In our lives, we will always stumble into persons who think that they are right. They always hold the correct opinions, have accurate answers and seem to know everything. They can’t stand when someone raises a genuine question. And when asked for answers, they call you a bigot or shout. One may laugh or leave with a sense of dread. But debate with such “right” people always leads to dumb conclusions. Because no one is right. We believe that we are. We try to justify what we don’t know. And everyone is guilty of this. Everyone.
Most of the opinions held in the contemporary dichotomous world come from two sources– the internet and culture. The internet is a beautiful place for propaganda to grow. And everything is propaganda, be it a person sharing a picture to someone endorsing any idea or community. Both try to convey what they think is right or wrong or worth talking about. The naive minds easily catch up on this. Where the red pill influencers try to sell their courses and the left wing tries to “fight for their rights.” A normal person can not decipher what is right from wrong and ends up believing the ones that seem more plausible. Not logically plausible, but aesthetically plausible.
The one who can appeal to emotion or pity, has rhetoric, and can speak outlandishly gets the prize. Young boys may find Andrew Tate appealing because he is the embodiment of all three criteria. Similarly, blue-haired influencers who demand more “equality” depict rhetoric and emotion. Again, it depends on the person watching. These role models lead to a generation that thinks that they know what is right, but in reality, can’t justify it. A few scientific reports and cliched arguments will never cut it. They never found their truth; it is fed to them. It is fed to them by those who have ulterior motives of power and fame. It may look fancy at the beginning, but trust me, none of them care for you.
Culture teaches us a lot. For most of our lives, we learn from culture. By culture, I refer to local social values and norms. Since childhood, our family and friends feed thoughts into our minds, opinions that are not truly ours. In the midst of the feeding, we forget ourselves and live off the ideas of others. Culture is not wrong per se, but its teachings and values may not always be right. Although culture is the ticket for acceptance in society, it may not always be morally sound. And the dichotomy arises again. One section of society tries hard to fit in so that they forget themselves, and the other section tries hard to fight the society and end up losing their identity and roots.
The struggle for spreading the truth is never easy, but one has to be sure of the truth in the first place. Truth is not found in scrolling the web, finding any random person who was brainwashed like many others were. Truth does not come from the endless fights on X (Twitter). The people we fight on the internet are brainwashed-beings themselves. A sane person is unlikely to fight with random accounts on the internet. Truth comes from knowledge. Knowledge of not only your ideas but others as well. Our minds are magnificent at ignoring opposing ideas. We like to live in Echo Chambers. And we are left with a plethora of evidence that supports us but fails to understand the others.
The beginning of truth lies in realising that everything is not simple. Truth was never as simple as “I am right, they are wrong.” Truth never lied in conservatism and modernity, or any concept of westernization. Truth is found within oneself. It is difficult, but it is true. Reflection and mindfulness lead to the truth. It goes beyond shallow or superficial information. Real understanding comes before believing, and acceptance comes before truth.
(The author is a student of Humanities at DPS, Srinagar)
