http://desicritics.org/ Superior South Asian bloggers on Culture, Media, Politics, Sport, Business, and Technology. en Copyright 2006 by the authors Thu, 4 Dec 2008 23:03:06 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss BC custom software http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346762 Sandeep, Any response? Trust not deep in the sands are you? make it simple, such that even i can grasp it. 346762@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 23:03:06 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346756 CS "how exactly any religious fundmentalism can be of good to anyone." All religions have fundamentals on which their theologies rest. So having fundamentals in itself does not make any religion good of bad. One has to look at the fundamentals of religious theology to arrive at a value judgement if those fundamentals are good or bad. Socialism and communism - they both are ideologies, but that is where similarities end - just because both are ideologies and one ideology is bad, it does not automatically make the other ideology to be same or bad. Such generalization would be intellectually dishonest Religions are not only different, they can also be opposite in their world views - thus all fundamentalisms are not really same or equivalent. All religions are not fundamentalists. Some religions are actually anti-fundamentalists. They might take aggressive postures to defend against expansionism of fundamentalist creeds - but to lump such religions also as equally fundamentalist or equally bad is intellectual dishonesty. Its alike equating both secularism and theocracy to be bad just because they both are locked in a pitched battle against each other. If a fundamentalist religion is bad, how can its opposite be also called fundamentalist or bad? Pseudo-secularism is built on such intellectual dishonesty and fraudulent equivalency and relativism. Fundamentalist and jehadi creeds have become the pre-requisites for its ideology without which it can not survive - so proponents of Pseudo-secularism are found shamelessly defending and appeasing them. More they are exposed and threatened, more they are found hiding behind very fundamentalists and jehadis. 346756@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 21:15:46 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346732 Sandeep can you expand a bit on how exactly any religious fundmentalism can be of good to anyone. (OK, you talk of hindu fundamentalism, so you can choose that as an example, but any other religion would suffice too) Varsha's Bhosle's mother is a great singer!! 346732@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:32:03 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346730 Sandeep, from the list, I particularly admire UR Ananthamurthy. BTW, "Indian Media" is also on your list of India's "most loathsome". As compared to Pakistani media :-) And what particular loathsome activity has Jean Dreze indulged in? And why is Brinda Karat missing? Because she is actually very bright, intelligent and articulate in addition to being super attractive? I suggest you expand the list. Why for example am I not included?? (Feed my ego Sandeep, include me!) 346730@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:25:11 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346729 CS ""interesting list of the so-called "pseudo-secularist hall of shame". i admire most of the folks listed there!" Get some of them to contribute to this blog. We need more rigorous defenders of terrorists, jehadis and missionaries. 346729@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:07:33 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346723 interesting list of the so-called "pseudo-secularist hall of shame". i admire most of the folks listed there! as they say, "one man's meat..." wondering about the details of the "personal journey" mentioned at the outset? Was it from being an eminently reasonable person to the descent to such what-shall-i-call-it? ""That there's something really deep behind the dreaded Hindu Fundamentalism.""? 346723@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 13:51:12 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346719 Treason of the learned Gautam Mukherjee "key reason for this disgraceful vulnerability is not gross intelligence failure, sluggish response, logistical inadequacy, ill-equipped constabulary or a less than high-tech armed force, but that same debilitating dogma that saps our political will. And in a functioning democracy, political will is of paramount importance. It is political will and firm direction that has kept terrorist strikes in the singular-and-never-again category in the UK and the US. And it is the lack of this self-same political will that is responsible for the frequent gouging of India's soft underbelly" " The UPA version of twisted reality demands all Indians to shoulder their responsibility towards this permanently aggrieved minority community, even as it harbours, aids, abets and cheers terrorism in mosque, chaupal and home alike. We should simply mop up the blood of innocents, bury and cremate the dead, mouth platitudes for those martyred in our defence, used up like so much cannon fodder, and then return to normality without demur. And wait for the next round of retribution from 'justifiably angry' jihadis" Full article http://www.dailypioneer.com/138560/Treason-of-the-learned.html 346719@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 11:11:48 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346716 DL Yes. Indian media is very predictable and its templates are well-defined and so obvious. 