Editor,
Now that the election campaigns are over the visible signs in the fields in Jaintia Hills are that the NPP and the UDP are doing far better than the INC, PDF and others. As things stand the NPP and the UDP are moving neck to neck and who knows they may come to a post poll alliance and that too depending on how many seats each gets on the counting day. On the other hand, in the Khasi Hills the INC seems to be doing quite well so far gauging from the public mood. However, on its own it may not be able to form the much wanted EC. However, we cannot discount the performance of the UDP and the NPP in Khasi Hills. These regional parties are doing commendably well in a number of pockets and in fact, UDP and NPP together may outnumber the seats obtained by the INC. The PDF might also spring a surprise in some MDC constituency segments. As for HSPDP it is struggling very hard to get Mawthadraishan, Nongstoin, Rambrai-Jyrngam and Mawkyrwat because unlike in the past the mood of the voters this time seems to go against it even in these traditional HSPDP pockets. The likely scene post elections in the Khasi Hills seems to be that UDP, NPP, PDF and perhaps HSPDP may have post poll alliance in the KHADC.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein,
Via-Email.
Goraline road completed
Editor,
Apropos my letter dated June 22, 2018 wherein I had mentioned that the repair of the Goraline-Nongrimmaw road had commenced on a war footing. Now the repair work is completed in all respects and this road looks like it is part of a Meghalaya road and not the dilapidated kutcha road it once looked like. I wish to thank all the officials of PWD (Roads) and also appreciate the work of the contractor who managed to complete this repair work smoothly despite the fact that this is a busy thoroughfare.
Yours etc.,
M K Rai,
Shillong-3
When the mind is set
Editor,
Mahatma Gandhi, Narendra Davolkar, Govind Pansare, Malleshappa Kalburgi, Gouri Lankesh and many others had faced stubborn resistance while trying to change our minds. They had worked for a better tomorrow for all of us including for those who killed them. They had been tagged as the enemy of the people by those whose representatives were their killers. But why had a section of us been so much agitated while confronting their ideas?
Psychologists have found that our partisan identities get entangled with our personal identities. As a result, we have a tendency to take a comment on our strongly held beliefs as though it is an attack on our self and as an attempt to assassinate our character. Jonas Kaplan, a psychologist at the University of Southern California said, “The brain’s primary responsibility is to take care of the body, to protect the body. The psychological self is the brain’s extension of that. When our self feels attacked, our brain is going to bring to bear the same defences that it has for protecting the body.”
Kaplan and other neuroscientists set up an experiment to know what happens in the brain when we resist changing our minds. The results show that our brains process information about religious beliefs, political beliefs and strongly held beliefs differently than in the case of other facts. When an idea challenges our religious and political beliefs, the region of the brain where we have kept an image of our identity, gets agitated. As a result, we feel threatened. Kaplan says a good way to make people aware about the importance of accepting fresh progressive ideas is to remind them who they are and what they believe are two separate things.
The journal of Science published an interesting article in 2016 on how to reduce prejudices. The mantra is simple – Listen. People can learn lessons more durably when they come to the conclusion themselves. Dave Fleisher calls it deep canvassing. The key is to listen to the people after asking open – ended questions.
In talking about their own lives, the people can be engaged in what psychologists call “active processing”. In this way, it is important to help people understand that they must evolve from their possessing a set of beliefs into having a more progressive set of ideas in tune with the ascending evolution.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Via email