Texts of Popups-2 | NRI-Natter

TEXTS OF POPUPS (LIGHTBOXES) - II

Continued from previous page (Texts of popups - I) || Texts of popups - 3 || Texts of popups - 4 ||

The world's "largest democracy" -- where the majority care for their own selfish interests all the time, and happily delegate / outsource society's responsibilities to a minority of thugs, rascals, charlatans, con-men, uneducated brutes or corrupt elites, and irrationally continue to expect a failed, flawed system to produce hoped-for results, no matter what.

Are millennials smarter?

Are millennial Indians smarter? Or, do the majority educated, young middle class (non-elites) confuse blind acceptance of manufactured narratives for dissent and freedom of expression? Are they exposing their ignorance, prejudice, intolerance and naivete to the world with their addiction to blind beliefs, lazy assumptions and "trendy" (but inconsequential) content? Are they mistaking idiotic rants, inane one-line comments online, and e-bullying for vigilance, nationalism and patriotism? NRI-Natter unmasks India's reality today. Read on.

The lamb and the butcher

There are various variants of a moral story told to children. An innocent, naïve or helpless animal trusts a cunning, heartless and treacherous creature, which leads the former up the garden path, betraying its trust, and eventually helps slaughter it or kills it itself, for selfish reasons. Like: a lamb trusts the butcher who raises it, feeds it until it becomes sheep that, when slaughtered and sold as mutton, can fetch good money. But the lamb/sheep believes until the very last moment that it is in a safe pair of hands, that its master is its protector, benefactor, guardian-angel. Like: a cunning fox betrays little lambs and feeds it to the demon/lion. And so forth. Are India’s non-elites today any different from those trusting, unsuspecting, naïve animals? The majority middle-class Indians still seem to believe that some big authorities, institutions or mega corporations are in total control of the COVID pandemic situation, and working day and night to produce a magic vaccine in quick time, to rescue the Indian nation. Could truth be stranger than fiction? What if no-one really is in full control? What if an affordable, really effective vaccine never becomes available well in time? What if the vaccine leads the unsuspecting Indian masses to an even bigger, more dangerous mess or unthinkable choices?

Do or die

While the COVID-19 pandemic may have sparked a rethink among the conscientious members of India’s majority non-elites (lower- and middle-income people) about the purpose of life in human form, is it enough to result in some concrete, meaningful action? For long, India’s middle class have been happy to outsource or delegate big-picture responsibilities to the elites, because such a choice allowed them to legitimize selfishness, mediocrity, laziness, greed and crass consumerism. Cooperation with a system that perpetuated an unjust hierarchical strata in society gave them privileges over the lower-income and poor people. But now, having gotten used to such “sinful” life, India’s majority middle class find themselves nearing a tipping point, where their very survival, the humanity’s future, is in jeopardy. If each and every one of them doesn’t change his/her ways, and doesn’t question and review the current approach to life and living, India will be in a do-or-die situation. But, when faced with such a stark choice, or Hobson’s choice, can India’s majority non-elites be trusted to do the right thing, no matter what? Or, given the gravity of their “sinful" or relatively easy life so far, would India’s middle class rather prefer to die than sacrifice 'sins' (comforts, pleasures and cheap thrills) and embrace change?

How a lovely island got doomed

Once upon a time, there was this lush, well-endowed, resource-rich island. It was simply called "Lovely Island". Its inhabitants were 20,000 people called "Egozens", including 10,000 illiterate, literate or highly educated adults with voting rights.

The Egozens co-existed with a variety of species and life-forms. These 10,000 adult Egozens delegated the responsibility of Lovely Island's management, governance and (market-based) economy to just 10 Egozens, five of whom were criminals, thugs, rascals (the Crime Cartel), and the other five were flawed, evil-minded geniuses (the Flawed Five).

The 10 representatives (the Terrible Ten) then were given a free hand, absolute power, and were not held accountable at all.

The Terrible Ten then went about amassing wealth, plundering Lovely Island's resources in gay abandon and then wasting them on trivial pursuits (cheap thrills, addictive comforts and luxuries, pleasurable conveniences) that the 990 adult Egozens had to produce to eke out their livelihood. This concentrated power in the hands of the Terrible Ten.

The Terrible Ten had no real long-term vision nor risk-mitigation measures or emergency plans (except grand statements, empty slogans, and rhetoric). Slowly but surely, the society/community on Lovely island degenerated for want of law and order and due to misgovernance, corruption, environmental degradation, etc.

The Terrible Ten and their descendants, however, repeatedly grabbed power over several generations through fake democracy, subversion of institutions, vote-buying, post-poll horse-trading, slogans, emotion, intimidation, fear, muscle power, crime, dirty tricks, tech-based frauds, etc.

To keep the majority 990 Egozens busy and from revolting, the Flawed Five and the Crime Cartel cleverly worked together in close cooperation, throwing crumbs of cheap thrills, addictive comforts, pleasurable conveniences as rewards for the pet dog-like majority Egozens who all were busy running the rat race on a treadmill.

All of this made the 990 Egozens greedy, egotistic, lazy, ignorant, selfish, self-centered, fearful, insecure, mediocre, etc. All systems and institutions of governance, society, community on Lovely Island meanwhile reached a precipice. They were on the verge of a collapse. The degraded, over-exploited Lovely Island itself faced an existential threat.

