Six or Nine?

Maybe Both

A year ago I came across a video on Youtube that made me feel so uncomfortable
that I clicked neither like nor dislike. I did not share it in any of my social media
accounts, nor talked about it to anyone. I did not do anything after watching it, I just
completely ignored it and let my day continue as it is. I thought I could let it that way,
that it was just another random video that I watched and there is nothing more to it.
I did not know that it made an impact on me until a year later when I had to write
this essay. That video was the first thing that came to my mind when I learned what
postmodernism and post-truth mean.

It was not easy to find the video without having the title, but after a long search, I
was able to watch the video again.

The setting of the video was in a classroom. There were only 4 students: (1) our main
actor played by Kolhatkar, (2) Penelope, (3) Simon, and (4) Sunshine. The first scene
that bothered me when I first watched the video was when the teacher asked the
question “What is 3 times 3?” Kolhatkar raised his hand and answered 9, but the
teacher said it was wrong. Penelope then raised her hand and answered “gender
equality.” The teacher affirmed her answer, so Kolhatkar as a response asked: “Is this
a joke?”

Penelope then said, “Do you think gender equality is a joke?”

At that point, I knew that the video was not an ordinary “funny” video. But what was
the video telling its audience? The story continued: the four students presented their
research assignments. The person with the highest mark will be given a chance to
present his/her paper at an international math summit. The teacher scanned their
works and gave them scores: Penelope and Simon got 6/10, Sunshine got 1/10, and
Kolhatkar got 7/10. Kolhatkar then protested that she barely even read his work. The
teacher argued that he was given a seven because he used a red pen, and “Red is
considered offensive in many religions,” added Simon.

Kolhatkar then just agreed to it, because he was still the one with the highest mark
so that means he was the one going to the summit. But the teacher suddenly said
that the marking process is not over yet.
“Now, because we live in a society based on equality, the total amount of marks
ought to be divided equally among our students.”

Everyone then got a 5. Kolhatkar became confused as to who was going to the
summit. It was revealed that they were still to be given privilege points-- points that
are based on their sexuality and gender, their color, and their physical appearance.
Sunshine ridiculously got 18 out of 10, the highest score. Kolhatkar then checked
Sunshine’s research assignment, only to find out that he only wrote “ekwality” and
drawn love hearts on a piece of paper. “He expressed himself and it’s beautiful,”
Penelope defended Sunshine.

“This has nothing to do with mathematics,” shouted Kolhatkar.

Penelope answered, “You think you’re so great with your maths and your science
and your facts? What about feelings, huh?”

“Yeah, feelings are more important than facts,” added Simon.

Kolhatkar was outraged and said that they were all crazy. Penelope suddenly looked
like she was going to cry and said, “Stop violating me with your different opinion!”

“I have the right to speak my mind,” Kolhatkar said.

“No, we have the right not to be offended,” shouted Simon. Then it ended with all
the other characters attacking Kolhatkar “as self-defense.”

The video is a short film made by Neel Kolhatkar himself, entitled “Modern
Educayshun.” It was published on Youtube four years ago and it gathered different
opinions. Some found it “compelling” and “a must-watch” (theunahime, 2017), that
the film was “excellent” and that Kolhatkar was “very brave” to make it
(Honest_In_Translation, 2018). However, others said that it was “dull and malicious”
(zhipengg, 2017) and even “ridiculously delusional” (encirkel, 2017).

Like the polarized comments, I was unsure what to think of the video the first time I
saw it. There was a strong feeling, that was for sure, but was it good or bad? Should I
laugh or should I get mad? What was the point of the video? As a defense to conflict
of thoughts, I just ignored the video. However, the questions never left me.

After a year I get to study about postmodernism and post-truth eras, and it all
became clear to me. “Post-truth is when logical facts become less important than
emotional feelings” (Guevara, 2019). That is what I clearly saw in Kolhatkar’s film.
We have become so enlightened and free that we thought our opinions are the
standard of all measures. In this era, if an idea violates our emotions and opinions,
we dismiss it. “Opinions now seem to hold just as much weight as actual facts”
(Chapman, 2018), or as Greg Guevara beautifully explains it in his video essay:

“Post-truth comes out of [the] post-modernist era in which a lot of hierarchies were
being dismantled and flattened. And a lot of ideas about how we construct ourselves,
our world, and our hierarchies were being questioned. Even ideas like objectivity and
truth were being dismantled. And when all hierarchies are flat, when everything is
even, emotional truth is just as important as logical ones.”

