I was just listening to a discussion about a scam that came out in Indian Premier League (IPL). Its about the involvement of a so called "new age politician" (a title awarded by indian media to any politician with an e-mail account!) Mr. Sashi Tharoor in establishment of a new IPL team. I believe IPL is an entertainment business, just like bollywood and as long as tax payers money is not swindled people should not waste their time discussing about it.
But something that caught my attention was a comment made by Mr. Tharoor, that he has done and is doing several important business for the benefit of the country, in his capacity as a minister of state, but none of them is getting any media attention. On the other hand, an issue that took only less that one percent of his time is dominating the entire discussion, for all wrong reasons.
Is anybody surprised? Well, at least I am not. The reality of life is that bad deeds are as important as a good ones (if at all not more important). More often it is the wrong choices that you make in your life that became the turning points that changes the entire course of ones life. In long run it may work for ones own benefit, but at the instant it is made, you would consider it as a wrong decision, compared to other options you have.
Evolutionarily thinking an ability to pay more attentions to mistakes and mishappening are ingrained in our genes. The knowledge that, fire can burn you to death is more important than that it can be used for cooking. First one is vital for your survival and second one enhances the quality of your life. You should first survive to enhance the quality of life, I guess. So, it is an inconvenient reality. Even if you are right 99% of times, the 1% mistakes that you make is extremely critical in governing your fate.
We humans are very much prejudiced. Another evolutionarily consereved trait, to be prepared for the dangers that awaited our ancesters at every corners of forests dominated by much stronger and agile animals. Several studies now show that, our brain make decisions even before we are actually aware of it. Say for example, if you want to move your left leg now, there is a point where you experience that thought and implement it by moving the muscles responsible for that motion. Electrophysiological and functional MRI studies have shown that the electrical activity in parts of brain that is responsible for this movement actually happens even before, you think that you want move your left hand. So the big question is what is starting this biochemical activity even before the so called "you " are aware of that thought?
So, the "prejudiced mind" prepare us to face worst. It is this prejudiced mind that make us to judge people even before we actually see them or listen to them. That is why we are averse to people who resmble someone who illtreated or cheated us in the past ("I had this feeling that he/she is going to.....").I believe, it is the prejudiced mind that pushes us to look for stains and mud on people faces. If someone is good and generous, that is fine, he/she is not going to do me any harm, at least. But I will be doing a great favor to my self if I know before hand that the person I am going to meet is extremely short tempered and shoot down people dressed in red T-shirt and blue jeans! And I think that is why people are more interested in your problem areas and the mistakes that you made not on your qualities.
As the famous fable tells us, it is always the single black spot that catches our attention, not the white background! It is basic biology. Nopoint in blaming the society or media for that. Only sensible think to do is to be extremely cautious not make any mistakes. Nonetheless, to err is human! In that case at least learn from it. As someone told, many a times failures and mistakes are better teachers than victories. They provide us with new perspectives and philosophies on life and make us much better individuals. But the take home message here is that 'mistakes are fatal in this world where information come at the cost of our own privacy'!
Disclaimer: Many theories are my own. My knowledge in neuroscience is limited to few popular articles!
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