I try to, but it's hard to avoid talking about religion. A few weeks back, gay sex was finally allowed in India, and the debates happening on TV, were real fun to watch. I actually felt a bit of pity for the people defending the religious viewpoints, because they were so easy to prove wrong. A big problem with relgion is that they're atleast 500 years old or more, which makes their teachings hard to associate with today's world. The weird part is, the more they get out of sync with today, the more fiercely some people fight to keept them in place. If you think I'm referring to Islam, you're sadly mistaken. I've seen zealotry displayed by Hindus, Muslims, and Christians alike, and other relgions too, so no side really has a high moral ground here.
The interesting part about seeing such debates and arguments is the examples and similarities given in the debates. I've seen people compare gay sex to sex with animals, among other things. I remember only this example because of this funny pic I saw on this page, about sodomy. The weird desire of people to control others' lives astounds me even today, I mean, let people do whatever they want, it's not like they're going to stop because you tell them to, it's simply going to push these activities under the radar. The other weird fact is how sometimes these are not even arguments or debates, they're simply shouting matches. This, weirdly, is most apparent in USA. Switch on a news channel, and all you will see is opinion shows. Every channel seems to have taken a side, and they will bash up the other side, and glorify theirs, no matter the issue, no matter the incident. Common sense things get pushed back, and I'm almost left to wonder, where is the so called difference with the Indian government that everyone keeps talking about. All democracies seem to be crippled by people pulling strings from behind the scenes, by using corruption, and god knows what other means (pun unintended :) ). At least, in India, I can switch on a news channel, and see news, a report of what is happening, unblemished in most cases, by personal opinion. Also, if something is clearly wrong, all channels will uniformly portray this. Weirdly enough, the best news I get in the USA, is from news comedies on Comedy Central, they atleast uniformly bash everyone, or from print agencies.
Coming back, the odd fact that I realised is that, people are more or less the same everywhere. You'll always have your share of the ignorant, who are manipulated by those in power, and those who are immune to it to a certain extent, or atleast feel they are. Why you do not see this always, is marketing, the media likes to highlight the ignorant of other countries, and the sensible (and ignorant) of your own. All religions can be equally stupid at times as well. It's interesting, and mostly futile to argue that a prophet or a god, who had an opinion a few hundred or thousand years ago, might not have changed now. Such an argument can never stick, especially since it's an opinion someone says the gods have, and unless religious leaders acknowledge that, or atleast concede this much that they are simply interpreters and not gods themselves, they cannot win over all of the population. Somehow, I feel that this divide will remain, and if people are still educated free from religion and purely by science, they will always protest against it. But, everyone is never educated, it hasn't happened in 2000 years, and there's no reason to believe it's going to happen anytime soon. The sad part is, there are some really nice parts to religion too, and they tend to get lost in all of the brouhaha over the controversial ones. I'm not particularly religious, mostly superstitious, but still like some aspects of religion, particularly the inspirational stories that encourage you to do good. I do hope all the nonsense ends someday, but I'm not holding my breath.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Arguments & Marketing
It's been a while since I last posted anything on this blog, and that fact is not lost on me. The simple reason is, that either I've been happily enjoying my summer 'vacation', or have been neck deep in work. Oddly enough, before this, more work has usually implied an increased frequency of posting, so either I'm running out of ideas to write about, or I've finally managed to hit levels of work that make it impossible for me to find time. Both are very disturbing thoughts, so I'd rather ignore them. So getting back, this is a return from the longest sabbatical of my posting history (of more than an year, I'm glad to say), so here goes.
Anyone who knows me, knows how I like to get into almost pointless arguments. I know I defend some viewpoints even though I myself am against them. Part of the reason for doing that is that I don't like lopsided discussions, unless I hate the thing or person we're talking about. The other bigger part is, that arguments are an interesting way to understand what and why you think something. If you've never seen the movie Thank you for Smoking, you probably won't understand this, and I cannot stress enough how big an experience you're missing having not watched the movie. The movie made an interesting point that it rarely ever matters what's right or wrong, all that does matter is how well you can argue it. In essence marketing, is the core of all we do. Anyone willing to disagree on that is welcome to counter, but I'm pretty sure I can find that hidden marketing aspect of your work and show it to you. Why? because the root of all we do is money, and since someone is paying that money, you need to sell your idea, or yourself, to them.