346716@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:23:24 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346714 DL: ""Not sure of the media, but Kerty has his template ready"" yep, predictable as ever. 346714@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:27:55 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346712 Not sure of the media, but Kerty has his template ready. Anyways, the media has already done the story on faulty equipment, improperly trained personnel and pref treatment to foreigners. 346712@desicritics.org Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:02:42 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346670 Media chose to portray the images of heroism, sacrifices, solidarity, unity, business-like precision how crisis was resolved. What would have been the coverage like if BJP was in power? The coverage would have focussed on the following: 1) How police/NSG appratus was late, lazy, inept and how it cost lives - the testimonials about that would have saturated the live coverage 2) Media would have looked for and focussed on stories where people got killed/hurt in fire or by bullets due to negligence or delay by police/NSG/firemen. We would have been shown the gut-wrenching grief of their relatives and the blame game 3) Media would have given us expert speculations on how terrorists could have been caught at various points during the 3day siege but for the lapses from police/NSG 4) How hostages and hotel guests were mistreated by hotel staff, police, security personnel and how government did little to set up first aid, accommodation, counselling, help. We would have eye-witness account of how they goofed it all up 5) How victims and survivors at the Hotel were given preferential treatment while those at VT station were ignored. How foreigners were given preferential treatment over locals. 6) What did burocracies within security apparatus do and did not do - their lapses would have been the main focus of live coverage. 7) Who are the victims, their intimate profile to humanize them rather than being lumped as abstract collateral damage and victim count, how each victim died or got hurt, what could have been done to save each of that life etc would have been focus of 24/7 live coverage 8) How deficient were the armaments used by police and NSG, who ordered these armaments, various procurement/money scams would have been uncovered to put the key people in the government on the dock Indian media specializes in creating customized coverage of such events depending on which party is in power - One can see the sharp contrast how it covers events under congress rule vs BJP rule. 346670@desicritics.org Wed, 3 Dec 2008 12:06:08 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346663 Chandra: ""Time for a fox news equivalent in India."' Eeeeeh! I threw up and now my notebook is wrecked. You have the blood of my computer on your hands :-) 346663@desicritics.org Wed, 3 Dec 2008 10:35:17 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346662 Swabhiman: "Hindus (including Jains and Budhists) who are tired of pseudo-secular governments and media are invited to join Swabhimaan - a movement launched to unite Hindus of India and protect their interests." ?? I thought _The Hindu_ newspaper was doing precisely that? :-) Why divide attention? 346662@desicritics.org Wed, 3 Dec 2008 10:30:26 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-346648 Hindus (including Jains and Budhists) who are tired of pseudo-secular governments and media are invited to join Swabhimaan - a movement launched to unite Hindus of India and protect their interests. For more details please visit http://swabhimaan2008.blogspot.com/2008/11/om-ganseshay-namah-om-shivay-om-durgay.html STRENGTHEN US WITH YOUR PARTICIPATION 346648@desicritics.org Wed, 3 Dec 2008 06:14:35 EST http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-171319 Atlantean I donot like Shourie (seller of the nation) and Tavleen singh (elite pompous bs).....I would add swapan dasgupta and Chandan mitra to your list. Daily Pioneer is a true blooded nationalist newspaper (if that is a description). I am also not in agreement about Shekhar Gupta's Express, i would classify it as another centre of left newspaper. cheers 171319@desicritics.org Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:39:47 EDT http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-171309 What you say is true Sandeep. The media has a stranglehold on public discourse in India. What is most unfortunate is that the entire English language media has more or less the same ideological orientation. This makes the media monotonous as we hear almost the same opinions everywhere. The presence of only a few ideological orientations also prevents critical debate. Those who wish to take different opinions are denounced as communal or anti poor (of course without going into the merits of the arguments, and the self declared guardians of secularism dont like to be bothered with facts.) Things have come to this because of two reasons. One is the tendency of the average Indian to lap up everything that is said by the people in suits on tv news channels without critical evaluation. The other is the stranglehold that the self appointed guardians of secularism have on the Indian media. These individuals ensure that dissenting voices like that of Bhosle and Arun Shourie are shunted out (facts are secondary of course, truth can wait, ideology is first, why be bothered with facts?) Fortunately, we have papers like Indian Express which are committed to objective journalism (with gutsy and truth speaking columnists like Tavleen Singh, Balbir Punj, Sudheendra Kulkarni etc.) We need more. Who is going to come up with an Indian avatar of Fox News or Jihad Watch? The time is now. 171309@desicritics.org Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:39:29 EDT http://desicritics.org/2007/04/28/010943.php#comment-171122 Time for a fox news equivalent in India. May be I will start one. :-) 171122@desicritics.org Sat, 28 Apr 2007 01:25:26 EDT