Vishal Sagarwal:
>If some journal in India were to be published by a person accused of
>association with an ideology propagating genocide of Muslims, all
>the 'scholars' of the west would have expressed their desire
>(directly or indirectly) that he (and contributors to his journal)
>should be lynched and ostracized. But apparently, different standards
>apply, if you are from Ireland, N. Ireland, Germany, Sweden, France,
>Italy........
Hmm. I wonder what this above exercise in hypothetical thinking
serves to show and who it is meant for. "Scholar" seems to be
underhandedly used here to portray Europeans of non-Indian heritage
or of non-Muslim faith as incapable of rational thinking and
prone to quick-lynching xenophobia.
Yes, what a clever strategy: Fighting against stereotypes by
creating yet more stereotypes! Why, that's such a smashing idea
that I've been inspired to fight my cold by running around outside
buck naked in the crisp, morning sea breeze.
>The world is still an unfair place. And people are still not
>comfortable with diversity of human existence apparently.
Yet more generalisations, this time using the term "people"
who are by no means as comfortable with diversity as Vishal
as long as this diversity does not include the Northern Irish,
Germans, Swedes, French or Italians who, as we all know, love to
lynch Indians who publish ideological journals.
>We are already fed up by one quickie Indologist named Steve Farmer
>[...]
>We do not need another one like him.
Here the keyword has changed to "we", implying but not
substantiating the existence of a mysterious group-think collective
which coincidentally shares the exact same thoughts as
Mr Vishal Sagarwal. Or perhaps, "we" is used here as the
self-honorative first person singular.
>I hope to continue contributing on constructive matters in future
>and hope that the list does not degenerate, and maintains its high
>standards.
And I do hope that catchy keywords like "scholar", "people", "we",
"we the people" or "we the scholarly people" are no longer
carelessly dropped into text all in order to artificially add life
to a decomposing thought.
Afterall, we scholars hate when people do that. :)
(Hehe, okay, I had my fun... Carry on, carry on.)
- love gLeN
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