Re: [Goanet] White men in India
On 1 November 2010 16:58, Santosh Helekar chimbel...@yahoo.com wrote: I agree with many of the statements made by Selma in this post, in particular, the fact that all people of all races, colors, castes and creeds are equal, and that it is possible for a foreigner to live in India for 20 years, and understand its culture and ethos. However, her statement quoted above is not necessarily true, nor should it be true. The right and left wings in the U.S., for instance, are as rabid as in India. Living under a constitution that guarantees freedom of expression, none of the exponents of these ideologies is silenced or can be silenced by any means for any length of time. In fact, in most cases the opposite happens. After publicly claiming that their own beliefs are the best and the truest of all - indeed, going beyond and claiming that any deviation from their own beliefs is evil - they become much more famous and rich, receiving highly lucrative book deals, and radio and TV show contracts. Cheers, Santosh COMMENT: Here is a snippet of the Republican's newest darling: - Over the past few weeks this Catholic-turned-evangelical Tea Party favourite has dominated the airwaves and clogged up the blogosphere. We've learnt about her interesting views on masturbationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzHcqcXo_NA(it's adulterous) and Aids (people with HIV brought it on themselves); heard her fulminate against scientists who have created mice with fully-functioning human brains; and discovered that her knowledge of the constitution falls short of the first amendment.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/19/christine-odonnell-church-and-state-gaffe Full read @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/01/midterms-christine-odonnell-tea-party We shall see before the week is out whether Americans vote her in. I saw a programme on T.V. last night, which claimed that Glen Beck has amassed a fortune of USD35 million, Sarah Palin ostensibly won't run as she would have to give up her lucrative income, also running into millions! On another aspect, we have preachers of hate here in London, who have not been sued by anyone; not only that, even the Police have been unable to arrest them, until only recently. Difficult to have them deported, tax payers end up footing their Legal Aid bill and they continue to live on State benefits while they carry on their hate propaganda. To sue for defamation, one has to have minimum £50k - how many will undertake such a task ? Only the rich and famous whose egos have been hurt. The tabloids tell the story. -- DEV BOREM KORUM Gabe Menezes. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original _/ art, writing, music, news and commentary from and about the _/ smallest state in the subcontinent. check out the newest _/ member of the Goanet family daily at _/ http://www.tambdimati.com. _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
[Goanet] White men in India
Dear Charudatt, Because I woke up early today, the clocks have been set back in this white man's land and my body couldn't possibly know it was 7am when actually it is 8am, I have a little time on my hands. So let me respond to your post which I presume is aimed at me. I also suppose you were being facetious when you wrote Discolli instead of Driscoll, but that's alright because I often write Borod mistakenly when I mean Barad. I have lived, schooled, eaten, drunk, worked, gotten sick and given birth alongside white men ever since I can remember. To me, being White holds no greater or no lesser value. I have long divested myself of creed, colour or caste. Anyone who takes the trouble to do a reading from my book would win my heart. Anyone who writes sense on Goanet usually wins my heart. Infact anyone who writes on Goanet usually wins my heart because I recognise in them a fellow Goan, whether honorary or not. But let me correct you on another statement, that no foreigner can understand Indian ethos. This is very similar to the statements that were being made on the video link provided by Frederick a few weeks ago, some mumbo jumbo about Indian mythology that makes Indians so different from the rest of the world. This sort of statement can only be made in India with complete immunity. Anywhere in the rest of the world, you could be sued for racism. I can't seriously imagine a British politician or an American businessman standing infront of an audience and telling them that only a White can truly understand the ethos of a country based on Judeo-Christian morality. He would be booed off the stage, publically castrated on television and forced to resign. But we are Indians. We can tell the world that we are somehow superior, different and special and the world will nod and patronise us. We can continue building our world on a lovely foundation of exclusion and assume it is alright to engage in a healthy dose of reverse racism because after all we were the victims of colonialism for centuries. Its fashionable to rip into the West, the white man and capitalism. India's lovely right-wing, the Aryan aristocracy, the elite middle-class and the over-enthusiastic left-driven intelligentsia tells us it is the intelligent thing to do. But the honest truth is there is nothing special about us or esoteric about our collective ethos. There is nothing esoteric about any collective society which an outsider cannot comprehend because essentially human beings are all the same. Yes when outsiders want to learn about a different culture, they bring their own biases into it but when we look at ourselves, we too bring our own biases into it. So everyone's vision is always at best blurred, at worst jaundiced. To assume that a white man, like Dan Driscoll, who apparently has lived in Goa for the good part of over 20 years, cannot make a contribution to Goa and is incapable of understanding anything Goan is absolute Indian hubris at its best. And to assume that people, like me, get swayed just by the colour of skin is also very presumptive. To prove how unbiased I am in my gushing, here is a 5 page listing of other people, I have also thanked profusely and been impressed with. http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/reviews-etc/ Now normally I have a very caustic tongue, but I like you :-) Best, Selma - Our propensity towards Europhilia is demonstrably revealed by this simple fact that this white man, Dan Discolli, with just a couple of unctuous posts has won the hearts and minds of a few of my goanet brothers and sister. ( I have no reason to suspect the genuineness of his passion, nor am I happy to be prejudiced against the white, even so) The point is, a nation with more than a billion opinions is not likely to escape any thought, or turn of thought, or angle on the Ayodhya issue that may be attributed as a distinct new contribution by prof. Elst to what has become a farrago. NO FOREIGNER can comprehend complexities of Indian ethos, so it is risky to consider his opinion on matters native to India, particularly if the issue is deep-rooted in her more than five thousand years of uniform cultural continuum. More often than not, a foreign 'authority' or commentator on Indian issues has made a mess of the original simple but lofty idea behind our ethnics. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original _/ art, writing, music, news and commentary from and about the _/ smallest state in the subcontinent. check out the newest _/ member of the Goanet family daily at _/ http://www.tambdimati.com. _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Re: [Goanet] White men in India
--- On Mon, 11/1/10, Carvalho elisabeth_...@yahoo.com wrote: Anywhere in the rest of the world, you could be sued for racism. I can't seriously imagine a British politician or an American businessman standing infront of an audience and telling them that only a White can truly understand the ethos of a country based on Judeo-Christian morality. He would be booed off the stage, publically castrated on television and forced to resign. I agree with many of the statements made by Selma in this post, in particular, the fact that all people of all races, colors, castes and creeds are equal, and that it is possible for a foreigner to live in India for 20 years, and understand its culture and ethos. However, her statement quoted above is not necessarily true, nor should it be true. The right and left wings in the U.S., for instance, are as rabid as in India. Living under a constitution that guarantees freedom of expression, none of the exponents of these ideologies is silenced or can be silenced by any means for any length of time. In fact, in most cases the opposite happens. After publicly claiming that their own beliefs are the best and the truest of all - indeed, going beyond and claiming that any deviation from their own beliefs is evil - they become much more famous and rich, receiving highly lucrative book deals, and radio and TV show contracts. Cheers, Santosh --- On Mon, 11/1/10, Carvalho elisabeth_...@yahoo.com wrote: Dear Charudatt, Because I woke up early today, the clocks have been set back in this white man's land and my body couldn't possibly know it was 7am when actually it is 8am, I have a little time on my hands. So let me respond to your post which I presume is aimed at me. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original _/ art, writing, music, news and commentary from and about the _/ smallest state in the subcontinent. check out the newest _/ member of the Goanet family daily at _/ http://www.tambdimati.com. _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
