49-0: The Myth

You must have gotten the email about Article 49-0 in the constitution. So did I. I immediately thought of publishing it here but then thought better of it. I know too many email chains which are factually wrong. This was too big to post without verification. However, that work was quickly done by other people and as it turns out, it was a hoax:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-chatteranti/394809/2

However, this does not mean that we cannot possibly introduce such an article into the constitution. The idea is sound and makes eminent sense. Anyone have any ideas if there is even an inkling of a movement to introduce such a measure?

Jaago Re – One Billion Votes Campaign.

This post was long due. And, the timing could not have been better.

No doubt you have followed the events in Mumbai. No doubt you have felt angry, frustrated and helpless. No doubt you have balked at the sheer incompetence of the incumbent Congress government.

What are you going to do about it? -- This is the question which plagues our minds. "Oh! This is out of my control", "Oh! What can I do?" is the usual refrain from most of us. In the grandest democracy in the world, a system which was designed to give the power to the people, we whine like children about how we can't do anything, how we are powerless. Well, you can! And you are the one who has to do it! The one, who has to influence the change. The one, to become the change you want to see.

What I am asking you to do is simple - be active citizens. Do not let our incompetent politicians get away with burning our beloved country to the ground while we stand by and watch. Stand up and come up to the front - Vote !; Influence people to vote; Make sure people come out in the hordes to vote; Make sure people know the issues at stake while voting. Yes, voice your opinion, even though you might think it is wrong, even if you are wrong; Voice it, for that's what democracy demands. Otherwise it is defunct. Voice it, for that will bring about change, real change.

Please, I beg of you, be an active citizen and Vote !

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Jaago Re – One billion votes campaign, is a joint effort by Janaagraha and Tata Tea to get people out to vote. The aim of this campaign to inform the voters, facilitate voter registration, explode myths and simple get the vote out. The importance of such a campaign is immense and the recent events have only underscored it.

However, such an effort is not done easily. We need volunteers and as many as we can get - People to participate in voter registration drives across colleges and institutions of India – absolutely anywhere possible. Please come forward and volunteer. You can find the details at www.jaagore.com /www.janaagraha.org. I implore you to sign up, no matter what city you are in.

I will admit that I personally have not been committed to this excusing myself with the "busy" signal but I hope to change that now.

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I will not hide my disdain for the current congress government. I just wish they go already. After these attacks, they need to simply resign on moral grounds if not for their cowardice. I personally think, Congress alone has been responsible for bringing the country down to its knees with 61 years of sheer incompetence, needless grandstanding and pandering. They have indulged in one bad decision after another only for the sake of retaining power. The country is paying a huge price for that.

But, that's my personal opinion. I invite you to form an opinion on your own. But, please, form one! And form it based on facts. It will decide the future of the country.

I hope BJP comes to power in the coming elections. But the bigger hope I have is that as active citizens, we keep any and every government on its toes. Give them no reason to become lax once they have been elected to power. The example of this could be the current BJP government in Karnataka. BSY has indulged in big words but in little action since he has come to power. A lot was expected of him. He needs to realize that little things will go a long way in improving this state; big projects alone will achieve little.

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"Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve." - George Bernard Shaw  (Thanks, Ameya)

We deserve better.

Evolution (Vs) Intelligent Design

There is a lot of debate on this issue in the western world and of course another hot topic during the elections. The debate seems lop-sided and it is without doubt that human beings have undergone a process of evolution to reach the stage in which we are today. What I want to talk about is how intelligent design is a plausible theory if not to explain the past then atleast to explain the future.

To begin with, what I understand by evolution is simply "natural selection" and "survival of the fittest". And intelligent design is the ability to create something totally new by design only. I will use this as a premise for my arguments.

I work in the flower industry now. In order to gain knowledge in this completely new industry, I obviously attempted to read a few books related to the industry. One of the books read in this process was " Flower Confidential". The book gave a lot of insider details of processes of the flower industry with examples from Colombia, USA, and Holland. What struck me the most in the book was the concept of breeding new varieties of flowers. The breeders strive to create new varieties via cross-pollination and other methods, to achieve strong characteristics of desirable colour, long vase life, and a few other features. However, the quality of scent was missing in the list. I found out there is a trade-off between scent and vase life of a flower and since long vase life is a highly desirable characteristic, breeders have been suppressing the scent in flowers for decades now. As a result, today most professionally grown flowers have lost their scent. Surprised? Why not. It is a reflex action for most people to bury their nose in a bunch of flowers even when there is no scent. Most of us do not even realize the absence of this. And this is the reason you are surprised.

