[dropcap]I[/dropcap]ntellectuals of our society have failed us. They have failed to mind their responsibilities. Because of this reason, today, our society is experiencing a free-fall. This downward spiral is indeed a disturbing scenario.
The principal objective of the intellectuals is to expose lies of our authorities. According to Noam Chomsky, the intellectuals should be analyzing actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions.
The trend we are experiencing today is perhaps due to lack of a culture of retrospection, investigation and debate. Our society has not been encouraged to inculcate this habit. The growing lack of concern for truth is perhaps making our society a diseased one. We feel menaced because none stood up to counter our ‘ideological threat’. This is because we are not concerned with preserving our dignity.In this implicit disparagement of intellectual values we would like to quote NSCN-IM chairman Isak Chishi Swu. He said ‘the psychology of the Nagas today needs to be rebuilt’. According to Mr. Swu, most of the people today are totally disoriented or not oriented at all. He said that it is meaningless accumulating wealth and learning knowledge without correct orientation. “One should be future-oriented. The people perish when there is no vision.”
Earlier, this column has stated that a society sans conscience keepers is more vulnerable to the influence of the vested interest elements. Such society is also more prone to fragmentation/disintegration.
We witness that our leaders and civil society organizations limit themselves only to the extent of condemning to incidents and that too only after taking their own sweet time studying which side of the fence the majority of the people stand.
But according to writer Dwight Mcdonald, only those who are willing to resist/fight the authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn…
