Random Ramblings

I have often seen people confusing individualism and selfishness, and using both synonymously. They may usually not accept it directly, but it is often clear from their attitude and mannerisms.The moment you drop a hint that you are an individualist, eyebrows are raised as if looking at a selfish person! Yeah, both emphasize upon living for yourself, putting yourself first and all such stuff. But I believe that there is a fundamental difference between the two. While individualism is about living for yourself without causing harm to or belittling others, selfishness is essentially living for yourself often at the cost of others. It is somewhat like an analogy of making one line bigger (given two lines of equal length, drawn using a chalk) . You can either make one bigger by extending it using a chalk ... or you can rub the end of one line to make the other bigger! What say? Ayn Rand would probably agree!

An organized communal riots, gaining the proportions of a pogrom ... but the popularity of the person in command (Mr. M) increased and he got a landslide victory in elections! 5 years later - Mr M walks away (rather runs ...!) from a popular TV show when quizzed about his role in that pogrom. A (somewhat questionable!) TV sting showing Mr M's role in that riots Mr M banning TV channels which are about to telecast that! and Mr M and his aides refusing to come out clean ... Still he continues to be at the helm of affairs. He ruled the roost for a long time despite his highly questionable conduct (... without giving any defense, but rather perpetrating hatred which makes us believe more in his role!) Still, he rules the roost (at least as on Friday 26th October, 2007) ... rather he is allowed to ... Without taking any sides, I am just tempted to ask are we living in a civilized society, where we are driven more by hatred than anything else? If yes, what kind of civilized society is

What if I suddenly realized that my life is going as per the script pre-decided by some novelist, and I actually don't have any control over it? What if my life is nothing but a non-stop uninterrupted TV show, running for 25th consecutive year with me unaware? Wat if I am actually living a century before, and am actually on my journey to know the future of the world? What if in reality ghosts are the only things that exist, and humans are merely an illusion ? What if time was actually not moving in forward direction? What if on one fine day I find that they are about to demolish the earth to build the inter-galactic superhighway? What if trees and animals suddenly interchange their roles and vegetarian plants eating only animals, while non vegetarian plants eating both plants and animals? What if I am suddenly arrested just for imagining these all as I am committing a thoughtcrime ? Seems like an overdose of fiction and movies! Am I getting, rather sinking deeper and deeper into th