A room without books is like a body without soul. (Cicero)
The most cardinal virtue of any civilization is reading books. In fact, reading has always been one of the inalienable traits of philosophers, scholars and intellectuals. However, in present times intellectualism has lost its way in dreary desert of dead habitation. In the rat race of fake news, consumerism and materialism, we are becoming Jack of all trades but master of none. We are being consumed by huge inflow of online information. Everything seems to be in liquid form grasped and wiped away.
The matter of concern with today’s generation is not what to read rather what not to read. Online content has reduced us merely to passive subjects. Consequently, we are witnessing an unfortunate decay and degeneration in our analytical and intellectual skills as well as in our thought process which has largely become subordinate to this flow. Besides, it has paved way for degradation and retardation of our power of enquiry, research and scholarly tendencies. We read only to secure our life and carve out our way from the stiff competition despite being the rational creatures.
In this ocean of information, it seems as if we are just letting our youthful and productive years to get consumed without meeting any substantial acme. Plethora of online platforms have consumed us so much that our originality has vanished completely. We are unable to even do justice with the authors and writers who burn mid night oil in writing the books and voluminous treatises. Alas! Their hard work meets only dead ends.
Instead of proving any harbinger of creativity, there is huge influx of negativity portraying and spreading as well out of the fake online information. In the era of globalization, were world has become a global village, the happenings at one end of globe does have the semblance at other corner. The more we switch to secondary orality , the less time we spend with ideas we disagree with. Consequently, we are not more inclined to do fact checking on our own.
There is not an iota of doubt that book culture enriches our lives, families and communities. In fact, books are our cultural treasures that need to be valued always. These are the yardsticks of our intellect and literary taste. Books allow readers to internalize , respond , react and transform. They are more reliable than Internet because they are reviewed many times before getting published.
Online reading, on the other hand, is just a way to gratify our material needs. It leaves no wherewithal to become prey to impatience, techno fascism, nefarious designs and depression. It imbibes the culture of consumerism. We study for the sake of getting some job to make a living. The actual purpose in itself gets defeated. Fake news and articles are most concerning part. They occupy most prominent place and spread like a wild fire. Today, the most educated and literate ones are seen in the activities which entail moral turpitude.
Reading online has emboldened the cultural depredations. Unregulated content and distractions are doing sheer injustice to author’s and the book itself. Promoting book culture gives us new lease of life, diverse perspectives and enables us to prepare for upcoming gauntlets and challenges of life. It also galvanizes our minds and emboldens us to make proper planning and accurate decisions.
We need not to flow with the flow. At least, Homo sapiens are not meant for winning and losing or even preparing for competitions. Being super creatures, we need to unfold our rational faculties and attain true means of knowledge. We need not to lose our own touch from our own ground. As per Socrates, I can’t teach anybody anything. I can only make them think. Let’s introspect!!
Dr Rafi Ramzan Dar
Author is a columnist and can be reached at
rafiramzandar@gmail.com
0 Comments