http://desicritics.org/ Superior South Asian bloggers on Culture, Media, Politics, Sport, Business, and Technology. en Copyright 2006 by the authors Wed, 14 Jun 2006 04:50:20 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss BC custom software http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13353 Sanjay im totally with you in protesting against reservations.Populist agendas have never been so irritatingly forced upon us before. Weedwanderer p.s.I have a more selfish reason for doing so,I'll be appearing for CAT'06,and Arjun Singh aint making it any easier for me. 13353@desicritics.org Wed, 14 Jun 2006 04:50:20 EDT http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13333 Please also note that I included VS Naipaul and not just Amartya Sen, as examples of the Nobel committee blatantly pandering to politics and undermining its credibility in the process. Furthermore, I have strongly criticized the idea of destroying meritocracy by putting reservations to the highest academic institutions at 50% non-academic basis. Apparently this too is enough to earn one a moniker of ultra-conservative. Merit -- what a "radical" "extremist" idea. My goodness, I must obviously be a closet Nazi. 13333@desicritics.org Tue, 13 Jun 2006 20:25:00 EDT http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13318 thanks t. saw the mention in foot notes. 13318@desicritics.org Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:27:01 EDT http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13315 ww: welcome to DC:) "clash..." is mis-attributed to huntington...orientalist bernard lewis started the ball rolling in an essay in the 80s sen -- like any person of conviction would have his detractors 13315@desicritics.org Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:04:01 EDT http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13307 I wd agree about the awards. Especially the ones given for social sciences. More specially the peace prize - it almost always seems to follow US's interests in geo-politics. Irrespective of the quality of thinking of Dr. Sen, the issue of identities in the current world we are living have become important - and therefore need to be understood. in all their nuances and potential. potential for new-constructs. potential for possible unnecessary destruction. as much the west wants to leverge them for dominattion, the row (rest of world) should explore to protect themselves from exploitation of a newer kind. 13307@desicritics.org Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:16:00 EDT http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13306 Balaji,I agree with your views on the present US government exploiting Huntington's ideas to justify their absurd offences.As for the civilizational construct being useful only in the short run, well government policies of the present day are all in the short run.The same people who are the targets in the so called War against Terrorism were prized US allies during the Cold War.The terrorists of today are the freedom fighters of yesterday and vice versa.Dr.Sen does have a point about the civilizational construct being susceptible to misuse by the powers that be.I just wish that his solutions were less idealistic. Sanjay..Before you let loose any such arguments you must keep in mind that all the Great Awards of Today are influenced by lobbies. Be it the Nobel prize,the Oscars or even closer to home, the National Awards.The point is,the lobbies exist because are much sought after.Demand and supply dude. 13306@desicritics.org Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:26:44 EDT http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13304 Amartya Sen is a 3rd-rate thinker. The only reason that he got that Nobel Prize he loves to boast about, is because of the Western backlash against India's nuclear tests. Likewise, after 9/11 the Nobel committee quickly awarded a prize to VS Naipaul. The Nobel committee is as politically biased as they come. 13304@desicritics.org Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:40:55 EDT http://desicritics.org/2006/06/13/055719.php#comment-13302 i did buy dr. sen's book. i wd agree that it is a trite difficult read - by style i mean. i guess i need to complete it:-) thanks for the review. However, the whole construct of 'civilizational clash' by huntington seems to be eruditely mischievous, and can only be seen meaningful in the short run. and hence has popular appeal. i agree with huntington that west tries to push western values as 'universalistic', and his laments that the non-western world seem to reject it at a deeper level. so much for universalism. and his theses seems to help and lay the ground for the current US government's foreign policy and the neo-con cabal's engine of arguments and world-changing designs. for all the erudition, the whole exercise lays bare its intentions - how should west dominate and keep it's domination of the dramatically changing world where non-western countries seem to grow economically and consolidate their military power. like some one said, its economics stupid. and politics at its service. and culture as its construct. 13302@desicritics.org Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:18:14 EDT