There is rarely someone today who wouldn’t want a world where everyone could be his friends and where life could be an eternal happy movie ending. If you look closely in today’s dynamic world, no opinion ever sticks forever (statement not meant for the dogmatic population). But the utopian world to live in will be the place where a judgement is accepted by everyone with equal vigor and respect.
However, no matter how much this sounds good, the notion of “Everything will be okay in the end” can only be true in movie endings. Mark the words; it will always be ‘the end’. Let’s see how.
If you take a pause for a moment from your uncontrolled life, you will at once agree with the cliché saying of ‘Change is the only constant’. And so it is.
Your mind knows how the world around you is changing so fast, how the cells in your body are copying the same DNA but always with a twist (variation and mutation), how you are growing old and so is everyone around you. Your heart knows that the people you knew yesterday are not the same people you know now, the fragile person you were yesterday may not be the person you are now, the prince charming of yesteryears now may not be the same guy that you dreamt of, hopes of yesterday may be the reasons for your broken heart now. You never know. Everything is changing! Every moment!
In this enormous universe which is changing every single second, if you think hard, are you absolutely sure that your political beliefs, your religious inclinations, your personal interests are things that will stick with you forever? If your answer is yes, congratulations, your brain neurons have tightened really hard in one area and your life is going to be the same forever. But if you are a free-thinker, you would understand from the history of your own life that the things you believed in then are not the things that you believe in now. And do you know what? It is totally fine! You are growing and evolving as a person.
If I have you on board till now, I have the next appeal to you freethinker: - If you can’t be sure that what you believe today is what you will continue believing in tomorrow, why the heaven on earth do you want ‘another person’ to think like you!?!
It is the same like asking the river Brahmaputra to flow into the Atlantic. We, human-beings, you and I are different rivers. We have our own paths and forcing one’s flow on another will just create humongous floods with immense collateral damage (Can you relate?)
But my friend over the screen, I would love to tell you that we are going to meet somewhere; because even after being from different continents, we will flow to the same seas of the earth; seas differentiated only by us, not by the universe. And you know what?? We are both water.
Till now was a philosophical inquiry into humane conformity and why it is as dangerous as a ticktoking bomb.
But our inquiry will be left unanswered if we don’t try to comprehend the implications that come with the idea of ‘humans disagreeing with each other’, have on our psyche.
Human disagreement is the mother of all debates.
Let’s come to the real world. I am narrowing down a lot now for simplicity. Very prevalent disagreements today are political and religious. Hence, I have considered them as good approaches to illustrate my point.
Real political fights and religious battles are actually fought by a handful number of people, the leaders and active members of these fields. I don’t find myself knowledgeable enough right now to comment on them. I’ll just try to highlight the way in which the carelessness of people like you and me are exaggerating debates and discussions way out of the line.
Debates can be exhausting, the unnecessary ones more so.
Although there should not be the slightest misinterpretation that I don’t support people expressing their views on anything, I think that we must be very aware to see that our opinions don’t create unwanted ruckus in our immediate environment.
Let me explain: - If your opinion doesn’t drive the disagreement towards a positive outcome or is just creating an unnecessary deviation from the real issue, it is better to come up with it at a different occasion.
Example: - In a debate discussing how children should be protected from chocolate-kidnappers, it is stupid to raise a point and blame the Nazis for the Holocaust. It is just a debating tactic of ‘change of context’. Unconscious application does not help in any way, only worsens the debate.
P.S. Proper illustrations are available in the comments section of political and religious videos in social media.
There is no point of blaming news channels for deviating us to non-prime issues when we do the same thing in our personal disagreements with someone. Be strong enough to sit down, listen and say, “Yes, I was wrong.”
You can use these checkers to see if your opinion is required or not in a debate: -
1. How much of the matter concerns you or your personal institutions?
2. Is your opinion backed by the pre-requisite knowledge about the matter?
3. Does your opinion matter on the slightest level?
4. Are you deviating from the matter or converging towards a solution?
5. Are you expressing you opinion as a service or just for its sake?
6. Is the matter even a matter?
7. Having given you a loose feel of how crippling debates can be, I don’t intend to pull you out of discussions you are interested in. What I am saying is, if possible, if you are willing to, by choice, be a free-thinker.
8. In the storms of heated debates and burdening opinions, become the eagle of free-thinking. Accept that there is always a yin for your yang, hate for your love, and darkness for your light. Duality is what defines this physical and psychological world.
Be a socialist or a communist, be a capitalist, be a nationalist, be a jingoist, be religious, be agnostic, be political, be apolitical, be whatever you want to be, but don’t be stupid enough to expect everyone to be like you!
As the great thinker Nietzsche once said, “Those who cannot sit on ice should not enter the heat of debate”.
I personally think a good debater is one who moves a debate forward with a mix of personal opinions and regard for others’ opinions. If you can’t hear a word against your stance, if you don’t have the courage to accept that you might be wrong, you are a disaster; because the debaters of today are the public-opinion molders of tomorrow. And if you are a disaster today, so will be the world tomorrow.
The idea of ‘human disagreement’ suggests that we are all in-born debaters. And just as a conventional debater, you and I, who live normal lives, have to take up a free-thinking mindset for a better today, for a better tomorrow, for a better world.
Here, I specifically mentioned about political debates because I guessed it would relate to a lot of people. But what I actually mean to say is that debates are not confined to anything and it is a big part of being human.
You are a debater from the core of your psychological identity. The biggest debates are fought not on social media, but inside your own head. The moment when you are trembling to stand up and say something to your teacher, your head fights with itself, pulling you towards two opposite sides, should you speak up or should you not; your breathing fastens and you have to make a decision.
In that moment, you have got to realize that disagreement is what defines not just humans but life itself.
If there wasn’t any disagreement, there wouldn’t be a ‘you’, just a load of bacteria ruling the world. Defiance which is the root of disagreement is one of the core definitions of life and the best thing you could do is: - live with it.
Extra credits: - Anubhav Kashyap (Edits), Anurag Konwar (Illustration), Arnob Kalita (Illustration edits)
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