Bloggers Vs. Journalists

Who is better?  Blogger or Journalist - this is not this post about.  This post is about who is the 'best' out of the two. The blogger vs. journalist debate has been going on for quite sometime and probably ever will.  I am an infrequent and casual blogger and still my opinions are not biased.  I have great respect for reporters and journalists (though not all of them).  It is obvious that bloggers evolved from journalists.  Journalists have been existing long before the internet and digital age.

I am more famililar with blogs and I do feel most of the bloggers are not biased (not all).   Bloggers have the habit of writing what the news is from a reader's perspective - as it is mostly.  Journalists do have a tendency to be biased (there are good ones too) on what they write because they do not want to create unwanted feedback.  They are very cautious. The bloggers on the contrary never mind about the positive or negative feedback they get on what they write.  Journalists write down articles only to be read  by the public.  Journalists never get any reader's views on their articles.  They analyze and write the article keeping in mind who are involved and how to write it out in a professional manner (extrinsic factors).  The blogger on the other hand keys words straight from his heart (heart usually speaks the truth) - and it is definitely amateurish but good.

I Googled and came across a study which I would like to share.  PR Week and PR Newswire in its study done in mid-2010 came out with a fact that 52% percent of bloggers considered themselves to be journalists.  This shows bloggers are not at all casual in what they do even though they sit and write from home.  Bloggers consider themselves to be journalists because they understand their responsibility in bringing out real facts.  Most bloggers are more famous than journalists who cover news from the same stream.  Political views of certain  influential bloggers are gaining great momentum lately.

Let us dig a little about technology news now.  Basically, the way people search for news and reviews have changed lately.  Technology magazines just cover the specifications of a specific product.  Bloggers do a detailed review of a product and key down the pros and cons from a user perspective.  Most of the buying decisions are based on reviews on blogs rather than articles on magazines or newspapers.  This means bloggers have more influence on the consumers than technical writers and journalists.

Bloggers spread the news much faster than their main stream media counterparts.  Once a news hits on a specific blog - we could find it being exploding in Twitter, Facebook and other major social medias.  The blogosphere also brings diverse opinions (people-centric) on the same topic.  In the case of journalists, mixed opinions can be found (biased to either party involved in the news) very rare.  This is because main stream medias are owned by influential persons who have biased views (this is purely my perspective - correct me if I am wrong).

Blogs are taking over main stream media and this has led to all major main stream medias to have a number of dedicated blogs written by eminent journalists and bloggers.  If a journalist writes on a blog it is a news article on a blog - not a big change.  These main stream media companies should hire fresh talent available in the blogosphere who would be able to create unique content which would not reflect the news article.  Most mainstream media blogs have blog posts which reflect their news article (Mirror).

This post is not intended against journalists.  There are lot of good journalists around and they always will.  There are reporters and journalists who are not biased and bring truth the way it is.  They are persistent and determined to bring the truth and in order to bring it out they work in unpleasant and life threatening environments (journalists in conflict zones).  Internet is the lifeline of this century where people with diverse opinions connect and you cannot give a news based on journalism ethics - you have to understand the audience and transform.

Journalists and bloggers are doing the same thing but in different formats but their target is the audience.  Journalists have a "PRESS PASS" and bloggers have a "BLOG PASS."  The first one is physical and hard to get while the latter one is a piece of cake.  You can easily start a blog on Blogspot, TypePad, WordPress and more. Now, who is the best?  both, because they both are one (almost except method of exporting the news).  I have seen credible, reasonable, misleading (3 major types) of journalists.  Likewise, I have also come across honest, reasonable, doubtful and misleading bloggers.  So where are we now? Bloggers Vs. Journalists again.

Why I don't vote - voting does not change anything . . . . .

I have been reading a lot about elections lately in the newspaper.  I am a kind of person who does not put in new posts quite often.  I know it has been quite a while since I updated something on my  blog and here comes a post  - "Why I don't vote?"

No caption needed - picture tells it all

Some years back, like the majority of us, I too believed in voting even though we knew the fact that our single vote would not matter  (statistically).  I never believed that my vote could change something nor felt like I am part of a large group of people deciding on who would guide the country for the next few years (deep in my heart  like everyone of us, I always yearned for better conditions for everyone).  It gave me a feel like, may be your vote matters, so do vote.

My views on elections started to change as I discovered more and more about what is reality.  I believe people are good (I mean the voters) but not the politicians.  I do not want to blame the people, but the reality is they are easily tricked by extremely corrupted politicians.  Every time we vote, we vote with good intentions hoping for something good for everyone.  The candidates (some people are seasoned politicians - some others may represent common people) of the election may sound good until the elections are over.  Once they win the elections, they are not the person we thought them to be (we are tricked as usual).  We have to understand the basic fact that we all have evil in our hearts (including me) and when someone passes a test called election - he or she signs a contract with Satan (sorry to bring you in) and evil dominates their good intentions (even if they have any).  Sadly, it is obvious that even good people cannot contribute anything good to the society after being elected.  These people transform so quickly and starts enjoying decayed politics.

