Self and the other: thoughtful article in the time of conflicts

These are powerful words put in a very simple and straightforward manner. It also carries a bit of emotion. I agree. We must add this.

sorry, but i have a different opinion (i'm just sharing my thoughts, feel free to correct if anything found wrong/absurd).

some say that "talking about racism is also racism!" (i know there is irony in it, but i hope it is okay unless it reach the masses). by talking against the sense of division aren't we just worsening the situation even more?

it's virtually impossible to get rid of divisions. from the early childhood itself we are indoctrinated with various stereotypes. for eg, gender discrimination starts within the family. (most of the) parents, knowingly and unknowingly, inject girls with a feeling of inferiority. the masculine-feminine division can even be found in the selection of toys. girls are forced to see themselves as associated with suffering and sacrifice. what they see, hear, read and experience, all reflect this. even our educational system, including the teachers and the textbooks, have a great role in it. then there is mass media - tv (movies, serials, ads, etc.), newspapers, magazines, etc. - which promote this even further.

gender division is not the problem here, but the stereotypes associate with it & the discrimination based on it are - promoting the thought that one gender is superior to or better than the other, that's what we have to stop whether it's by parents, teachers, the educational system or by the mass media.

another important thing to consider is that there are natural traits such as gender, color, etc. and there are cultural traits which are made by ourselves including our behaviors, values, beliefs and norms. unlike the former, the latter can be changed by ourselves if we really care enough. we should embrace the natural differences and at the same time get rid of unnecessary divisions made by humans such as religion, caste, etc. if we don't indoctrinate children with any of the religious thoughts, it's sure that they'll laugh at the religious stories when they become adults. religions force us not to question its validity which affects our critical thinking. religions spread morality based on the "punishment and reward model" which actually doesn't make love and compassion selfless!

if we need to overcome these problems we should be able to think for ourselves, we should be able to question the traditions and conventions we follow instead of blindly following them and should make necessary changes to ensure the overall progress of humanity. and for that we need to encourage critical thinking. the best way to do this is through our educational system. the educational system should be designed in a way that it helps children to develop scientific temper.

"[What is needed] is the scientific approach, the adventurous and yet critical temper of science, the search for truth and new knowledge, the refusal to accept anything without testing and trial, the capacity to change previous conclusions in the face of new evidence, the reliance on observed fact and not on pre-conceived theory, the hard discipline of the mind—all this is necessary, not merely for the application of science but for life itself and the solution of its many problems." —Jawaharlal Nehru

sorry, but i have a different opinion (i'm just sharing my thoughts, feel free to correct if anything found wrong/absurd).

Its perfectly fine to have a different opinion because we all have different backgrounds.

some say that "talking about racism is also racism!" (i know there is irony in it, but i hope it is okay unless it reach the masses). by talking against the sense of division aren't we just worsening the situation even more?

I don't agree. The solution to a problem starts from acknowledging the problem and not wishing it did not exist.

it's virtually impossible to get rid of divisions. from the early childhood itself we are indoctrinated with various stereotypes. for eg, gender discrimination starts within the family. (most of the) parents, knowingly and unknowingly, inject girls with a feeling of inferiority. the masculine-feminine division can even be found in the selection of toys. girls are forced to see themselves as associated with suffering and sacrifice. what they see, hear, read and experience, all reflect this. even our educational system, including the teachers and the textbooks, have a great role in it. then there is mass media - tv (movies, serials, ads, etc.), newspapers, magazines, etc. - which promote this even further.

If you are looking at getting rid of all the divisions, then may be you are correct. But if you look back in history, we can see innumerable shining examples where divisions where bridged - there were slaves and masters, women did not have voting rights in many countries, women did not get equal pay. All these were not easy. It was possible when people acknowledged the divisions and struggled to remove them. It is easy to get disappointed when you see the gravity of the problem, but history of humankind gives us hope, that we as human race have overcome many such hurdles when a small number of determined members of our race stood up and fought.

There is no doubt this is an uphill task, but that is not an excuse not to try. We have to change out education system, mainstream media and all of it starts from ourselves, from the thought that, a change is possible only if we try.

it's virtually impossible to get rid of divisions. from the early childhood itself we are indoctrinated with various stereotypes. for eg, gender discrimination starts within the family. (most of the) parents, knowingly and unknowingly, inject girls with a feeling of inferiority. the masculine-feminine division can even be found in the selection of toys. girls are forced to see themselves as associated with suffering and sacrifice. what they see, hear, read and experience, all reflect this. even our educational system, including the teachers and the textbooks, have a great role in it. then there is mass media - tv (movies, serials, ads, etc.), newspapers, magazines, etc. - which promote this even further.

Religions are not the only kind of indoctrination, any kind of gang feeling where "we are correct" and "they are wrong" is problematic. See the followers of political parties, I don't think all of it is coming from parents or teachers. Many of the political party affiliations are chosen by adults, but they still don't think critically. So I don't think critical thinking will come automatically when someone becomes an adult. Critical thinking has to be part of the culture. It has to be encouraged at all levels, especially through the educational system.

if we need to overcome these problems we should be able to think for ourselves, we should be able to question the traditions and conventions we follow instead of blindly following them and should make necessary changes to ensure the overall progress of humanity. and for that we need to encourage critical thinking. the best way to do this is through our educational system. the educational system should be designed in a way that it helps children to develop scientific temper.

Agreed.

This is only the starting point of the basic principles and an attempt to find common ground for all humans. In the next principle we talk about discrimination and the need to end it.

Section 4 mentions education as a right. Propose an addition and mention what kind of education we want.

@ambadyanands do you have disagreement with any specific text of this amendment?

"it's virtually impossible to get rid of divisions". //actually this is not a negative statement. division and discrimination aren't same. most of the people will have this tendency to find themselves associated with certain groups of people who share many similarities such as having same likes and dislikes ('Indian Pirates' is also such a group!). in many cases diversity isn't the problem, but the stereotypes and prejudices associated with it leading to discrimination. as you said, 'any kind of gang feeling where "we are correct" and "they are wrong" is problematic'. that's where critical thinking is important which helps us to identify and correct those prejudices and stereotypes.

"Religions are not the only kind of indoctrination". //yes, but it was a perfect example i could think of as an unnecessary division created by ourselves which we are still following despite the harm it has done to the entire humanity!

"do you have disagreement with any specific text of this amendment?" //to be honest, i'm not sure. may be it's just me, but i feel like the first sentence is unnecessary where it talks about divisions. instead it could begin from "if we look for differences...". we already know there exists many kind of divisions, but it doesn't need to be negative always (logically speaking the quote doesn't explicitly imply that divisions are bad, but still one can misread it so). divisions exist because of the differences, we need to learn to respect and embrace not only the similarities but in many cases the differences too!

@shyambalakrishnan has written on the same topic here https://hobostream.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/the-azadi-of-the-kashmir-people-and-of-humanity/

@ambadyanands a solution starts from acknowledging a problem. I think we have to acknowledge the reason before we propose a solution.

How about shortening it to,

If we look for differences then we can find them everywhere. But, for all those countless differences, our lives and loves, our fears and wishes, our anxieties and aspirations, are surprisingly universal. If we are able to see even a flash of ourselves in the eyes of the ‘other’, we will make more compassionate choices in our policies and practices, in the personal and the political.

okay, it's fine.

I have proposed this change in Permanent Members sub group here https://codema.in/d/eNDtrkys/proposal/oWXmKYL2

This amendment is accepted, @ambadyanands please update the website.