Planet of the Idiots

The world is full of Idiots. I'm not the only one; there's an entire planet of us. That's what it would seem to any rational observer from another planet. But we are lucky; we haven't found life on any other planet. Had we found any, they would be busy laughing back at us. Right at home, Dolphins, reports D. Adams from the U.K., do indeed laugh at us citing the volatility owing to over-development as a reason.

Let's look at what's bothering us now. World problems. The middle east. Anyone's idea of hell on earth. With a population of 6 million, Israel has lesser people than the south Indian city of Chennai - or even Bangalore!! Palestine isn't large either. But the world media looks at the Middle east conflict as an eternal source of revenue. BBC sends intrepid reporters into the 'battle' zone. CNN does too. People watch stories of human interest pertaining to the conflict. Magazines such as New Scientist feature articles on how difficult it is to do research in Palestine, and how nice it is that some Israelis and Palestinians work together.

And on the other side of the coin, let's look at another case. Most of Gangetic India - viz. UP, Jharkhand and Bihar. With a cumulative population of close to 300 million, any of these states would put Israel and Palestine to shame. Take Bihar as a case in point. With a population of 86 Million (without Jharkhand) and a buch of Buffoons on the throne, you would expect Bush's conscience to kick in. If the plight of Iraq's 25 millions melted his caring heart - you would expect the buffonery in the name of Governance inflicted on the 86 million Biharis to not just melt, but vaporise his heart. But did you see a single US marine in India? Does Laloo need to get WMDs to be overthrown? Not that Bush is known to care.

With around 300 million people, we see that it houses 5% of humanity. That's more than most large countries. The number of people in the northern states of India - UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Vananchal is almost equal to the number of people in the USA - and more than Russia, the world's largest country. Oh - while we're at it, the number of people in and around Bombay exceed the entire population of Iraq or Australia.

Looking at statistics on population pertaning to India is like making a quick through the total perspective vortex, a destination popularized by the same D. Adams whose mention was made of eartlier too. Is is tough to imagine a billion people. That's 1 followed by NINE Zeros. To hold such a country as one - under a robust democracy, all its faults notwithstanding - is certainly no mean achievement. I guess the same holds for most massive governments in the world.

Perhaps we aren't a planet of Idiots. We won't laugh at ourselves. Dolphins may laugh at us, but we laugh at them too.