I want to post a controversial subject: the intellect of Sajha users and what it tells you about our mental aptitude and social norms.

Somebody put it pretty well: "Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people." If you go back and look at all the Sajha postings, almost 100% are about the latter two, majority being the threads on people (Shristi Shrestha, Manisha Koirala, etc etc). You venture into one of those posts and the level of discussions are akin to 7th grade discussion: huge generalization (Nepali people are this, they are that), petty arguments and immature logics. Not to knock on my people, I think most of the blogs from our side of the world are similar, but when I goto other reputable blog sites, the discussion are much more intellectual. They tend to foster my brain's development, rather than frustrate it.

Does this mean, we, as a society, are intellectually far behind? It is ofcourse a rash generalization on my part. Many of my Nepali friends are more intelligent than the natives around here; does this mean they just don't frequent blogs like Sajha? Why?
I have been with Sajha for quite a while now and still remember few posters who would contribute very intellectually to a thread; there still are a select few whose postings I like to read. But why are 99% of the postings similar to kids having arguments?

I am not complaining like any other post; you know, state of Sajha has deteriorated and all that. I have read too many of those posts. I just want to know whether 90% of us are still lagging in intellectual development? Could that, seriously, be the reason why we aren't progressing as a society and still are stuck with Bandhas and morchas? What can we do to go along with the fast moving world?

I hope I didn't offend anyone; this is a genuine question.

Too long to read. Boring! :)

Oh the irony.

kalikopoi
This is the sort of response I am talking about above.

Am I happy? Why should I be happy?

Am I small for talking about Sajhaites and Nepali in general? I don't claim to be a Great person or maybe not even average; but my bringing up this topic here doesn't quite fit in the category..you just didn't understand the gist. I am not talking about whether Kalikopoi is smart or not, or he did this or that; I am saying are we as a society lagging in that intellectual maturity? Is this the reason why we aren't going anywhere despite claiming the power back from the Kings?

The first step is to acknowledge there's a problem, we can then work together to address it.

I have an idea, let's start cussing the crap out of this smartass kiddo!!!

My legs are shaking already.

Intimidated by a great man's idea???

 
 ब्रो: आर्को धागो मा " काम छैन बुहारी पाडाको चाक् कन्याउँन जा " उखान लेखेको थियो |

यो धागोमा सुहाउदो उखान " हराम से राम भी डरे " |

खुट्टा मात्रै हल्लिए ? बाह्र हाते लंगौती लगाएर बस है ब्रो यिनको बानि त अन्दकोशमा घन ठोक्ने बानि छ ?    खसी बनाउलान है ?   

 boy....dont i miss that "character" named NAS. such a persuasive and constructional argumentative person whenever this sort of thread would start.

Lets, not judge who the fck belongs to small , weak, strong and intellectual group my fren. Your arshe belongs where it suppose to belongs and so are others arshe..anyways fcking piecce of shiaaatt ...we are humans, can only interpret and do certain things otherwise we would be something else ..like your monkey ass thinking how the fck humans fly planes and we still living in trees. If all intellectual then, still you will be thinking ..among intellectualest of inteclectual ..there will be small intellectual, medium intelllectual n most intellectual and intellectual of intellecutallest. Fcking kidding me . enough is enough ..you get one life, got nothing to prove nobody ...hopefully nobody gets AIDS or cancer here, fcking judge...and who the fck is judge ..we human fcking people, judgin our own kind, based on what ..sissi pwat ...vaag jathoooo muzziiiii

Undeniably genuine question, alas, posted by a hypocrit who has been found himself doing the same in several other threads.

FYI, sajha is not a blog, it's a discussion forum. May be it has blog feature deepened somewhere else.
And it's best preferred to say others as sajha user or sajha forum members rather than 'sajhaiits'. Where did this word 'sajhaaits' come from?
Before you question about others intellect, it's better to acknowledge your own first. :D
No hard feelings :D 
I liked your post, I would ask the same to others.

