Globalization Has Had Profound Influence On Intellectuals And Intellectualism

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By Sawraj Singh

Globalization has affected all aspects of our lives. Intellectuals and intellectualism have been profoundly influenced and changed by globalization. Like everything else, globalization has also tried to monopolize knowledge and make it more mechanical than intellectual. The main motivation for everything is commercialization and profit. Intellectuals have also been affected by this approach and their main concern for disseminating knowledge is self interest rather than the interest of society at large. Globalization has made intellectualization more of a career than a service to society. Intellectuals, like everybody else, have become very insecure and like everybody else, their main concern is their survival. Commercialization and making intellect a commodity which can be marketized becomes the main motivation for them.

The second major problem is that of egalitarianism. Egalitarianism denies the importance of experience. Actually, the intellectual is sharing his or her unique experience with others. However, egalitarianism incites the concept that everybody is equal regardless of their age, social status, or position. In reality, it disregards the value of experience. Intellect is neither confined to information or knowledge; ultimately, intellect should evolve to the level of wisdom. For information to become knowledge, it needs to be absorbed. However, for knowledge to become wisdom, we need experience. Egalitarianism is missing this step.

Both of the above-mentioned factors have led to the present problems which intellectuals and intelleuctalism have to face. These problems are pseudo-intellectualism, monopoly, and corruption in this field. Instead of genuine intellectuals, many times pseudo-intellectuals are promoted. These people either have resources or know-how to manipulate the resources. On the other hand, many genuine intellectuals, who have some unique experience to share, are ignored.

Like other ill-effects of globalization, Punjab is also ahead in the field of pseudo-intellectualism, intellectual monopoly, and corruption. The net result of these problems is that there is an intellectual vacuum. The intellectuals are not playing the role which they should or are expected to play. It will be no exaggeration to say that Punjab is suffering from intellectual bankruptcy. I have seen many genuine intellectuals who are frustrated with what is happening in the field of intellectualism.

Another problem with intellectuals, particularly in Punjab, is that they do not have deep-rooted respect for intellect. They show more respect to bureaucrats and people with money than to other intellectuals. I can give you an example which will make my point. There was a writer of Punjabi descent in Vancouver, Canada whom I considered to be very dedicated to the literary field. He came to Punjab for the release of a book. I was also invited to this function. I was shocked to see this writer showing almost no interest in any genuine interaction with other intellectuals, including myself. His whole energy was focused on trying to please the government officer who was there, even though the function was a literary function. In many similar situations, I have seen very few instances where I saw real interest in intellectual interaction.

Many times, I see people promoted as scholars and accomplished writers just because their dollars and pounds are worth a lot of Indian Rupees due to the conversion value. In reality, their intellectual or literary level is much lower than many other intellectuals and writers who do not happen to have foreign currency. I have consistently tried to expose the problems of pseudo-intellectualism and monopoly in the intellectual field.

Another problem is that of intellectual elitism. There is an ever-widening gap between intellectuals and common people. If we cannot bridge this gap, then our intellectual contribution will remain limited and marginal. The ultimate goal of good literature is to act as a mirror which helps society to see its real face. All of the genuine and sincere intellectuals want to change society for the better. However, that cannot be achieved without understanding reality. We have to understand reality so that we can change it. The social reality can be understood by effective and meaningful social interaction rather than becoming an elite club.

On January 5, 2016, many literary, cultural, religious, and institutions engaged in social activism decided to award me with the Global Thinker Award. I feel that this is like giving me moral responsibility to continue the struggle against what has gone wrong with us intellectuals. Many speakers in the award ceremony said that people expect me to provide leadership in defining the role of intellectuals in the present context. There was also a broad consensus about my thesis that we need concepts from eastern philosophy and spirituality to get out of the crisis which western capitalists have pushed us into under the garb of globalization. Many speakers also agreed with me that Sri Guru Granth Sahib represents the continuous evolution and zenith of eastern philosophy and spirituality.

Intellectuals have a moral responsibility to analyze what has gone wrong with the system rather than becoming a part of the system. Contrary to popular belief, the East gave more intellectual freedom than the West. The reason for this is that pluralism was always a strong element in eastern philosophy. Pluralism promotes tolerance, which in turn promotes freedom. The West claims to be the champion of freedom. However, because of its tendency towards absolutism, it actually restricts freedom by rejecting pluralism and diversity, and by trying to impose uniformity. Globalization is the ultimate state of uniformity. Therefore, real intellectual freedom is not possible in this system. For real intellectual freedom, we have to promote the concepts of pluralism and multiculturalism. We can find these concepts in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].