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Prejudice, Perspective, Pride and Presumptions – or: The Surface Only?

Image of a bridge and some weeds growing through the iron grill parapet, with a glass sphere reflecting the image upside down.
Image by WorldInMyEyes from Pixabay

“Perspective is Key.” – “Pride and Prejudice”: The latter is a novel by Jane Austen, one of her most famous ones. Jane Austen was a lady and writer and wrote about what she knew best: The life of the landed gentry in early 19th century England.

The title encompasses a lot of what gets in the way of people knowing each other well, especially in formal surroundings, these days most often business.

The prejudice we grow up with or develop over time. A blunt example: People wearing black beanies are at least doubtful in character, perhaps some sort of outlaw – or even criminals…

Or: People laughing may be lacking in respect and subordination in a business context…

Or: People wearing comfortable shoes and clothing (especially women) are of a certain orientation in their private life…

Or: Italians are always passionate and easy to smile and make jokes, and like celebrating and joyful activities… whereas people in North European countries tend to be gruff and a little lacking in social graces…

Really?

Try meeting an Italian at night on a lonely road… or on the other hand North Europeans when you ask them for help – or around a fire on the beach with a guitar…

Stereotypes are often a misstatement of possibilities that have been generalized – too often, too long.

And they also can easily be abused to stamp a group or an individual with the sign of a brand, sort of: Difficult, avoid…

When in actual fact it’s the misogyny, or hatred of the other (better…??) principle, the person that might be considered a threat to ones position – or the simple envy of a (perceived) advantage over ones own existence.

Images and perspective are key, in so many respects.

That’s why checking your sources carefully can be crucial, not to say of the essence.

So much suffering, pain and useless effort are delivered and spent in regard to prejudice.

My father used to put it jokingly, and in plain irony:
“Those are the types that will not have their prejudices spoilt by fact.”

The way out of such pits of misery and their pitfalls? Since, misery is the real result of such thoughts and sometimes ensuing deeds:

    • Find out about your own true self, all the good things and skills you own. The self-esteem.
    • Try and change perspectives on your life and your peers now and again, even if for fun only and see what can happen, at times…

There’s joy and the good, lighthearted laughter in that.

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The IoT: Internet of Things — or: Listening in — or: the (Non)-Smart Home — or: Never Assume

Woman in kitchen holding mobile phone looking at devices with drawn blue highlighted connectors towards her phone
(Image licensed via Adobe CC)

In this world of digital devices and internet connections, faster every day, basically, the so-called IoT, the Internet of Things, for some time now has made a sad appearance and fashion of sorts: The devices connecting to the internet through integrated hardware, such as your Smart-TV, your ‘smart mobile’ — or simply the Smart Home devices such as Siri or Alexa, listen in…

Indeed, it’s a fact: If not switched off deliberately, such devices will record and transfer spoken words, in many cases. Just like that…

What is particularly interesting, is the ‘eavesdroppers’ paradise: People who for the sake of curiosity — or simply to gather information — listen and start assuming…

I have seen it time and again: People observe or hear certain words or situations – and start assuming… Based on a few facts — and a lot of ‘reasoning’, which in fact is just your basic assumption.

These assumptions can be wrong. A nice example is the clip below from the movie “Desk Set”, with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. It makes it clear too, how easily we can be wrong when trying to interpret.

I always think, should you overhear somebody in anger, swearing, letting off steam, as it were — and would assume general views of that person, you might come to sadly wrong conclusions…

I’d like to create more awareness of these things: It’s sooo easy to be mistaken. And can lead to such sad results, depending on the situations…

In other words: Never assume.

Author’s Note: Post reused earlier content

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Warmongering – Benefits and Losses… or: Means to an End – or: *War* is Avoidable!

Two images side by side, one still from the movie one girl in front of a sunset watching doves fly.
Images from the movie’s webpage and licensed via Adobe CC, my graphics – Documentary by John Houston, award-winning director, “Le There Be Light“, 1946

When you look into news and messages you will find that around war there still is a sort of halo or glow being created: As if it actually was about heroes, about being brave and strong and resilient in the face of adversity.

It’s not. It’s a means to an end. Sometimes more than one end.

