By

Prof.Carlo Fonseka

My respected senior colleague Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera argues that because unitary states have one national anthem, states that have one national anthem must be unitary states (Feb. 19). The logic underlying this reasoning is like that of a dentist who argues that because healthy adult men have 32 teeth, those who have 32 teeth must be healthy adult men! Or because dogs eat meat, those who eat meat must be dogs. This is an outrageous logical howler unworthy of any kind of professional. As any student of elementary logic will tell you, from the proposition “if p, then q” it is invalid to infer “if q, then p”.

In his History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell says that “logical errors are … of greater practical importance than many people believe” [because] “they enable their perpetrators to hold the comfortable opinion on every subject in turn”. The United States of America is a federal state, but it has only one national anthem. Belgium is a unitary state, but its national anthem is sung in French and Flemish. In the unitary state of Sri Lanka, our national anthem has been translated verbatim into Tamil and is sung in Tamil according to the same tune and musical accompaniment by Tamil-speaking people.

Thus, our national anthem is sung in both national languages. These facts are well known to people who insist that Tamil-speaking people should be forced to sing our national anthem in Sinhala. They do so because being powerful they enjoy demonstrating their superiority to the numerically weaker Tamil-speaking people. They camouflage their naked exercise of brute power by arguing that Tamil-speaking people must be forced to sing the national anthem in Sinhala, if Sri Lanka is to remain a unitary state.

How come? Because– by their cock-eyed logic– unitary states have one national anthem, and therefore, states which have one national anthem must be unitary. Reading political scientist Prof. Laksiri Fernando’s recent writings make me feel that “unitary” and “federal” are very much matters of degree and that there are worse things in this world than federalism.

Tribalism

The truth of the matter is, of course, that constitutionality has precious little to do with the attitude of nationalists who want the Sinhala national anthem rammed down the throats of our Tamil-speaking brethren. In my younger days I used to think that such nationalists are people in whom the inherited mental defilement that Buddhists call dosa (hatred) is particularly strong. The study of socio-biology has altered my perspective on this matter. There is evidence that tribalism is a fundamental inherited human trait because it has survival value on earth. Like any other human trait, its distribution in the population approximates to what statisticians call “a normal distribution”. This means that a graph based on the degree to which tribalism is present among members of a given population will have the shape of a bell (bell curve). The distribution of the nationalist (tribal trait) fits the bell curve. The vast majority of the population is in the middle of the curve, tribal but not aggressively so. At one end of the curve are a very few nationalists who are aggressively tribal. They cannot suppress their impulse to dominate over other tribes. Dr. Amarasekera speaks of the need of even a “unitary civilization” for Sri Lanka.

Conclusion

The Compassionate Buddha comprehended intellectually and accepted emotionally the oneness of the human family. He wished all beings to be well and happy. Our nearest relatives in the animal world, the Chimpanzees and Gorillas, are known to kill others in defense of their territory. When it comes to tribalism some professed followers of the Buddha are closer to the Chimpanzees and Gorillas than to the Buddha. No wonder the intelligent and humane children of these nationalists prefer to live and work in countries where the expression of tribalism is restrained by scientific civilization.

Courtesy:The Island