We live in a society where social conditioning is very strongly manifested. Society has ‘trained’ us to remain silent. Societies in conflict torn areas like ours are more prone to such social conditioning where the citizens are conditioned to remain silent for a variety of reasons. Those who speak up are often punished or bullied into silence. Our psyche – which is the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious – is conditioned to accept silence as normal. As a result of this conditioning, society frowns at those who speak up, who are very few in number. The outcome of this social conditioning is that people either voluntarily choose to remain silent or are afraid to speak up. At this stage, silence becomes the culture, a normal thing, and it suffocates the rational mind to death rendering the society regressive.
Social conditioning is the sociological process of training individuals in a society to respond in a manner generally approved by the society in general and peer groups within society. When silence becomes the culture, members of the society are conditioned into believing that speaking up is not acceptable. As stated in this column umpteen times, members of the society are not ready to enjoy their freedom of expression. Even when this newspaper reaches out to concerned citizens to seek their views and opinions on matters of public importance, the response is mostly always shrouded with apprehension and reluctance. This is not because we are ignorant but because we are conditioned to remain silent. We speak up only when we are represented by an association or a union. The individual apparently does not have the right to speak up. Or, there are reasons why the individuals believe that it is wiser to remain silent than to speak up and face the risk of society’s backlash.
Our society will not progress unless we learn how to escape the matrix of social conditioning and reclaim our freedom. We should not let ourselves be conditioned or controlled by others like a mindless automaton. Breaking the culture of silence is easier said than done; it is a difficult thing to do, yet it is the only way to go forward.