i wont call it my 6th sense but a kind of a feeling inside me tells me that the state of nature so very taken as an underlying assumption in western political philosophy, is not true. life is not nasty, short and brutish. it's one thing for it to be like that originally and another for us to have made it that way. my understanding of state of nature is a realization of there being a good, and there being an evil, and then knowing whats good and knowing whats evil. and the very notion of there being a centre and a reference point for every other point to determine its position means that i can at the very max believe in one product of western political philosophy: republicanism. now i don't know how much the republicans in america would hold the idea of there being a true, good beautiful truth out there somewhere, so i won't want to recognize myself as a republicans' supporter, ever, especially after U.S Invasion of Iraq. at the same time i don't want to recognise myself as a democrat, simply because i don't think i want to (6th sense again? :S) in any way, i dont hold nice views about democracy . i don't believe in rule of the mob( demos means "mob" in greek ). i am averse to the child democracy begets and tames and brings up, which is mediocracy. and democratic capitalism or capitalist democracy dont even deserve a place in my world of ideas, and if they did, it would be the dustbin at best.
i went on a tangent before even writing what i initially intended to. so i want to tell this: i have always been drawn by obama. maybe its the power of the voice as hitler correctly realised it. maybe it's the beauty of a country evolving enough to have an african american as a president. maybe it's his confidence. i dont know. i remember seeing him for the first time in 2004 on a channel in the u.s. then i subscribed to his party's newsletter and followed through for 1 yr (2007). after 3 yrs, and his defeat just 2 weeks ago at the midterm elections, i still subscribed to his channel on youtube today. and oh yeah i also added him on linkedin.com.
i would like to call this power. the purest form of power which is simple influence. no one has asked me to do all this. it doesnt mean a thing to me if i follow up on him. life moves on. my adamant position for an alternative idea to hobbesian view stands as firmly as before. i still believe america is very much in reality playing hegemony and marxists still fool themselves to believe that the rest of the world is playing periphery. all other things remain constant, except this: power that one person can have on another. this is my new undertsanding of power. other might think this is similar to liking someone: you like somebody and they have an "effect" on you.
i couldn't care less about obama as a person in private life. i dont like democracy. i dont like democracts' ideas or lifestyles. yet this man, through his rallies before, and his speeches later, and his confidence throughout, and his no-chickening now, has managed to hold my attention for more than 3 yrs now, which is a big deal as i, for one, have held ever changing opinions since 2007. he remains one constant in all this time, and this fascinates me.
however, this is not to dismiss my genuine disappointment in the policy the white house is adopting for israel-palestine issue, it's silence over many things between india and pakistan ...actually it's more than just plain silence. silent dance on the tunes of india ...
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