But Lovely Island's 990 Egozens continued to adopt a stance that it is the responsibility of the Terrible Ten to somehow save the island and safeguard the 990 Egozens. The 990 Egozens assumed all they had to do was continue to help the Terrible Ten to produce cheap thrills, addictive comforts, pleasurable conveniences, and run the rat race on the treadmill, in order to gain access to them and enjoy them.

But there was no way the Terrible Ten would have reformed themselves and did their professed job (running society, economy and safeguarding Lovely Island). The only thing the Terrible Ten knew, and were interested in doing, no matter what, was what they, and their ilk, had been doing all along till now.

1) How can the 990 Egozens save themselves and their Lovely Island?

2) Do you think the 990 Egozens should and can do something?

3) Do you think the 990 Egozens would be glad to die/perish whenever the society and Lovely Island itself collapse due to the misdeeds of the Terrible Ten?

4) Are the Terrible Ten the only villains on Lovely Island?

5) Who are the real villains in this story? (Click/tap here for answer. Or continue to read. The answer is below as well.)

Email your solution or views, if any, to nrinatter@outlook.com

The best solution/view, to be selected by a panel, will win an attractive prize.

Real villains

5) Who are the real villains in the LOVELY ISLAND story?

Well, the answer to the fifth and final question – you'll still have to find answers to the first four questions yourself, mind you – is this: the real villains are not the Terrible Ten; the real villains are not all of the 990 "Egozens" either.

Then who are the real villains? That's the key question indeed.

The real villains – hear, hear! – are just a few Egozens among the 990 non-elite inhabitants of Lovely Island. That's right.

For ease of understanding, let's put a number on them. There must be around, say, 90 Egozens among the 990 adult inhabitants whose lifetime ambition is to "rise" in life, climb the corporate, political, bureaucratic, scientific or celebrity ladder, to be among the Terrible Ten.

This ambition of theirs could be a hidden or well-concealed one, or brazen, expressed, secret, sugar-coated, misportrayed, or misrepresented.

That's right. These 90 or so Egozens' lifetime ambition is to be part of the Crime Cartel or the Flawed Five!

Let's call them the Pseudo-Elites or Aspiring Elites or Wannabe Elites.

Better still, let's coin an abbreviation for these rascals (who could be male, female or transgender). Let's call them PAWs (Pseudo, Aspiring, Wannabe elites).

These 90 PAWs either masquerade as self-appointed representatives of the Terrible Ten or are their real secret agents in society indeed. Beware!

For these 90 PAWs, the system of the Terrible Ten ruling over 990 adult Egozens represents a Great Opportunity to make it big and thrive. For the PAWs, the Terrible Ten are role-models, heroes – but the PAWs are 'smart' enough not to openly admit to this.

These 90 PAWs are, therefore, invested in perpetuating the flawed system, the status quo. These 90 PAWs among the majority Egozens are the real poison in the body fabric of any society. They are the vermin. The snakes. The jackals and the foxes. The one drop of lime juice than can spoil even boiled whole milk.

How to recognize, deactivate and disempower the PAWs? They exhibit some tell-tale or unmistakable signs as well as subtle (hidden or well-concealed) marks (or traits or characteristics). They can also be found out through their modus operandi.

First their features. They have almost all of the drawbacks of other Egozens: mediocrity (lacking in intrinsic merit as well as the spirit of excellence), selfishness, self-centredness, greed, fear, cowardice, insecurity, ignorance (no real depth in any subject except a bit of domain expertise), etc.

On top of that, the PAWs are slimy, wily, duplicitous, Janus-faced, conniving, full of cunning. They can be soft-spoken, glib, sweet, externally polite (that unsuspecting Egozens could mistake for genuine humility or true modesty), with agreeable demeanor and a smile-/grin-embellished face.

The PAWs are unapologetically materialistic even while professing belief in "Spirit". Most of the PAWs are given to "vices" like consumption of "bad" or harmful substances (liquor, tobacco, drugs, extremely spicy/hot foods, or foods extraced through cruelty or violence, etc).

They try to trigger, ignite or activate greed, negativity, unreasonable ambition, ego, primitive fear, anger, baser impulses in others. They excel at double-dealing. They profess one thing but all their actions in real life testify to the opposite of what they profess.

The PAWs never lead in the real sense of leadership, nor follow change-makers, but take delight in acts of wickedness, fake diplomacy or concealed jealousy or envy – they specialize in thwarting, scuttling or sabotaging other Egozens they perceive as rivals, threats or change-makers who could change the status quo.

The PAWs can spread canards and sow seeds of suspicion and confusion among the Egozens, especially the opportunistic fence-sitters and the self-centered, seclusive, reclusive cowards.

The PAWs are divisive – they are good at creating factions, sub-groups, splinter groups, dissidents. They excel at calculations, scheming, tactics, strategies, volte-face (U-turn). They are turncoats. Pretense, posturing, denial, delusion, betrayal, backstabbing, backbiting, biting the hand that feeds them ... these come naturally to the PAWs.

The PAWs are also timid with low self-esteem at their core. They are like those fabled frogs -- they believe in order to rise higher, the first thing they have to do is pull other frogs down.

For PAWs, the way to the top, into the elite club of the Terrible Ten, is to perpetuate the existing system by ensuring status quo. They seek to perpetuate status quo by pre-empting change, by sabotaging, scuttling or thwarting potential change-makers among the Egozens.

Since change-makers typically tend to be key opinion leaders (KOLs) or thought-leaders, the PAWs go to extreme lengths to ensure the Egozens do not get influenced by KOLs.

