Spiral of ignorance Amir Hamza Bangash The greatest tragedy of any nation can be that being in the process of downfall they are trapped so badly in the vicious circle that they are completely unable to find a way out of the crisis. Such nation needs to find a strong motive for its survival to discourage being addressed as ‘Hopeless Case’. If we match the above narrated symptom with the conditions of our beloved country, then most of these signs stand true. The affliction of our country is that more than sixty five years passed, but still we are unable to overcome several basic issues and shortcomings. Indeed, the problems may lie in the system as a whole, but the need of the hour is that the praxis existing among our own people needs to be addressed thoroughly to screw it if any shortcomings lie on their part. Today, the situation in Pakistan gives us a clue that it is messed up with so many grisly problems like scores of suicide attacks happening everywhere, poverty line up high touching the sky, corruption ingrained in its culture, class identity becoming its fashion, but still the foghorn blaring to warn is the ‘Decaying Scholastic Environment’ at micro and macro level. If someone studies the motion of our society meticulously and objectively, then he will come up that it is in the process of evolution but in a reverse way. The society, of which you can confidently say something related to its present, but as far as the future of this reverse evolutionary motion is concerned, nobody can confidently say where it will end up with the same direction and speed. The only hope, which can work as a starter to lead our society in positive and progressive way will be the introduction of ‘Reading Culture’ among the people. Most of the problems, faced today by our people are due to the clouds of ignorance surrounding their minds and their lives at large. Once, these clouds are replaced by the rain of ideas full of knowledge then everything will start finding its way out. ‘Reading Culture’, when it existed in our society, it blessed us with the vision and positive attitude at large among the people at that time, but now when that culture is about to an end then society as a whole seems full of intellectual suffocation, and is short of any worthy reason for its existence. The majority of the researchers stress that those who are ignorant will be more certain of their ideas and attitude in every form. On the other hand, those who are bookish will always discover themselves more ignorant, and in return will fight more to be out of it. If social and academic life of our people is explored from this angle then again it mostly seems true. The majority of our people are so certain of their opinion and ideas that the other person’s idea will often seem less important to them. Such attitude often kills the research capability and skills of the individuals at large. Those individuals mostly finish as the best successful researchers, who are blessed with ‘Inquisitive Nature’ rather than the ‘Practice of Certainty’. Questions often come in a mind when you have doubts, but when you are certain then how can you pose a question? Research demands that one must stay uncertain even in certain things in order to contribute something new to the existing knowledge, but unluckily most of the people in our society are completely incompatible with it. Many critics have even generalized this problem to many other existing Muslim societies as well by not encouraging the culture of being different in opinion, and even sometimes they don’t permit you to question any existing phenomenon. The bar on the art of questioning is indeed halting the creativity of individuals in many ways. To remove these chains of ignorance, it is mandatory that we start rebuilding our ‘Decaying Library Culture’, which is the need of the hour. It is the foremost responsibility of our Higher Education Commission, different government departments, local people and philanthropists to come forward and invest in building different libraries, renovating them, updating them with research journals, books and seeking online access to the prominent foreign libraries. Even at street level, this flow of ignorance can be controlled by working on the concept of ‘Street Libraries’, which in return will bless the different streets with a popular motto of making the healthiest public opinion. It is a pity that today we have five-star hotels and restaurants serving customers in the majority of the popular cities, but have no top-notch libraries anywhere in the country to provide food for thought. The signs left by the ignorance in the shadow of this decaying library and scholastic culture on the people at large are that they are on way to become the part of the society, which will be awfully handicapped, entirely hollow from inside, and completely puzzled and directionless. It’s time to decide whether we all are happy with the status quo or we are ready for a change within ourselves for the better future of tomorrow. Indeed the future lies in our minds. The writer is Lecturer in University of Peshawar and pursuing PhD in Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 05:02:59 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015