"In Group Biases" - in me, not possible ! ! !

The past few days have been very different from the normal path of life, may be I was in a trance - I do not wish to know any different, anyways.

A famous study by the psychologist Bazerman revealed that all humans tend to stick to their very own. They would like to make decisions in favor of the people who are like them, look like them, talk like them, have the same food habits, and dress like them. Needless to say all the discriminatory factors of race, caste, creed, religion, region, language, sex, and color - all dominate human relationships, both personal and professional. These intense feelings of oneness with people with whom we percieve to be akin, were called "IN GROUP BIASES". Yet, the beauty of it all lies in living out of the reality. We hate to accept that we are biased, and love to flaunt our false sense of tolerance of humanity.

The study also revealed that though in our human frailty we tend to make important decisions with a deep rooted sense of "In group bias" - we profusely and vehemently believe and preach that we do not make any conscious decisions which can be seen as discrimination.

As conservative as I am, I believed that I was very accommodating. I found comfort in telling myself that I do not let any bias dominate my relationship with other humans. I told myself that I am outgoing, accepting, welcoming, and not ethnocentric in the least. I hated to recognize the fact that discriminations are made on the basis of color, caste, nationality, origin, race, language, food etiquette, eye color, and the texture of the hair (to name a few). The Lebensborn breeding program of the Nazi's was completely ludicrous for me - I could not imagine how humans can have such a feeling of genetic oneness and superiority.

However, a few incidents in the recent past are making me think otherwise. Most times when we make personal choices for ourselves, our future, our happiness, and our well-being - we perceive that the beginning of achieving these, can be only when we are with our own. We consciously, or unconsciously favor and propagate 'OUR VERY OWN." - regardless of whether we achieve emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual happiness from such associations. The concept of "I, ME, and MINE" is so very obvious when we make choices pertaining to dating, fellowship, marriage, and the like. Yet, I still tell myself that I am not ethnocentric or hypocritical, and that I do not suffer from relational xenophobia of any kind.

The more I think about it, the more puzzled I am at the end of the day. I am so torn - Am I hypocritical? OR Am I ethnocentric? Wait a minute....Am I racist? Do I look at people in my life, who are destined to make a difference - with the goggles of color, and texture. I pity myself along with most of us who do it intuitively - sadly a very poor manifestation of human associations I must say.

I want to get married on the grounds of affinity - to a man from my home town, one who speaks my language, shares my spiritual ideology, my cuisine, my color, my beautiful silk hair - regardless of whether we love each other or not. Would I even talk love, or much less about "LIKE", in the absence of this affinity. What should I choose; I wonder what will keep me happy - affinity, or love itself. I know people who have transcended affinity for love, or have sacrificed love for affinity - interestingly they are neither hypocritical nor xenophobic, THEY ARE IN LOVE OR IN DENIAL. Can this emotional surge called love be more discreet - help me decide where I want to be, with whom I would like to be - regardless of the IN GROUP BIASES.

May be not, I would like to cheer, applaud, and praise others who do not let In Group Biases dominate their personal lives. I am afraid to be one of them, I would rather live in my cozy world of affinity, still searching for meaning, love, and affection, than be in world of glaring contrast. But, at the end of the day I would like to tell myself that I am very tolerant, and that I am more than willing to assimilate - Bazerman knows better - INGROUP BIASES dominate our lives, and our very existence itself. We cannot be human before all these things separate us, can we???? ...I AM HUMAN (that is an enough excuse).