[It is another matter that the PAWs don't realize the Terrible Ten can clearly see through their layers, will exploit them to their (elites') benefit, will never allow them entry into their exclusive club, and will expose PAWs at an opportune moment. The PAWs also don't realize all their machinations, chicanery and perfidy won't save their skin ultimately nor the substratum of their existence, the Lovely Island.]

So, the real test for Egozens is not how to get rid of the Terrible Ten but how to choose wisely between the PAWs and the KOLs, in order to save themselves as well as Lovely Island.

And then ensure everyone becomes a KOL himself/herself.

The 990-for-10 model, or the "many-for-few" model in various avatars, forms or versions, which has bedevilled humanity from the beginning, has outlived its utility, and needs to be replaced URGENTLY with an "all-for-all" model.

There is no more any place for the Crime Cartel, the Flawed Five, the PAWs and the Egozens on this planet.

Take it or leave it.

All efforts from now on should be toward ushering in the "All-for-All Model" (AFAM).

AFAM. ASAP. Do or die.

Middle-class people are duplicitous

Passive, unquestioned, unthinking acceptance of the many-for-few model that many non-elite middle-class people have been born into, and their gradual "conversion" to addictive materialism in the name of realism, pragmatism, "practical approach to life", and the gradual marginalization of higher values, principles, morals and ethics in public life, have led to the inevitable erosion of people's inner moral compass (both at an individual and collective levels), and corrosion of conscience.

This, in turn, led to compromises of all kinds or selective blindness at intellectual, philosophical and spiritual levels even among the so-called educated people (with graduate, postgraduate, doctoral or post-doctoral qualifications in every conceivable field).

The net result over just 2-3 generations is that most middle-class people have also become "corrupt" financially, intellectually, culturally, philosophically or spiritually, all in the name of being "realistic", "pragmatic", "smart", or "practical". And they believe the material prosperity (crumbs thrown at them by the elite who operate the system) is a sign of their "success" or a reward for "talent" or "tact" or "soft skills".

Little do they realize that the elites who operate the current flawed, 'evil' capitalist model of economics have cleverly, nicely co-opted the vast middle-class into the system by first introducing a fake competition (jobs, careers, promotions, etc) for goodies (material prosperity, fame, recognition, toys of adults, assets, etc), and then making the self-esteem-diminished middle-class people believe they are being rewarded for being skilled, talented, etc. Those rewards come easy, are seductive, and in dispropotionately larger size to the efforts (real value brought to the economic table).

Little do middle-class people realize their perceived rewards are NOT really for the efforts, achievements or accomplishments related to skills, abilities, talent, etc, but for selling their soul, embracing the 'evil', and helping perpetuate the current economic system. That's the real deal for which the middle-class people have been rewarded so far. The tighter the embrace, the greater the rewards. There is a direct correlation between the amount of soul sold to the 'dEVIL', so to speak, and the size of the "rewards".

Yet, the vast majority of non-elites would like to believe that the current system (capitalism, lopsided economic globalization) must be good, effective, efficient, clean -- never mind the collateral damage wreaked elsewhere, which would come back and haunt everyone till the moment of reckoning arrives. Their attitude is, c'est la vie -- that is life.

Really? Is that life?

Most middle-class/underclass people marry, take vows, but have no sanctity for the institution of marriage, or what it truly stands for (fidelity, loyalty, sincere companionship, unconditional love, etc). Most of them just go through the motions of marriage. Some have extramarital affairs. Some abuse, dominate or manipulate their spouse (wife or husband) in marital power games. Some present the charade of marriage for public consumption to avoid social stigma, for social acceptance.

Inner stress levels take their toll over a period of time until it is too late. A spouse (victim of the other spouse in a married couple) dies, without really realizing what went wrong, and how the system the couple had so unquestioningly accepted and abided by, had done them in.

Married couples reproduce but outsource the parental responsibilities (of shaping their children into good citizens and decent human beings) to the rotten culture, society, and the media & entertainment ecosystem. Parents don't have time for themselves and their own children. When their children get online for attention and companionship, and get addicted to expensive hobbies like videogames and esports, or zombifying social media, or worse, con games or crimes, and then lose their way, parents blame the institutions, culture, society, the media ecosystem.

Similarly, people go through religious rituals but again attach no sanctity to them. They wear sacred thread across their chest, but don't shy away from abetting or accepting bribes, or indulge in other forms of corrupt, even illegal, or legally dubious, practices in their public-facing roles. Corruption is not just bribery; corruption could be intellectual, moral, ethical, philosophical, even spiritual.

So, why is it so difficult for the middle-class people to reflect, introspect, change, even when they know deep down the time has come for Big Change?

First of all, accepting the need for change is acceptance of guilt and acceptance of the truth that they have got it all wrong so far, that they have erred or 'sinned'. That is painful to acknowledge, especially since the ego does not like being proven wrong, especially vis-a-vis peers who may have got it right.

Change is unknown, hence 'painful'; status quo is known, hence 'pleasurable'. For the primitive layer of the human brain, the pain-pleasure principle is paramount. Avoid pain, prefer pleasure.

No pain = pleasure. But for frogs about to die in the bowl of boiling water, change, or escape from status quo, alone can save their lives. The human brain has more layers over and above the primitive layer. Higher values, intellect are beyond the primitive layer. Use of intellect is necessary to realize that (perceived and short-term) pain (of change) is not always bad; nor is (perceived, reinforced) pleasure (of no-change or status quo) always good.

