Political Opinions
Post CAA and post a reinvigorated love for reading my political outspokenness has taken a turn for the better. I believe I have become more clearer on where I stand on matters that matter. I also think the turn has helped me see the macro level picture better(still a long way to go though). But this new outspoken me (especially for a guy who tweets a lot!) has come with new problems of butting ideologies. For example,
- When I tweeted I see a future where everyone has the right to eat what they want(except humans of course. 😉 ), one friend asked how can you support people eating beef, we worship cows!
- When I joked about the Gowmutr fetish, one friend asked me why don’t you speak about those hundreds congregated in Shaheen Bagh!
- Then one friend shared an article with me the other day about why I should be saying no to Holi, to challenge casteism.
I tend to react to these often biting the bullet, sometimes trying to be amenable and seldom getting into combative, confrontational debates. I know, I basically signed up for this when I decided to be outspoken. But, for a non-confrontational person (someone who doesn’t fight for arm rests while flying in a middle seat 😅) this new phase is a struggle. Especially, when dealing with friends.
Now here comes conundrum, is it possible to remain friends with people who are don’t believe in the same political ideology as you. I certainly believe we can! But, the Existential Cafe by Sarah Bakewell which talked about the famous fall out of Camus and Sartre didn’t think so. Sartre basically dismissed his friendship with Camus in the first line of a letter that was a vicious take down of Camus’ ideology,
Dear Camus, our friendship was not an easy one, but I shall miss it.
Anyway, these men are legends, very well read with strong ideologies. I am mere pleb in these matters. 👦
I believe a little compromise and compassion does no harm. These things are something I follow in synchronous communication channels. These channels are Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook DMs. When I am having a one to one conversation with a human. That’s when it becomes crucial to be more considerate the human at the other end. 💚
When tweeting, I follow a noticeboard style(In systems we call it a Pub-Sub model) approach. Here there are fewer compromises I make. Because, I leave the onus is on the subscriber here. It is a noticeboard right? You can take it or leave it. Something Ricky Gervais once said sticks out here: “If you are coming to a billboard to get offended then be my guest.” 😄
Few might believe the other person on the end can be convinced or coaxed into their way of thinking. I don’t think so. For I believe the other person, at least my friends, have come to believe what they do after consuming years of materials, reading books and a growing faith in the religion they practice. And I respect that. 🙌
Now, you could argue those materials are wrong/fake and hence the ideology! You might be true there but I think there is only one type of wrong ideology out there, the extremist ones, the rest are fine. 💭
So finally, a retweet is an endorsement. A qouted tweet is also an endorsement and so is a liked tweet. But what it is not, is an attack on what you believe. It hasn’t been so far and I hope keep it like that. 🐦
That’s it! I felt like putting this barrage of thoughts together as I continue my journey to understand the rights and wrongs of the world. Needed to write something during this quarantine, that seems to have no end. Ok, time to wash hands now. Ciao Ciao! 🏃
