The Importance of Being a Redneck

If you say that someone is a redneck, you immediately think he is a gun toting, drunken, xenophobic nationalist with old world ideas and who hates everyone not from his neighborhood. I have to say you are right. 


To be precise (nowadays you have to be, you know like Wikipedia), I researched the term on Dictionary.com.
It is defined as follows:






red·neck   [red-nek]  Show IPA Informal: Often Disparaging .
noun
1.
an uneducated white farm laborer, especially from the South.
2.
a bigot or reactionary, especially from the rural working class.


As a 'redneck' you are only concerned with your life! Period! Nobody else's. I know most of these personality traits are not to be condoned. But there is one thing I admire in the rednecks of america (other countries too) and some of these characteristics are shared by a vast majority of the American public too - that is they don't give a damn about the rest of the world. Leave aside the world, they don't care about anyone outside their state and some not even outside their county or district. This is a characteristic that I admire.


In India, I know that we have been taught to have a global view. Most Indians know the heads of all the major countries. They know the parties , they know their political inclinations and they have the mental aptitude to make even political analysis of world evens. They can even come to conclusions and make inferences if needed.


But let me ask you how much of this is useful. What good does it do for you that you know who is running for the Republican party seat in US or why Greece is in debt and or the political and economic implications of a war in the Middle East. 


Does it affect you in any way? That is the question that needs to be asked and if the answer is yes, only then is that relevant information. 


If you ask most Indians who the local Municipal chairman is or who the Panchayat president is, most likely he doesn't know. I am not saying I am any different from the rest. I too don't know. I too live in the global scene. I don't know who is responsible for the shoddy roads, the open man holes. I don't know and really wouldn't care if a bridge construction has been ongoing for the past decade. I really don't care. I am more interested in whether the IMF is reducing the interest rates or who is going to be the next UN Secretary general. I am the global citizen. Not some petty individual who only thinks about his surrounding.


This is the difference between a redneck and people like us. While they maybe xenophobes and don't understand the cultural and socio-economic importance of immigrants. They are very concerned about their district and their town. They are interested that their neighborhoods are safe and they have the necessary infrastructure facilities for a good, comfortable life.

Waste at Vilapilasalla, Kerala

An incident occurred in Kerala in the Trivandrum district in a place called Vilapillshala. This was the location of the dumping ground for the waste generated in the state. What normally happens in these waste disposal sites, is waste disposal. But in Vilapillashala for years, waste was just being dumped. Heap upon heap of garbage just lying around. Politicians and the great leaders made promises every year and none were kept. 


Finally, the residents got so fed up they collectively agitated. Irrespective of political, religious affiliations, the entire populace came out in support for removal of the waste which had made the place inhuman to live.They didn't heed to any political party nor were they discouraged or disheartened in their fight for basic human rights. So no one could fool them and prolong the issue. It was beautiful. Inspired by the events at Villapilasala, a similar kind of protest has started in a place called Laloor in Thrissur district Kerala. Read


It is time that we realize that unless we resolutely and actively take interest in our surroundings and neighborhoods, we are going to be dealing with the same problems for generations. Just imagine if each and everyone in the country takes such measures and become actively involved in their society, their neigbourhoods, their towns and districts, India is definitely going to improve. Also, the people in power have no choice but to be accountable. The whole country will improve. 


So go ahead be a redneck for your own well being. Otherwise waste is going to be dumped on you forever.

Is Utopia perfect?

This world of ours is not perfect. That must be the understatement of the century. It is flawed, flawed beyond compare. There are innumerable problems with it. The ubiquitous poverty. It saddens ones heart and guilts ones spending. It refuses to be eradicated. We have been able to eradicate small pox, black plague and many more complicated diseases, but when it comes to raising the standard of living of people in our world, we are yet to find a solution. Innumerable economists the world over write thousands of books on the subject yet we can’t find a lasting working solution. If we took the wealth of the 10 richest people in the world, you can eradicate poverty and hunger 10 times over. Bill gates has enough money to buy a country, yet even US considered to be the most developed country in the whole world suffers from poverty.

A whole host of other problems- terrorsim, unemployment, health care, mortality rates etc etc.. I mean there are so many problems in the world. It is still unbelievable that we can send people to the moon but can't find a solution to get a poor man decent health care. It boggles the mind and rattles the heart. In the world of indexes, there is one index I particularly like called the happiness index. It measures the happiness of people living in a country.

They say money can’t buy you happiness, but then it absolves you from unhappiness from a whole host of other problems. So imagine for a second that you are the richest man in the world; equivalent to say 10 bill gates. You are so rich that Lord Kubera will be put to shame. With this money, what can you do you wonder. You go about eradicating problems in the world until one day the world becomes the fabled Utopia. You have done it. There is no more poverty, no more hunger. No citizen has want for anything. He has everything that he needs. All thanks to you, you are the sole man responsible. You will be remembered for generations.

Now you are living in Utopia. The perfect world. A world with of equitable development, where there is no caste no creed. Concepts like rich and poor do not exist. There is no high class or low class society. There is no corruption. The government is for the people, by the people and of the people. The roads are paved, housing for everyone. Everyone has jobs and every job is respected. All jobs are paid so as to ensure a high standard of living.  

What I wonder is would one be happy in such a place. Would you be happy in such a place? In utopia there is no place for artists, musicians, painters, poets etc. You would ask why? To create art, there has to be burning passion. Passion is normally stimulated by angst, hurt, betrayal, loss, bereavement. But such feelings don’t exist. Classic example is the quality of rock songs of the 70’s and early 80’s to present day songs. There was a burning desire to break free from the shackles of the’man’ Hence, you had an array of the best rock n roll the world has ever listened. But then you would say happiness should exist, right? By happiness all its derivatives like love, belonging, satisfaction, achievement. But contrary to what we believe aren’t these feelings relative. If everyone is happy, isn’t no one happy. How do you distinguish one feeling from the other? All feelings will be mellowed, subdued. Passion will be extinguished. It ceases to exist.

This was basically an answer given to me by my primary school teacher (I don’t remember the name of the teacher) when I all in innocence had asked what would it be to live in a world absolved of all problems. She said that the concept of Utopia only exists in the mind of us humans. That is why she says that the poorest man can find happiness and the richest man may not. It also doesn’t necessarily equate to wealth. I mean you can be physically deformed, or suffering from an incurable disease. But, if in your mind you can find the joy out of your surroundings and people, then there is your utopia.

How apt and how true that explanation remains. So think positive and your world at least in your eyes is a utopia.

Your views on this matter are highly appreciated. It may not be perfect, but it's what we got.