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Reductive Seduction

Nice essay on the concept of reductive seduction which in summary is the fallacy of the first world that they can wave a magic wand and solve basic third world problems like access to clean water and toilets. I can speak to problems in India having been in the midst of them for decades. The first thing to understand is that if a problem were easy to solve it would have been solved already. There is no lack of smart people with ingenious ideas and the desire to roll up their sleeves and do the work. It might not be enough to eradicate the problem but good enough to make a visible impact. 

With that being said, if the problem continues to exist, suffice it to say that is hard and bordering on impossible to solve. The best efforts will yield marginal results, it will be a case of two steps forward and one step behind for decades until some visible signs of change can be seen. If anyone home or abroad comes with the desire to take on a big problem without the right mindset, their failure is just about guaranteed. India can humble the best of the best by size, scale and complexity of what needs to be dealt with. The author has the right advisory for the young social entrepreneurs who want to take on challenges in Mumbai or Kampala

But don’t go because you’ve fallen in love with solvability. Go because you’ve fallen in love with complexity.

Don’t go because you want to do something virtuous. Go because you want to do something difficult.

Don’t go because you want to talk. Go because you want to listen.

I would add to the list, be prepared to fail big and have your ego right-sized so you return with a better sense of self and calibration of what you can really do for the world. Reading this essay brings to mind B, the daughter of a distant relative who spent time in Dhaka and Kolkata after graduating from an elite college in America, followed by graduate work in very fancy European university. B's resume was top-notch by any measure. After spending close to a decade pursuing her goal to save women in the third world, she returned home to a regular corporate job. 

At a human level I am sure B has been a source of hope and inspiration to the poor, uneducated Bengali women who would look up to her as a role model, the art of the possible. For B herself, her time in that part of the world was a learning experience but if she had hoped to bring about real and lasting change that never happened. I am sure there was a lot reductive seduction involved in her decision to go there.

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