Flawed logic-I -- Merely because MCPs assume they owe their perceived material-realm "success" to themselves, they think they have been and are intelligent, smart, wise, discerning. They also believe doing more of what they had been doing so far will continue to produce more and more of what they imagine, or have been tricked into believing, is "success". They think since they have been "successful" and the system has worked as per their expectations and its own promises, then it must be good, genuine, above board. They are mentally committed to only one path.

Changing paths "midway" is too much of disruption, and too much of work, for them. They would rather continue on the same path, even if it leads to a cliff edge. Deep down, even though they do sense the approach of a cliff edge, because of their inner state of denial, they delude themselves that they have to discard the obvious warning signals, which they interpret are false alarms.

Confirmation bias -- MCPs are far too invested in the current system, and their personalities, identity, sense of self, and ego get "attached" or identified with the system. Suddenly requiring to accept that such a system has been chimera, a mirage, fiction, or just unworkable theory that is totally flawed or unjust or with a dark side (to which they have contributed) would unsettle the sensitive and delicate self-image of MCPs.

So, they go about marshalling selective evidence that reinforces what they believe in, and turn a blind eye to other compelling, conclusive, overwhelming, exhaustive, comprehensive evidence to the contrary. That’s because their short attention span of the zombified, overstimulated mind interprets all that data and facts as too much work to process. Such MCPs complain of their brain “overheating”. They prefer escapisms and fantasies to reality.

For good or worse, some people who lack intrinsic merit (relative to other "successful" people in the same system) also learn to prosper using dirty tricks, so-called soft skills, con games, corruption, dark arts, etc. For them, the current flawed system is a known evil they have mastered and would like to milk dry forever. Change has to be resisted at any cost or all costs because the unknown is worse than the known.

Flawed logic-II: Some MCPs tend to rationalize and adopt a reductionist approach to dealing with the issue, invoking history with a sense of authoritative wisdom. "Been there, seen that, done that. It's all the same, this crisis, repeating all over again, just in a different form. Same old human dilemma, same old human nature, same old human condition. Tragedies, wars, pandemics...collateral damage is inevitable. Survival of the fittest. Just keep the head down. It's an all too familiar story played out over centuries already. This too shall pass. Just ride it out. Be patient. All par for the human course. Take it easy."

Ignorance -- MCPs who resist change are oblivious to dangers ahead. They are not aware that their future, their and their children’s and grandchildren’s lives are on the block. Combined with a sense of learned helplessness, lack of confidence, lack of belief, resistance to hard work, resistance to change... this leads to a stance of perceived wisdom that inaction is preferable to, or better than, action/change.

The MCPs have a tunnel vision shaped by a sense of smallness vis-à-vis the system / elites but an inflated ego vis-à-vis peers and the underclass. This results in both selfishness and self-centredness, which then combine with insensitivity toward the underclass, in the form of Big Picture blindness.

So:

1) Because the MCP is born into a pre-existing, pervasive, overwhelming, consciousness-saturating, soul-corrupting system that is never questioned, reviewed, recognized but blindly accepted, he/she assumes the system itself is natural (not man-made), little realizing that it is just one of the many possible systems we could consciously embrace (and should discard if it proves itself to be flawed).

2) An MCP’s vision does not extend beyond his and his family’s selfish interests, and becomes blind to the interconnected and inter-dependent nature of the constituents that are responsible for the evil of flawed form of capitalism-driven free-market economic system.

3) This in turn leads to lack of ‘Big Picture’ perspective, or absence of a global outlook, while being a beneficiary of globalization. So, an MCP typically suffers from a misplaced sense of self-entitlement, and tends to take the “goodies” for granted.

4) This in turn leads to lack of empathy, or insensitivity toward those who the system reduces to helpless collateral damage. Psychologists call this (lack of empathy) “evil”. And merely because such “collateral damage” is beyond one’s physical vision (out of sight), at a seeming very far-off physical distance, or merely because the collateral damage lack blood ties or kinship, MCPs assume they are not at all responsible, either directly or indirectly, for the woes of the victims.

5) But those hapless victims, the so-called collateral damage, are key constituents of the same system. They could be the underclass, the underprivileged, and Nature (the environment, the ecology, biodiversity and the planet) itself, without whom the system itself would collapse, given the inherent interconnected and interdependent nature of the constituents of the system, which is like a chain – cyclical, circular, ring-like, matrix-like.

6) The ideas that the fittest alone deserve to survive, that collateral damage is part and parcel of life, that those who are well off, prospering, thriving or succesful, are “lucky” or “blessed”, and that all one needs to do in life is mind one’s business at all times, no matter what, without sparing a thought for the larger ecosystem, will eventually prove self-destructive, suicidal.

Citizenship 2.0

"Citizenship 2.0" alone can secure your and your family's future from now on. What is "Citizenship 2.0"?

Being a good citizen does NOT just mean paying taxes, voting once in a few years, abiding by the law, complying with traditions, and following cultural norms, customs and conventions to avoid social stigma or to find social acceptance.

[By the way, an aside: Without much deep thought or reflection, did you marry (and beget children) years back because it's the "done thing" in society and you assumed it will give you the legitimacy of normality, a place in the "mainstream" and social acceptance? And now, years later, do you feel you have second thoughts, self doubts, regrets, a different perspective shaped by real-life experience and practice that are at variance with imagined concepts and theories, a sense of being trapped or forced into reconciliation against your will, or that you were tricked or manipulated by prevailing social norms, fads or fashions into involuntary or unconscious compliance? Do you live with painful inner conflicts and seemingly irreconcilable, stressful differences within your being all the time?]

