Noman's Land

You heard me right!!!

I am just sick’n’tired of a bunch of Jackasses hijacking my religion and my culture. Not satisfied with just hijacking it they also want to represent me!! And I am not the only one affected by it, almost all cultures and faiths seem to have been taken over by bigots!

I watched the evolution debate rage on in the American education system and didn’t say anything ’cause I wasn’t affected by it but when a bunch of people start messing around with my culture and history in the American education system, I got serious issues with it.

To give you a little background on this issue … It all started with the review of the history syllabus in the California state education system. A bunch of people took it upon themselves to correct some “misconceptions” about ancient Hindu practices in India and rewrite a little bit of history according to them. There were some valid corrections to be made but they used this chance to create their own version of history.

The fact that this effort was led by a bunch of RSS (Rashtriya swayamsevak Sangh) off shoots damages their credence in my sight. Joined together by a group of organisations that we would call “communal” in my country, they decided to make merry. And to support their arguments they were supported by bogus expert indologists.

So how did this bunch outrage me? They denied the caste system as it existed/exists, denied that it was hereditary, denied that the ‘untouchables‘ ever existed/exist in India (sic). They want the kids to learn that the untouchables were called so because day performed the dirty jobs and not vice versa.

Again they didn’t just stop there … they want the kids to learn that the Aryans were the real residents of Ancient India (sic), which negates the widely accepted theory that the Dravidians occupied most of ancient India before the ‘Aryan’ Indo-European race came and settled in the north of India. I should know being one of the Dravidian! Why should we(Indians) ask American kids to learn any different when we are taught the Aryan invasion theory in Indian schools(If you do a google search now, you would see that most of the top results call it a myth or question it).

To those who are not so intimately connected to this development it might not be a big deal but it did touch a raw nerve in me. The fact that they tried to use subversion to get their point of view across by setting up a pseudo website pretending to care about the welfare of the untouchables. The site looks innocent enough now but they didn’t start out that way. Most of the links on their website pointed to communal groups that usually took advantage of them until a research group decided to take notice.

It takes a lot to push me over the edge, obiviously this was not the only event that singularly pushed me over the limit. The protests over the cartoons are still going on.

I wasn’t really going to get into that controversy (for fear of my life ..ha ha) but CrackerJack did give it a shot. What I see in all this is just plain hypocracy. The newspapers claim that they want to prove a point about freedom of speech by printing the cartoons, while the selfsame newspaper refused to print a satiric portrayal on Christ sometime back. The west seems to be wondering what all the fuss is about but talk to them about abortion and watch the violence erupt. The mullahs issue fatwas while teleevangelist issues assassination lists (But ofcourse in the west they apologize).

The Christians protest anything that goes against their definition of family values, the Muslim imams add fuel to the fire by adding pictures that were not even published and go against their own code by carrying around the picture of the prophet. The Muslims don’t want anybody to make fun of their prophet but will make fun of the Jews and the holocaust. The Hindus will not let valentine’s day corrupt their culture (Do you know where Kamasutra comes from?), they will send their sons and daughters to America and wear Nikes and Reaboks, but will blame the west for its own decadence. The Jews, well they just don’t care about anybody but themselves, ’cause we are all gentiles. The Christians, they can’t understand jihad, but the crusades?? That’s another story.

They believe that they are blessed for all that they do, some expecting 70 virgins, some hoping for a higher position in their rebirth and some hoping to get a golden mansion, but they don’t relise that they are “Goddamned”

So where does it leave us all who really want to follow our creed says ?? Somewhere in between

Matthew 5:44 – But I(Jesus) say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…

P.S: A partial list of violent reactions

Its finally time for my second post. Couldn’t let Ulysses have all the fun!!!

And straightway music and singing beguile the immortals. All the Muses together, voice answering heavenly voice, Hymn the undying gifts of the gods and the sufferings of men, Who, enduring so much at the hands of the gods everlasting, Live heedless and helpless, unable to find for themselves Either a cure for death or a bulwark against old age. –Homeric Hymn to Apollo 3.188-192

This past few days one of the major news story seems to about cartoons. You wouldn’t figure out how much some damage some cartoons can cause. I have seen some tasteless cartoons but this seems to have really caused a nuclear explosion. Though this doesn’t seem to be an instant explosion but a slow reacting one as the timeline suggests.

For those of you who have been out of this world for the last few days, this is all about cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed that appeared in some Danish dailies. I was going to link to a different site, but apparently the guy decided to take it off ’cause of quite a number of threats he received (As a side note, if somebody needs a death treat it is this person) And for those of you who don’t know, a portrait of the prophet is a sacrilege to a Muslim (I know because my friend dates one).

It would have gone below the radar(who cares about the Danes!) had not a Norwegian paper reprinted it. And from being a news article it became a fight between religious sensitivity and the freedom of expression, ultimately turning into a Arab world versus the west.

Freedom of expression, like any freedom is not absolute in its boundaries. I have been mad by a lot of things that have been done using it. Some thing that really pissed me off was the
last temptation of Christ. I was so mad at the director who decided to make it and all the people who were involved in it, and I cheered when it bombed at the box office. But one day as I was discussing with some friends about some of the difficulties faced by Christians in some communist and middle eastern countries, it just dawned on me just how one sided I had been. Sure enough I was mad at the people but then that is democracy for good or for bad.

If I were to declare war on all people who did not hold my belief (Just like the church did in the middle ages), I have no reason to live in a democracy, might as well as live in a theocracy. Being born in this culture, I am more predisposed to be take it in its stride than somebody from a totally different belief system. I am also less likely to be militant about my religious believes than somebody from the east (Most of us just worship money!), and that is when it gets out of hand.

This controversy is as much about the freedom of expression as it is about plain common sense. I am all for freedom, but isn’t there something called overkill? The media is as much to blame for this as anybody else in this. The other thing that really is funny to me is how people in so many different places of the world have taken it upon themselves to show their anger even though they had more pressing and important matters at hand.

Looks like the European papers are not taking it lying down (They don’t care able their circulation in the middle east) atleast for now. They maybe stoking the fire or getting their revenge for restrictions that the church put on them during the middle ages. Maybe its time that the religiously convicted lived with the fact that they can’t just kill the detractors.

So what is my take on this … just get on with life and live your own faith, without forcing somebody else to live yours!! If I wanted to issue fatwas then I have a long list in my hand, unfortunately so do the people that I want to issue those fatwas against.

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it. –Voltaire

Noman's Land

IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED, YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION

Goddamned!!!

Of Gods and men