Patriotism and Free thinking
Mr. Mahmudur Rahman's blatant demonstration of 'power', arrogance and 'monopoly of patriotism' only points out how vulnerable our society is in terms of freethinking, free speech and intellectual exercise. I quote here from Bertrand Russell on free-thinking "What makes a Free Thinker is not his beliefs, but the way in which he holds them. If he holds them because his elders told him they were true when he was young, or if he holds them because if he did not he would be unhappy, his thought is not free; but if he holds them because, after careful thought, he finds a balance of evidence in their favour, then his thought is free, however odd his conclusions may seem". - Bertrand Russell , "The Value of Free Thought" .
Mr. Rahman, CPD, TIB and other think tanks are no-less patriotic than yourself or your fellow colleagues in the government. If complacency and denial are yardsticks of 'patriotism', yes, you are the champion. Truth prevailed. So, Mr. Rahman, we will judge your patriotism by your ability to accept the truth, and courage to call a spade a spade. Debapriya, with whom my acquaintance goes a few decades back, need not prove his patriotism. An honest, fair and neutral person, as he is, defied many offers to live abroad. He chose Bangladesh, his beloved motherland, as you call her too.
Others who you have taken to court need not prove their patriotism to you. The nation has tested them time and again, from the days you were a small child.
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