Carvalho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >We have to begin the process of telling and >retelling our history as history, not as a grievance, >a open sore to be nursed perpetually by a sense of >victim-hood. To this extent, I think there is a lot >to be done in sponsoring speakers, writers, magazines, >websites that counter the HJS type of propaganda. Let >a hundred Gadgils rise, why not let their voices be >heard through financial assistance? >
When one frames such issues in political terms, such as victim-hood and sponsoring of speakers and writers to counter a propaganda, one is thrusting oneself in the political arena, and inviting criticism on purely political grounds. On religious issues one does much worse because one exposes oneself to communal fervor. My experience in exposing misinformation is that facts rarely win out against a religious or political ideology from the standpoint of its aging adherents, no matter how intelligent, well-educated or well-read they may be. Once a bogus cause is co-opted by an ideology, the rational and evidence-based approach has a very slim chance of working against it. Ideology is more often than not much more powerful than reason. That is why the vast majority of people in India believe in astrology and an equally massive majority of Americans reject evolution by natural selection. Cheers, Santosh