 Behoove_me

"Our upbringing, our aspirations, our principles, our attitudes, our insecurities, our pool of friends, the environment we live in all play their own part in crafting our outlook. We cannot change it unless we completely overhaul our beliefs."

Well said, and the one and the only truth.

Thank you vhootee,  I might not be correct hundred percent as I spoke of those variables since all of us are different. But from a personal standpoint I grew up resenting a certain ethnicity/caste only because my racist/castist grandfather made derogatory comments about them all the time. And since I was expected to be under his tutelage and respect him without a slightest doubt on my mind.,I had retained that prejudice until I was 14.

Therefore I think I 'slightly' empathize with people whose beliefs and actions might have gestated out of their upbringing and environment they were raised in, some life changing events, some criticism they have received etc.. However it does not hold true for all, some of us are above and beyond all that and we develop our own nobility irrespective of what happened to us.

Well said beehove_me.. its always fun to read your post :)


A forum full of different thoughts, is bound to cause a  discussion. One might agree and many will oppose, and vice versa. Expecting people to talk straight and be sensible cannot be expected here or in any forums unless we all come from the same background with the same thoughts. But then things would be boring!!

Kiddo, many said you are a hypocrite, I dont know how you wrote earlier, but this is a genuine matter, apprently will do no good here and will remain just a post at the end of the day!!

Just my thoughts, no offence intended..

I almost had my hopes crushed as the kind of replies I was seeing were the very ones I talk about in the original post. Then there comes few sensible ones that give me some hope. I will address each comment below:

I have spent more time here in US than in Nepal and yet I feel I belong to Nepal. I however am still struggling to gauge what are we, as a community. I have a firm belief that Government is an extension of its people; you can blame it thousand times on a corrupt leader but it is you who is responsible for the leader to get there. If we are having Nepal bandhs, load shedding - maybe we have the inadequacies that lead to those issues. My quest was to find out if the inadequacy stem from the intellect or not. Most of the postings I read here lack any sense of maturity and hence I wanted to ask that question. If we indeed lack that intellect, maybe we can do something together. If we acknowledge that the problem is within us may be we can work towards the solution. We point our fingers to the corrupt leaders, but how many times have we tried to bribe a traffic back home? How many times have we used nepotism to bypass that long line in a government office? If we acknowledge that the change has to come from us, maybe we can build a better Nepal? Okay, that was a little too much; let's stay in the context of Sajha...maybe we can have a better and more meaningful discussion? I enjoy satires and humorous post now and then, but childish bantering and name calling is just too pathetic.

Now coming back to the replies:

MaGorkhe1: Thanks for the headsup.

Quarterback: The good thing about Nas was that he had a good mind to debate. He knew most of the stuff he was arguing about. THat's the good part...

8848m: This is the kind of post I talk about in my original post. Using curse word doesn't make add any umph to a sentence, it just makes it more hollow.

bittertruth: Bittertruth, I never claimed to be a great person and I said that in my last post already; how would that make me a hypocrit? Can't a small person ask these kind of questions? Plus, please give an example, of my past postings, where I sound like hypocrit. I am genuinely curious. I actually have found your postings not to be senseless, just so you know; a little surprise that you felt that about my posting. Maybe I must have pulled your chain in some past posts, don't take it too seriously..this is but an internet persona.

behoove_me: Your post gave me some hope and made me come back and post this response. I have enjoyed your writings in the past and you were one of the person I had in mind when I said, "still remember few posters who would contribute very intellectually to a thread."

Mercynova: I agree with you. I don't have a problem with diversity of opinions. A forum is bound to have few meaningless posts; but when it 99% of the posts are meaningless-kids banters, I find it a little too much.

I still have hopes, I have hopes that more content rich postings will rise up; more intellectual discussion will take place. I sure hope name calling stops though.

kiddo it is an irony that in your response to bittertruth about his accusation of hypocrisy, you hint that you may have pulled his chain since this is only an internet persona doing it.