It is an attack on the sanctity of our scholars, comes the inevitable rebuttal, articulated over and over. But does it never occur to these defenders of the sanctity of knowledge that these influential folk are themselves the root of this problem, having set themselves up as the high priests of our communities, pursuing vast followings online and appearances before voluminous audiences? Perhaps you will find the true scholar in a humble terraced house, with a circle of students of five, shunning the limelight and all this glitter and gold. Perhaps you will find the true scholar in a one-room house in a side street of a rundown neighbourhood of a city of light. Perhaps you will find the scholar where you least expect to. Perhaps the sanctity of our scholars has been preserved by scholars themselves, by their humble living and quiet influence, transmitting knowledge patiently away from the swell of mass movements and populist sentiment. Perhaps the true scholars who swim against the tide, who refuse to say only what we want to hear, who articulate a better way: perhaps it is the sanctity of those scholars that we attack, and it is this circus that is killing them.
Last modified: 11 June 2018
