Okay, this is not a very happening topic, nothing sensational and definitely not sleazy. In fact, there isn’t much in here that would attract eyes. I just hope it gets me some answers.
I was killing time on one of the only two social/business networking sites this evening when something caught my eye.
A lady had posted the following on a network thread:
"Do you know of Indian women who have had life-altering experiences and have overcome very challenging obstacles with grit and strength? I need to profile women like these for a magazine.
Please don’t recommend women with silly sob stories. Really strong women who have faced and overcome real hardships in life may be profiled only. For instance this magazine profiled a single mom with an autistic son who opened a school/ NGO for autistic kids. Not only did she overcome her personal tragedy on her own but is now helping many others facing similar challenging situations."
To which, the first response from obviously-another-woman was -
"I’m curious... Who/What according to you is/are "women with silly sob stories"?"
This led to what I call a Virtual Dhishum-Dhishum, and entertained many mortal souls like mine. As I read on, the discussion metamorphosed into something bigger - "Are we really in a position to judge, and comment, on anyone’s life except our own?" became "Should a writer be so sibjective?"
Now I was thinking - We are all human and tend to have an opinion about all and sundry. It is with these opinionated glasses that we look at the world. A professional - to be termed as such- is devoted to the profession. What is required is a dispassionate look at the world etc etc.
Then I realized that I was doing just the same - Reacting!
The thread was very intereting and invited a lot of criticism and questions, the only questions on my mind right now are -
1) Is a post on a forum open to debate / discussion / distortion and all other forces that each member of the board can apply to it?
2) There are a lot of opinions that one doesn’t like, or one may not agree with. They find expression in various ways of agreement, as well as disagreement. Should they be expressed openly or over email or Private Messages, or in the case of MS, M2Ms?
3) When one makes a post on a forum, soliciting responses, there is a lot of learning that happens, related to the post and a huge umbra around it. Is it possible for anyone to take that learning without feeling pinned down on concepts / words or bogged down by expressions that are perceived to be personal?
Would like to know what you think. Looking forward to debate / discussion / distortion :)