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Marginality and Exile: Beyond Organic Intellectuals

Edward Said, one of the fabulous writers of the 20th century, redefined the role of intellectual in his fierce critique against organic intellectuals, who are inimical to the truth. The pursuit of intellectual, after the emergence of Industrial age, has tilted towards legitimation of status quo, for intellectuals remained committed to the faithful towards power. The classic division of labour established a professionalized elitist apparatus of intellectuals, who accepted comfort over truth to hold power and privileges in their hands. Antonio Gramsci, in his Prison Notebooks, noted about two types of intellectuals; a) Traditional Intellectual; and b) Organic Intellectual. Organic is really a romantic word for historicist and naturalist. However, in this case, organic intellectuals are considered status quoist, for they compromise their honesty and a sense of truth. Julien Brenda in his classic Book, Treason of Intellectuals, published in 1927, categorised two sorts of intellectuals, one who were leaders in the moral, ethical, and intellectual life, like Socrates, Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Ambedkar, etc., and those intellectuals who are privileged professionals, like media managers, defence analysts, economic and political commentators, etc. The first sorts of intellectuals have redefined the very sense of civilization by their moral and intellectual uprightness, and the second kind of intellectuals have not been courageous enough to use their power of analysis for the sake of truth. The 21st century of the world, aftermath of the origin of revolutionary social medias, brought a solemn opportunity for the democratization of voices. However, it also produced an echo chamber, in which a sense of truth has lost for perspectives, abuses, hysterical categorisation of identity and differences. The mass culture has alienated truth and the reverence of truth. People have become enamoured in amusement and pop culture. And the biggest questions suffered from any due attentions. In the age of social media, the exemplar intellectuals are at margins. And the professionals who are concerned for career more than truth are mushrooming around. Noam Chomsky writes that those who have courage to reveal what is hidden, for the benefit of society, is the true intellectual. His life-long writings are not meant only for the academicians. He has been committed for the cause of every single individual. He had courage to become a "naysayer". 

Intellectuals have privileges of understanding language, better analytical power, and capacity to observe what is not easy perceptible. If these abilities are used wisely and courageously, the human society progresses, otherwise it is ossified in dogmas and superstition. Socrates, Bruno, Prometheus, Galeleo, Leonardo da Vinci, Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., this league is rarest in the evolution of human civilization. Perhaps, Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Sartre, Kierkegaard, Russel, etc., is equally an admirable league of thinkers. One thing is common in all of them is, that they were unconventional and courageous. Immanuel Kant writes, in his celebrated paper, "What is Enlightenment"? Enlightenment is freedom from the tutelage. He finds courage, the most important characteristic of an intellectual. I remember fascinating writer and Professor Roberto Unger, who once said, "Hope is not a condition of action. Hope is the consequence of action. And those who fail to hope must act so that they may hope". Hope is another concomitant for an intellectual life. Misery is inevitable. Isolation is the gift for an intellectual. Marginality and exile ought not to be treated as disabilities. Only these conditions expose them for the bitter truth which is lost in the mad dance of consumers.

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