The 'I Know' Syndrome

There is this old adage that 'people staying in glass houses should not throw stones at each other'.  By extension, they should also not throw stones at others including those staying in stone houses because a retaliation can be dangerous for them. However, what is much more important is that the rules for the former need not be applied to the latter and vice-versa because the residents of the stone houses can throw stones (or let us say balls with the wall serving as markers like goalposts or stumps) at each others houses and still not harm each other, but they can harm those staying in glass houses.

If one of them represents the elite and the other the commoner (will differ from situation to situation) then it means that the former cannot decide on rules for the latter based on their experience. This is so because they cannot perceive the real world of others. Hence, the elite cannot and should not make policies for the commoner without understanding the latter perspective.

But, in the real world, I am afraid that, policy suggestion are articulated from a perspective that is redundant and irrelevant for whom it is intended. We refer to this as the 'I Know' syndrome. People in the West have an opinion on what is good for the East or should I say Middle East, the North articulates out the right path for the South, people in high rise think that they have the right solution for the homeless or those staying in the slums, people manning the Governments think that they do the correct thing for its poor. In practice, the policy maker, more often than not, is devoid of a real world understanding; they do not have either a field perspective or a peoples perspective.

People staying in structures that require more energy when alternative structures would have helped achieve the same will not and cannot understand the relevance of climate change and even less that their structures are also a cause of climate change. Bureaucrats and scientists working in silos cannot understand that agriculture is not only about food but more importantly about a symbiotic relationship between people and nature and a way of life that has social and cultural implications.

What is required is the policy maker should get out of their silos and meet and interact with people and understand their perspective on a continuous basis. This will be a good attempt to get out of the 'I Know'  syndrome.

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The Glass House Syndrome (the earlier version, prior to 24 April 2012, see details at the end below)

There is this old adage that 'people staying in glass houses should not throw stones at each other'.  By extension, they should also not throw stones at others including those staying in stone houses because a retaliation can be dangerous for them. However, what is much more important is that the rules for the former need not be applied to the latter because the residents of the stone houses can throw stones (or let us say balls with the wall serving as markers like goalposts or stumps) at each others houses and still not harm each other. 

If glass and stone stand as euphemism for elite and commoner respectively then it means that the former cannot decide on rules for the latter based on their experience. This is so because even if the people staying in glass houses can see what is happening outside that vision is truncated because they cannot see what is happening inside the other houses and they definitely cannot feel, hear, smell and speak to the others. In short, their senses cannot perceive the real world of others. Hence, those staying in glass houses cannot and should not make policies for the commoner without understanding the latter perspective.

But, in the real world, I am afraid that, policy suggestion are articulated from a perspective that is redundant and irrelevant for whom it is intended. We refer to this as the glass house syndrome. People in the West have an opinion on what is good for the East or should I say Middle East, the North articulates out the right path for the South, people in high rise think that they have the right solution for the homeless or those staying in the slums, people manning the Governments think that they do the correct thing for its poor. In practice, the policy maker, more often than not, is devoid of a real world understanding; they do not have either a field perspective or a peoples perspective.

People staying in glass houses will not and cannot understand the relevance of climate change and even less that their glass houses are also a cause of climate change. Bureaucrats and scientists working in glass houses cannot understand that agriculture is not only about food but more importantly about a symbiotic relationship between people and nature and a way of life that has social and cultural implications.

Well, to be fair to the glass house resident, they are perhaps not throwing stones, but then the world does not require their cotton either.  What is required is the policy maker should get out of the glass house and meet and interact with people and understand their perspective on a continuous basis. This will be a good attempt to get out of the glass house syndrome.

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24 April 2012: This blog was revised after reading People who live in glass houses: growing food not throwing stones. It was also because of this that the title of the blog was changed to 'the stone throwing syndrome' from 'the glass house syndrome' .

30 April 2012: The title was again changed to I Know Syndrome because 'stone throwing' can refer to a form of protest that common people use. 

Also see my, In search of a paradigm.