The other extreme in this industry is artificial flowers. I personally have a great dislike for artificial flowers and never want to be around them. But increasingly I have noticed that artificial flowers are beginning to look very natural. There have been times when I have been truly confused whether a flower is artificial or natural. Of course I am a relative novice at this but even speaking from a layman's perspective, the inability to distinguish is unnerving. Then it struck me. Isn't this exactly what breeders are striving for? Artificial flower have an extremely long vase life (almost infinite) and their colour can be of any hue you can imagine. How long will it be before breeders are able to achieve this. And if they do, what difference will remain between artificial flowers and natural ones? This scares me. This seems to me like intelligent design.

Let's take human beings as an example. The past century has seen great advancements in medical science. Virtually every disease has a cure now and we have state of the art research going on to find cures for the remaining ones. New diseases crop up now and then but the lives they claim are fewer. Now, if human beings meddle so much into the process of who survives and who doesn't, where is "natural" selection? We have taken away mother nature's job! I even read a comment recently from scientists that the rate of evolution has slowed down considerably in the past 100 years. !.

Genome mapping is a reality now. I am sure there will quickly come a stage when we will be able to eliminate persons in the womb simply based on their imperfect dna. Or, atleast be able to correct their DNA at a very early stage. To extend this further, we will definitely be able to design the perfect human DNA with all the desired characteristics. Maybe when there is a need to travel in space in search of other planets, we will desire human beings with a long vase life. We will design super humans/alternate beings/species. They will go to another planet and inhabit it and centuries later wonder who made them. Aren't we God then?

It doesn't have to be evolution vs intelligent design, it can also be evolution followed by intelligent design.

About: Abortion

Most of you must have followed the recently concluded historic elections in the US of A. Congratulations to those who rooted for the big O and for the McCain supporters – too bad folks, Sarah Palin did you in!

Anyway, this is not a post about politics (obvious from the title), but about one of most burning issues of the whole race – Abortion.

The issue is hotly debated and there are die-hard fans for both sides of the argument. Either you are "pro-life" or "anti-life". These terms represent the most dangerous pitfalls of partisanship and a proclivity to look at every issue in a black and white manner. If there is one thing I have learnt in my life, it is that there is always a lot of grey in between. There is hardly ever an issue where it is as simple as black and white. We were never meant to have things so easy.

The issue of abortion cannot be resolved in a neat manner, turned into a neat book and tucked away into a corner of a dust-filled cabinet of law books (apologies, computers and the digital age don't lend to imagination-sparking and eloquent descriptions). The whole issue of "Life" has to be understood at a more fundamental level. Is living by itself the end or as a civilized society we think that a life is called a life when the living standards, or quality of life is above a certain threshold. If that is the case, then we have to understand the effects on the quality of life on all the parties involved in the case of an abortion. In the case, of a rape child, the involved parties are the potential child, the mother, and maybe a horrified husband whose wife got raped. Then, it is important to measure the future effects on the quality of life of all the parties involved should the child be allowed to take birth and also, if this was not to be the case. Say the rape child makes the remainder of the life for a mother a living hell where she has to see the evidence of the horrific incidence day in and day out and is not able to bar those emotions; her life is as good as snuffed out. Do we really want that? Of course, not. We would ideally hope that the mother is able to overcome her memories and is able to raise the child in a healthy environment to lead a good life. But being human beings this is just wishful thinking. So if the life of the mother is going to be made a living hell in lieu of a new life, we have to ask ourselves if it is worth it. Wouldn't it be better to let the mother abort and try to lead a good life with atleast a chance of erasing the memories? As a civilized society I think it is vitally important that we give the already living atleast a fighting chance.

Let's say during the pregnancy stage itself, it was known that the child has some rare disease which would render it a cripple for it entire life, the quality of life for such a child would be low but importantly much lower for the parents going into the future. Wouldn't it be better to end the misery of the child and the parents by aborting the child? Here, of course we assume that these are unwilling parents. But let's not judge them too harshly if they decide to abort. It would take a lot of courage on anyone's part to live with such a situation and I greatly admire people who are able to do this.

