquid Gas
Little Giant
Live Recording
Living Dead, Living Will
Long Shorts
Loud Whisper
"Love to Hate"
Low Altitude
Man Child
Mandatory Elective
Mandatory Option
Marijuana Initiative
Medium Rare
Melted Ice
Mercy Killing
Metal Wood (golf club)
Microsoft Works
Mild Abrasive
Military Intelligence, Military Justice
Minor Disaster
Miracle Drug
Mobile Station
Modern Classic
Modern History
Mournful Optimism
Moving Target
Much Less
Music Business
Mutual Differences
Natural Makeup
Near Miss
Necessary Evil
Negative Growth (economic recession)
New and Improved
"New Antiques arriving daily!"
New Classic
New Old Stock
New Tradition
Night Light
Non-Dairy Creamer
Non-Denominational Church
Non-Stop Flight
"Now, then"
Old Boy
Old News
One-man band
Only Choice
Open Marriage
Open Secret
Organized Mess
Original Copy
Oxymoron (oxy=sharp, moron=dull)
Paid Volunteer
Partially Complete
Passive Aggression
Passive Preamp (an audio preamp is active by definion)
Peace Force, Peace Offensive, Peacemaker Missile
Perfect Idiot
Perfectly Awful
Permanent (as in hair treatment that has to be done regularly)
Pet Fish
Pianoforte
Plastic Cork (I opened a bottle of cheap wine just last night!)
Plastic Drop Cloth
Plastic Glasses, Plastic Silverware
Plastic Wood Blocks (percussion instrument)
Play Responsibly (tag line in lottery ads)
Political Science
Postal Service
Posthumous Conception (using sperm frozen before the donor died)
Preemptive Self-Defense
Preliminary Final
Press Release
Pretty Ugly
Primitive Technology (Aboriginal and other early crafts)
Private Community
Progressive Conservative
Public Opinion (opinions are unique)
Pure Evil
Quicksand (you sink into it very slowly)
Random Logic
Rap Artist
Rap Music, Military Music
Rarely Done
Reagan Democrat
Reagan's Memoirs
Reality Television
Recent History
Red Licorice
Relaxation Exercise
Religious Education
Religious Right (because they're wrong)
Religious Tolerance
Resident Alien
Restless Sleep
Retired Worker
Rolling Stop
Rogue Cop
Rural Metro (ambulance service)
Rush Hour
RV Resort
Safe Sex
Safety Hazard
Same Difference
Sanitary Landfill
Sanitary Napkin
Science Fiction
Scientific Consensus
Second Best
See-Saw
Self-help Group
Self-rescue (wind-surfing term)
Self-taught
Serious Clown
"Seriously, you need to lighten up."
Short Distance
Signing Off On something
Silent Alarm
Silent Scream
Single Diversity (a type of wireless microphone)
Singular Relationship
Sit Up
Slumber Party
Small Crowd
Small World
Social Outcast
Social Science
Soft Rock
Solo Concert
Sour Cream
Speed Limit
Spendthrift
Stand Down
Stock Modified (performance car term)
Stop Action (w/thanks to John Sweeney)
Straight Hooks
String Cheese
Stripper's Dressing Room
Structured C Program
Student Teacher
Suicide Victim
Sure Bet
Sweet and Sour
Sweet Sorrow
Synthetic natural gas
Tabled Motion
Talk Show
Tax Free, Tax Relief, Tax Return
Tentative Decision
Terribly Nice
Terribly Pleased
Terrific Headache
Tight Slacks
Titanium woods (golf clubs)
Toll Free
Tough Love
Traffic Flow
Tragic Comedy
Truck Farm
Turned Up Missing
Unacceptable Solution
Unbiased Opinion
Uninvited Guest
United Independent (a real taxi company in Los Angeles)
United Nations
Unknown Identity
Upper Low (weather term)
Upside Down
Urban Cowboy
Useful Oxymoron
Vacation Bible School
Vibrating Ringtone
Victimless Crime
Virtual Reality
Virtually Identical
War Games
Where the Truth Lies
White Chocolate
White Lie
Wicked Good
Wireless Cable
Work Party
Working Vacation
Young Adult

Che Guevara: A revolutionary life

Most of the world considers him a terrorist...I was not very different until I read this book. Authored by Jon Lee Anderson; it is the most comprehensive literary work of the life of Che Guevara.

A doctor by profession, a voracious reader, a friend of the erudite Pablo Neruda, a comrade of many socio-communist reformers in Guatemala, an ambassador to a foreign country, the minister of finance, a mathematician, an architect, an author, a man who took the UN general assembly by storm on his visit to USA and most importantly a revolutionary by choice, Che is considered the most complete individual to have graced the world made up of other mere mortals by the political fraternity of the 1950s and 1960s.

He is a guy who lived a life of self-abnegation: Che was the only Argentine in the revolutionary July 26th movement headed by Fidel Castro and the Cubans. Later, he would strive to start a revolution in Bolivia with the ultimate objective of spreading the revolution to his home country. Fidel Castro and Che worked together in analyzing the failures of the Jacobo Arbenz's governance in Guatemala and learned from his mistakes. Soon after the success of the revolution, they solidified their stronghold of Havana by educating the civilians and making them work for the cause. It is fair to state that their measures were successful as the populace of Cuba responded to their call for sacrifice and working for posterity.

The book extricates the mysterious and complex character of Che and enlightens the reader about the principles he stood for and his beliefs. During the course of reading the book, one would realize that he belonged to a world eons into the future. His character dwarfs his contemporaries; be it scholars or powerful men with political and social clout. It is a great read also for the prose and the description of Guerilla warfare.

Ironically, Che gained more global recognition posthumously than when he strived to spread the message of proletariat internationalism with unabashed implacability. However, I really don't understand why his portrait appears in all the dorm rooms and t-shirts of college sophomores!

Express thyself

Stepped out of India in 2005; the usual story: Master's degree in USA. A techie job beckoned.

The last 3 years have kind of been a blur for the most part. The rest of the time, the mind was occluded from everything other than finding a job, finding money...to sum up: thriving.

Fast forward to 2008...my parents came to visit me upon graduation: now that I had the time and money to support them. It was great fun and it was a break (well deserved..I dont know!!) from the mundane , materialistic mode of life. I was on travel or was booking tickets more often than not. 3 months of the same and I had enough of a break! I guess that explains the kind of person I am...restless, curious to explore! Once their sojourn to USA ended, I found the time to sit and think about 'me'.

Getting out of India has given me a different perspective on life back home. Education, independence and life away from home titillates the psyche and makes a person much more conscious to social events.

My job, most importantly, has given me the peace of mind to think about many things meaningful. I am realizing the need to interact with a diverse audience, educate myself on other fronts, keep fit and most importantly express myself.

I know its cliched; but these small things make a huge difference.