Oil. Power. Money. … You name it.

Especially in these days, where more than half the world is online and rather better educated than ever before. Patterns of human behaviour are age-old and they repeat. But war is young in history, compared. And that’s a fact, stated by scientists and archaeologists of long standing.

Think of the hundreds of thousands of years that humans have been part of this planet.

Around ten thousand years are a pea on a hot plate in that respect.

There are a few very easy to follow arguments that support this view:

People who come back from war, alive, are scarred in their feelings and emotions, their souls, for the rest of their lives. One proof of that fact is shown with widely recognized precision and compassion in the documentary from 1946, created by John Houston about WW II soldiers, coming back.

But also in former times soldiers who came back would behave differently. Would be uneasy in everyday life and often become furious at any little thing. Turn to be alcoholics. The reports are legend. In literature and in chronicles.

In other words: If war was so natural, would people mind?

Again:

Conflicts are natural. Wars are not!

We can resolve conflicts, if we really want to, because there’s always another road.

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Change – Humans – Time or: The Very Human Element

image of a globe in the night sky, with a large group of people on ground in shadow standing in front of it
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Change is a big word in business sometimes. I believe that we may feel tempted to expect fast and smooth changes in people every day, led by ideas in some pamphlets or flyers or even books or consultants… that say:
“If you do X and Y you will get there in no time.“

The thing is:
People don’t change fast or by a click. And that has its reasons too: When you are grown up you have seen parts of life even when still young. The more mature you grow the more you know that people need time.
That changes grow – a little like fruit on a tree: That takes at least months.
And animals, when you watch them you will find that they grow up and mature in some years.

Now, people?
We have complex brains – so they tell us (- ‿◦ ) and that means also that we start thinking about consequences at some point. The more the merrier… and additionally the history of mankind did prove that embracing the unknown, the new, the strange, could lead to dangers, even loss of your live.

So, what happened?
In essence people are ‘conservative’, in the true sense of the word:
They preserve the things that did prove reliable at least, and good in the past. Because that makes you feel safe. Secure. And more relaxed.

If change needs to happen in business it’s a good thing to calculate with that ‘staying power’ humans have.

A power that can be endearing and very necessary. And that can be overcome by patience, perseverance – and with very good reason(s).

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War – Power – Power-play – Power-balance or: No Time for Denying the Obvious

Image of a cloud in the sky at dusk, with sunlight behind it.
Image by lmaresz from Pixabay

War is no destiny. War is not dealt us by any type of gods to check our resilience or our heroism.
War is man-made by those that crave power, want to protect it or even more so,  protect the money involved.

Conflicts are a natural part of human life. Wars are not.

The present power blocks we see are not really new. New is the leader-of-state-type the US have engaged to do their dirty work:
Someone who likes it, who already is starting to prepare his ultimate leadership as dictator, king or emperor and someone also, who uses threats and fear as means to ‘make deals’. He has publicly admitted, nay, praised himself that: A ‘deal-maker’.

At present the most urgent need many see and have is ensuring peace.

To deny the obvious, namely that the maps we can see make Ukraine an encroachment onto Russian territory, if they should join the NATO, is childish.

Image of NATO member states and installations around East of Europe, including Ukraine and its border with Russia.
Image screenshot of NATO’s own website, all options checked. Taken at: 23-11-2025_05-50-47 local time (UTC+1)

Ukraine is a country with people, a history and pride.
But they also are people who want to live, to have peace, to stop seeing their cities and villages go up in flames. Bury their dead and weep each and every day over their lost loved ones.

Even more so, Palestine and the Palestinians, same way the majority of Israeli people do!

The majority of Israelis publicly declares even on Social Media such as LinkedIn their lack of support for the politics Netanyahu has applied from the start:

He was known as so-called hardliner from day one.
He had made the situation for Palestinians impossible for them by forcefully moving Israeli settlers there. Gaza-strip and the West Bank had been assigned to Palestinians to live in peace. To this day the official acknowledgement of Palestine as a state is not complete.

Additionally, it is recorded fact that his support in parliament and from voters was waning. So he started a war.

Attacking again under any pretext? Shame on him.