Being a responsible citizen does NOT just mean posting angry messages online; or occasionally sharing, forwarding or exchanging links, articles or other forms of content on apps; or ranting, arguing and bullying on social media; or posting comments on websites or writing 'letters to the editor'; or impulsively taking part in an odd protest or signing e-petitions; or, leading some odd community initiative with ulterior motives (that is, for position, "prestige", factional politics, or self-promotion).

Being a civic-conscious, environment-friendly citizen does NOT just mean singing national anthem, or saluting the tricolor (and taking selfies for use as 'DP' on apps); or using paper bags for shopping; or dutifully depositing waste in bins or maintaining cleanliness by not littering; or sticking to traffic lanes, or obeying signals at intersections.

Being a community-oriented citizen does NOT just mean waiting endlessly for a Mahatma, Messiah, Avatar or an iconic reformer with a certain preferred personality, physical appearance and demeanor to rescue us or lead a violent (or non-violent) rebellion. All of the above can be commented upon.

No Sir/Madam, none of the above makes you a good citizen though. There's more to citizenship in the 21st century. "Citizenship 2.0" is the need of the hour. What is "Citizenship 2.0"?

Consume and digest the content on this website (NRInatter.com) to fully understand what is "Citizenship 2.0'.

Your life, your future, your children's future, the community's future, the nation's future, and, arguably, the planet's future all depend on whether or not you can quickly embrace "Citizenship 2.0".

That is how important and critical "Citizenship 2.0" is!

The alternatives are terrible: deepening of dystopia marked by authoritarian, totalitarian regimes of the Elites' Establishment; or, crass consumerism that will result in disempowering, zombifying technologies that will degrade, dehumanize humanity; or, anarchic, violent 'killer' revolution of primitive masses; or Nature's cruel retribution.

Perpetuating the status quo through indecisiveness, apathy, indifference, fear, insecurity, greed, ignorance, mediocrity, silence, non-committal attitude, or obsessive and excessive focus on selfish interests with self-centred approach to life and living ... all that will ensure one or some of the above four alternatives will come to pass, by endlessly empowering crooks, thugs, criminals, corrupt people/institutions, sadists, megalomaniacs, psychopaths, sociopaths, con artists, charlatans, and flawed geniuses. The last 75 years are ample proof.

Thankfully, positive change for the better is now well within the grasp of the majority middle-class non-elite Indians.

It's there for the taking. We, the majority middle-class non-elite Indians, just have to take it.

For that, we need to drown our differences, cast aside our ego (hyper-individualism / manufactured, induced or assumed personality), unite for the genuine "many-for-many" way of life, and urgently, quickly learn to cooperate and collaborate. We CAN DO it.

"Citizenship 2.0" is THE solution. We just need to embrace it.

NRInatter.com decodes that magic formula -- panacea, if you will -- that can make both India great again and ordinary Indians self-actualized, fulfilled, contented, and truly 'wealthy' "global citizens".

And that would mark the first step toward making the world a truly better place, and co-leading it sooner than later.

If you are unable to devote just a few hours to digest the content on this website and discern (or prise) the potentially life-transforming message therein -- it is all about YOU, your future, your family's future and well-being -- then it could only mean this (click/tap here for instant self-awareness and insight into how you got your priorities in life all mixed up).

Busy-busy routines, hectic lifestyle patterns will hurt or kill

Busy-busy routines, or hectic lifestyle patterns that run lives like predictable, automated algorithms, do the following damage to middle-class non-elite people.

They:

trap a middle-class person or MCP in a tunnel vision (that is, a single perspective shaped by the prism of ego -- selfish personal interests, or self-centred approach to life and living -- thereby making the mind-intellect apparatus rigid, stagnant and eventually useless or self-destructive);
perpetuate mediocrity, thereby stunting intellectual growth and pre-empting spiritual evolution;
create narrow worldview, and flawed and self-destructive 'model' in your head that "family, wealth, and profession are universe, there is nothing else to life in human form"
straitjacket an MCP in a vicious cycle of ignorance (lack of awareness / consciousness), fear, greed, insecurity, anxiety, indulgences, apathy, laziness, complacency, inaction, or addictive escapisms/fantasies;
induce short attention spans, thereby condemning MCPs to a scatterbrained existence that makes life unfulfilled, superficial, shallow and inconsequential;
make an MCP insensitive to others' pain or woes through "lack of empathy" due to obsessive selfishness and self-centredness, thereby making him/her what psychologists call "evil";
create an unrecognized dangerous assumption that unexamined, mindless hecticness and thoughtless selfishness won't hurt/kill in the long run (in fact, they do -- idiotic hecticness, and selfishness not tempered with selflessness, will kill you eventually).

