The Politics of Resentment – Sri Lanka style!

In Sri Lanka it is important more than in most other countries to nip in the bud attempts at discrediting people just as a knee jerk reaction, just because one has some axe to grind against the individual.

I am also guilty of this sometimes, when I look back at some of my blog posts, but I have gone back and analyzed some of my writings and determined that it was more not about the individual concerned, but that the individual as taken conscious steps to besmirch the good name of the Country, and worse to fool and hoodwink the nation. SO when the reader may accuse me of being too harsh and am permanently attacking a person or a group of persons in my writing it is out of a considered stance and not just knee jerk about everything they do. It so happens that some people in my opinion are so vile, crafty and deft in their large scale cynical manipulation of the system to their advantage, that I can rarely find the time or reason to say a good word about them. I will surely commend and praise an act that I agree with or a ruling or comment that I concur with.

I try to be a person who speaks my mind and hold little back, and in that sense am too untactful to be a politician in Sri Lanka, where one has to always comply with people’s requests no matter how daft or unreasonable they may be. It is a difficult act as it invariably offends someone, and often my gesture is misinterpreted the wrong way and am accused of something I never intended, but has been misconstrued.

Coming back to the original point, there is a culture in this country to find fault first and only give grudging praise very miserly! People have a need to put others down for something they do. I was told recently, and I agree with that statement, that when people are working hard and doing a lot of things, one is more likely to encounter criticism, especially by people who do nothing and only make a lifetime of criticism. It is this group who I am primarily referring to in this entry.

I encounter this in politics more than in most other areas, that people who are seen to be working hard, getting noticed, gathering followers are disliked by competitors who are unable to draw the crowds or put up as good a show. It is important therefore that these good people who work hard are NOT disheartened by unfair criticism, but carry on with their work with greater zeal to show their critics that they are really committed to their cause and will not allow petty backstabbing armchair pundits, whose only joy is in the suffering of others, to unsettle a good idea, worthily implemented overcoming huge challenges and odds.