Anyone reading the headlines in the morning newspaper can be forgiven for believing that Indians have lost their capacity for reasonable thought. A few days ago, we read that audiences of a Bollywood film, Chaava, went into strong hysterics at the sight of the actor, the dishy Akshay Khanna, playing Aurangzeb. Then we read that ten mosques in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal have been covered in plastic and canvas sheets because they happen to fall in the way of a planned Holi procession.
The Lost Art of Thinking in an Age of Manufactured Outrage - The Wire
The implications are obvious, processions rapidly turn into mobs, and mobs run amuck destroying everything that offends their rather ‘delicate’ sensibilities. These days anything can offend, a piece of meat, a particular sort of beard, women’s clothing, magnificent structures that were constructed in times of the Mughals, and of course mosques.
At a time when China is making giant strides towards becoming a super-power, when India is poised for economic decline, and when democratic and human development indicators are rapidly falling, Indians are embroiled in these petty wars over religion and a history that goes back 300 years.
This is extremely convenient for the ruling class because no one has the time to question unemployment and the dismal state of education in our country. They are too busy lamenting over manufactured historical wrongs. But what of us Indians? Have we lost the capacity to even think? Looks like it.
Think of the importance of thinking without necessarily going into the merits or demerits of Descartes’ famous aphorism ‘I think therefore I am’. Let us recollect Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that grants the right to freedom of thought, belief and worship. The right to freedom of thought is, arguably, of enormous import. Thinking about or thinking through a personal or a political predicament: a movie we watched, a piece of music we listened to, a book we read, a conversation we had, our emotional experiences, or just about the minutiae of everyday life sparks off chains of critical reflection.
16/03/2025