In our society, people often jokingly refer to our limited attention span as having a goldfish memory. It is commonly believed that a goldfish forgets everything every three seconds. I searched Google and found that the information is not entirely accurate. In reality, goldfish can retain memories for at least three months, and in some cases for several years. So why do we mock our own memory in this way?

One major reason is that in this extraordinary Bangladesh, incidents and crises occur constantly. As a result, even serious issues of public interest disappear from public memory shortly after sparking intense discussion, overwhelmed by countless new developments.

This tendency to forget important events collectively is known as “collective” or “social amnesia” (Russell Jacoby, Social Amnesia, 1975). 

But this forgetfulness should not simply be viewed as the short-lived nature of public attention. Rather, it is part of a broader social and political process, one that can clearly be observed in contemporary Bangladesh.