The best thing about an argument is that it doesn't really need to be based on facts. A smart person can probably prove you wrong, even though you're right. To highlight this, let me recount a small story I once read somewhere. There were once 2 warring kingdoms in the hills of a region. Ever so often, they used to descend to the valley to wage war, and in the process, a small peaceful tribe always faced the brunt of this. Tired and frustrated, they sent an emissary to go to each of the kingdoms and explain their side, and make them stop. When he got to each of them, he was told a wonderful story on how their side was right, and they were avenging the many wrongs done against them etc. etc. etc. When, this emissary finally returned home, all he could remember was that the 2 kingdoms were right, nothing else. That's the thing about arguments, they're powerful tools to beat others when used in the right manner. Even more so, arguments help you understand the whys. As a kid, there was a reason you were pushed to debate stuff, trying to make an argument to defend your point makes you understand why you believe it's right, or makes you understand why it may be wrong sometimes. To me, arguments done for the sole sake of beating the other person are just wrong. But, the simple fact is, arguments rile you up, exposing the true you, beneath all the layers of politeness you may be hiding under. That said, arguments are also easily defeated. All one needs to do is to not listen to you, and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it. I don't consider myself particularly good at arguing anything, I know atleast 2 people who could beat me at a few points, they know who they are.
The reason I talk about all this, is what I realised while making the presentations, videos etc. for my research work. All we do, in the end is, a small part research, and a lot of marketing. Researchers like to believe that everything's scientific in it, but take a look at the way papers are published, and the pains authors have to go through, and you'll change your mind pretty quickly. So argumentational skills are useful, even in places you may not have imagined. So the next time you think you're not marketing something, think again, you probably are.
Anyone who knows me, knows how I like to get into almost pointless arguments. I know I defend some viewpoints even though I myself am against them. Part of the reason for doing that is that I don't like lopsided discussions, unless I hate the thing or person we're talking about. The other bigger part is, that arguments are an interesting way to understand what and why you think something. If you've never seen the movie Thank you for Smoking, you probably won't understand this, and I cannot stress enough how big an experience you're missing having not watched the movie. The movie made an interesting point that it rarely ever matters what's right or wrong, all that does matter is how well you can argue it. In essence marketing, is the core of all we do. Anyone willing to disagree on that is welcome to counter, but I'm pretty sure I can find that hidden marketing aspect of your work and show it to you. Why? because the root of all we do is money, and since someone is paying that money, you need to sell your idea, or yourself, to them.
The best thing about an argument is that it doesn't really need to be based on facts. A smart person can probably prove you wrong, even though you're right. To highlight this, let me recount a small story I once read somewhere. There were once 2 warring kingdoms in the hills of a region. Ever so often, they used to descend to the valley to wage war, and in the process, a small peaceful tribe always faced the brunt of this. Tired and frustrated, they sent an emissary to go to each of the kingdoms and explain their side, and make them stop. When he got to each of them, he was told a wonderful story on how their side was right, and they were avenging the many wrongs done against them etc. etc. etc. When, this emissary finally returned home, all he could remember was that the 2 kingdoms were right, nothing else. That's the thing about arguments, they're powerful tools to beat others when used in the right manner. Even more so, arguments help you understand the whys. As a kid, there was a reason you were pushed to debate stuff, trying to make an argument to defend your point makes you understand why you believe it's right, or makes you understand why it may be wrong sometimes. To me, arguments done for the sole sake of beating the other person are just wrong. But, the simple fact is, arguments rile you up, exposing the true you, beneath all the layers of politeness you may be hiding under. That said, arguments are also easily defeated. All one needs to do is to not listen to you, and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it. I don't consider myself particularly good at arguing anything, I know atleast 2 people who could beat me at a few points, they know who they are.
The reason I talk about all this, is what I realised while making the presentations, videos etc. for my research work. All we do, in the end is, a small part research, and a lot of marketing. Researchers like to believe that everything's scientific in it, but take a look at the way papers are published, and the pains authors have to go through, and you'll change your mind pretty quickly. So argumentational skills are useful, even in places you may not have imagined. So the next time you think you're not marketing something, think again, you probably are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
