I wrote to a friend who recently claimed that he has gone right wing and now believes Bush was right.
Hari
Right-wing policies don't fix things. They don't fix administrative or logistical problems in power structures. Those exist with any government. They also believe retributive violence is an answer even with so much evidence to the contrary. India has a problem- it lives next to a state that is dissolving. It also has alienated all of its neighbours at one time or another. The right wing has absolutely no answers to this question no matter what they claim. But they will target minorities- with the definition of minorities being variable. Hitler, the hero of so many in the RSS organisations, was right wing.
Friend
they do hari. india needs someone like a hitler to solve the problems. india isn't peaceful canada where reason prevails.
i never thought i'd ever feel this way, considering i was more left leaning in my politics but apparently one community feels it is their right and acts with impunity to impose their barbaric medieval practices on me and on my way of life.
the only language they understand is the one they want to impose on every democracy on this planet : blood. and i don't want mine spilt just because i do not agree with their way of thinking or way of life.
you maybe against stephen harper or dubya like i was but i am now beginning to understand dubya's politics in dealing with people who want to kill in the name of a barbaric religion.
yes, i've gone right-winged in my way of thinking. i lost a friend and his parents while they were dining at the Taj. Mum's friend, an old man of 70 was shot dead at the Oberoi. For what?
Hari
Hitler didn't fix anything. He just killed a lot of minority people ... like you. 6 million of the minority- where minority included (at that time) Jews, Gypsies and Communists.
And they didn't really spare any minorities that sided with them.
Hey I don't have to fear the BJP- I'm upper caste Hindu. You think the right wing has a calibrated approach to parsees versus christians versus sikhs when they are deciding who they refer to as "them"?
Today they dislike muslims, tomorrow they dislike christians, the day after, they dislike south indians, the day after that, they dislike Biharis and UP people. So who's going to bail out your behind when they go after a _______ like you, the lefties or your new found friends???
By the way, it is the right wing muslims in Pakistan and Saudi, the ideological alter egos of the right wing Hindus in India, that caused this.
And Dubya didn't fix anything. Nothing. Just like Hitler fixed ... nothing. There is a reason germans are ashamed of their past. Hitler did not fix anything. He made things much much much worse. Your grief is real and you have to find a position that responds to it. I'm just saying the right doesn't have the answers you are looking. Neither the left for that matter. For that matter the centre-left in India has been fairly nationalistic and militaristic and that is the harvest India is sowing. 10 years of efforts at dialogue are not enough to wipe away 50 years or animosity.
In any case, the question posed by Al qaeda has not been answered by any ideological formation, i.e: how do states deal with the attacks of small groups of dispersed individuals equipped with the logistical and technological tools that hitherto only belonged to states?
This is a non-ideological challenge.
I'm sorry you lost your friend. I'm relieved you weren't in the Taj.
The history of political islam is well documented. If you think Islam is barbaric, what about hinduism and christianity and judaism and buddhism? you think those people don't have blood on their hands? Everyone has blood on their hands, the people who carry out violence and the people who stand behind them cheering for it.
Every community and every religious community has cheerleaders for violence. Islam isn't the only one. There is nothing new in pretending some community or the other is barbaric. People everywhere do it. Lots of people love to hate because hatred is feeling deeply, all-encompassing, like love and can reflect aggrievement or loss. Rational and pragmatic positions do not do and people avoid those positions or feel threatened by them
Political and administrative decisions don't have to about hate or love. They don't have to be deeply felt or believed in. They have to be rational. Lots of people I know are right-wing. It is easy - and maybe right now that's how people cope. I was very sad to see what happened to my city. I was very angry. But I know there are no easy solutions- but that is what the right claims to offer.
Hari
Right-wing policies don't fix things. They don't fix administrative or logistical problems in power structures. Those exist with any government. They also believe retributive violence is an answer even with so much evidence to the contrary. India has a problem- it lives next to a state that is dissolving. It also has alienated all of its neighbours at one time or another. The right wing has absolutely no answers to this question no matter what they claim. But they will target minorities- with the definition of minorities being variable. Hitler, the hero of so many in the RSS organisations, was right wing.
Friend
they do hari. india needs someone like a hitler to solve the problems. india isn't peaceful canada where reason prevails.
i never thought i'd ever feel this way, considering i was more left leaning in my politics but apparently one community feels it is their right and acts with impunity to impose their barbaric medieval practices on me and on my way of life.
the only language they understand is the one they want to impose on every democracy on this planet : blood. and i don't want mine spilt just because i do not agree with their way of thinking or way of life.
you maybe against stephen harper or dubya like i was but i am now beginning to understand dubya's politics in dealing with people who want to kill in the name of a barbaric religion.
yes, i've gone right-winged in my way of thinking. i lost a friend and his parents while they were dining at the Taj. Mum's friend, an old man of 70 was shot dead at the Oberoi. For what?
Hari
Hitler didn't fix anything. He just killed a lot of minority people ... like you. 6 million of the minority- where minority included (at that time) Jews, Gypsies and Communists.
And they didn't really spare any minorities that sided with them.
Hey I don't have to fear the BJP- I'm upper caste Hindu. You think the right wing has a calibrated approach to parsees versus christians versus sikhs when they are deciding who they refer to as "them"?
Today they dislike muslims, tomorrow they dislike christians, the day after, they dislike south indians, the day after that, they dislike Biharis and UP people. So who's going to bail out your behind when they go after a _______ like you, the lefties or your new found friends???
By the way, it is the right wing muslims in Pakistan and Saudi, the ideological alter egos of the right wing Hindus in India, that caused this.
And Dubya didn't fix anything. Nothing. Just like Hitler fixed ... nothing. There is a reason germans are ashamed of their past. Hitler did not fix anything. He made things much much much worse. Your grief is real and you have to find a position that responds to it. I'm just saying the right doesn't have the answers you are looking. Neither the left for that matter. For that matter the centre-left in India has been fairly nationalistic and militaristic and that is the harvest India is sowing. 10 years of efforts at dialogue are not enough to wipe away 50 years or animosity.
In any case, the question posed by Al qaeda has not been answered by any ideological formation, i.e: how do states deal with the attacks of small groups of dispersed individuals equipped with the logistical and technological tools that hitherto only belonged to states?
This is a non-ideological challenge.
I'm sorry you lost your friend. I'm relieved you weren't in the Taj.
The history of political islam is well documented. If you think Islam is barbaric, what about hinduism and christianity and judaism and buddhism? you think those people don't have blood on their hands? Everyone has blood on their hands, the people who carry out violence and the people who stand behind them cheering for it.
Every community and every religious community has cheerleaders for violence. Islam isn't the only one. There is nothing new in pretending some community or the other is barbaric. People everywhere do it. Lots of people love to hate because hatred is feeling deeply, all-encompassing, like love and can reflect aggrievement or loss. Rational and pragmatic positions do not do and people avoid those positions or feel threatened by them
Political and administrative decisions don't have to about hate or love. They don't have to be deeply felt or believed in. They have to be rational. Lots of people I know are right-wing. It is easy - and maybe right now that's how people cope. I was very sad to see what happened to my city. I was very angry. But I know there are no easy solutions- but that is what the right claims to offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment