Goanet has also been "used" by people with an undying faith in a science-can-do-no-wrong ideology, and their own ideology is tasteless, colourless and odorless enough to them and therefore implies a lack of ideology. Or by those who believe that taunting individuals with a particular point of view is the best way to diminish "scientific illiteracy" and take rationalism forward.
The claims made below have more to do with creating straw-men and then going about demolishing the same with great ease. Naturally. By simply reducing a lengthier web address to a tiny-url and embedding Goanet's name in it does not make the debate any more relevant to the wider issues (including, a critique of corporatised science and its implications) often discussed on Goanet. To be fair, I think what has often been argued on Goanet is not what Helekar claims, but the following: 1. That not everything is necessarily better off in post-colonial times, and a few things have actually deteriorated for the worse since. 2. That life expectancies were far lower, on average, in earlier times (whether colonial or not, including in the non-colonised world), but some people did live healthier lives then too. Also, the diseases of affluence, which have since crept in and turned widespread today, were restricted to a tiny section then. 3. That "scientific progress" and "modern scientific medicine" is not the only factor to be credited with improving human lives. That even the "progress" of science and medicine has come accompanied with some gross errors, the misuse and abuse of science and technology (for purposes like war, etc) and the like. 4. That there could be alternative routes to healing, which may well work in some cases, and still is the only or main option for a large number of people in the planet -- for reasons of economics, preference, tradition, access, whatever. These can neither be wished away, nor should people who opt for these be blocked from accessing the same using the excuses and labels like "ncient superstitions, faith-based nostrums, religious rituals and paranormal practices". The Swedish video is an interesting one, but I couldn't help notice that it talks about the economy -- and not about what Helekar labels scientific progress or modern scientific medicine. To bandy issues of economy with science, colonialism with affluence seems to me to be more ideological thrust rather than a logical, convincing argument. FN On 2 December 2010 23:07, Santosh Helekar <chimbel...@yahoo.com> wrote: Goanet has been used by both right wing and left wing ideologues, such as apologists for colonialism, anti-scientific and anti-establishment activists, anti-capitalist or communist ideologues, religious chauvinists, communal propagandists, and promoters of alternative medicine and other superstitious and New Age practices, to spread the following myths: 1. That we Indians were better off when we were under colonial occupation. 2. That we lived longer in the olden days. 3. That scientific progress and modern scientific medicine have not improved our lives. 4. That ancient superstitions, faith-based nostrums, religious rituals and paranormal practices were better and more effective than modern scientific procedures. If you want to visualize how an exquisite 4-min presentation of hard facts explodes all these bogus myths in one go, please watch the following video: http://tinyurl.com/ExplodingGoanetMyths