And on the flip side, aborting for flimsy reasons is also something which is not acceptable. Informed individuals who have engaged in consensual sex have no right to abort the child just because they don't want the child. Even if we take the quality of life as a guiding parameter, the resulting loss of quality of life for these consenting individuals would be much lesser than the life which is not let to be.

Of course, extending this line of thought, I would even say that I support euthanasia, again taking the quality of life as a guiding parameter.

My overarching point here is that there is no such thing as being "pro-life" or "anti-life" just based on whether you a let a child life or not. You are "anti-life" even if you have let the child live but have caused a lifetime of misery for the mother. So based on the above you would think I am "anti-life" but if you have understand the line of my arguments correctly you would know that I am actually "pro-life".

Have a good day.

Delhi Blasts

"We always have intelligence information about such attacks, but we never know where and at what time the attacks may take place," he added." – Shivraj Patil

"We should not jump to conclusions. Stringent punishment would be given to whoever is responsible for this". – Shivraj Patil

Can someone please ask Hon. Shivraj Patil to step down?

About: Democracy (Part 3) & a bit of religion

Further to my earlier post, where I argued about how the fate of a country is ultimately decided by a few individuals. And that ultimately it's just luck whether we have someone at the top who has the right ideas or flawed ideas.

As a result of the above realization, I have to conclude and comment that in our lifetimes, it is extremely important and almost imperative that we come to the front of the class and speak up when we oppose existing ideas or have new ones which we believe in with unwavering conviction. This is the bedrock of a democracy and especially that of India. We are fortunate to live in a country and I am fortunate to live in a city where endless debates are encouraged. Where ideas and innovations are aplenty and the good ones get refined through soundboarding and numerous discussions. Therefore if you believe in something, you better come up to the front and speak up.

In the past one year I have become a great believer in Hinduism [let me state here that I have equal respect for all religions] and I really hope that sometime during my life I am able to study it. In my view, Hinduism is a religion which is now so old and has gone through so much churning and revision that as of today, it seems to have the answers to all the human dilemmas, new and old. In the same vein I believe that the model of democracy and governance in India will be constantly renewed and refined and the final product will be something which the world will behold and strive to emulate. The Chinese model is a flash in the pan in comparison. This will happen of course over an extended period of time and we might not live to see it. Hinduism is a religion in which even atheism is acknowledged and given its due place and respect. That itself sold me out. It is perhaps unfortunate that its very flexibility and all encompassing nature threatens to make it irrelevant.

Moving on.

I would again like to clarify that when I do not oppose democracy per se but oppose the process of electing the leaders of it. I do not advocate any other form of governance. The debate about democracy vs autocracy or theocracy is long dead and is very 20^th century. We have to now refine the idea of democracy further to make sense to the modern times and lead humanity to a more peaceful world with capable leaders.

 

[Standard disclaimers apply]

 

 

Calcutta and its love for strikes

I once commented on how much Calcuttans (no not kolkatans) love to go on strike. This struck me in no less measure than a notice in the Calcutta airport 6 months back over the proposed strike over the Bangalore and Hyderabad airport. I failed to take a snap of that incredulous notice but the undying love for strikes for every cause and everyone's cause was underscored for me.

So why not outsource all strikes to Calcutta? Seriously, they love doing it so much that anyone in the country or the world could just outsource the strike to them. They could go one step further and take footage for the tv and even have them stage the protests in movie sets made to look like the city or country being "protested" for. This would save potential revenue losses for the organization originally planning to go on strike and let calcuttans do what they love the most. Efficient division of labour and everyone is happy!

 

Olympics, India and Scope for private participation

Vivek and I were discussing yesterday about the sad state of affairs relating to sports in India.

Bindra's gold medal was due to his own volition and support from his family in the form of finances and moral support. It was no was thanks to the government (although they shamelessly bask in Bindra's glory) or any of the sports bodies sponsored by the government. This is widely known. The sports bodies in India are riddled with politics and cannot rise above the petty self-serving interests of its officials. The government doesn't have the vision to provide our athletes with world class facilities nor does it have the gumption to set right the corrupt sports officials of India.

