Dr. Asangba Tzüdir
“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.”
These words by Mahatma Gandhi hold much relevance in the context of our society today. Fear seems to be our worst enemy. This fear has unknowingly produced violent outcomes like the unprecedented but ignominious March 5, 2015 Dimapur incident - a culmination of insecurity and hate generated out of fear.
There is another form of fear which has also made truth obsolete, and thereby the desired truth is never allowed to surface. This fear has also curtailed our freedom to speak the truth openly. There is also an inherent psycho-social and philosophical problem that makes truth become stranger in the face of fear. Ironically, up to a large extent, speaking the truth is becoming meaningless and is slowly losing its substance and relevance. There is a process of normalisation wherein, there is dissociation from speaking the truth because our society is conditioned in such a way that telling the truth is an uncomfortable subject. More so, ‘truth’ is directly linked with fear and the ‘other’ becomes a subject of ‘respect’ out of fear.
Our society is not opened to a culture of ‘truth dialogue’ where criticisms can be openly shared across. It is such that telling the truth becomes more hurtful or inconvenient or one that may invite unnecessary attention. We talk about corruption but the fear psychosis prevents one from pinpointing the ugly truth about the ‘other.’ Media is also greatly discouraged to speak the ‘truth’ being constrained by defamation and other ‘restrictive guidelines.’ Such curtailment creates different forms of fear which will definitely reflect in content as well as in the depth of reporting. Even in social media platforms, besides the flow of information, often the truth that is shared finds concealed within a veil of fear because sanctions are imposed from various spheres of authority which makes one cautious with fear.
The church is one integral space that needs to be ruffled to make way for truth to grow. There are many compelling issues on which the church needs to take an affirmative stand rather than withholding the ‘truth’ for fear of possible criticisms. On another level, dialogue between the ‘church’ and its members is largely hampered due to a kind of fear that comes along with religiosity and its associated activities within the interplay of power and control and thereby ‘truth dialogue’ becomes a casualty. There are many ‘unwanted truths’ naturalised within comfort zones. For instance, the truth is that, in churches, often ‘political figures’ and ‘bureaucratic elites’ are given due importance and recognition while at the same time, it preaches about equality and its members as equals in the eye of God. These are some of the uncomfortable truths that cannot be openly communicated because of a kind of fear that has become too naturalised and it becomes better not to speak.
For the progress of a society, truth needs to be set free and nurtured by unsettling the fear and tension that prevents entry into the ‘zone of truth.’ For a directionless society, somehow it is time to openly differentiate between ‘black’ and ‘white.’ In doing so, the paralysing fear needs to be replaced by courage and openness to criticisms and change. On the larger whole, the various forms of fear today act as a hunchback to growth and development of our society beginning with development of the human. Our society needs to realise that there is something more important than fear - that our society can no longer afford to be strangulated by fear - at a critical juncture when too many ‘uncomfortable truths’ that are crippling our society, needs to be voiced out.
(Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is Editor of Heritage Publishing House. He contributes a weekly guest editorial to the Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
