ELUSIVE OBJECTIVITY

Volumes have been written about the much sought after notion of “Objectivity,” yet I find it elusive. I wonder if all that I grew up with and learnt, the tacit and the codified knowledge, can let me live up to that expected norm of being “objective.” How do I draw the line between the objective and the intuitive? Simplifying this complex notion is a formidable task that I would not attempt.

As a media practitioner, I am expected to be an “objective” observer and disseminator of information. But, I am often perplexed because I find it hard to function according to the textbook definitions of “objectivity”. Real life experience confronts me with different challenges, each with its own unique character. At times, I “get carried away” and at times, I am “in control.” But I wonder if I can “objectively observe an issue” and if I can ever “distance myself completely.”

I make many value judgements everyday - this is “shallow”, that is “deep”, this is “right”, that is “wrong,” yet I fancy myself to be a “non-judgemental,” person. I contradict myself. I wonder if the value judgements that I make are “misconstructed”, but I find it hard to define “misconstruction”.

Drawing on Henry David Thoreau, I feel, "the only obligation which I have a right to assume, is to do at anytime what I think right". Afterall, "to be right is to be more honourable than to be law-abiding". Having said that, I would be a hypocrite if I call myself “objective. But, I will not silence myself to conform to constructed notions of “objectivity. I will say what I think is right. I will SPEAK.

Shrenik