Mixed-up priorities

If you are unable to devote just a few hours to digest the content on this website and discern (or prise out) the potentially life-transforming message therein -- it is all about YOU, your future, your family's future and well-being -- then it could only mean this:

You got your priorities in life all mixed up
Your intellect is inactivated (deactivated), disabled or corrupted, and you are afflicted with short attention span, narrow-and-flawed focus and intellectual laziness, and expect life-enhancing knowledge to be delivered to you on a platter, in a jiffy, like a 140-character tweet or a short WhatsApp message
You are ignorant of the life-threatening, soul-degrading dangers ahead even after undergoing unprecedented life-disrupting experiences since the 2020 outbreak
You are not only selfish and self-centred but hypocritical and egotistical or stubborn, but not aware that you are all that (because of your inability, incapacity or unwillingness for inner reflection, self-introspection and conscientiousness), which prevents you from grasping the 'big picture' as well as the subtle aspects of life and Nature
You have an inflated or overestimated sense of your own significance, talent, skills, abilities, qualifications, position, potential
You suffer from a sense of entitlement
You believe in disproportionate taking and grabbing and in disproportionate giving (that is, you are greedy as well as insecure and anxious at the same time)
You believe the whole world exists for you to rip it off, to reduce it to a means to your own selfish ends (you are a parasite on the society and the planet)
You are unaware that you bring no real or genuine value to the world in a way that could make a really positive difference to the larger world; you celebrate your own mediocrity; you revel in it; you live in denial; and you prefer doing only that which pleases your mind/ego, or which can be accomplished 'effortlessly' (in default mode), with ease, within your imagined or self-imposed limitations
You are ignorant that you are complicit (a co-conspirator or accomplice) in perpetuating an unjust system that you benefit from at the cost of others
You are arrogant and hence don't realize that proactive resistance to evil is your duty or responsibility ("dharma") as a community-member; and, instead of backing and supporting the change-makers proactively and wholeheartedly, you are also under the ill-conceived impression that you are free to be indifferent or apathetic toward potential change-makers and those who are willing to resist or challenge evil-minded forces. Such an attitude, you fail to realize, makes you culpable and complicit
You are not aware that you have a dark side to your personality, and you are ignorant how that dark side manifests in real life (in a way that hurts, damages or savages others), and you are not knowledgeable about how to become aware of your dark side (lower self), and how to recognize its effects, and how to transmute that "dark energy" into "light"
You confuse wickedness, crookedness, wilyness, hypocrisy, duplicity, misapplied "soft skills", etc, for virtues and good traits, and hence take delight in mastering and using them repeatedly, thoughtlessly -- they have become your default mode of functioning and living
You are not aware of the price you have already paid, and will pay, because of your "dark side"
You are reluctant to examine why you think your disaster-bound, manufactured busy-busy or seemingly hectic lifestyle -- office, home, family, malls, TV, sports telecasts, cinemas, travel, picnics, parties, cheap thrills, celebrations, rituals, bill and tax payments, shopping, social media, apps, addictions-vices-indulgences, investments, savings, and ego-convenient / guilt-dissolving "devotion" -- is MORE important THAN discerning (or prising out) the Key Message here on this website, which is all about YOU, your future, your family's future and well-being.
You are unaware of the implanted "algorithm" or silent "virus" (or the value system surreptitiously 'installed' by external forces) in your brain/mind, which determines that it is MORE important or preferable to spend several hours (and energy and money) on EACH of the activities of your busy-busy or hectic lifestyle and head toward disaster THAN somehow carving a few hours out to fully digest the content on this website, and share it with other diligent people so as to spur collective action before it becomes a case of "too little too late".
Your unconscious attitude is that of "So be it, I will take the hit with all others, if that is what Fate/Destiny has in store for me. I'll go down with others". Fact is, you don't really want to go down, you don't want to drown, but you imagine you can take such pain when in reality you can't take the pain of a pin prick.
The hallmarks of your choices and preferences so far are blind, unconscious or induced compliance, conformism, inaction, indifference, complacence, mediocrity, stagnation (non-movement in the right direction). You think such choices have held you in good stead so far, and hence you assume, wrongly, that they will continue to do so in the future, no matter what. But forget the future -- are they really helping you NOW? Have they helped you in the last 1-2 years? Are they propelling you toward your own SELFISH goals at least? Are they truly empowering you in every aspect of your life? If the answer to those questions is a resounding "No", then why are you still persisting with a failed strategy, without any in-depth review and course-correction? What is the "virus" (that is probably more dangerous than the novel coronavirus) in your head that compels you to prefer status quo rather than embrace change?
You are addicted to comfort zone, the known, the familiar, the routine, the status quo ... and you have become resistant to change, any change, in an absolutist way, unless such change is imposed on you from those above you, or becomes inevitable, or you are conned or manipulated or tricked into accepting change that is not really good for you. You reject all other forms of change even without examining and understanding that 'good change' could be for the better, and that stagnation / no-change would lead to decline and eventual 'death', just as adapting to, or embracing, 'bad change' unquestioningly would prove self-destructive.
You nurse an unrecognized assumption that some Mahatma, Avatar, Messiah, Saviour or Leader should / will magically emerge at the right time (at the last minute) to save you and your family, and that you deserve to be saved or rescued in spite of your priorities, choices and actions so far, and in spite of you thinking you are very smart and intelligent in questioning, doubting or disregarding the messages of previous Mahatmas and Avatars who have come and gone, and adopting your own "practical" approach to life and living so far.
You wrongly believe you will be saved and that you will get to "enjoy" life all over again exactly in the same pattern once the dangers pass because someone told you "this too shall pass" and that the fruits of patience will be "sweet". And, full of vain hopes and unfounded wishes, you ignore the need to reflect and introspect and change; instead, you endlessly, stubbornly bide your time, hoping against hope for the tide to turn, little realizing the moment of reckoning is nigh.

