Humility in public discourse
“Personal attacks and hate speech push relevant and meaningful information to the margins. More importantly, they mask the refusal to understand both one’s own limitations and those of the opponent”
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In the wake of the recently concluded general election, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comment on the need for humility and decorum in public discourse is a wake-up call. The idea that the best way to respond to political criticism is through verbal harassment has become popular in the era of TRP-driven media. Public discourse has become a gladiatorial game, teaching the common citizen to be impressed with the nastiness of verbal blows rather than by how they serve matters of importance to the individual or the country. This problem is faced by liberal de...