Meritocracy….and/or its remnants!!

It is indeed quite some time I last put pen to paper !! Exceedingly busy week followed by another did not leave me any breathing space….Since it is the weekend and I have caught up with what is happening around me a bit, it is a good time as ever to get back to blogging!!

The most intersting news that I came across was from a certain East Asian country I used to work some time back. “Island mentality” and boasting about how “meritocratic” their society was indeed the highlight if any conversation, formal or otherwise, among the “natives” of this particular island. If you have not heard of ” Island Mentality” I suggest you google it…I always suspected it existed during my stay in this particular island but very recently realised that this was indeed described in psychology 🙂

So to come back to the story , the gist is ” natives” of this island thought [ and I belive still think despite all that has happened”] they and their systems were infaliable….they were the most pure, most incorruptible, most reputable….and many other ……Any argument to the contrary were met with strong disdain and contempt, what ever the facts were…..in essence they were like ” toads trapped in a deep well” – their whole world was a tiny island and ” ofcourse” they were the best ” in their tiny world”. Needless to say I left this place at the earliest opportunity as I had seen the world and knew better 🙂

So imagine my surprise when I read the news…..one scandal after another….followed by another….by another 🙂 Well so much for the ” incorruptible ” aryan ” nation……most meritocratic society ” in the world “!! How intersting….

I had not taken my eye off the “hot news” when one of my good friends forwarded me a new appiontment of a certain individual into a certain healthcare institution……I knew this individual for a long time, he was much junior to me…..arrogant , know all, who could not even do a simple ” sebaceous cyst” properly :).Every time he did an oncall , we had few pts dropping dead on the post take Ward rounds…..I remember the times where we would just do all the cases ourselves and defer the rest rather than let this guy “put a knife ” on our patients. Morbidity Mortality meetings were quite memorable 🙂 Needless to say i would not let him within 1 mile of myself or anyone i know let alone do surgery….he was so “good” 🙂 So I asked my friend ” how is this possible ? How can any sane man employ him? ” My friend replied in a single word “Meritocracy” !! Needless to say more …..

So in essence ,can a truly ” incorruptible” or ” Meritocratic” society exist ? The truthful answer is No……so please think twice [or even more], before you say ” our society is ” incorruptible ” or ours is the most “meritocratic”and look down upon others[ Island mentality] …….chances are it is not!

Whether people have insight to acknowledge this is a different story ……My experience is most dont and continue to live trapped in a delusion!! As they say ” Ignorance can indeed be a bliss”

Intersting to know what you think too! Have you come across people in such delusional fantasy worlds also ?

LBS