Even more disturbing was the statistic that I came across where it showed that young adults who wanted to join the armed forces in a number of countries preferred the air force and navy to the army. Does this mean that they don’t mind the violence as long as they don’t see it close up?
So instead of talking about technology which I know more about, I choose to write about us, and I know much less about us for sure.
Do you dare to dissent, at work, with your leaders, with family, based on few basic principles. Some values across politics, religion and business for instance;
- Life is valuable and we should not kill. Do your tax dollars, your vote, or your religious affiliations endorse killings? Does your comfort and well being depend on others being harmed? If the answer is yes then you need to question your beliefs, lifestyles, and actions. Do you dare to dissent?
- Employee contribution is to be valued. Do you value the contribution of yourself, your colleagues, and people up and down the corporate ladder? If yes then support actions that add value to the employee too, not just share holders, and question lay offs at profitable companies. Some are necessary and many are not. The new Asia CFO of a large worldwide computer company stays at the average cost of about 800 USD a day for over 12 weeks at the premier hotel in Bangalore, while his main goal is to reduce unnecessary expenses through cost savings and lay offs. Many organizations have such inconsistent behaviour. Do you dare to dissent?
- Equality and respect for all human beings. Do you believe we are all equal? If yes then do your actions and life style contribute to you, or your social structure to be better armed than others? Do you believe that you or the system you come from is inherently better, so you are entitled to things like weapons that only you are entitled to? Do yo believe that you are equal to everybody else?
Do I dare to dissent about these and a number of other thing? As I write these musings I am forced to reflect my own beliefs and my own actions and lifestyle. The strife of 2009 will make a lot of us understand ourselves better and will be a good test to our own moral compass with regards business, social obligations, religion, and politics.
4 comments:
Chandran, you are right as usual that there are many things out there in the world today worthy of dissent. My concern is that many people have had their ability to dissent disempowered because of the over-communication present in our world today and the media fascination with point / counter-point. For every position there is a counter-position so which one do you dissent from? As Marketing and Media have engaged in a campaign of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) we end up with a world that is afraid, uncertain and doubtful. As a result people have also had their moral and ethical compass eroded (as they hear the counter-positions over and over that contradict their ethical and moral convictions). As a result I agree with your first step - get a new bearing and get convicted on what you really believe and re-establish your moral / ethical compass which is unwavering. Only then can you feel empowered again to dissent. The next step will be to counter the other prevailing social malaise - talking before doing as opposed to doing before talking. I heard a Greek singer on TV on New Years and when they asked her 'what is your New Year's wish to the world' she said - 'let's stop wishing and let's start doing - that's what I wish'.
I agree Chandran, one should show his or her dissent if not happy with the situation/circumstances. Just like many drops make a stream, then a river, a sea and an ocean one should express their views freely with our fear or favour in this 21st century and all these collective thoughts will definitely cause the momentum and ultimately the change we desire...
Good points Chandran. It would be great to be able to practice what we wish everyone would do.
Let's face it. Dissenting without a cost is easy. However, if there is a cost, most of us cannot afford to dissent. Specially if it puts ourselves or our family at risk of loosing our livelihood.
Most dissenters I know are either naive, young and inexperienced, old and inneffective, or strategic dissenters (they use it as a tactic). I only know one person who has been a dissenter all his life at great personal cost. I think he paid to high of a price.
Perhaps a good compromise is to be a quiet dissenter, doing small things like educating your kids to think for themselves, share thoughts with your coworkers and friends, and for those of you who live in democracies, vote for candidates that favor your policies.
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