QUES . “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” Bring out what this means to you in the present context.

RELEVANCE : UPSC GS MAINS PAPER IV ; TOPIC – Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.

HINTS:

This quote by Nietzsche highlights that the surest way to corrupt the youth is to teach them intolerance, ie, to teach them to be close minded and only agree with or listen to those opinions which coincide with their own. It is better to teach them to be open minded, and to accept that just because someone has a different opinion does not necessarily make them wrong.

In the present context, we are seeing an evolution of multicultural societies. Globalization has ensured that national, cultural boundaries are fast dissipating.

Amartya Sen has held that the idea of monocultural society is a myth. This means that the world today has become a melting pot of varying opinions, views, and belief system. In such a world, if youth are taught not to accept opinions differing from their own, it is going to be a recipe for disaster.

First reason why intolerance is undesirable is because of practical reasons mentioned above. The second reason is because it is detrimental to individual’s and society’s progress. Social reformers in India in early 19 th century were talking about ideas that was vastly different from those held by majority section of the population. For instance, the fight against Sati, child marriage etc. would not have been possible if people closed their minds to alternate viewpoints which eventually led to a more progressive India.

The youth are the harbingers of change. Law of dialectics suggest that eventually negations are negated. This will not be true if the agents of change – the youth themselves are taught to be averse to change by not accepting differing opinions. It is rightly said that any silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.