I Know!!!

 "I know" is such a powerful word isn't it, it shows confidence, knowledge, pride, etc like there is nothing else to improve on. What we do not realize is that there could be a better version of the truth or a different viewpoint which will make you think and reconsider your knowledge.

I want to talk about what I learned after listening to one such podcast called the Trojan Horse Affair. For anyone who is not aware of this, look it up. This incident changed a lot of things in UK education system and also the laws for extremism. It all started with a letter that surfaced in UK talking about how schools have been taken over by certain religious groups (no points for guessing) and radicalizing them using a formula. 2 journalists (Brian from NY times, Hamza a Pakistani Muslim doctor brought up in Birmingham who wanted to become an investigative journalist) dug deep into the story to find what actually happened and made a podcast out of it.

I do not want to go through the entire series as it is best to hear the podcasts. There were a few highlights that I thought were important.

When I heard about the letter, my initial thought was "this could happen". Even though I am considerate to all religions and look at people as individuals than a group, there is an underlying preconceived notion I guess which made me think so. And many world events have influenced our thinking as we have seen what extremism can do. What I failed to look at is facts and then conclude if there was truth in that or not. We do not think much about such bias as it does not impact us a lot. 

The first thing that they discovered was that no one cared about who wrote the letter. The source did not matter and they only focussed on the content. Without knowing the source, you cannot know the intentions behind the act which is very important to understand if the content was true or biased. I have always said to take feedback by looking at what is said than who it comes from (dosnt matter if it is from a CEO or a chaprasi). But many times, you need to see who is telling it to understand the emotions and intention behind it to get the whole picture. The authorities had sidelined the source and went on a witch hunt to take down the ones mentioned in the letter and fire many teachers and make huge changes in the system.

There is one incident when both Brian and Hamza go to interview someone and were threatened to call the police on them. Brian did not understand as they were not doing anything wrong and why someone had criminalized them without even listening to them. Hamza jokingly said 'welcome to my world. Being Muslims, we are criminalized irrespective of who we are and what we think'. The initial reaction 'they could have done it' which is so unfair. Imagine living a life where many already have such bad notions about you.

Almost everyone knew the letter was a hoax but they did not care much and went ahead with the content. So much so, it became a huge issue in the parliament and everyone jumped in to make it as political as possible. Not once did they think of the people it might impact and fuel the huge problem of phobia. It went on to be a total bashing and many people got fired and impacted for life. Being considerate is very important. especially when they are already being beaten up for someone else's fault.

There was no conclusion on who wrote the letter and the consequences. But it did give a good idea of who actually gained from the letter. It helped cover up a different fraud situation in one of the schools. What seemed like a get-out-of-issue letter ended up creating such a major problem for a country. I don't think they realized it could have made such a big problem, if known, they might have written it in the first place. Small things have big impact in the wrong hands.

The biggest thing that came out of the series is how difficult being a journalist is. Hamza was so passionate about the story and is personally involved given he is from the same community. He gets carried away and writes letters requesting info with personal thoughts and it end ups killing a few strong witness prospects. A true journalist asks for right questions and reviews all options without judging. It is very difficult to leave your personal opinion aside and actually work on all possible options. You just can't pass judgment and leave it to the readers to arrive at their conclusion. Even when you know what is right, you have to be open to other perspectives. And most times it does not end as you expect, you have to accept the fact and carry on. In this case, they could not find the details with facts and bring the culprit to justice. It was left with the hope of changing people's perspectives.

Thinking about it, it is true for everyone isn't it? Leave your ideologies out and look at the facts. The whole thing about 'I know' has to change just to look at other possibilities. There are loads of things that have made us think the way we do and is not easy to leave our opinions out. So much so that we cling on to your opinions in this ever-changing world. A close friend once said 'The world has been too absolute. People pride themselves in holding strong opinions, we should pride ourselves when we change our mind about something we care about'. A lot to ponder over!!!

The less rigid your personality, the more powerful your presence - Sadhguru