GS IV (Attitude) (Simplex) (Analytical)
Every time we force our choices on another individual, every time we make ourselves believe that our point of view is superior to that of another; we are feeding this demon that lies in the darkest corners of our heart, nutrition which might, one fated day, enable it to find expression through our actions. Comment.
Demand-
Open question. Demand is to get away from this attitude and behaviour.
Approach-
– Take examples of day to day lives and impact of this demon on the society, individual, surroundings, etc.
– Corrective steps on these, listening to opinion of others (Dalai lama quote) etc.
Best answer
Mission IAS wrote the best answer for this question and got a score of 5/10. The answer is being reproduced below for everyone’s convenience. Of course these answers can always be improved. (Best answer of a particular only involves those given on that day, later answers may not have been checked)
“When someone’s imposing something upon you, they’re trying to remove your choice (and overstepping your boundaries).”
We live in a society where we often find people imposing their thoughts, beliefs, ideas, habits etc over other considering themselves as superior one. In particular Indian society is best in giving free advice to anyone, in any field irrespective to their knowledge base and past experience. Some common example of such experiences are debates over religions, which one is better Hindu/Muslim, Vegetarian life vs Non-vegeterians, North Indians vs South Indians, choices of career options, social and political issues (people’s different opinion in response to recent Uri incidents) etc.
Why it is wrong?
Just because we see something a particular way does not make it so. We can be so insistent sometimes that our way of seeing something is more right than someone else’s way. In this way we often get far away from the right direction. Every coin has two sides so does the perception. When we see from our point of view, often we can see only one side of the coin remaining the other side untouched and this hamper the outcome of our decisions. For eg. You give advice someone to pursue Engineering career which is most common and valuable advice in India, but the next person is interested in art and culture domain. Now if you are engineer then from your perspective your advice ia superior and best but for that individual it’s not. Maybe after getting in college that fellow drop out or may not perform upto expectation.
How to overcome this?
Keep an open mind at all times and remember that a point of view is always valuable to each individual. Before considering your opinion superior try to discuss with other people and find out how many contradict with that. And with contradictory persons discuss more and find out the point where you might be thinking wrong. All the decisions can not be based on majority, sometimes the minority decisions are such a realistic and practical that they have ability to change the entire scenario.
