Why ‘an educated people cannot be governed’

As this column is being written there are moronic suggestions in some local ministerial circles that German dictator Adolf Hitler should be adopted as a governing model. The minister concerned was richly rewarded with an additional portfolio. Need we say more about the lack of ‘grey matter’ where it is most needed?

But the trend is only to be expected. Right through modern history, the mailed fist of dictators has moulded polities to serve their power consolidation aims at the expense of democratic development. However, these dictatorial tendencies are greatly facilitated by uncritical, credulous publics. An uneducated public that is ready to accept anything that is foist on it from ‘the top’ by way of policy directives, for instance, is a great boon to authoritarian rulers.

However, it could be argued that Sri Lanka is one of the most ‘literate’ countries in Asia and that by virtue of its fabled ‘literacy’ statistics it cannot be dismissed as a nation of dunces. However, the great lacuna that’s been staring us in the face since 1948 is an enlightened definition of literacy. Wherein lies literacy? This is the question of the first importance in this connection. Apparently, this question in education theory has been conveniently ignored by the pundits concerned. May be, efforts to answer the poser could ruffle many a vested interest in the formal education field.

We were given to understand that the present regime in Sri Lanka would consist of the super educated or ‘viyathas’. The latter are yet to make their presence felt in public. They are urged to be a constructive presence in our polity and prove that they are not mere ‘seat warmers’. They need to stand up and be counted before they too are dismissed as power seekers and none else.

Hitler was a mass murderer and that is the bald truth. Following the devastation of World War One it was the aim of Hitler to make Germany and its people great once again. This was a worthy aim but he and the Nazis went about this task in the most heinous fashion. As is known, he brooked no resistance from the world and Germany itself in the pursuit of his aims. The Western allies had to be brought to their knees along with internal resistance, which consisted of mainly educated people or those who could figure things out for themselves. This is the reason why dissident intellectuals and artists, for example, had to be silenced.

Are we to understand that there are quite a few people in Sri Lanka’s governing circles who do not have even a fleeting knowledge of world history? Unfortunately, the country’s Opposition is letting go of such opportunities to expose the intellectual poverty of these sections.

The principal reason for the success of the most vibrant democracies of the West is their knowledgeable and thinking people. There is a constant questioning of governments and their decisions by the public. This leads to a qualitative improvement of the democracies concerned. The public debates in the run-up to any presidential election in the US, for example, are usually a treat to listen to. The participants are usually very well educated and knowledgeable to a remarkable degree in almost every conceivable field. The public has a wide choice from among candidates and there is a rigorous questioning of their views on the part of rivals as well as the press. It does not follow from the foregoing that the democratic process in the US is flawless. But then systems are in place to ensure that irregularities are eradicated to the extent possible.

In the case of most polities of the global South such questioning of governments leaves much to be desired. Political leaders are veritable deified and their thinking is considered as partaking of the nature of scared texts. That is, personalism is a defining feature of most Southern polities. It is only to be expected that the publics concerned end up being fooled, very often over and over again.

Given the preponderance of anti-intellectualism in most Southern polities, it should not be in the least surprising that every effort will be made by the authoritarian rulers concerned to snuff out free inquiry and thinking among the relevant publics. It is the intellectuals who are most feared. Our minds ought to go back to former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Tse Dong’s reign of terror against the intellectuals of the country during his “Cultural Revolution” and his wanton pillaging of China’s respected philosophical and cultural heritage. But such brutal strategies have been common to quite a number of dictatorial states.

The following quote from Lucian Polastron’s work, ‘Books on Fire’ ought to clinch the point:

‘Because, as the lawmakers of ancient China and the Nazis of Czechoslovakia decided, an educated people cannot be governed; because the conquered peoples must change the history of their beliefs; like the Aztecs; because only the illiterate can save the world, a common theme of the millenarian preachers of every era; because the nature of a great collection of books is a threat to the new power.’

Considering the foregoing, democratic opinion everywhere ought to be deeply appreciative of the Myanmarese people’s brave confrontation of the country’s usurping military junta. Hopefully, efforts would not cease internationally to get the country back to the democratic process. Meanwhile, the people’s brave resistance needs to be saluted and every assistance rendered to them.

However, one of the greatest insults a people could pay itself is to adopt Hitler as a ruling model. The thought is scandalous and the sentiment becomes a measure of a people’s imbecility. It is up to the public concerned to prove that the latter quality is not one of its vaunted assets.