THE SCATTERING EFFECT

THE SCATTERING EFFECT

Very few people have focus of thinking, conception and articulation. Most beat about the bush throughout their lives and live in a haze with clouded conceptions and inaccurate descriptions about whatever they choose to speak on. This is also a pointer to their weakness of character or, shall we say, personality which prevents them from expressing clearly even what they have clear conceptions about. Social opinion, fear of public outrage if they speak something that goes against popular belief, the desire to be in the good books of all, the inability to pinpoint things with rational arguments supplemented with facts and figures -- all these tend to leave certain ideas vague in the minds of the masses and popular opinion is fashioned more by propaganda dictated by commercial compulsions which belie the truth, though, than by propagation of fact. This is unfortunate as foggy ideas do not contribute to understanding of a subject and the result is gross misapprehension or no apprehension at all of such. Expert opinion is as well fault-ridden and this can mislead as well. Mere performing excellence in a field does not equip one to be an adequate critic in that field. Knowledge, practical, theoretical and historical in that domain, is necessary, and often vitally so, in the absence of which observations on pertinent issues become shallow and unconvincing and of no consequence whatsoever. Thus, informed discussions are worth having and not inconsequential ones based on shallow thinking if even coming from so-called practical experts in that field. For instance, a great cricketer need not be an adequate commentator on its history or a perceptive critic of its many facets. Knowledge, analysis and creative interpretation are paramount in delineating the finer points of a subject. This unfortunately is in short supply in a country like India where rational thinking is hardly come by. Would it were otherwise !

Written by Sugata Bose