The public bickering of our self-proclaimed scholars is embarrassing to witness. Their self-assured conceit; their arrogance in defending their position — whether they are right or wrong — reveals only that they have spent far too long buried in books, and no time at all honing social skills that would allow them to interact with others in a mature and convivial manner. Were it not for their title of scholar, many of these men would have a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome.
These quarrelling men lack all comprehension of the effect of their behaviour on those who take from them. Perhaps some are impressed by their obsessive compulsive attention to detail, or their zealotry in defending their position — but most people are surely repulsed, seeing past their vast expertise in their field and seeing instead only their extreme ignorance of all other facets of life.
Outside the peculiar milieu they inhabit, I wonder how their scholarship is viewed: would they survive in academia, where their ideas, concepts and beliefs would be tested more rigorously? Would they survive the challenges of the real world, beyond their slavish, devoted followings and the deficient opponents they duel?
Surely it is time for these full time scholars and teachers to enter the world of employment, to earn an honest living, to interact with different kinds of people and to spend some quality time outside their pious environs: and then maybe they will grow conscious of the exacerbating spectacle of their public sparring with their equally risible opponents in the name of their inheritance. Perhaps then reality might dawn on them. Perhaps then they might wake up.
Last modified: 19 January 2018