What's expected, and what's not expected

1) You are expected to read patiently and fully and understand the content here about your dharma as community member, citizen and middle-class person. Later, you are expected to digest as much content on this website as possible. Next, you are expected to act in two ways: i) join NRI Natter by completing and submitting the online form; ii) spread the word -- share the link with all of your "contacts", urging them to join NRI Natter as well.

2) This is a serious initiative aimed at nation re-building. This is not some ideology dump nor a get-rich-quick investment scheme.

3) We at NRI Natter have not published this in-depth, comprehensive, insight-rich content just for your appreciation. Rest assured, we are not fishing for praise. We do not need your validation. We do not need recognition. But we do need your proactive, whole-hearted support and cooperation. So, let not your response / reaction to this website be a simple, dumb, insincere, dishonest one-word, one-phrase or one-line short message like "good article", "interesting", etc. And please, desist from posting emojis / emoticons of thumbs up, etc. That would be an insult to you as well as us.

4) Do not simply skim through the content without reading and understanding it. We are trying to encourage people to overcome the deadly habit of short attention span or attention deficit disorder (ADD). Reading the content here slowly, deliberately, attentively will activate your intellect, which, we have reason to believe, may have been disabled or blunted by addictive social media and dumbing-down mainstream media.

5) Do not exit after reading just one or two paragraphs, or after a cursory glance, merely because your hurried, rush-rush mind may prompt you to "move on". That would mean, you have got your priorities all mixed-up. The hectic, busy-busy routines of the rat race in which you are probably trapped need to be overcome. Nothing can be more important than safeguarding your, your family's, and your community's future. The content here offers you a golden opportunity to save your ass. So, persuade yourself to read on, no matter what. If you are genuinely busy, bookmark this web-page and return later, and share the link with others as well.

Mindless Middle-class

1) If you, dear middle-class person, feel that it is for "others" (to describe whom you use words like "masses", "crowds", "people", "public", etc, by the way) to take the initiative for corrective measures, reforms, change, revolution, transformation, etc, and even undertake massive action, perhaps even sacrifice their lives, what makes you think you are not part of "people" or "masses"?

2) What makes you think you deserve to reap the benefits of efforts or sacrifices made by others?

3) What makes you think you are entitled to your own life and lifestyle, irrespective of (and insulated or exempted from) the goings-on in the larger ecosystem, while you expect your fellow middle-class people / peers, or those above them (like leaders/officials), to work for positive change for your benefit?

4) What makes you think your life, your priorities, your pursuits, your selfish, self-serving interests, are somehow more important than those of "others"?

5) i) We mean NO offense to anyone here; rest assured, we don't mean to disparage any individual or group in particular -- but, let's discuss this issue dispassionately, objectively, in the context of the nature-nurture debate, shall we? ii) Are you sure you have to perpetuate your genes by reproducing, without sparing a thought for the larger ecosystem, environment and community on which you and your offspring will have to depend anyway? iii) What makes you think your genes deserve to be perpetuated? iv) Have you ever read about "dysgenics" and "idiocracy"? v) Why should the larger ecosystem enable you to perpetuate your genes and nurture your offspring when you don't believe in nurturing and protecting the ecosystem in a symbiotic way?

6) i) What is the economic and social value you and your family bring to the society's table anyway that others have to make efforts, even sacrifices, while you nurse the smug sense of entitlement to the fruits of their efforts? ii) Is the larger ecosystem getting justifiable and attractive returns on the "investment" in you and your family?

7) i) Do you really deserve a Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Dr Martin Luther King Junior or a Potti Sriramulu? ii) What is the use of such people setting a personal example as well as sacrificing their lives for people like you?

8) If you are basking in the reflected glory of your employer (probably a big name, an MNC, a blue-chip company, or prominent organization), are you sure your employer is really corruption-free, community-, environment- and planet-friendly, employing sustainable practices in both letter and spirit, in both fact and practice (not just the bullshit of make-believe media statements and press releases on CSR that exaggerate, misportray or misrepresent details while hiding truths)?

9) Do you really believe that just paying some paltry taxes and doing some skill-oriented job (for what is most likely to be a corrupt, anti-people, anti-society, planet-destroying organization/employer) somehow make you special, valuable and that you therefore deserve the "goodies" you assume the larger ecosystem owes you?

10) i) Do you really deserve your job -- or did you land it using unethical means, foul methods, fraud, or similar questionable, insincere or corrupt practice like nepotism, favoritism, sucking up like a toady to higher-ups, misrepresenting facts? ii) Are you surviving in your ill-gotten job / vocation that you are not fit for, through posturing, impostor-like make-believe acts, pretending to be that which you are not? iii) Even assuming you landed your job through the "proper channel", merit or through sheer luck, are you sure your heart, conscience and deeds are still clean, incorruptible? iv) Or, after landing the job, have you compromised on good values and sold your soul to the Mammon, under the pretext of "practical" aspects of life, harsh realities of life?

13) i) What exactly are you and your family chasing in life anyway while running the "rat race"? ii) Why is it important and for whom? iii) Would you run your race or chase whatever that you are chasing on some secluded island, cut off from the rest of the world? iv) If you think you are so self-important, significant, and if you imagine that what you are doing is also important (for yourself and your family), why don't you visualize a scenario wherein you and your family happily retire to some secluded, self-sufficient, resource-rich, safe island or a similar spot on a mountain or in a forest and live in a self-sufficient way, undisturbed by others, and fully dependent on yourselves, your talent, significance, merit?

