An elephant is an animal

An elephant is an animal

Khurshid Imam

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There was a time when reality needed no defense.

An elephant was simply an animal.

A pond was simply a pond.

A cloud was simply a cloud.

People could disagree on philosophy, politics, or religion, but they did not abandon common sense.

Today, in many places, something far more dangerous is happening.

Irrationality is slowly replacing reason.

People are no longer encouraged to ask, "Is this true?"

Instead, they are expected to ask, "Will this upset someone?"

Blind faith is increasingly celebrated, while questioning is treated as rebellion.

The more extraordinary a claim is, the less evidence it seems to require. A loud slogan is accepted more readily than a quiet fact. Emotional appeals carry more weight than logic. Rumours spread faster than truth, and anyone asking for proof is viewed with suspicion.

When a society reaches this stage, common sense begins to disappear.

The consequences extend far beyond mistaken beliefs.

Once people stop evaluating claims rationally, they also stop evaluating injustice rationally.

If a rumour targets a particular community, many accept it without verification.

If that community is abused, boycotted, falsely accused, or denied equal treatment, countless people remain silent because the victims have already been portrayed as "the other."

Slowly, injustice becomes ordinary.

Discrimination is excused.

Cruelty is justified.

Compassion becomes selective.

The most alarming part is not that a few extremists think this way. The most alarming part is when ordinary people stop being shocked by it.

A society does not decline merely because falsehood exists. Every society has falsehood. It declines when falsehood becomes respectable and truth becomes controversial.

History repeatedly warns us that when people surrender their ability to think critically, they also surrender their ability to distinguish justice from injustice.

This is why common sense is not a trivial virtue. It is one of the strongest safeguards of a civilized society.

Common sense asks simple questions:

• Where is the evidence?
• Is this claim supported by facts or only by emotion?
• Would I accept the same treatment if it were directed at my own community?
• Am I defending justice, or merely defending my prejudice?

These are not difficult questions. Yet they are the questions that prevent societies from drifting toward intolerance and collective injustice.

Faith and reason need not be enemies. Conviction and critical thinking can coexist. A healthy society is one where beliefs are respected, but truth is not feared; where emotions are valued, but evidence still matters; where no individual or community is denied justice because of propaganda or prejudice.

The need of our time is not louder voices.

It is clearer thinking.

Not stronger emotions.

But stronger principles.

And above all, the courage to use the common sense that every human being has been gifted.