Why ideas liberate
Most folks who have known me realize by now my advocacy of an "idea-centric" world-view from the present "people-centric" approach to things that is practiced in the part of the world where I live. A good quote towards this end that I've come across is: Small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas . (This quote is not mine; this is in retrospect one of the most useful quotes I've learnt from my grad school days). As expected, I have met with a lot of opposition. One of the most common opposition that I've encountered is that by speaking about "ideas" I am basically trying to "show off" that I am intellectually better, smarter, etc. And that it does not mean that people who don't talk about ideas are unintelligent; they may just be modest, and so on. All I can say in response is *Sigh* :-) The opposing argument is again focused on the person and his underlying motives if any and fails t...