Comments on: Treachery, Egotism and Myth in our politics
http://groundviews.org/2008/03/21/treachery-egotism-and-myth-in-our-politics/
Groundviews is an award winning Sri Lankan citizen journalism initiativeThu, 24 May 2012 14:16:32 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1By: cyberviews
http://groundviews.org/2008/03/21/treachery-egotism-and-myth-in-our-politics/#comment-716
cyberviewsThu, 27 Mar 2008 16:08:49 +0000http://www.groundviews.org/2008/03/21/treachery-egotism-and-myth-in-our-politics/#comment-716Thank you Raja for this excellent expostion. But how do we break out of this social conditioning that is seeping into our psyche. Gramsci calls it the "contradictory state of consciousness" which " ...holds together a specific social group, it influences moral conduct and the direction of the will" and that it "...does not permit of any action, any decision or any choice, and produces a condition of moral and political passivity" . Who will provide the crucial leadership for change? There are no credible leaders on the horizon and the fascists are consolidating their postion. Are we doomed to a militaristic state under the Rajapakshas and the JHU? Look at Burma. 15 years on the generals are still there. Even the recent uprising was crushed. A UN attempt to get its foot in the door has been abortive. Its back to square one. And to add insult to injury they are respectable members of Asean. (Sri Lanka, who has been aerial bombing, abducting, disappearing and killing, exectuion style, its own citizens relentlessy over the past 2 years, is a member of the UN HRC and is even seeking re-election) Will a failed society like Burma be our fate too? Depressing no doubt, but is it not that which we are witnessing today. Else how would you explain Mervyn de Silva, whom the President himself alluded to as being behind recent attacks on media personnel, brazenly flanking him at the opening of a fly over a few days later. As you rightly put it "individuals who have forgotten their true identity as human beings and whose main motivating forces are fear and self preservation, a system of social conditioning is bound to arise which traps everyone in a self-perpetuating downward spiral taking them further and further away from the truth and closer and closer to destruction". "Self perpetuating" is the operative word here.Thank you Raja for this excellent expostion. But how do we break out of this social conditioning that is seeping into our psyche. Gramsci calls it the “contradictory state of consciousness” which ” …holds together a specific social group, it influences moral conduct and the direction of the will” and that it “…does not permit of any action, any decision or any choice, and produces a condition of moral and political passivity” . Who will provide the crucial leadership for change? There are no credible leaders on the horizon and the fascists are consolidating their postion. Are we doomed to a militaristic state under the Rajapakshas and the JHU? Look at Burma. 15 years on the generals are still there. Even the recent uprising was crushed. A UN attempt to get its foot in the door has been abortive. Its back to square one. And to add insult to injury they are respectable members of Asean. (Sri Lanka, who has been aerial bombing, abducting, disappearing and killing, exectuion style, its own citizens relentlessy over the past 2 years, is a member of the UN HRC and is even seeking re-election) Will a failed society like Burma be our fate too? Depressing no doubt, but is it not that which we are witnessing today. Else how would you explain Mervyn de Silva, whom the President himself alluded to as being behind recent attacks on media personnel, brazenly flanking him at the opening of a fly over a few days later. As you rightly put it “individuals who have forgotten their true identity as human beings and whose main motivating forces are fear and self preservation, a system of social conditioning is bound to arise which traps everyone in a self-perpetuating downward spiral taking them further and further away from the truth and closer and closer to destruction”. “Self perpetuating” is the operative word here.
]]>By: Chaminda Weerawardhana
http://groundviews.org/2008/03/21/treachery-egotism-and-myth-in-our-politics/#comment-715
Chaminda WeerawardhanaMon, 24 Mar 2008 10:30:29 +0000http://www.groundviews.org/2008/03/21/treachery-egotism-and-myth-in-our-politics/#comment-715Really well-written article all Sri Lankans ought to read. A lot of trends in present-day SL are explained here in a very highly thought-provoking way....Really well-written article all Sri Lankans ought to read. A lot of trends in present-day SL are explained here in a very highly thought-provoking way….
]]>