Parallels between Rwanda and Sri Lanka

I have started reading Imaculée Illibagiza’s book “Left to Tell”. It is her personal account of the Rwandan Tutsi massacre. There were some erie parallels between the situation in Rwanda and Sri Lanka. The British in Sri Lanka placed to minority Tamils into positions of power. The Belgians did likewise to the minority Tutsis. The result was discontent and resentment, a short term split of the people and over the long term the development of hatreds and resentments.

Blink – book by Malcom Gladwell

“Blink: thinking without thinking”, describes how experts make instantaneous decisions using appropriate contextual information which may be consciously or unconsciously realized .

An ancient greek statue, a Kouros was offered to a New York Museum. Extensive scientific analysis concluded that this Kouros was genuine. But the expert reaction was that this statue was somehow wrong. It was purchased anyway.Later at a confernence in Greece, experts began to cataglog the subtle deficiencies in the statue. Further investigations revealed the insidious fabrication in the authenticating letters. .

Experts use “thin-slicing” – taking the appropriate contextual clues to predict outcome – one researcher can predict with 90% accuracy which couples will stay together with a small video clip of the conversation (about money, or a pet, or something with a bit of controversy) by examining microexpressions, and in particular to the expression of contempt.