Harry Kreisler teaches Foreign Policy at University of California, Berkeley and hosts the UC Berkeley’s series of lively and unedited video interviews, titled “Conversations with History”. Guests are distinguished men and women from all over the world and come from such diverse backgrounds as diplomats, statesmen, soldiers, economists, political analysts, scientists, historians, writers and artists. At the heart of each interview is a focus on individuals and ideas that make a difference.
Harry interviewed Khaled Ahmed in 2002 when Khaled was a consulting editor of The Friday Times. The conversation is very interesting and touches on Pakistan, Islam, Islamic civilization, liberalism, economics and Pakistani politics.
The transcript of the whole interview.
What I found most interesting was his view on what constituted a balanced intellectual life:
I think that one has to be culturally rooted to become a complete human being. I don’t think that a Pakistani who is read only in English can become finally a balanced person. Although, there are exceptions. There are fantastic exceptions of boys and girls who have learned only English, and absorbed knowledge only through English, who have also realized the genuineness of their own culture. It’s dangerous to be knowledgeable only in one culture, which is Western culture.
The other side of it is that if you are not knowledgeable in Western civilization, then the danger is that you will become paranoid. The biggest lesson anybody can learn from me is that if you live in the West, you must try to assimilate, must try to understand Western culture — not pop culture, but the mainsprings of real civilization. You must go to classical music, learn the philosophy, and become acquainted with the political scientists of the West. If you are in the United States, you should look at the explosion of knowledge in this society and the good work that people are doing here. You should also learn from the pluralism that exists here — the tolerance of the variant point of view. You can read Chomsky, you can read Edward Said, but you should also realize that they live in this society and are flourishing despite their dissenting views.
Khaled Ahmad points out the pitfalls of not taking the intellectual journey: Ignorance of the West leads to paranoia and a confused worldview. Ignorance of Pakistan leads to rootlessness and the ABCD phenomenon. He supports his statement not with argument but using his own personal journey and asserts that a thorough grounding in one’s own culture along with an education into the philosophical wellsprings of western civilization can make a modern Pakistani a well rounded, well adjusted member of any society.
The interview as a whole is very interesting and worth listening to.
