Dr Asangba Tzudir
The Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BCE) once said, “Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught in falsehoods school. And the person that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool.”
Plato saying this might have been largely triggered by the execution of his friend and teacher Socrates. However, what Plato had said many centuries ago aptly reflects the social condition of Nagaland today. There are many forms of truths that are not allowed to surface, and truth becomes so constructed that a truth is sacrificed at the altar of lie or untruth. Ironically, the ‘untruth’ does not find a free space to contest the constructed truth. Creating a space to contest the truth claims often finds hijacked or where truth telling is met with dire consequences that a fear creeps in thereby discouraging truth. Truth telling has also become a question of whose interest?
Thus, ‘falsehood school’ are created and those trying to go out of the ‘falsehood schools’ becomes a lunatic and a fool in the eye of others. In such a context truth speaking is also a matter of someone having something or nothing to do with it. And looking at the social conditioning today, the sociology of Naga society and the web of social relationships is such that not just family but each individual is part of a closely knitted group or groups and having produced the largest number of unions in the world makes the relational web more close. Now who then is the ‘other’?
Within such a premise, comes the very beautiful concepts of love and unity and peace and togetherness which finds enshrined in almost all the motto and objective of the unions and organizations. While the contention is on the question of application of such beautiful concepts, there is so much of bracketing by creating narrow walls that takes away the meaning of the beautiful concepts in the pursuit of representation. However, the boundaries created through bracketing only makes the larger issue of truth speaking complex. And coupled with fear, the web of social relationship has only made truth obsolete, and thereby the desired truth is never allowed to surface. Within this fear is an inherent psycho-social and philosophical problem that makes truth a stranger in the face of fear.
The case of truths becoming untruths and where truth speaking is discouraged has greatly normalised where the social web and truth speaking itself are uncomfortable subjects. That ‘truth’ finds directly linked with fear, and in the web the ‘other’ is not there. There are also interferences within the web which closes the culture of truth speaking or ‘truth dialogue’. Our society is a constant witness to subjugation of truth and where the perpetrators are let off so that the socially knitted web is not disturbed. That, those not involved may not dare to speak the truth which are not only hurtful or inconvenient but which may invite unnecessary attention.
Beyond the web of social conditioning, one may question whether culture and religiosity has also come in the way of truth speaking? While there are the ‘cultural untruths’ being constructed and established as ‘truths,’ religion has also victimised truth and truth speaking. There are many compelling issues where the church needs to take an affirmative stand rather than withholding the ‘truth’ for fear of possible criticisms. Thereby ‘truth dialogue’ becomes a casualty.
While the web of social relationships need to stay webbed through productive engagements and which is also a progressive marker, truth telling needs to be set free from the bondage of fear so as to give direction. There is a need for unmasking the truth and to openly differentiate between ‘truth’ and ‘untruth’.
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 time when the many ‘uncomfortable truths’ that are crippling our society needs to be voiced out.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial to the Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
