People form assumptions based on their impressions of what is happening around them or what is presented before them. When they express these assumptions, they unknowingly become defenders of those ideas. As they lack an understanding of the reasons behind their beliefs, they often adopt a fanatical and even aggressive stance when questioned. Tragically, even educational institutions engage in the same behavior. They manipulate or disregard facts to reinforce their own assumptions. This is something I have personally experienced. Decades ago, after completing my master's in political science, I realized I had been subjected to an indoctrination process. The recurrence was showering dogmas as theorems or as revealed unquestionables. For instance, we were taught Lenin's theory of imperialism, which was an adaptation of Hobson's and was unhistorical though presented as a historical theory, and patently a theory gone wrong as capitalism had not collapsed as theorised. But it continued to occupy the foundational position of a paper of the first year honours (again foundational).
A concerned person must study reading materials and events with an open mind. Knowing is a human responsibility. Examining any idea based on historical and social genesis, its linkages with existential anxieties, and actors and factors sustaining those ideas is a duty on the part of each one.
Niraj Kumar Jha
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