Hello
World,
The
entire nation is reeling under the clutches of a fascist right-wing regime
since 2014 and the developments so far has been disastrous for the entire
population. While the racist right-wing supporters disagree with any of the
criticism, the more pressing issue on hand is the inability of the general
population to differentiate stupidity from facts.
My focus is more asserted
when it comes to the same inability of my fellow Tamils. When I put together my
observations of the arguments my fellow Tamils presented, I see an alarmingly
dangerous trend of Tamils skipping the essentials in arguments. The way I see
it, it is the inability to establish a negotiation table and debate the needs that
is keeping Tamils away from securing their rights. Here, I present my
observations of the Six Arguments that we Tamils must avoid so, in the long
run we evolve as a community of levelheaded individuals who can stand up for
themselves and secure the rights they truly deserve.
Before
we begin, I think, setting up the context for this discussion to put things in
perspective is in order. We need to start somewhere, and I am not attracted towards
anything beyond the Graham’s Hierarchy of Arguments (or Disagreement) for a
valid starting point. The western thinking hats is another approach I wouldn’t
discount but for the purposes of this discussion, I believe Graham’s Hierarchy
does the job of taking us to a relevant ground zero. We might as well begin.
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| Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Graham%27s_Hierarchy_of_Disagreement.svg |
Refuting
the central point, which in other words, disproving the basic premise with
facts remains the highest form of argument as per Graham’s hierarchy given
above.
Since
we are discussing how Tamils can enhance their opportunities to debate right
and secure their rights, Tamils who do not read and/or write English are
ineludible. My observations indicate that those Tamils who are not very
comfortable understanding English tend to ignore anything and everything in
English and in the process become easy victims of schemes targeted against them
as most of its details is not available in any language other than English.
This, therefore, demands that in all fairness we present at least one helping
hand to integrate the Tamils who are not necessarily comfortable with English
content. I had made a crude attempt at translating the Graham’s Hierarchy of
Arguments (Disagreements) here:
Graham’s
Hierarchy of Arguments does present the crux of the discussion and clearly
indicates what needs to be prioritized over the others. Our focus, however, is
to investigate what we need to stop doing.
1. Never
Ending Trip to the Next Station
If
that is the case, then this is even better. Do you know that?
When
we train ourselves to not tolerate loss, we grow ourselves a handicap of
avoiding all circumstances that we perceive as a potential ‘loss.’ The
consequence is that we gain a new habit of skipping the games we are not sure
about winning. When this translates into our response to any argument, what we
deliver is a brand-new argument instead of a counter to the one we are facing.
What ensues is a never-ending loop of us saying something different from the
other person migrating from argument to argument to find the one where the
other debater doesn’t say anything.
2. Perception of 'No
Counter' as a WIN
I
shut them up. It means I put them in place and therefore I win.
The
absence of a counter argument is not always a consequence of a better argument.
It is also a case of the other debater choosing not to respond to stupidity. If
it is a genuine case of the other debater not knowing much, he/she would ask
probing questions to better understand the premise and the details. Perceiving silence
as a ‘give up’ indicates the inability to identify the best option by eliminating
the less relevant. It also means there is a lack of ability to investigate one’s
own faults. Both inabilities are built on the core inability of not being able
to reason with anything. People also refuse to debate a real logic within a creative
bubble. There will remain no point in building an argument within a made-up
story. The entire argument will be a waste of everyone’s time. When the rights
of real people are in danger, why on earth should anyone be debating creative compositions?
3. Consideration of Everything
as a Reason
As
per Your Words, I am Right
A
very popular one, especially among enthusiastic eleven year old’s. However, as
grim as it may seem, this nonsense gets indoctrinated at a very tender age and
for many of us, it becomes a habit that never leaves. We adults need to use our
basic cognitive abilities to come up with logic and reason to support what we
say. It is ok to feel the urge to claim us being right about something, but we
need to allow our neurons to do their job, however uneasy it may seem to be.
Not claiming being right is way better than saying ‘As per your words, I am
right.’ This form of argument lets the other person know that we lack the abilities
of a thirteen-year-old and our core specialization is restricted to that of an
eleven year old. No offence intended towards the eleven year old's. Also, when we use what others are saying as the basis, we are
rendering ourselves vulnerable to what we perceive as popular opinion. In such circumstances, as long as we are convinced with something as a popular opinion, we stop arguing and submit.
4. The
Idea of Everyone Saying It
Everyone
believes and accepts this except a few. So, this must be true.
