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DOGmatism


The Principal of a CBSE school in Kerala attended a motivation course. Consequently, he decided to give more autonomy to the staff. That was one of the lessons he had learnt during the course.

‘Now you decide what to do in your classroom and other places of your influence,’ Principal now tells a teacher.

‘Will I be paid more?’ The teacher wants to know.

‘Money is not what matters,’ Principal says. ‘What matters is your contentment.’ He tells the teacher about Maslow’s pyramid and the importance of self-actualisation.

‘Will I be paid more?’ The teacher repeats his query.

Principal takes out a book on motivation theory and asks the teacher to read it.

‘Will I be paid more if I read this?’

Dogmatism is the tendency to assert one’s prejudices or beliefs as undeniably true without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others. Dogmatism is very faithful to one’s beliefs or prejudices. Canine loyalty.

The dogmatist will go on insisting that his religion, culture, language, ideas, prejudices, whatever, is the best. He will deliver eloquent speeches with or without the help of teleprompters to force-feed people with his prejudices. He may never realise that the people are not interested in those things at all because dogmas mean nothing in the struggle for survival – unless they mean survival itself.

When survival becomes a problem, it is easy to inject any dogma into people’s veins. People will be ready to kill for the sake of dogmas provided you make their survival dependent on that. A lot of dogmas have begun to reign supreme in India now because of this.

Where dogmas rule, wisdom vanishes. Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know.

The principal in the above anecdote had converted what he had learnt in the course into certain dogmas. Instead of looking at what can really motivate his underpaid staff, he tries to force his dogmas on them.

Dogmas make us blind to the real problems. They make us filter out evidence that goes against our beliefs. They make us incapable of tolerating conflicting perspectives. We avoid certain important truths merely to uphold our dogmas. CBSE has dropped certain lessons from the syllabus because of its dogmatism. Topics on ‘democracy and diversity,’ Mughal courts, and poems by Faiz are some of the lessons that got the axe.

Shutting out certain unpleasant truths is how dogmatism deals with them. But that is not the right way. We should look at the realities from many sides, evaluate them and make informed choices and decisions. Otherwise, we will have a nation of citizens who follow certain prejudices doggedly. 

PS. This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023

Yesterday’s: Capitalism is fated to be sad

Tomorrow: Euthanasia

 

 

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Comments

  1. Chinmayee Gayatree SahuApril 4, 2023 at 8:11 AM

    Where dogmas rule, wisdom vanishes !! How true ! And why are we erasing the past ? It is a truth and the future generation has the right to know it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 4, 2023 at 8:26 AM

      We are rewriting history, aren't we? That's how we create a new India!

      Delete
  2. Yamini MacLeanApril 4, 2023 at 9:22 AM

    Hari Om
    Little by little dog(ma)s nibble away at rights and freedoms... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. marietta pereiraApril 4, 2023 at 11:27 AM

    Akin to dictatorship.Nicely penned.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CareenaApril 4, 2023 at 12:01 PM

    Probably the message of the century... Very sad about CBSE pushing agenda in kids education.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 4, 2023 at 12:35 PM

      CBSE has become a pawn in the government's hand. It's very inefficient too now.

      Delete
  5. JaiApril 4, 2023 at 2:35 PM

    Even our children are not allowed to think freely. It is indeed a sad state of affairs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 4, 2023 at 2:40 PM

      A nation of distorted minds is what India is becoming.

      Delete
  6. Joshua josephApril 4, 2023 at 3:08 PM

    Dogmantism…..life in a nutshell.

    ReplyDelete
  7. DeepikaApril 4, 2023 at 6:04 PM

    Certainly dogmas blind us, but i do not agree the country will be ruled by any dogmas soon. What happened with cbse, if true is certainly not called for yet i do have hope for our nation, because we cannot fight one dogma with another

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 4, 2023 at 6:15 PM

      When the regime changes, the approach will change too.

      Delete
  8. magiceyeApril 4, 2023 at 6:15 PM

    The basis for ethnocentrism

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 4, 2023 at 6:17 PM

      Whatever is happening now doesn't promise anything better than that.

      Delete
  9. जितेन्द्र माथुरApril 5, 2023 at 3:00 PM

    Where dogmas rule, wisdom vanishes. Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. You said it. Unfortunately we have already become a nation with a sizable chunk of its citizens following certain prejudices doggedly. Sad but true.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Harshita NandaApril 5, 2023 at 3:27 PM

    "People will be ready to kill for the sake of dogmas provided you make their survival dependent on that" this is the way the rulers rule no?

    ReplyDelete

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