Changing The Mind set of a Conformist

Rights and wrongs - The Hindu

From the Arab spring uprising to the awakening of complacent minds of Malaysians and Singaporeans, we see a sea of new awareness  emerging. But questions often arises whether these developments are mere superficial reaction based on onsite emotion or has it a deep meaningful expectation.

Judging from the outcome as in the case of Egypt, their inability to move on after ousting President Hosni Mubarak speaks very little on the maturity of the people in managing their initial success. Even the youth uprising in the late 1970's in Iran against the Shah was very quickly hijacked by Muslim fundamentalist with their own agenda and eventually turned the country into a dictatorial rule under Ayatollah Komeini.

So why would a society jump from the frying pan into the fire below? This can be answered by looking at three entities ie. the motive, the motivated and the motivator. 

Very often the motive is always an independent variable in the equation. The motivated are naturally drawn to react because they would have been on the receiving end. But it would be the motivator that plays a greater role in fueling the cause. Ironically the motivated and the motivator have completely opposite agendas. However must be noted the motivators usually have a upper hand, whereas the motivated are merely used as a pawn in a selfish pursuit. 

The motivated, usually the masses who's emotions are easily manipulated to conform to a preordained outcome, sets the action in motion. Why does the masses succumb to such a predicament? Ultimately it is due to the ignorance on "rights" by these  people.

The basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law. 

However it is sad to know that in most developing and under developed countries, political patronage dictates the boundaries of "rights". Thus an entire generation and subsequent ones are made to believe that the bubble that surrounds them is real. But when the bubble bursts, these very same people would start to seek a new bubble, because they believe that it is natural to live within a bubble, not realizing that the sky is actually the limit. 

Until such time when society comes out of this "bubble mentality" it won't matter, even a revolution is not going to change the lives of the ordinary.

"From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States can Change the World": by Duncan Green is truly inspiring in educating people to have an enriched perspective before they embark on any any revolutionary journey.