Over the last few years, I have been writing long pieces on my blog or social media. I have been at great pain to explain issues in detail to my readers.
In the process, I have been writing too little in public domain. I have been sharing far too less of my perspective on wise range of issues that always capitvate me.
I believe that social media is outcome of a true tech-revolution of our times. It gives enormous opportunity to everyone to share his or her perspective on issues.
But absence of fair and smart filters make these platforms overcrowded. It becomes nearly impossible for publicly lesser known but intellectually serious entities to stand out. In any case, mass appeal is always high for something light hearted and comic rather than something too serious propounded by people with not so high a public profile.
People like me are particularly at great disadvantage. Real professional contributions, knowledge or even intellect in domain of statecraft, diplomacy and geopolitics, especially for most practitioners can never be established. Their constraints multiply further, because they cannot write or own their contributions on most of real issues. Even for writing on secondsry issues, they are constrained by multiple compulsions and often obstructed by cyber attacks or coercive instruments. In any case, details of substantive issues cannot and must never be discussed for public domain in this sphere.
Ironically, for people in this category, public perceptions are shaped more by hearsay than by real substance or quality of efforts which remain unknown. Even if something positive comes out in impartial perceptions, we are living in an era of agenda peddling rather than free and fair intellectual discourse.
Hence, life becomes terribly painful and uncomfortable for those who find themselvs on the wrong side of establishment over their integrity and quest for excellence and innovation. Challenges are more formidable for individuals and entities in the post-colonial world. Here internal systems are far too fragile and can be easily mobilised even against selfless innovation in larger collective interest of society and the nation itself.
Fragility of systems in a post-colonial state like India emanates both on account of internal distortions as well as long history and culture of dysfunctionality and state oppression. This was rampant under colonial rule. But perceived influence or interference by invisible global networks cannot be discounted entirely. These forces would like governance and rule of law to stay permanently sub-optimal in this part of the world. This alone can perpetuate global domination of existing hegemons. But the worst facet has been absence of intellectual integrity and moral courage on part of public scholars and intellectuals in this part of the world to rise above their personal agenda and prejudices.
In this background, social media, despite all its constraints, offers a great alternative avenue to offer contrarian views. This is especially in the larger interests of society, state and humanity. This is particularly attractive for unaffiliated public scholars like me, who are shunned and avoided by all major institutions, due to their unreasonable and unsustainable levels of all round commitment to integrity that systems can’t tolerate. My computers have been repeatedly hacked to wipe out years of hardwork and I still remain an unknown commodity in public domain.
But I believe that amongst many other constraints and preoccupations, that has impeded my abilities to share my views in public domain, has been my commitmet to expain issues in its totality. I realise this is an avoidable additional trap that I have imposed on myself.
I had written in a manual on leadership, for professionals, that “Perfection is an endless mirage”. It is the biggest obstructor of excellence and timely impact.
I realise that quest for perfection is a drain on energies everywhere.
Hence, I shall advise all my uoung friends in every sphere that in every initiative a level of excellence that is optimal in a given context and time is far more desirable than investing efforts in chasing the mirage perfection. This is not something new. Yet all smart doers, leaders, thinkers and innovators should be conscious of this and must make a habit out of it.
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