When you do not vote - YOU WIN

In the recent years, I have made a strong decision  that I won’t vote.  I never will cast votes again to select evil again.  My decision on not to vote anymore may seem 'pretty unfair.'   I do not care about anything you might say because I have heard enough arguments from people on this regard.  I am very much convinced that what I do is right.  You can call me liberal, antisocial, impassive, apathetic and more - I feel very much the same for people who vote and never witness any change - you gotta be on my side.  Most of us believe that voting is a process through which we can change things.  I feel sorry for people who think that people who don’t vote are not even fighting.  People ask me why I don't vote and during the end of the conversation tell me not to complain because I am not taking part in the democratic system.  Sorry folks! this isn't complaining - this is explaining my stance and how I feel sorry for you.

As I do not vote - it does not mean I approve the person who is elected (I am also familiar to arguments like these).  I would like to present another perspective on how your vote counts.  When you vote and someone is elected - it means you are giving them the right to rule you and whatever they do it  reflects your will (all the evil things like scandals, wars, unwanted policies, extra layer of taxes and more).  When you vote, you become a creator.  Unfortunately, you are creating something evil.  I wish to live in a world where my hands are clean and not bloodstained - so I do not vote.  People campaigning for votes are the people who have a lot of time and a lot of money.  Election is a process which measures who is more professional in "tricking people" and common people march towards the polling stations like scapegoats.

I ain't against democracy.  I encourage referendums to be conducted in all war torn regions to form new nations and elections to be conducted to select their own leaders.  Unfortunately, all democratic countries are not ready to conduct a referendum because if they give this right to be exercised - they will fail and majority of the people would vote against them.  This is the reason why a referendum is not conducted either in Kashmir or Tamil Eelam.  Mass graves are solid evidences of genocide in Lanka and so do other media evidences - but the International Community turns a blind eye and is not ready to conduct a referendum there.  That makes democracy a scam.

Stop coining words like young democracy, biggest democracy and hoping things will get better.  The bottom line is we all have tried for a change through generations and it has not worked out.  Even if I cast a vote - it would be nothing different, statistically also.  Politicians give fake promises during campaigns relying on your vote and after elected do not work based on your vote, but they work based on their own desire, party's desire, community, regional, or other special interests.

I never expect to bring any change to the world.  I consider elections to be disgusting - waste of time and money (mainly because it is not serving its purpose).  I have made up my mind that I will not be a part of the damage it creates deliberately through generations and I will never participate in this process to keep my hands clean from selecting evil people in power.  I feel free when I do not vote and I know I am different than most of the others - I love to stay that way.

I am winding up this post with a quick quote,

        Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. ~ Jerry Garcia

Celebrating Women's Day

The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. 

~ Roseanne Barr 

I strongly believe in this quote and find myself privileged to key in a special post for women on International Women's Day.   Every women around the globe will be celebrating this day and we could see on news lot of rallies all through the world on March 8.  I wish every single woman around the globe Happy Women's Day (sad fact is everyone cannot be happy while the world celebrates - that is reality - we will try to dig a little more in this post on that) . I consider this day to be a great opportunity to express my gratitude to every women in my life; family, friends, and women at work place and every single woman I have met and will meet throughout my life - you could find them almost everywhere.

Not only celebration:  There is nothing wrong in celebration - who said girls should not party?  party hard ladies -  you got to celebrate this day because being a woman is a great boon given by God - I believe.  But aside from all the celebrations, the main focus should be on establishing and maintaining equal rights and opportunities for women.  I have seen Women's Day being observed like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day - giving gifts to women of importance and praising women and so on.  I may sound a little different - no quite different, Yes, I am.  I believe Women's Day is all about taking the women's issues seriously and addressing them.

Autonomy:  I find this is the right time to key in a few words on autonomy.  Women should enjoy the quality of being autonomous - yes 'enjoy,' I mean it.  In a patriarchal society, autonomy is enjoyed only by men.  Women are foolish (sorry to say that) if they expect their male counterparts to give them permission to enjoy autonomy - that kills the definition of autonomy.  If you expect someone to decide what you do - it means you are dependent and not autonomous.  The term 'womanhood' according to me means an adult woman who is autonomous and not dictated by neither men or women.  The main reason for me stressing on autonomy is that if women start to function autonomous most of the feminist's issues will be addressed and we could witness a positive change - a welcome one.  Sexism would try to hinder the autonomy of women, but women should take a pledge this Women's Day to be autonomous.

Women in India:  Okay lets take quick peek at status of women in India.  Women in India are held back mainly by the gender roles they are expected to play in a patriarchal society.  Most men regard themselves to be more powerful and superior than women and this leads to prejudice.  History tells us that in ancient India, queens enjoyed equal power and sometimes even greater power.  We could also find a variety of goddesses being worshiped by Indians for centuries - powerful goddesses.

