Pride and prejudice

OPINIONS are based on facts; convictions on beliefs; and prejudices on unexamined half-truths or worse. In day-to-day discourse and rational exchanges between people, the first is discussed, the second debated, sometimes without much reason, and the third is asserted mindlessly. Civilised society encourages discussion and debate but clamps down on prejudice. It is a genie that is best left in the bottle, even as its existence cannot be denied as the United States is discovering the painful way.

Charlottesville, a small town of 50,000 or so in Virginia, USA, became the centre of a rally of white supremacists recently. There were ugly, violent clashes. At a time like this, it was for President Donald Trump to provide leadership. His original response was tepid and widely derided.  He then issued a more robust statement. A day later, the original sentiment asserted itself and the US President again said that the people who were protesting against the white extremists were to blame as much as the extremists for the violence. The pushback to the President’s statements came from the corporate leaders who resigned from his advisory council, from the civil society at large and politicians, including a few from his own Republican Party, who spoke out. This pricked his pride and triggered fits of pique. However, it called out his prejudice.

The US experience has a message for India too. We, too, face such issues when home-grown right-wing activists kill cattle transporters, or target members of a particular community, or seek to impose their version of morality on women, thereby curtailing their freedom. Insufficient and equivocal condemnation of such acts by the Prime Minister emboldens criminals and gives them political legitimacy. It is time our businessmen, civil activists, and politicians, too, behaved like leaders they ought to be, to stand their ground when faced with prejudice, to be on the side of facts, to push back the growing tide of intolerance. The strength of our country lies in its multicultural, multilingual and multi-denominational character. These fundamental values need to be nourished by leaders who fight back against prejudice. When they do, they become the pride of the nation.