However, we predicted that a few things might happen in the next 8 years. Since India is now reckoned an economic powerhouse and is constantly compared with China, it is but inevitable that comparisons will start between our medal tallies too. Once a large number of our citizens are able to lead a healthy normal life and can afford to devote their time to other issues, they will start questioning the incompetence of our athletes and therefore of the sports officials. At the international level too we will made "fun" of (Yes, I use the word fun because the situation there is nothing different from that of a 6^th standard classroom – refer my earlier post on this). So ultimately the government will be shamed and pressured into creating world class athletes from hamara bharat.

It is funny that all the reforms in our country are done either when the government has been pressured to the extreme and has its back against the wall or it is plain shamed into doing it. And I think this attitude percolates down to its citizens in general (or perhaps it is because of the same citizens).

Anyway, moving on.

However, the above is not in our control and can only be speculated upon. What about private participation – the seeming panacea* for all the country's ills. We discussed about how the corrupt sports officials could be sidestepped. If corporations would come forward and sponsor select athletes, wouldn't that benefit the whole situation? A company could sponsor and train an athlete and reap all the rewards after a couple of Olympics have passed? But this is not attractive for a private player as the upfront investments are too high, the returns long term and very uncertain. Let's not treat this from a charity point of view (I personally hate charity, I think it ruins people and nations).

What if independent sports bodies run by private players were to come up? These sports bodies would just own facilities for some/various sports and offer these services to the willing athletes. This offering would obviously have to subsidized in the beginning because most athletes would not be able to afford them. In return the private bodies can sign in a substantial portion of the winnings of the athlete and also own the rights to any subsequent sponsorship deals or any other revenue mechanism arising from the victories. After investing in say, 20 athletes even if 1 athlete begins to perform at the world stage, it will pay off for the private body. Such victories will prove to be publicity for the private body and it will be able to attract more quality athletes. In essence the private body can viewed as a VC (venture capitalist) who is undertaking a huge risk by investing in these athletes. He knows most of them won't perform, but even if 1 person clicks, their day is made. And they don't have to wait for 4 years to start seeing returns. There are enough international competitions besides the Olympics and Olympics will be the Big Cahuna.

Assuming several such firms, the firms will actually be competing to sponsor athletes and athletes will have the luxury of choosing a firm which will train them for free! Observing a huge supply of quality training more people will be inspired to come forward and slowly the firms too can be choosy about the athletes they take in for training. It will turn into a virtuous cycle and hopefully generate world class athletes who can bring glory to our nation.

Amen to that. And Jai Hind !

Credit: Vivek for part of the idea process.

About: Democracy (Contd..)

Further to my post earlier on this topic, some further conclusions I have made:

1. Democracy is not such a bad thing when it comes to not letting things get worse.

Our professor in finance was giving us an example of the wonderfulness (pardon the word) of democracy. He said if there is famine anywhere in the country today, the incumbent party and the opposition party will fight tooth and nail to ensure that that show concern and sympathy for the victims. This will highlight the issue and make sure that the victims are taken care of. And therefore hurray for democracy.

No.

The flaw with this story is that the famine shouldn't have taken place at all. There should have been enough systems in place to ensure that such a situation doesn't arise at all. In fact the politicians probably let the situation worsen so that they could get some photo ops.

Ok, lets assume for time-being that they are "kind hearted". Be sure I am saying that they are kind-hearted only and no other noble attributes.

The above situation is a case where democracy made sure that things didn't get worse off than they already were. But will democracy help to forsee such situations and make sure they never occur?

Vivek and I were having an intense discussion about a similar issue and were astonished at how just single persons who had the vision and the grit to see that vision implemented were the ones who influenced the course of a country, an organization and that of a people. Beware that this "vision" need not be the right one and something which will bring prosperity upon people who have to live through its consequence. A case in example is of course Nehru and to the contrary are the people who founded modern America. Nehru had a vision, a deeply flawed one, of a social country which would survive just on its goodiness. He went about implementing it with zeal and look where we are now because of him. Because of one single person.

The founders of USA too had a vision. Fortunately the right one. A country based on basic fundamentals and rights. And look where they are now.

So ultimately democracy or no democracy, the long-term and even the short term fate of a country/organization/people are determined solely by strong individuals who stand up and dare to say what they believe in, be it wrong or right.

