I am not sure if this is a continuation of my previous post, but today one German friend reiterated what an American friend told me, back in 2004 - people are the same everywhere. American gave a probably credulous argument focussing on 'basics' of human nature. All of us laugh and cry and emotions are the same because we are all humans. Having seen 'Il Postino' just weeks back, where postman innocently queries 'isnt a poor man entitled to happiness?', I probably agreed (atleast mentally) with him. Now, I am also exposed to columnists like Krugman who assert that 'Devil is in the detail'. If we want to 'satisfy' ourselves with just 'countenance' of people without bothering about what is inside their mind, we can easily say 'entire world is happy'.
People are same if we think they are same. Just because we want to simplify and are not interested in getting bogged down with detail, we pigeon-hole people and unfortunately their mental state. Actually 'pigeon-holes' vary according to each person. For instance, Tamils film have long been harping that 'poor' is happier than 'rich', because 'rich' is too occupied about preserving what has been 'accumulated'. On the other hand, 'poor' aspire to be the 'rich' - happy folks wanting to be unhappy :)) As Krugman said during his interview in Stockholm, we need to know where 'strategic simplification' helps. Generalization, simplification cannot be applied universally on everything. It is not surprising that those who 'choose' which dress to wear, what food to eat, which car to drive etc cannot reason/justify why some cannot afford even shoes/slippers. MGR has put it across 'simply and entertainingly' in his Tamil film, Nadodi Mannan நாடோடி மன்னன் (nomad who becomes a king).
As George Orwell puts it down in 'Animal Farm' - all are equal but some are more equal than others :))
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