Peace needs to be negotiated, when we want to stop wars. Sometimes that can take time. But to deny the obvious or to refuse to negotiate properly is a sign of ulterior motives.

War needs to stop.

This is the simple truth:
Whatever your colour, creed or conviction, you are not supposed to either kill, torture or bother other people. Period.

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Life: Past, Present and Future or: ‘Stocktaking’

young man in home office looking thoughtfully at his laptop screen
Image free license courtesy freepik.com

In life and in families things often become difficult. Involved.
When times are good, it seems easy to be graceful and acknowledging. Giving. When times are hard and have been for some time, perspectives may change.

‘Stocktaking’ is the term for doing a check on goods in a storage room or business, originally. But it is often applied to the recall, the active review on memories; or of course, the present times: What seems hard to endure. What seems especially unjust or unfair in a lifetime, compared.

Probably sometimes that little word ‘compared’ is crucial:
Comparing myself and my lot to others.

Mostly when we feel unjustly dealt with, we compare ourselves, our hardships, to people who seem well off. Happy. Relaxed. Always in possession of what seems to make life easy, nice and ‘cool’.

What we tend to omit is the other view: Compare our lot with so many others that are off much worse.

It’s not always helpful right at first, when we may feel overwhelmed by taking care of relations. Having children. Taking care of sick people. Of the terminally ill.

And it is also crucial to find ways of relieve in such times!

It’s been proven that people in caring professions such as medical doctors, nurses and people in health care are particularly apt to suffer from burnout.

In families caring for the sick and elderly too can be underestimated, or having children. Too often an ideal of an angelic figure roams the fairy stories and concepts of motherhood, especially, which is far from reality.

Some Hollywood movies as well as some kinds of TV-serials or advertisements can strongly suggest it, though.

Mothers and other people are just human beings. They can make mistakes. They can feel overwhelmed.

They can feel underestimated. They can feel tired to their bones.

I have seen people in other cultures who still understood through generations of large families with more than 8 or 10 children and grandchildren in each thread that what humans are, is not perfect.
That life can deal you hard ‘decks’, without any responsibility or fault of your own.

That’s what we need to understand, to further mutual understanding:

    • Very often we are not at fault, when things go wrong.
    • We cannot possibly be perfect, because that’s not human.
    • When the chips are down, we may need help.
      • To ask for help is good. We may have to learn that, again.
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War and Peace: Patriarchy in Full Swing – When the Image of ‘The Man’ and Apparent History Get in the Way of Reason

‘A real man’, ‘a hulk’, ‘the hero’, ‘the fighter’ – the words and phrases are numerous, sometimes there seems no end to the ideas of what men should be like.

“Always cool, calm and collected.” “Women and children, the sick and the elderly to be saved first.”

What does that do to men’s minds? To some, at least, raised with the full brunt of this concept?

That a man is to be powerful, reigns the creation, the earth, and everything in it – including women.

‘His woman’. ‘His wife’.

For centuries that was understood: A woman is her father’s and later her husband’s ‘ward’, in modern terms that was in effect the legal ruling. She did not own anything, even when she worked or inherited money.

Comfort. A fine word. It evokes all kinds of images if we come to think of it. And men so long had to be the providers. Providers of food, shelter and – comfort.

Because, this indeed can be too much: Because, indeed, this is not human!

Every human being feels lonely at times, yearns for closeness, warmth and comfort.

But men are supposed to feel and be always superhuman? Strong, knowledgeable? The last resort?

It’s not possible to always feel that way. But when no one tells them so – how would they know?

And sick minds can be born by the almost schizophrenic concept: Be kind, understanding and calm. But also be brutal and a fighter and always in control of the situation.

Schizophrenia is associated with sickness. But at the outset it means a ‘divided brain’. Thinking and feeling are at odds. And if that cannot be resolved, we find cruelty and (near) madness in deeds and – online activities…

Let’s remember that war is just a phenomenon based on this image. Based on the idea of sovereignty and wealth being the most important and most attractive traits in a man.

These are images, concepts and they are not human. We do not need images. We need human beings in this world.

War is no solution. War is not destiny. War is not inevitable. War is not in our nature.

Conflicts are. But they can be solved if we really want to.