Therefore democracy or a democratic institution can in no way effect the right vision being envisioned by its elected representatives. Nor compulsorily induce actions by its elected representatives which will lead to long term progress and betterment of a people.

So finally it is our luck as a collective people which determines whether the people we have elected will act in the best interest of the nation as a whole, its people current and future.

Funny isn't it. It all comes down to luck. Best of luck then to all of us.

Quotes:

A article in the Aug 2nd issue of The Economist title "Turning Sour" somewhat confirms my thinking.

"But India also benefits from what financial types might call the "democracy put"' its politics forestalls the worst outcomes, even if they squander the best. India's policy makers only seem to be able to reform under duress."

"..as recent events show, the India story often resembles a comedy as much as an epic. Its policymakers run around in circles, swapping partners and scandalising onlookers, but with luck pull it all together in the end."


A Note: I unfortunately post the above based on plain armchair thinking and my current base of knowledge. I have not done any research and therefore there can be a lot of nitty gritties which I might miss out on. But I stand by the core idea and thought which I espouse here unless and otherwise proven reliably wrong.

Bindra and Mint

"New Delhi/Beijing: Abhinav Bindra won India’s first ever individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a come-from-behind victory in the men’s 10m air rifle, but sports agents are divided on whether this will translate into lucrative brand endorsements in a country where cricket and movie stars remain favourites with advertisers and audiences."




http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/12011400/Bindra-wins-India8217s-firs.html?h=A1

I love mint as a newspaper. But this article just caught me off guard. Especially after first being bombarded by every little detail of Bindra's life in ToI on every other page with gaudy photos, the concise looking article seemed a bit of a relief. What caught me off guard was that within the first sentence itself they launched into the debate of whether he will make a good "brand endorser". Lol. Is this acute professionalism by mint and a bit over the top? Also, I can just imagine all the agents around India perking up on hearing the gold medal announcement and salivating and debating over the possibilities of commercial exploitation of this event rather than feeling, even for a moment, a bit proud of this achievement.

I personally did not believe this news till I saw it on TV. Perhaps I need to see the medal and bite it to test its gold component to be doubly sure that this is not some cruel joke by China in their usual style.

Congratulations to him nonetheless. May this set off a meaningful debate and progress on this front in the media which has been sadly missing till now contrary to their usual zeal.

My Analogies - A Sticky

I have discovered in the past one year that I have somewhat of a talent for analogies. And since I spend a lot of time driving, a lot of analogies I am going to put down here will be related to that. This is going to be a sticky post, because as when these analogies come to my mind, I will put them down in this post. Maybe when I have enough posts, I will make a book out of it and of course it will become a best seller ;).


1. The roads, vehicles and the government. (Draft)
I tend to drive fast. I know this is wrong but something I just have to do. My philosophy in driving greatly reflects my philosophy in life. But that's for another
post.

So, I tend to drive fast. When I am going to office in the morning, my foot will be like rocks on the accelerator and I will be overtaking cars, bikes, trucks, buses by the dozen. I will of course be slowed down by some people who do not have basic driving sense but that does not deter me. After a few minutes, when I look around, I will realize that the same vehicles puttering along at 30 km/hr have caught up with me and in some cases are even ahead of me again. I am bamboozled. What happened? How did they catch up with me? When I reflect I realize that all the slowing down, and waiting at traffic signals gave them a chance to catch up with me without putting in any extra effort. They were able to just amble along and the traffic system ensured that everyone traveled in more or less the same time frame.

Do you see what I am driving (no pun intended) at? Our government (at least till date) has created an environment where speed and efficiency is not rewarded. Where, even the slow are able to catch up simply because the government puts in so many roadblocks and red signals to slow the fast ones down. The government's philosophy of governance is directly reflected in the roads and the traffic. The government does not ensure a level playing field but believes in bringing everyone to the same level. This is done through quotas and reservations and other such instruments.

Imagine if the roads were all converted to expressways with no traffic signals. Just signs and guidelines of how to drive and at what maximum speeds. Who would win? The fast ones will get to their destination the fastest and the slow ones at their own appointed time. The system will be just an observer making sure nobody breaks laws and observes the guidelines. This is of course happening slowly. There are expressways being built in tandem with the economy being deregulated and a leveler playing field being created.

2. 6th Std Classrooms and People (Draft)
I find that a majority of the ways in which corporations, governments and people in general behave can be directly matched to how kids behave in 6th standard classrooms.