Do we really need Women's day

"Women's day holds special significance to me. Over the last few years, my community has always helped me in rejoicing over womanhood and the character that we as women lend to our society. The celebration of women's day was surely a big deal, the women dressed in bright, beautiful sarees, ornate with jewellery, sparkling gems and smiles, to celebrate the gift of womanhood in a community that ironically has one of the highest rates of female infanticide.
Sadly, I have known quite a number of women who have refrained from this celebration because they wanted to ensure that they were not viewed upon as radical feminist, or because they did not need one day to celebrate womanhood. Well, my women comrades, we celebrate woman's day on March 8th - a common day for acknowledging and appreciating the extra ordinary, loving, and self-less efforts of women in making this world a better place. Though I celebrate life every single day of my life, I celebrate my birthday on one single day. There are several days that have been set aside by society for communal celebrations and March 8 is one of them. The same goes with Father's day, and Mother's day.
Most of the women who explicitly denounce the need for a day of celebration for women, do so because they feel that this could be one reason for accepting that women are indeed the weaker sex, and that we are craving for acceptance, and recognition. My apologies, I do not concur, women's day is not a day where men acknowledge women's contribution to society, it is a day where the whole of humanity celebrates this incredible gift of women - who show the world what sharing,caring, and loving is all about. Period.
It is a not an expression of frail eagerness and frantic desperation for acknowledgment, acceptance, recognition, and a craving for approval. It is a celebration, hope it remains that way, and perceived in its true sense.
It will be so much easier for us to just celebrate and cherish women, womenhood, and their gift to society putting aside all other extraneous, and unwarranted plausible arguments of rigid feminism. Well, Today is not the day for sure.
To all my fellow women comrades, the world over, HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY.

Synonyms for Genocide

The word Genocide is one of the few words in the English dictionary that has no close synonyms - not surprising. A word that evokes strong emotions of guilt, shame, denial, persecution, dehumanization, and hatred for hate itself - all in the dictionary of moral reasoning, and moral behavior.

Today the US congressional panel's resolution described as genocide the killings of Armenians in World War I....An act that is being hailed the world over(yes, you got it right - for having the courage to call Genocide, Genocide). "The Armenian government welcomed the vote, calling it "an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity".

On the one hand, a country is using all its strengths, and power to ensure that its actions against a particular group are not termed in right terms of our common parlance. On, the other hand, the victimized group is just happy to see that the world acknowledges the suffering, and pain endured by their ancestors’ years ago.

At the outset, it looks so very simple - nothing will change, except a few political balances in Washington and Ankara. Well, there is more to it, we are happy not to get our hands murky and our pockets less heavy with the additional burden of acknowledging the truth. May be we like to believe that our pretense of ignorance effectively hides the truth that our moral values are shaky.

I wish I could have a change - live in a world that provides all individuals with the courage and impetus to speak the truth - to call the sun by its name, to call the moon, moon; to call men, men; to call justice, justice; to call genocide, genocide.

It is humorous to see how we like to play with words, emotions, feelings, politics, human respect and dignity, and with history itself. Looks like History is not repeating itself anymore; we cant afford to let that happen, you see. Rather, we are in the process of defining, and redefining history, not in terms of social justice, but in the business of rendering evanescent appeasement. Wonder, what the victims of this heinous crime, would have thought of it, if they were alive today - yeah, we should think of it with a sigh of relief, man, I am glad IT IS NOT ME.

Why is it so difficult to get in to a PhD program !

I can write endlessly about my efforts to get in to a PhD program of my choice. I just find it ridiculously unintelligent that I have been screaming about my academic interests, my emotional and mental stamina to pursue the degree, my deep desire to get a doctorate, and most importantly that it has been a long cherished passion.
The US economy has done nothing good to boost my ambitions either. Most individuals in the job market, find the pursuing of a doctorate to be the most lucrative thing to do when one is unemployed. I pity these individuals because they just do not seem to understand what they are in for, and that this will be the most tortorus thing they could do to themselves for the rest of their lives. Apart from being angry with them for screwing genuine students like me, I shudder at the thought of these kinds of prospective academians who can do nothing to better for them selves or for the students. - sad to see such prospective academicians prowl the world of academia just because it is the only best thing to do.
The worst thing about my field is that it is business - where every other guy who knows a little bit of math and English (regardless of their educaitonal background), feels free to pursue a doctorate when they are actually not able to understand the very basics, or even write two sentences in English properly. Why do engineers get in to finance and marketing? - because they have failed in their fields already, or they think they can hoodwink and still shine in this arena. I am really apprehensive about these kind of guys getting their doctorates and teaching students in business schools - the corporate world will be a good fit for them I guess.
I don't blame the schools because it will be extremely difficult to gauge an applicants real interest just by looking at test scores or explicitly (hypocritically) stated research interests of these opportunistic fake prospective academicians.
I hope in all honesty that the academic world is spared from these Machiavellian tactics that have so seriously plagued our corporate world. They should try their craftiness in other areas and leave the world of academia to the really intelligent, honest, passionate, and earnest prospective academicians.