Expressing prejudices

It would be more appropriate to say that we are a society that now openly displays both its aspirations and its prejudices (“Our society now openly displays its prejudices,” interview with Romila Thapar, Oct.23). This is to be expected in a growing democracy like ours. Repressive barriers like the caste system and feudalism, along with factors like faith in fate and docile acceptance in the wisdom of a few have kept our people backward.

To make matters worse, rationalist, leftist, liberal intellectuals have merely provided high sounding but empty and deceptive ideological rhetoric and have lost credibility. However, this can be considered a passing phase and a new intellectual base will arise as our democracy becomes mature.

A.N. Lakshmanan,

Bengaluru

George Bernard Shaw’s quote “the reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man,” is quite relevant today. The growing objection to dissent and alternate views is an indication of this unreasonableness. The tendency to distort and pass off fantasy as history is a way to suppress dissent. Upholding mythology, without proper intellectual and rational backing, bodes ill for our social progress. Progress takes place through interaction between opposing ideologies, resulting in emergence of truth.

Rahul Jadhav,

New Delhi