Nowadays we often hear this statement: “That’s just your opinion. You have to
respect my opinion.” Of course, that should be done, we should respect each other’s
opinions. But the peace we thought we will have by trying not to violate other
people’s emotions has led us the opposite of peace-- it gave us chaos. We thought
we are being intelligent by enjoying this freedom of having opinions, but it seemed
we went backward-- this era produced people believing that the earth is flat, again
(Sean, 2018).

Jhomar Salazar, a former Psychology professor and a friend of mine, told me an

illustration of this postmodern and post-truth era. A painted number is between 2
people. The first person sees the number as “6” while the second person sees it as
“9.” People argue that even though we have different opinions, we can be both right.
We think it’s just a matter of perspective. I searched online for a picture of it and I
found one with a perfect caption:

“Just because you are right does not mean I am wrong. You just haven’t seen life
from my side.”

“But,” Jhomar explained to me, “someone painted that number. The one who
created that number meant it to be either 6 or 9, not both. One of them is correct,
and one of them is wrong.” He told me that our problem nowadays is “we do not ask
the one who painted the number.” We are just content with our opinion, and we do
not care if it is right or wrong.

Abdu Murray, in his speech at Yale University, also gave a wonderful illustration for
the post-truth era. He said that it is like having vertigo on a sidewalk and you do not
know whether you are moving or the bus is moving. He compared it to his
experience when he was on a ferry ride across a river: because the boat is moving,
the river is moving, and there was no point of reference, he did not know the
direction they were going. He said:

“I think our culture today, with all the shifts that are happening, we no longer have
fixed points of reference. We are washed in the river. We seemed to like the vertigo.
We seem to like all the changes and the no-standards that we can do and be, and say
whatever we want, and all these kinds of things. Without the fixed points of
reference, however, I think we’ve immersed ourselves fully into this post-truth
culture.”

“Asking the one who painted” and “looking for a fixed point of reference.” I think my
friend and Mr. Murray are telling the same thing. The one who painted the number
holds the truth, and he is our fixed point of reference. Without him, without truth
and a fixed point of reference, we will be forever washed away in the river. Some
may enjoy it, immersing in and being washed away by the river. But if we continue to
“elevate our feelings and preferences over facts and truth” (Murray, 2017), I think it
is dangerous. We already saw people in history being imprisoned or killed for the
truth, like Galileo Galilei who was accused as a heretic because he stated that the
Sun was the center of our galaxy and not the Earth (Winter, 2016). Will we never
learn?

Can we do something about it? Greg Guevara, after his long history of studying
post-truth, said: “Who says anything needs to be done?” Well, I do. I think we, and
only we, have the power to end this post-truth era. Friedrich Nietzsche once said:

“Every candidate for truth must first be expressed in language, and language is
notoriously unable to get us to reality” (as stated by Zacharias, 2017).

We are communicators. It is inevitable for us to use language, verbal or not. We have

the responsibility to use language to get us to reality and not the opposite, as
Nietzsche said. Postmodernism and post-truth era used communication, especially
on the internet, to clash opinions and spread fake news. But I believe we can turn
this weapon against them. I believe we can bring back the original design of the
internet, or of communication rather-- a channel of facts and truth.

We must stand for truth. It is our responsibility to ask the painter whether it is a six
or a nine-- it is our responsibility to look for the truth. And when we know the truth,
we must stand for it. We must be the fixed point of reference this world needs, not
another wave being tossed in the river. There may come a time when we will be
persecuted for the truth we hold, like Galileo Galilei. But for me, it is a great privilege
to be imprisoned or even die for truth rather than to live freely for ignorance.

References:

Chapman, J. T. [Second Thought]. (2018, September 7). The Post-Truth Problem

[Video file]. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8fVjwrBbPw&t=5s
Guevara, Greg [Jreg]. (2019, July 8). Post-Truth: Facts, Logic, & Feelings [Video file].
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3irKjpQruI&t=143s

Kolhatkar, Neel. (2017). Modern Educayshun [Video file]. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcWu0tsiZM

Murray, A., & Zacharias, R. [Ravi Zacharias International Ministries]. (2017, October
19). The Quest for Meaning in a Post-Truth Culture [Video file]. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL7x-bPkcSE

Sean, G. (2018, February 21). The Flat Earth Society, Perfectly Postmodernist.
Retrieved from:
https://medium.com/@seangallagher91/the-flat-earth-society-perfectly-postmoder
nist-77b8c17c90d9

Winter, Lisa. (2016, February 25). How One Of The World's Greatest Scientists Was
Jailed Over An Idea. Retrieved from:
https://articles.aplus.com/a/galileo-renounces-heliocentrism?no_monetization=true

Image References:

Alexander, Pete. (2017, February 21). Different Views. Retrieved from:

http://www.djpetealexander.com/blog/2017/2/21/different-views