What others said and how I understood them

 

What others said and how I understood them

There seems to be a tradition in writing newspaper columns or while discussing an issue in media “debates” to quote some so-called eminent people like litterateur, scientists, technocrats, economists, sociologists, psychologists and others. The worst thing about such “quotes” is they are given without the context in which they were said, written, discussed … No such “quote” can ever create the meaning intended by whoever wrote/spoke those words sans the circumstance.

If you want an example, I will give you one. In one particular institution, and in the interest of full disclosure, I was associated with it for nearly ten years, one day was celebrated as Carpe Diem. The meaning of this phrase was given as, “Seize the Day” and the student body was set “free”! No regulations as regards what they can wear, how they can move about the campus (almost) without restrictions and on and on … You can well imagine the severity of the regime on the other days.

What meaning did the phrase carry in the mind of the poet when he used this? This is the importance of the context. “[C]arpe diem quam minimum credula postero” à “Pluck the day, put very little trust in tomorrow.” When I read the lines (in English), I understood the mood as pessimistic.

This idea, not necessarily of a sad tone, was used by many poets. As the English teacher in a school, Robin William (I miss him terribly) in the character of John Keating, translates the complete line (in Latin as given above) as “Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” from a poem written by an American poet.

This line has the following meaning for me: Do whatever you have to do, do it today; as you may not be alive tomorrow. Yes, it exhibits a sullen mood, and I believe it is true. But, for the institutions who must have approved the name, the later part did not exist. That is less than half-learning – from edupreneurs! Can these people complain about the student body?

I have a MS Word file carrying the name “quotes” (must be changed to the anodyne ‘Statements from the cognoscenti’) that runs to about 30 pages. I have posted many of these and have elaborated on many statements in that file. This is the current one in this series, perhaps a little more sober than my usual secular exegesis. Let me start.

‘We cannot always build a future for our youth, we can always build our youth for the future’ – Franklin D. Roosevelt.

 The above statement is worse than being wrong. We can at least try to build a future for our youth, as per what we foresee (rightly or wrongly), but by the very fact that the future remains for all time to come a mystery, we can never train our youth for the future. This message took me by surprise because it started out the statement “Editor’s Note” of a well-respected magazine. I could not bear the idiocy.

Given the long introduction to this post, I wonder how the teacher John Keating would have taken down the Editor!

‘Planning of projects is not a compiling of figures or tabulation of needs … it is very definitely a social act’ – Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

The above is very surprising because it was uttered long before the virus MS Excel (Excelitis) spread its virulent tentacles around the society. I have written elsewhere about the evil–yes, it is no better than that–of this software as it carries the authoritative tone, “When I say it is correct, it IS correct.” Something like Ramses II saying “His [ Moses’] God IS God,” in The Ten Commandments. MS Excel has been elevated to the level of a deity, unmerited. An MIT professor used MS Excel to send nations scurrying hither and thither to reduce their Debt to GDP ratio! He is still a talking head in the media circus.

‘[T]ake talented people on their own terms and treat them fairly and with respect, no matter who they are or where they come from’ – Quincy Jones

We have absolutely no idea how many talents have gone unrecognized. To my mind, even the talented cannot identify talents, a talent that is a degree up a rung from talent by itself. When I used to go to recruiting for the company I was working for, in one institution, I interviewed a prospect, scoring in the mid-60s, and I found him to be fast on grasping, very fast. I did not ask him why he did not do so well in his academic performance. But, he joined the company, and within a few months he was up, up and away–literally, as he flew the coop. And, I am not talented in my field, but I did recognize a talent, no metrics for me, please. He was treated fairly as per the norms and slightly better. This is what Quincy Jones, a musical talent across the spectrum of music making, seems to be referring to.

‘Religion is an insult to human dignity’ – Steven Weinberg

The statement, I believe, is a rewording (not even a hint of plagiarism is implied) of the statement I have heard–it is insulting to think that mankind cannot be honest, benevolent and have all the other life-enhancing qualities had there been no religion. Steven Weinberg says this in his own, inimitable, sharp style. It may be true that his winning the Nobel Physics Prize gave him his platform, how many would use to have such a devastating effect on the other side? Antony Flew, a philosopher, wrote a small note patiently taking the believers on a primrose path and then showing them why they can never come to the end of the path. That essay is in my library and I go to it quite often. This is the effect Weinberg has on people.

With the above, I conclude this longish post, nearly a thousand words (mainly because of the introduction).

Raghuram Ekambaram