Brevity, Interactivity, 'Virality'

The enduring image of our times is the traffic jam.
However the jam is not just on our roads.
It is also in our minds.
It is not just that we are being bombarded with more and more messages.
It is also that the mainstream media all use the same few "thought-ways".
The resultant jam is why mass media and mass advertising are both going the way of the dinosaurs.
And a new paradigm of communication effectiveness is being forged.
It should not be surprising that this new paradigm is most visible in new media like Web 2.0.
The mantra of this new effectiveness is: Brevity, Interactivity and 'Virality'.
Brevity is putting the message on a nimble two-wheeler instead of a bulky truck. It avoids roadblocks and negotiates jams better.
Interactivity motivates the receiver to take the message for a drive down the open roads and side-streets of her mind. And perhaps even off the road, free-ranging the countryside and forests of her sub-conscious.
"Virality" is when the receiver likes the message so much that she introduces it to close friends that she meets on those unclogged free ways of her mind.
The new media is creating a new media structure built on the principles of "many to many" instead of "one to many".
And "one to many" will be rescued from the depredations of mass media and go back to becoming the sole preserve of genius. A Shakespeare, a Kalidas, a Mozart, a Picasso or a Fellini will communicate with mind-blowing impact, whatever the age, whatever the paradigm.

Rice & Dal

Meaningless Violence is a tautology.
However when jingoism emerges (doesn't matter if it is in reaction to jingoism- two wrongs don't a right make) the truth is the first victim.
Yes the USA has not faced another act of terrorism on its soil after 2001. But let us remember that it is the richest and most powerful nation (as of now and for some while yet) on earth. It was hubris that lead to 9/11 and after that jolt it put its guard up and protects its territory with all that it has.
So should India. Protect our territory and our citizens with all that we have. We do not have the wealth that the USA has but perhaps we can bring more ingenuity and more intelligence to the task. The famous "Indian Jugad" has never had a greater task.
The response of the USA to 9/11 had a dimension other than homeland security. The specific interventions first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. There are many in India today calling for an intervention in POK by India.
Once again it is paramount that we do not take anything anyone else has done as template. USA and the world continue to pay a heavy price for Afghanistan & Iraq.
We don't have to create another black hole that voraciously drains positive energy from us and the world.
Yes we must act with strength. But is it strength that will send out our
ground and air forces to wipe out terrorist camps in POK? Or will it be an act that will only assuage our collective ego that is currently hurt and does not want to be perceived as weak by not reacting with speed?
Questions that have no easy answer but we must wrestle with them. And as we do we must remember rice is rice(pun intended Ms.Rice)and dal is dal. They go well together but are cooked differently.
We must act in consort with the USA but act in a way that is us.