Mindless as well as thoughtless middle-class

1) If you, dear middle-class person, feel that "others" --- "masses", "crowds", "people", "public", "peer group" --- should take the initiative for corrective measures, reforms, change, revolution, transformation, etc; if you believe that they should even undertake massive action, perhaps even sacrifice their lives, what makes you think you are not part of "people" or "masses"?

2) What makes you think you deserve to reap the benefits of efforts or sacrifices made by "others?

4) What makes you think your life, your priorities, your pursuits, your selfish, self-serving interests, are somehow more important than those of "others"?

5) i) We mean NO offense to anyone here; rest assured, we don't mean to disparage any individual or group in particular -- but, let's discuss this issue dispassionately, objectively, in the context of the nature-nurture debate, shall we? ii) Are you sure you have to perpetuate your genes by reproducing, without sparing a thought for the larger ecosystem, the environment and community on which you and your offspring will have to depend anyway? iii) What makes you think your genes deserve to be perpetuated? iv) Have you ever read about "dysgenics" and "Idiocracy"? v) Why should the larger ecosystem enable you to perpetuate your genes and nurture your offspring when you don't believe in nurturing and protecting the ecosystem in a symbiotic way?

10) i) Do you really deserve your job, in terms of being the best person available/suitable for that particular job, and capable of not only performing in it optimally but also outperforming in that role? Or, did you land your job using unethical means, foul methods, fraud, “recommendation”, or similar questionable, insincere or corrupt practice like nepotism, favoritism, sucking up like a toady to higher-ups, misrepresenting facts, or through some sleight of government policy that bestowed unfair advantage and undue favour? ii) Are you surviving in your ill-gotten job / vocation that you are not fit for, through posturing, impostor-like make-believe acts, pretending to be that which you are not? iii) Even assuming you landed your job through the "proper channel", merit or through sheer luck, are you sure your heart, conscience and deeds are still clean, incorruptible? iv) Or, after landing the job, instead of improving and upgrading yourself by utilizing the opportunity / luck / grace bestowed upon you, have you compromised on good values and sold your soul to the Mammon, under the pretext of "practical" aspects of life, harsh realities of life, or due to greed, ego and arrogance? v) Are you just a middle-class mediocre person who never pursued excellence except putting in donkey’s hours in your assembly-line kind of job (say as a call center fellow, or back-end coding fellow / data analyst / business analyst, risk specialist, fund manager, bank executive, “presstitute”, salesman, merchant, trader, broker, novelist, ‘home-maker’, researcher, street-level physician, businessman, lawyer, engineer, economist, scientist, accountant, salesman, marketing madman, advertising evil-genius, teacher, academic, fashion designer, entertainer, performer, artist, actor, etc) to make “both ends meet”? vi) Do you falsely imagine you are a hero making a difference, and that your greed-, ego-, ingratitude- and insecurity-fuelled life has been a valiant struggle worthy of a Nobel prize?

11) i) Are you consciously aware of the "value system" you are using in your life? ii) Is your "value system" aligned with "cosmic laws" (karma-dharma)? iii) If they are not in alignment or sync, are you prepared to live your life if everyone else, too, disregards "cosmic laws" and employs your own "value system", or their own value system? iv) Are you prepared to live by and die by your "value system"? v) When was the last time you reflected on your own life, the critical-juncture choices and decisions you made and their outcomes? vi) When was the last time you updated yourself with mankind’s real-life history and drew lessons from it in a conscious, deliberate way, so as to apply such self-drawn lessons and insights in your day-to-day life? vii) When was the last time you introspected about your life so as to review the consequences of disregarding or violating “cosmic laws” (karma-dharma) that hurt you as well as your family?

12) i) You assume the personal, health, social, financial and professional interests of yourself and your family are more important than others' as well as of the ecosystem's. That is understansable. But, are you sure your spouse / partner really loves you? ii) Does his / her heart beat for you really? iii) Do you really love your spouse / partner? iv) Is your marriage / relationship an unholy alliance of mutual convenience bereft of genuine, unconditional “love” and sanctity but shaped by tyrannical social customs, or pressure of expectations of your extended family/clan, or desire to be accepted as part of the “mainstream”, or fear of social stigma that might ensue on defying traditions, or mindless, unquestioned conformism and compliance, or shameless, self-deceiving, delusional make-believe lived for social media and characterized by “let’s scratch each other’s back”? v) Are you just an ATM (cash machine) for your children? vi) Are you just a bedroom-mate for your spouse / partner? vii) Do your children really look up to you? viii) Through your actions and choices in real life, have you set a personal example for your children (and grandchildren)? ix) Are you helping them find their calling? x) Have you instilled "good values" in your children? xi) Or, are their minds controlled by the ecosystem of culture, advertisements, mass media, entertainment, social media, online channels? xii) Are you imposing your own will, unfulfilled desires, demands, society's manufactured false expectations on them?

13) i) What exactly are you and your family chasing in life anyway while running the "rat race"? ii) Why is it important and for whom? iii) Would you run your race (or chase whatever that you are chasing) on some secluded island, cut off from the rest of the world, since you seem to believe you are an island and hence need not bother about the larger ecosystem? iv) If you think you are so self-important, and that your lives / genes are significant, and if you imagine that what you are doing (job / business / vocation / "service") is also important (for yourself and your family), why don't you visualize a scenario wherein you and your family happily retire to some secluded, self-sufficient, resource-rich, safe and secure island or a similar spot on a mountain or in a forest and live in a self-sufficient way, undisturbed by others, and fully dependent on yourselves, your talent, your strengths, your significance, and your merit?

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