Dr Asangba Tzudir
Noise, Anxiety, and the Naga Public Sphere
The case with Naga society today is such that, public discourses increasingly resemble a mad dog barking at every falling leaf. Every administrative decision, rumour, social media post, or even a passing comment is met with instant outrage, suspicion, criticism, rejection or condemnation. Much of this barking is loud, repetitive, and emotionally charged, yet often finds disconnected from a cautious understanding of the issue at hand. The resultant effect is a public discourse soaked in noise but devoid of reflection.
Whether it is an attitudinal trend of the emerging times or deeply entrenched in its historicity is a question worth pondering. But one thing for sure is, this tendency does not emerge in a vacuum. Naga society carries deep historical wounds, the pain of which is deeply felt even today. Colonial administration and disruption, political uncertainty and the prolonged conflict, and aspirations waiting to be fulfilled are enough to create anxiety. These unresolved anxieties have cultivated a culture of hyper-sensitivity and vigilance, and where every change is perceived as a coming threat. In such an environment, barking becomes an impulse where it is easier to react than to honestly reflect, to shout than to pause and study, to accuse than to analyse.
Social media forms and platforms have amplified this tendency in a dramatic fashion where speed and emotions seems to off more rewarding returns than depth and evidence. A half-baked issue or matters of moral judgment can trigger hundreds of comments within minutes, and many of them echoes one another without adding substance. Barking, in this sense, becomes a performance where people bark not necessarily because they understand the issue, but because everyone else is barking. Those silent are taken as being complacent, and where nuance is dismissed as weakness.
What is more troubling is the case of barking for the sake of barking. Criticisms motivated by concerns for the common good or welfare of the people is encouraged but not one that is motivated more by personal vendetta, tribal loyalty, political alignment, or the desire for visibility and social recognition. What truly matters is being seen as vocal, fearless, or morally superior and thereby uplift the issues rather than making it secondary. This kind of barking does not bring the problems to light but obscures them, and instead of dialogue creates further division and where complex realities are reduced to simple binaries of good and bad, right and wrong, us and them.
However, barking is not always meaningless or devoid of any content. It signals genuine suffering, of pain and injustices. When institutions fail repeatedly, be it in governance, employment, infrastructure, or accountability, then public frustration naturally vents out in the form of expressions. The danger lies not in raising one’s voice, but in raising it without form and direction. Uninformed outrage may provide momentary emotional release and thereby relief, but that will hardly bring sustainable solutions while public energy and resources gets drained even as trust erodes.
Naga society needs to seriously learn, unlearn, and relearn the trajectories that have given rise to the pressing issues today. More so, Naga society needs to inculcate the discipline of discernment. Not every falling leaf is a predator or an enemy to be barked at. Not every policy as a plot to benefit certain people or sections of people or those in the government. Not every mistake is a crime. As such, discernment becomes imperative and it requires patience, reading beyond the lines or headlines, be willing to listen to multiple perspectives or both sides, and also acknowledging the many uncomfortable truths even when they go against or challenge our narratives. Another challenge is the need to be silent when the full truth is not known or not knowing enough, a rarity in the face of immediate reaction which is prized.
Our thoughts and speech needs to be constructive. Yes, criticisms are essential for the healthy growth of a democratic society, but it must be grounded in knowledge, ethics, and responsibility. Barking should give way to critical thinking and reasoned argument, well-informed debates, and also the art solving problems collectively. Every individual, educators, Churches, civil society, and also the media all have a role to play in creating such a shift from immediate reactive barking to reflective engagement.
If Naga society continues to bark at every falling leaf, it risks losing sight of the real dangers lurking around which includes systemic failure, moral erosion, youth disillusionment, social fragmentation etc. As such, barking should continue but the challenge before us is to learn when, why, and how to bark and raise our voice. Only then can public discourses move from mere noise to meaningful change.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
