Big Brother: Of British Presumptousness and Indian Irrelevance

the concluding quote is way off the mark...perhaps his effort to cash in and grab his 15 minutes?

if nothing the attention focussed on racism in britain would have positive results in future ... long after the present participants have faded from memory

If I have misquoted, please correct me. However, Meghnad Desai frequently gets more than 15 minutes of fame so I'd hardly attribute his quote to such desperation.

One hopes, probably in vain IMO, that this shall lead to some long-term introspection in the UK.

I hardly believe that an anglophile like Meghnad Desai is the best person to cite or hold up as an example. The very fact that he uses the antiquated and ridiculous title is an indicator of where his brains and his heart lie.

Who is he to dismiss something when it has upset the sentiments of thousands of people? And who made him the God of other people's recreational habits.

(Pseudo)-intellectuals like him make me sick!

And the Indian citizen, rightly incensed at the treatment given to its citizen should probably pause before criticizing a society much more free and equal than ours.

The government of India should indeed focus its attention on things that it was ELECTED to do - like raising the living standards of its citizens and guarding their safety of life and property - not worrying about the peeved feelings (if any) of a celebrity who chooses to go on a REALITY TV show by choice!

N,
Thanks for your comments. While I don't need to defend Desai or his comments, I'd like to point out that you're using what's called an ad hominem fallacy. Not liking a person isn't the same as proving his/her statement wrong. Anyway, he's experessing opinion, same as you and me, only not doing so anonymously.

Anupallavi, I never say what happened to Shilpa is right? And I haven't heard the argument before that "its ok if done by the west". However, the issue needs to be taken in perspective and our reactions tempered by it. Condemn the issue by all means, but if you do do you also condemn equally more serious domestic issues? If anything, we need to introspect, just as much as the brits, on what this says about our national priorities.

Then again, burning effigies, running blog posts, and getting people worked up about a perceived external enemy is easy. Its a lot tougher to recognize - even admit to - problems amongst ourselves (the brits can't admit to being racist either), and getting the govt to address child malnutrition, provide education, etc.

Exactly! Shilpa went there by choice. She's getting paid for it. The government need not bother about how she felt because someone was mean to her. The government needs to concentrate on other important things

Anupallavi,
Just to clarify, I'd like to point out that while this is a racism issue, its a racism issue IN ENGLAND, not India. I'd understand if there was a media frenzy as we see today, if such an incident happened in India. Or, when the police failed to protect the poor from serial kidnappings and killings. Or if we were outraged by rather than supported the public appearance on TV of a cricketer turned politician and convicted murderer.

Dweep, by calling him an anglophile, I was not trying to express my dislike of him. I was merely pointing out that someone who is the a**-licker of whites can hardly be sensitive about racism.

In terms of the importance given to it by the media, I agree that there are also other issues that deserve as much attention and more. However, I would rather point those out than dismiss this.

Having said that, I don't buy the Shilpa went there by choice argument at all and frankly, find it offensive. This is like saying that if someone faces racial or sexual discrimination at work, they should quit the job!

Absolutely! Just because she went there by choice is no reason to allow racism. The brits should - and are - looking into it.

As for Desai, I think the link between being an anglophile and being impervious to racism is too tenuous to digest. You could say the same of most Indians in that case, since they are constantly enamoured by the west and obsessed with everything white or imported.

Dweep, exactly! A number of posts and comments have pointed out that it is hypocritical to complain of racism when so many Indians are obsessed with fair skin and racist in their own way. Racism is built on the assumption that one race is superior to another. If one is "obsessed with everything white or imported", one is inadvertently and unfortunately being racist--even if in such a case this racism is directed against oneself instead of somebody from another culture.

Dweep,
I'd have to disagree. On one hand India is one of the biggest benefactor of the world shrinking and technology(media included) being an enabler. If so how can it be a 'its a racism issue IN ENGLAND, not India.'. If you want to argue it happened on British soil, so it should be confined to it's shores.., good luck with that. If so why does a cartoon in some european publication cause a world wide commotion ...?

To make it clearer, I agree most of this is much ado about nothing. We are on the same page on that. My issue is with the following sentences..

• And the Indian citizen, rightly incensed at the treatment given to its citizen should probably pause before criticizing a society much more free and equal than ours.


• Lord Meghnad Desai said it best.

Anupallavi, then we agree on the basics, and hopefully can agree to disagree on the specifics :-)

Done ! :)