Today, the status of women has tumbled down.  We console ourselves by reading about a few successful women in the media, but still the status of women  in India is in now way comparable to other western countries.  We still read about women being tortured, raped and killed on an everyday basis.  This shows clearly that India is not shining.  If a country records frequent violence against women - it reflects the human values of the whole country.  We could find the female body being used commercially to bring in more sales to a wide range of products and flesh sells like hot cupcakes in the cinema industry.  Women are merely considered to be entertainers and puppets in the hands of sexists.

Signing off:  I would like to wind off this post with a few things that  I feel women are unique about.  The unconditional love they provide has no 'ifs' and 'buts' - no strings attached love.  Next one is the smile they are armed with.  When a man smiles its just a couple of muscle moving on his face, but when a woman smiles it is the smile in her heart which moves her lips to give out a smile.

Keep smiling ladies :)

Budget 2011- What is in store for common man?

Food and Fuel prices may come down because they are exempted from central excise duty.  Food prices have come down a little in the recent times, but definitely fuel has seen historical rises.  May be the cut down in central excise duty will make the regular fuel price hike a bit slower than being turbocharged. The price hike will try to grow with inflation and not over beat it in the short run.  Not much expectations from the government in this sector because the government always fails to stabilize these prices.

Farm equipments to cost less as customs duty is reduced from 5 percent to 4.5 percent.  The government has subsidy schemes but it reaches only the big land lords and small time farmers are having a hard time staying alive in India.  It is a day-to-day challenge for them to survive.  Surely, the Zamindars will add more tractors and equipments and reduce the man labor – and not pay back the agricultural loans..

Packed food items and snacks like flavored milk, chips, supari and ready to eat (microwave and eat stuff) will attract more excise duty.  This might result in less obese people in India – lets see.

Branded dresses will cost more as they attract excise duty of 10 percent.  Already, people are paying more for the brand value and thanks to government for making things much better (sarcasm).  Non-branded guys – make your collections bigger – we love you.

Raw silks will definitely be cheaper as excise duty is slashed from 30 percent to 5 percent.  I think this would not apply to designer bridal collections – see above (brand).  More weddings? Yes definitely, we need to contribute to the “GROWTH” of India – I meant population.

Quality treatment to cost more as the government has proposed service tax for treatment in private hospitals with more than 25 beds and air conditioning facility under the service tax net resulting in 5 percent tax.  Health check-ups will also attract service tax.  Doctors and Government have joined hands in stripping the patients.

Prices of Vaccines other than those which fall under National Immunisation Programme, will increase as they will attract a concessional duty of one per cent.  Vaccine prices are already rocket high – may be will chip in a little more with the grace of government.

Textbooks and stationery will cost more because of new layer of tax without CENVAT credit facility.  The government has been very kind enough to give importance to education (sarcasm).

Steel prices to come down which would reflect drop in prices of items using steel.  Steel prices are greatly influenced by international market and demand – so not much to come down.  My digestive system is not programmed to digest steel – don’t know about my readers.

Legal proceedings will also become costly (more costlier) affair – thanks to Mukherjee (sarcasm) for proposing service tax to cover all legal consultations, except individual to individual.  Lawyers can milk their clients better now.

Mobile phones to be costlier because of being listed in 130 items which would attract 1% hike in Central Excise Duty.  It would not have an effect because of other factors which constantly brings prices of mobiles down like technology becoming cheap.

Cars could cost less or the same as per budget because of no change in excise duty rates, but a rise in car prices is being expected because of various factors.  I feel there is no chance of car prices going down and chances are there for a small hike in prices.

Hotel accommodation will definitely be costlier with hotel stays attracting service tax of 5 percent (if tariff >1500).

Jewellery is exempted from central excise duty.  It might stabilize the hike in prices, but not bring the prices down because of continued demand.  The budget states labeled jewellery (I do not know what they mean – may be BIS marked or 916 KDM or branded ones like Tanishq) now attract 1% excise duty.  This hike in excise will definitely not make women happy.

Liquor is again a big victim to budget.  Air conditioned bars and permit rooms attract more service tax.  I think more people will move towards the famous TASMAC playing the role of landmarks in every cities in Tamilnadu.

Hybrid cars would cost less because of reduced duty.  Not applicable for CBU (Completely Build Unit) fuel guzzlers.  Hybrid cars are just entering the Indian market, so it would not reflect much among car enthusiasts.

Air travel will become much costlier due to raised service tax.  Business class tickets would set pockets on fire.

Raw silks will definitely be cheaper as excise duty is slashed from 30 percent to 5 percent.

 “Money is like a sixth sense - and you can't make use of the other five without it” -  Somerset Maugham