Do
you remember ‘sati’? A religion driven tradition of burning women along with
their dead husbands used to exist in this part of the world. At that time,
everyone believed it, accepted and did say, “That’s the tradition we follow.” Succumbing
to this perceived-mass-approval psychology renders our cognitive abilities
stunted to say the least. When the understanding becomes ingrained into one’s personality,
their ability to argue becomes stunted too. If we allow ourselves to fall into
this perceived-mass-approval trend, we force ourselves to believe in this
mirage that dictates the idea of falling in line with everything that appeals
to us as ‘what everyone agrees with.’ Our argument in that mode will almost always
be driven by conformity as opposed to the otherwise original way driven by
reason and logic backed by facts. By looking for what everyone else is saying,
we are essentially showing ourselves out of the argument.
5. Passion
for the Absence of a Popular Acknowledgement
There
is no report indicating or saying the same. Therefore, this view needs to be
ignored.
Remaining
in an argument is elementary and that makes it top priority if there is an
intent of arriving at a conclusion. Please note, solution and conclusion are
very different entities. As for this discussion, we will keep ourselves to the
conclusion as the argument remains the means to that. When we build an
argument, be it the initiation or the counter, if we must rely on exclusion of
a denial as the basis for approval, we are committing ourselves to the converse
of the perceived-mass-approval psychological trends. While this is at one end
of the stupidity spectrum, what lies at the other end is even more deeply
disturbing. If someone is insistent on extending such a debate, then that is an
indication of two possibilities; One being the deliberate intent to distract
attention towards insignificance (as a means of short-term escape) and the
other being outright stupidity. The world can do without both.
6. Reliance on the
Studies that Don’t Exist
Studies
show that meat eaters are rude. Yeah, that’s how it is.
The
world can also do without the studies that don’t exist. How will food choices
define the personality of a human being? Basing an opinion on a study is
increasingly becoming a popular trend and every time someone starts their argument
with the phrase ‘studies suggest” the immediate response is almost always an
approval. However, nobody seems to be asking what study is being referred to
and who documented it under what circumstances and for what objective. The
consequence of this trend is that arguments are being framed based on unnamed
studies being the facts behind them. When we use such a secretive study that we
haven’t seen and/or verified, we train ourselves to become victims of deliberate
fake arguments thrown at us. When someone with real intent of preventing an
argument from proceeding further, they would likely use this tactic and if we remain
conditioned in this regard, we will silently accept it, not realizing, we have
been sidelined on purpose. Try looking up the recent ongoing efforts to rewrite
our history and you will see the development of such studies to be shown when
anyone might ask for the study that supports a crooked view. When someone is
trying to rewrite history, their ulterior motive is to establish a specific
hold over cultures. When we hold on to the argument pattern of relying on
studies, we remain ineligible to counter such arguments aiming at establishing a
uniform culture, destroying many in the process.
6. Everything as a Consequence of Culture
This
is what we were doing thousands of years ago. Therefore, this is best for us
and this must remain a standard for all.
Culture
is a consequence. It is as simple as that. That precisely is also why cultures
tend to evolve over time. This ends up rendering rights as wrongs and those important
as insignificant, among the other million possible changes, all over time. One
example is public transport rendering caste-based hatred insignificant (to a
very large extent). Once upon a time people of a certain class/group would only
be allowed to travel together on the bullock carts or even sit together on the bench at a tea shop. In came the buses, trams and trains and now we
sit based on the seat number our ticket says and not based on ethnic or economic
class definitions. This brings us to the point where we must realize that
presenting an argument based on culture should accommodate a fair element of
ambiguity and variance, failing which the argument becomes insignificant. Remember,
slavery, sati, female infanticide and racism were part of the culture, and
sadly some of these persist in many parts of the world including Tamilnadu. However, they cannot be accepted as
a consequence of culture for further social, legal and political conformity. Building
arguments justifying opinions and actions in today’s time referring to culture
can be dangerous, especially when we argue in defense of what is against the
concept of humanity. Such an argument presenting the idea of something being
right on account of it being the consequence of culture indicates the lack of
ability to reason on the basis of facts from the past and their validity within
the society with respect to which the argument is primarily being built. The
consequence of this broken argument format is that the victims can easily be
convinced with anything as long as the argument refers to culture, irrespective
of it being real and/or logical. Looking at this from the other direction, when
we rely on cultural definition for support of our opinion, we open the door for
any counter opinion which can easily be floated as ‘also based on culture’ and
as long as the counter argument refers to a claim of a superior culture, then
we are forced to stand down. We don’t have to and we shouldn’t. However, it is
impossible if we remain in approval of such an argument based exclusively based
on an illusionary cultural consequence.
