A few days back, I received this by a forwarded email and thought it was really worth posting.
The picture above, though hilarious in nature, throws up several interpretations.
The 1st viewpoint is the typical elitist one. A depiction of the innate laziness of the lower classes, remnants of "Pre-modernism", stumbling block to a modern, globalized India. Does not even bother to lift and remove the log protruding into the road before painting. With these classes in existence, how can India ever progress?
The 2nd viewpoint is the C.K. Prahlad interpretation, discovering creativity at the "bottom of the pyramid". A living example of Kaizen. If you cannot contribute to the System, beat it but innovatively.
The 3rd viewpoint is the Left, Radical one. A token symbol of protest on the part of the lowly paid worker, groaning under near-starvation conditions and condemned to monotonous labor for the better part of his life.
Which viewpoint you support is dependent on the social class and school of thought you belong to.
If the elite were indeed the elite then the wording of the 1st view point might've been different. I'm not sure how exactly is the worker from the 'lower class'. What lower class are we talking about here? How is it lower? Importantly, why is it lower?
ReplyDeleteI think more than the elite, it's the privileged class - those privileged enough to come into wealth without working for it.
@ indisch: Thoughtful and profound comments.
ReplyDeleteTrue that 'elite' might be a misleading term here. But here it refers to those who wish to see that everything around them is perfect. Note that the 'privileged' might not always have come to wealth without working for it.
And yes, it isn't 'lower class' as much as it is 'lowly paid'. But many of the elite don't seem to differentiate between the two I guess.