Does the shepherd really have his flock's interest at heart?

We were told to surrender to the care of the shepherd. We should trust him unconditionally, for he has your best interest at heart. He is selfless and would not call it a day until the last sheep is accounted for. He would not harm his flock. Every member of the herd, small or big, meaty or skinny, young or old, is equally important to him. He will not rest his head until every member is safe and sound. So we were told. And it made perfect sense then. Pack your worries, fold it and give it for safekeeping with the shepherd. He would guide us through, and we would be safe. We will be saved.

Now that we have crossed the hurdles, we become conceited. We think all these successes are our efforts, ours alone. 

When we are told of the good shepherd and their noble intentions, we ask them to think of the true nature of his plan. He has no altruistic purpose. His sole aim to fatten his pack. Every sheep lost is lost revenue. His seemingly caring attitude is merely to fatten us to prepare us for the slaughter. Just like a 'mother hen' grooming a tender spring chicken for the profession, we were just being marinated for the grill. 

We can be the occasion sheep that wanders away, that may be mauled by predators or that he wants us to believe. We may be discarded as a recalcitrant, be abandoned as an insensible loss. Are our actions somehow going to turn the status quo on its back?

The majority find it easier just to follow the pack. It is too much hard work to think. Searching for the truth is too laborious.

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Psychopath's Handbook?

How to Win Friends & Influence People 

Dale Carnegie (©1936)

I must be exuding the aura of being a loner with very few friends that someone actually loaned me this book. He must have thought that it must be a sure way to end all my perceived 'woes'. Generally, I do not cherish books of this nature. To me, they appear like learning swimming by reading. Some things can be acquired only through practice, experience, and dents from the School of Hard Knocks.

After reading through it, I find it to be more like a handbook for psychopaths. It tells its readers how to skew others' thinking and actions towards the readers' self-serving needs. The psychopath would slowly play mind games to influence his victims into thinking that they are doing something altruistic akin to how Piped Piper would rid the town all the mice for nothing (thank you very much). And how the children would be mesmerised to his enchanting flute music to march in like zombies into the caves and never return.

Many of the topics illustrate the insincerity of people in making friends and influence them. They try to make people like them. They attempt to control people with their way of thinking, to be a leader without offence or resentment.  

Nobody, I mean nobody, can teach anybody anything. We cannot even make them learn. The yearning should come from within. 99% of the time, people, even hardened criminals, do not blame themselves for the mess they create or the mayhem that they are privy to. Criticising does not change anything, only creates resentment said Lincoln. People have to feel important. They want good health, food, sleep, money, sexual gratifications, the wellbeing of their children and perhaps a good after-life. We have to remember these when we want to influence people. 

Even though the methods that are suggested simple enough, most of us take them for granted and end up doing just the opposite; with disastrous outcomes. It is all about dancing to the tune of the intended 'victim'. Some of the strategies include making the others feel important, be free with appreciation but not flattery, arouse the interest of the other, show genuine interest, remember their names, be a good listener, talk in term of others' interests (while keeping in mind his true intentions, I suppose), be friendly, use diplomacy and not to run anyone down, be sympathetic to others' views, be dramatic and throw challenges to maintain the interest. 

We should remember that a drop of honey attracts more flies than a gallon of gall. The results seem more important than the means.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Dialogue the way forward?

Malaiur Manikam (Malay; 2015)
Author: Uthaya Sankar SB


From the time of Thales, the first European philosopher, the first from the European perspective, the Easterners claim to have known this earlier, the quest to know the secrets of the universe kept on growing. The Greek philosophers thought that the structure of universe could be explained via trigonometry and mathematics. They were excited when they correctly predicted a solar eclipse in 585BCE.
From then on, via critical debates and intelligent deductions, many theories were created.

At the heights of the Golden Era of the Islamic Civilisation and the courtyards of Agra of the Mogul Empire, majlis and interfaith dialogues were familiar scenes. Each scholar would go as far as learning each other culture’s language so as to understand the crux of knowledge that each had to offer. They understood that what they knew was the only fistful; when what they need to know was ocean deep! Akbar went as far as creating Dīn-i Ilāhī, an amalgam of the best of Hindu, Islam, Jain, Christian and Zoroastrianism.

The author incisively criticises leaders who seem go around the country with blinkers and a self-installed halo refusing to accept alternative opinions and think that they know everything. Period.

Uthaya Sankar tries to put many things in perspective. He attempts to educate the masses about certain concepts in Hinduism, the sacred place of cows in society and the meanings of certain celebrations. He went on to ruffle many feathers by reminding us of our early history of Nusantara and the genesis of the diaspora called Malays. Even though our education system boasts of trying to unite the citizens of the country, many are still in the dark about their brethren’s practices and cultures. This book introduces us to the core of Sikhism and Buddhism. The plight of the LGBT community is also highlighted for us to digest. The most interesting part of the book was the section on Tamil literature, about the great poems and their relevance to the time.

This book is a light read to refresh our rich heritage. We should all respect each other’s cultures as what may seem like absurd or comical to one may be dear to another. After all, we are all human, only separated by our minds.

N.B. The title could be a cheeky way of telling that he is not a foreigner but a jewel from a country called Malaya (Malaiur = old name for the Peninsular of Malaya, a hilly country; Manikam= jewel)

First they control your eyes....

I may not be a connoisseur of films, but I sure do indulge in a lot of them, not in the making but as a consumer. Sometimes, I wonder if I am hiding in a fictitious world of make-believe, fantasy and poetic justice. Or that the conventional wisdom that I learned in the course of my growing up facing the hurdles of life are somehow unlearnt and new thoughts are infused.

If fact, way back as early as 1905, a Catholic priest had suspected that the newly introduced moving pictures were corrupting the mind of the masses. He objectively demonstrated his theory via a modern-day lie-detector type of a contraption to prove his conviction. Over the years, people started analysing movies and its messages, whether hidden or otherwise. Hence was born the field of film studies.

After its successful role of being a propaganda tool of the Americans to justify their entry and actions in the first World War, it continued its heyday of trying to mould and unify the thoughts of the Western-educated world. Follies and injustices were nicely swept under the carpet and given cosmetic touch-up. Hitler and his party created mass hatred of a certain through his orchestrated attack of a section of the population via films. So did the Allies in giving hope to the supposed warriors of the 'correct side' of the war.

The advent of cable news networks brought about mongers of news from individuals with a vested interest who could sell ice to Eskimos and create a mountain out of a molehill! Lessons learnt from its early years strengthen the adage that a lie oft repeated becomes the truth.

The next step in the brainwashing exercise is the appointment of modern-day management gurus in the form of talk-show hosts. They highlight social issues which are primarily first world problems which would not bat an eyelid in any third world country. The hosts, being hosts, the peddler of issues with the uncanny ability to pluck questions from thin air, attempt to influence sponge-like minds of the modern mind to think alike. In a way, it is modern-day post-Cold War indoctrination of the mind.

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