'If Astramex represented the wrong way, then what was the right way? To offer them change but not too much? Could - should - the modern world tolerate ignorance, even if it was blissful ignorance?'
The Truth (TT) is one of Palin's fictitious works, centering around modern Geographical topics ranging from cultures and development to environmental damage.
To surmise: An ingeniously plotted, beautifully written and hugely enjoyable book.
- As composed by the Daily Telegraph.
TT follows a middle-aged British environmental journalist by the name of Keith Mabbut, who decides to write a novel. His family is slowly drifting apart, with his wife plotting for a divorce, his relationship with his son in deep waters, and his daughter in love with a refugee; his intention is that this novel is to be his literary saviour after a meagre career following his small environmental journalistic breakthrough a decade or so previously. But then he gets offered a book deal to write a biography on the elusive humanitarian hero Hamish Melville, a man of whom everyone knows, yet about who everyone knows nothing. On his journey to track Hamish, both Mabbut and Hamish grow as characters, gaining insight into their previously idealistic natures, and encounter several environmental situations thought provoking to the reader as to our own relationship with the world.
'After all, the truth can sometimes be better revealed by a story.'
I personally find development and its effect on nature as well as remote cultures fascinating, and hope one day to go into writing of some form, so found TT a thoroughly enjoyable and insightful read. If you're shy of picking up a non-fiction book, this is a great novel to encounter subjects that really matter in a less factual, heavy manner.
Side note #1: read anything by Jared Diamond if you too are interested in development or likewise areas.
'A wise man once said, there are no superior or inferior cultures, there are just cultures which satisfy the needs of their members in different ways. This is a message that seems self-evident yet everywhere it is under threat as each country and each religion seeks to promote its own interests at the expense of others.'
Such an idea was at the heart of this novel, and was one that resonates throughout Diamond's 'The World Until Yesterday' - the question as to whether any one society really does reign entirely supreme over another.
Does the dominating West have nothing to learn from smaller, more remote cultures and civilisations? Are we so perfect that it is our role to command other countries how to develop, to encourage them to emulate exactly our cultures and practices?
Of course, some developments such as in healthcare are beneficial to pass on to less developed civilisations and cases such of transnational companies building factories in less developed countries help to improve the quality of life by providing jobs and greater educational opportunities (etc.) in said countries, however, it is in developments such as displacing small groups of civilisations in order to gain mineral-rich land to satisfy the greed for power (to use an example lifted directly from TT - but basically, anything unbeneficial to the 'receiving' people or environment as it were) that our motivations need questioning.
Plus, is the addition of another clone town with a McDonalds, KFC and other chain businesses worth the loss of diverse indigenous cultures and practices?
When it comes to aiding development in other countries, I think the focus should remain on motivations whereby the goal is to provide opportunities and a greater quality of life for the receiving country.
'Look, Kumar is a Masira. His family came from the hills. They used to chop wood and walk ten Ks to sell it for charcoal. They'd never seen a white man till the missionaries arrived. He was brought up at the bottom of the food chain. Well, tell me, you've spent time with him, is there anything you can do that he can't? Given the right opportunities, those who want can achieve anything.'
It reminded me of George Orwell's infamous 'Animal Farm' statement - All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. A preferable view to cultivate therefore, may be that regardless of background or economic status or developmental stage, we are all equal.
I mean, we are all humans right? That is, fundamentally, the same?
I in no way intend to victimise the West - it's not the solemn bad-guy it may come across as through my musings! I aim more so to address our individual view of other peoples and our perception of development not to be so one-dimensional as I find it easy to slip into the attitude of being.
I'll conclude with a case study I find awesome (as in wow, not as in dude! That's so cool bro! Although, it is pretty cool. Bro.): apparently there is a tribe in Africa, known as the BaBemba tribe, who, when someone does something harmful and wrong, take the person to the centre of the village where the whole tribe surrounds them. For two days, the tribe will tell the man of all the good things he has done and said, before welcoming him back into the community. Through this ritual they aim to remind him of his naturally good nature. I'm not sure as to the validity of this cultural act or tribe, but even just the idea of it fascinates me.
Until Australia,
C
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