Life: Update

Dear All,

I do not post frequently not because there is nothing to write but because those moments of inspiration which drive me to write come at the very times when it's not possible for me to get to a computer. Other times its sheer laziness.

In any case, a life changing event has forced me to put put to paper (sheesh!) and tell you whats been happening since my last update.

Firstly, the life changing event that I talk about is that I bought a car ! yes yes yes ! I bought a car. It's 1995 Geo Prizm with all the works and I got it only for $1500. Of course it's definitely not a car to boast about but who cares! it's my first car with my own money and surviving without a car in Wilsonville for 3 months, where the public transportation sucks like hell, has been no mean feat. Plus downgrading from the glory days of driving in Bangalore hasn't been easy either. But nonetheless, I have a CAR now ! Feast your eyes :D









Ahhh! Bliss it is I say!

Anyway, on to more trivial things. Since my last post my internship got extended to December. Initially I wasn't too happy about it but now it seems like I did the right thing. Winter semester will be the perfect time to take good courses and be done with my Masters. Plus staying on means I have a bit of wiggle room to take my trips to The Netherlands and India (and with my own money).

[These are posts which I started writing but never could finish and do not have the immediate interest in finishing. I am posting it nonetheless]

India's unending journey - Mark Tully

I have been reading a lot about India recently. For some yet unknown reason, I have had this strong desire to get to know India better. Maybe, business interests compel me to understand this country at a better level so that I can profit out of it or maybe my brief stint outside India has made me appreciate more, India's infinite beauty and uniqueness.

I was in the midst of reading Richard Dawkins' "God Delusion", when I decided to pick up "India's Unending Journey" - Mark Tully (IUJ). "God Delusion" was very "dry", lacking any human touch, lacking any spirituality. Although his reasoning is impressive, the world cannot be explained through reason alone. If the world ran on reason alone, we would all be ultra-materialistic loners.

Anyway, I don't even feel like discussing that book.

IUJ came to me at the right time. I have been grappling a lot with internal conflicts about

[These are posts which I started writing but never could finish and do not have the immediate interest in finishing. I am posting it nonetheless]

About: Democracy

Following is recent reply to a series of mails amongst a bunch of us. I used it to voice something which I have been mulling for a while now. The point needs more research and elaboration and perhaps a more tighter line of thinking. Initial comments?

Lodu,

I think you are the only one so worked up about elections in the US. And please don't compare US elections with Indian ones. I think Indian elections are infinitely more interesting and exciting than US elections. Ours is a very boisterous democracy like no other in the world.

I have always believed Modi is the right person. Hell, I would love it if became the prime minister and replicated his model of growth in Gujrat throughout India. The key factor in India's current economic growth is Gujrat's growth.

On a tangential note, Modi's recent win has planted this idea in my head that democracy is a farce. I never had an opinion about this but I am beginning to form one against democracy. Not that I advocate a dictatorship based government, but maybe a democratic institution with more check and balances against corruption, special interest groups controlling the country, and the lobbyists. In democracy, we assume that all the monkeys will get together and write Hamlet (Hamlet only na?). It is a form of institution built to perpetuate the bullshit that everyone is equal. They conveniently contort the original intention that everyone is equal before the law, the government etc. I think successful countries everywhere have become a success only because of the single-minded determination, clarity of vision, and a strong will of a few people. Via election, you can only hope that somebody like that will be elected.

Imagine if all doctors, lawyers, pilots, or any other professionals were "elected" ! Then why "elect" people who run the government ? These guys affect the lives of a lot more people with their whim and fancies than all doctors put together.

Enough said. Maybe I will do a bit more research and elaborate my point later.

Abhishek

Update

Following the discussion over dinner, I have to clarify that I do not oppose democracy as a whole. It is necessary for a free, fair and functioning society that every individual in the country have equal rights to everything and be considered equal before the law and the government. It is the process of electing the representatives that I want to debate tooth and nail.

Yes, Modi has his flaws and he can cause a communal outburst but I really believe that if he can sustain his development efforts, nothing else will matter. Really, do you think when a hindu and muslim are leading a good life, earning good money, and sending their children to good schools, they are really going to bother about participating in communal discord? Once the quality of life is lifted, all other considerations automatically evaporate.