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Music, Emotions and Cultures: Persian Traditional Music

Image showing violinist and artist Farid Farjad playing his violin, from a CD cover.
Image courtesy music.apple.com – Click to listen to music on music.apple.com

Music is special. It seems that the earliest ways to express sound may be even older than human speech. Human speech developed over time, thousands of years at least, from earliest ways to express simple sounds through strings of combined sounds as first words, eventually shaping the first sentences.

Speech is nothing short of a miracle. So is human understanding. Because there are languages and cultures.

Music, in turn can sometimes help to bridge gaps. In understanding and realization. Music is actually another miracle, if you look at it closely. All across the world music has become a way to express feelings, emotion.

Love, friendship, sorrow and  joy, fear and sadness, anger or fury; images that float through our minds can be  triggered by listening to music. Some types of music have become universal and indeed can make people in concerts feel connected just by listening.

In recent decades the research into the helping and healing aspects music can have and thus be used for, have been made and recorded in the science of music therapy.

The above is one of my favourite albums of Persian music: Few types of music to my mind convey this close connection of sadness and joy actually at the same time: In traditional Persian music, possibly due to a very moving history, joy and sadness are presented in the tune as well as the rhythm, interchangeably.

So you can have a joyful rhythm and a sad tune that can render it perfect to help connect to those parts of our souls that cannot always be joyful; and yet remember that sadness and joy in life can be there at the same time and thus help. Be resilient.

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“AI is Your Friend?” or: Why Humans Beat AI Anytime

Image of a red round light bulb with a yellow center representing the fictional talking computer HAL 9000's eye.
HAL 9000’s red eye… (Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

1968, as early as all that…: HAL 9000 – epitome of all AI and ‘talking’ computers… Its voice and red eye apparently made it particularly enticing for the characters in the movie… I never watched that movie, but around IT you cannot possibly escape the ideas surrounding it… 😉

“Google is your friend”? In many fora online after Google had first been established as a fast search engine you could find that as a reminder to “go and search” for yourself.

Long before AI became such a hype there was talk about computers taking over – roles, work, or the whole world…
At the moment AI seems to be – or increasingly to become – a ‘friend’ in a new manner.

I am lucky I was raised by smart parents who knew a thing or two about people, psychology, humanity, mankind… being human, in short.

I also was around other cultures a lot where being human still means – to be a feeling, thinking, at times vulnerable, being with brains and heart, instead of a marketing figure who is always perfect according to such rules as they can be found in TV advertisements as well as other kinds of Hollywood movies.

“2001: A Space Odyssey” – The movie by Stanley Kubrick, award-winning director, is considered a classic by this time – and a state-of-the-art pointer for other movies of this kind.

Let’s spread the word: AI is not a friend. It’s not a therapist. It’s not something to put in the place of humans.
It does not have compassion, it hasn’t got a heart – and it has no brains!
Failures and pitfalls in that direction can be tragic, so recent news tell us.

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“One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer” – Or: How To Judge – or Not…?

A table in a laboratory sowing several tubes, small glass bottles and testing equipment for chemical substances.
Image free via freepik.com (no AI involved)

In science you make a rule from thousands of occurrences of the same phenomenon… if it is the same. There are strict rules for creating new or even corrected rules in science. The same is true for the law, legislation and courts of law: In order to be sure of what you do or say, you have to be very careful of your facts, and your witnesses, if any.

That’s why in everyday life you meet so many people who judge often based on – almost nothing: One day, one situation, one occurrence, even a chance correlation of two events – and ‘lo and behold’ they make up a story about people, a place – or they pass judgement.

It’s easy that way: Passing judgement, on others. It makes you feel fine(r) about yourself. And you can stop worrying about your own shortcomings…

Well, it depends, of course. Because not everybody is the same.

Even the bible, a book full of wisdom, if you know how to read it, has that, already, Matthew, 7, 3:

“3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (King James Version)

“3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (New International Version)

There’s the idea that two events occurring at the same time can be made into a story… such as a stork flying across the sky while a baby is born… Makes it – what?

“Storks bring babies…?”

Are you quite sure…?

Drawing of a smiling stork flying past carrying a baby inside a folded cloth in his beak.
Image free via Ecosia filtered search, Creative commons
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