Ideas and Interpretations

By: Prem Prasad Sigdel

I have a friend who has no job and is spending the days staying idle or gaffing with others. It has been some years that he has been jobless for years; or he has been seeking job but he is unable to find. Though he has found job, he has left it within some months or years or he has argued that he is a man of independent. He seems like a straying animal neither could he fit to others nor he can create job himself. In some sense he is ‘An Unknown Citizen’ of the poem of W. H. Auden. The man is physically, mentally, socially well yet he seems odd in the society. Or he has been a subject of discussion to all others.

Sociological perspective is that he is the product of an idle society who doesn’t realize his duty due to the norms he has followed. The society can’t train him so he is jobless; or it has been the responsibility that the society should have given him the education which should fit to him. It can be seen from reproductive or productive theories of society. If the society was jobless he would reproduce the culture. If the society was full of job he would produce a new culture and remain jobless. As a corollary, the sociologists have found mistakes of the society and its components. They blame to the society and its norms and values which doesn’t allow him to be professional.

On the other hand, the politician has different interpretation than the sociologist that he has taken him as a byproduct of unsystematic political culture of the country. His argument is intended towards the government whom he thinks is the provider of job to him. He takes it as the responsibility of government to provide him the job. The government should have implemented the policy to uplift his skills and abilities so that he can be engaged. It has been the ineffective government policy that increases unemployment in the country. He might have suggested the government to invest in education or training.

The educationist has different logic that he hasn’t been able to get good education so he is jobless. He has focused on such education which can enhance skills and techniques to find an adequate job for him. He might have suggested him to read and write irrespective of his age. He tries to assure that education only has upward mobility. His suggestions would perhaps to take training class of non-formal learning or to read some books so that he can have different lifestyle. The educationist has taken him as one of the byproduct of an uneducated society. Or he tries to interpret that low education is the cause of him not getting job.

A layman has different considerations from others that he would be in off. He takes that he can get job easily if he has will power to work with him. They can be good friends and his lifestyle is little bit different than him. He might have two interpretations that it’s not difficult to find manual jobs. Or he might have been spending happier life than him because he shouldn’t have to work like him. The layman finds himself as one of the miserable men that he has to work throughout the day. Or he has been born for work only whereas the man is spending splendid life without working.  His conception is that the man has got opportunity of some golden chance so he had earned much from some source so that he has been living a leisurely life. Neither should he have found some job for his living at least.

A medical person has found that he has some psychological problem to engage on work. He should have concentrated his mind on work or if he remains leisurely he might have involved in some illegal activities. He has done senseless things so he should have taken some medicine to concentrate his mind. The concentration can help him to pursue job. So he would recommend some drugs that would clear all his problems for being a good man in the future. Or he should have followed doctor until he has been engaged in some job.

A business person would evaluate him from his own perspective that he should have operated some business. To be engaged he can take loan from some source so that his life would be busy. It also helps him to earn some more money. For that he should do labor from morning to evening or even in night time. The investment makes him more responsible to earn so that a system can be established in his life. Hard labor and dedication can lead him to success with profit along with the engagement. He shouldn’t think twice rather he can start business as soon as possible.

The interpretation of different persons of different background presents the real scenario of knowledge. Their perspectives put us in puzzle so that the question comes which is right or wrong. It seems that they have their own certification and dealing styles. The sociologist would regard him social evil; the politician as unemployed person; the educationist as illiterate; the layman as rich or happy man; the medical person as psycho;  the business person as incapable man. Which interpretation is true? From social science perspective they are all true unless the man has revealed his truth. It symbolized that he himself is the truth whereas others have one sided perspectives because they are trying to prove it with the help of their philosophies. Whether their philosophies are right or wrong they have tried to prove him either way.

It reflects the complex condition of human mind. The man himself is the representative of truth and he has been a matter of debate to all of them. The particular person would try to see him from their perspectives and they wouldn’t be able to comply one another. The person can be a good subject matter for them for discussion however their interpretation is always relative. Thus the man is an open book in which others would find different values according to their philosophies or theories. Or he is like a pond from which they can carry water in their own pot what they have brought with them. The man is the pool who is jobless and he can be a good subject matter for them. In some context he can be a lesson to them as well. Their intellectuality has used him whereas they can’t fix his problem rather they can have recommendations only. Nobody has courage to provide job; neither would they take him as good man; nor would they accept the inability of knowledge.

There can be a question about the reliability of knowledge; rather the scholars have the habit of seeing it from different perspectives using theories, literature, history and other documents. Hence the base of knowledge is questionable so post-modernists are right here as they have taken knowledge as plural matter. The holistic aspect of knowledge is neither true nor it can solve the problem. The truth thus depends on the set belief, then only we can search the ultimate truth which is always lacking. No scholars can claim that their interpretation is true; nor can they accept that their belief is wrong. Knowledge is thus relative; neither is it pool, nor is questionless. According to the social science perspective, the knowledge should have been proved with different examples to make others convince their relative knowledge. After all knowledge can be a means not the end.

Nobody is perfect in this world; either the doctor who would be thought to have read well or the layman who can’t read and write. No knowledge is great nor is useless; rather they are equally important in this world. There is no such knowledge which is much reliable or evidential. All these things are seeking outlet with much evidences and so called proofs. There is no such proof that we have to argue as panacea. We are habituated to advocate our ideas ignoring others. or we have been trying to create truth by power or evidences. At last we can say that knowledge or understanding is biased and it is guided by our pride.