I admire Lord Krishna and I admire Bill Clinton but I wasnt sure why. Now I know -Cognitive Dissonance. A small excerpt from an article I was reading in The Economist.
Born a modestly well-off villager, Mao lived like an emperor, carried on litters by peasants, surrounded by concubines and placated by everyone. Yet his most famous slogan was “Serve the People”. This paradox illustrates one aspect of his brilliance: his ability to justify his actions, no matter how entirely self-serving, as being done for others.
Psychologists call this “cognitive dissonance”—the ability to make a compelling, heartfelt case for one thing while doing another. Being able to pull off this sort of trick is an essential skill in many professions. It allows sub-standard chief executives to rationalise huge pay packages while their underlings get peanuts (or rice).
But Mao did not just get a stamp from a compliant board and eye-rolling from employees. He convinced his countrymen of his value. That was partly because, even if his message bore no relation to his actions, it expressed precisely and succinctly what he should have been doing.
5 comments:
Two of the people I DESPISE most. And it's just that your naming these two made me think about how I feel about them. If someone had asked me to list my 10 most despised characters, these two would definitely make the list. But more than them, I despise the sheep that they led - the great pretty boy warrior Arjun on the one hand, who definitely showed the character traits of self pity and crippling dependence, and about 100 million Americans, who still let that joker do whatever he wants and admire him for it. Unfortunately, in the capitalist structure, there is no correlation between value and price and a market can actually CREATE value for something quite worthless. It took 35 years for the JFK myth to lift. I wonder how long the Bill Clinton 'legacy' will last.
On the matter of 'Lord' Krishna, I cringe everytime the Bhagavad Gita is noted as one of the greatest facets of Hindu philosophy. To me , it is a bunch of hypocritical, self-serving, end justifies the means, crap. Maybe, everyone quotes it because it is small and so no one doubts you when you say
that you have actually read it.
DD: I respect what you usually say. So this comment really made me ponder. Also I asked myself what do I mean when I say "admire".
I have read the Bhagavad Gita. Infact I would read almost anything to find answers to the "Who am I" and "Why am I here" questions?. Unfortunately it didnt make any sense and didnt provide me answers. To be honest, my idea of Lord Krishna is more courtesy B.R. Chopra and might be superficial.
I like Bill Clinton's ability to connect with others. What was his contributions to the American society or the world at large I am not sure either.
May be I am as gullible as the others in the herd. But for me to be able to do something and still preach something else is a fascinating skill nevertheless.
In today world whether in professional life, politics, sports and even in your marriage, thats an art which is lethal. I am not sure if its a honourable skill but its a skill nevertheless.
you a maobadi?
now i know what to get for DD when i get there..its osho's 700 pager on Krishna..knowing how much he loves me, i am sure he will not rest unless he finishes it.
Ghetu: I am a Maobadi in the sense that I like all the other aspects of Mao which he practised but did not preach.
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