How
Tamils Remain at the Losing End
Since
we have accommodated diverse cultures along with ourselves, we have benefitted
by learning from the diversity and have been contributing to the cultures which
have mingled with us all along. The southern half of India is way better
economically in comparison to the northern half and diversity is the main reason
for this. However, every contribution comes at a set of costs, some of which
are overhead. One of those, in this case, is that, we now have, staunch
supporters of inhuman policies and practices largely lobbying for the implementation of the right-wing propaganda. The consequence is that their efforts take away
the rights of people in many circumstances and almost always, it is the Tamil
right that gets dropped, ignored or outright violated. That is not the problem
though. Please do not mistake this for a reason to develop any retaliatory hatred.
Hate, be it preemptive or retaliatory, is not going to deliver any value. The
problem I am referring to is the rising trend of silence against such efforts
that do not care about violating the rights of Tamils. Those who remain silent
are either open supporters of the Hindutva right wing or those who have the
habit of building insignificant arguments mentioned above. This section of the
population includes Tamils as well.
Setting Up The Right Markers for Historical Epochs
Anytime
in the far future, say 100 years from now, for instance, the welfare of Tamils
will remain dependent on relevant political and intellectual history of Tamils
taken up from select historical epochs. Given the current rise of the right
wing hindutva propaganda, it is about time we Tamils establish a few such
relevant epochs, the political and social responses of which will come up
during the recall in the far future, hopefully enabling us to stand up for our
rights including our strong resolve to protect those around us irrespective of
them being Tamil or not. We need to exist and we need to remain protected from
danger to be in a state of well being that can allow us to pursue the safety of
all those around us as dictated by our Thirukural in the phrase ‘Pirappokkum
Ella Uyirukum.’ However, we can only exist and remain in good well being when
we establish the right formats of political and intellectual history which in other terms translates to what we do right now. There is no better time than now, to set
the epochs right for the future.
Tamils
need to counter the right wing hindutva terrorism head on and it cannot happen
without debating the making and workings of the right wing. The Tamil
proletariat is slowly succumbing to organized economic exploitation and
cultural oppression by anti-Tamil entities ranging across segments. That being
said, I would gently remind my fellow Tamils that the Tamil and non-Tamil bourgeoisie
that is silently tolerating the said economic exploitation and cultural
oppression of the Tamil proletariat remain the stronger source of evil as they
remain in close proximity to us, most of them being amongst us as well. Just because
they speak Tamil doesn’t mean they have to care for Tamil and in many cases,
much to my surprise, those who are Tamil themselves remain ignorant of the
violation of the rights of Tamils.
I
am not sure what will bring the real issues to the attention of people. Nobody
seems to care when North Madras is suffering. Should Nanganallur also burn before
people agree that we have a problem at hand? May be Mylapore, Mandaveli and
Mambalam can get added to such a disaster and then people start noticing the violation
of Tamil rights. This is a violent thought but inevitable now. However, I do
not see this as a reasonable basis for any further statement. Again, I am not
sure if such an argument is even valid in the first place.
That
precisely is my point at this juncture. We Tamils need to form the right
arguments and we need to revisit our methods of argument to begin with. The
Tamil proletariat has to understand that the ownership of Tamilnadu is slowly
leaving the Tamils as the very basis of political constitution which might
support the safety of Tamils is slowly succumbing to the competition of the
right wing propaganda and much worse, the Tamil and Non-Tamil bourgeoisie is tolerating
it. This brings up the question of why a common, collective ownership of
Tamilnadu cannot be established with the inclusion of Tamils in a state of
equality, despite the Tamils being open to non-Tamil cultures?
The
answer could me many and in many perspectives. What remains unchanged is that
we Tamils are failing to raise the right questions as we are failing to build
the right arguments. While there can be a million ways to form the right argument,
at this juncture, we need to stop building the wrong arguments. What I have
here are merely six such arguments Tamils should stop using in order to create
an atmosphere for any possible solution. Solutions are possible when we have
the appropriate conclusions. Appropriate conclusions are only possible when
they are derived from relevant, correct arguments. Given the current circumstances,
there is a dearth of appropriate conclusions and therefore there is no atmosphere
for any solution for Tamils and Tamilnadu.
Tamils
need to argue hard and fast to secure their rights and it is more of a
negotiation in the democratic context. For any such negotiation to sustain,
there needs to be a negotiation table with one seat for the Tamils. If Tamils
are going to leave the negotiation table as a result of incorrect arguments
they place or the perception of the non-existent win in the argument, then the
other party need not worry about building their side of the argument. Tamils’
ignorance must come to a hard stop and it must happen now. The question then
remains:
Can
the Tamil proletariat’s fight for their rights, though greatly undermined, yet
a form of resurrection of Tamil Marai as prescribed by Thirukural, pass on
strongly from the intelligent minority to the ignorant majority within Tamilnadu,
in the form of strong, relevant arguments?
Regards,
