[Reader-list] Guardian Unlimited: Daring to dream

[sanjay ghosh]

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Dear Keith,

It would be irresponsible to call your original response a 'tirade' as it contained a wealth of information. Without your side of the argument the Rifkin angle does indeed present a skewed picture. You've also pointed out significant tendencies on the list - more consumption and less debate but I suspect it's a reflection of the real world outside.

Now that you've brought it up, I think I first came across that 'US data' in Manufacturing Consent (the Wintoneck/Achbar documentary on Chomsky) but it was kind of lost in the filing cabinets of my brain. One wants to share information but the numbers get hazy, besides often the context is lacking. Big papers usually (though not always!) take care to cross check facts, which lends them a certain gravity and consequently eases one's personal responsibility towards verifying the 'text'.

For a while now, I've been sending 'group mails' to friends and acquaintances; finding a fairly positive response. It's both easier and difficult when you personally know the group. In a large anonymous group one hopes that someone somewhere will find useful information in your postings. Over a period, one smells the 'contours' of the group/list and tailors one's postings accordingly (You can get a 'flavour' of the past as this list is archived and searchable). Happily, Sarai and it's readers-list seems to encompass a fairly broad range of topics. My 'editorial selection' takes into account all the above with a degree of inevitable personal bias. I only hope to enlarge the areas of concern beyond the restrictions that location and media ownership/readership bias, seems to impose upon us.

regards,
Sanjay

Ps - I didn't mean to take this exchange out of the 'list' but the auto REPLY button stimulates a one-sided response (to the sender instead of the list). Quite a few interesting exchanges in the past have similarly fallen out of the list - which otherwise may have contributed to our collective engagements.



On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 Keith Hart wrote :
>Dear Sanjay,
>
>Thank you for your considerate response to my tirade. I now know what you thought was interesting in this article, but I didn't when I read the original piece. I suppose I am an old ideologue who feels uncomfortable about the dissemination of material without any personal judgment attached. Of course I don't think the sarai list should exclusively report Indian sources. But I wondered what a predominantly Indian memership would make of this piece. So I wrote in to see if I could stimulate a response, although I doubt if that will be the case, since it does seem to me that the list is more geared towards the consumption of ideas that their critique (with the exception of some notable threads).
>
>I agree with you that an article might be useful for the factual information it contains and this piece certainly qualifies for that. I already filed it away as a source for something I am writing at present.
>
>Critique doesn't have to be negative and your positive reasons for finding the piece interesting are stimulating in themselves. I live in Paris and work part time in London and work part time in London, so I have quite a stake in the EU project which I agree has many lessons for transnational associations of all kinds. I suppose what got up my nose was the shameless manipulation of a parochial audience by the writer. Like you, I read the western 'liberal' press daily -- the Guardian, Ny Times, Le Monde etc -- and I get much food for thought from them. You are providing a service in offering readers of th elist quick access to material you find interesting. I would like to know more about your editorial principles of selction. But perhaps, if I had been reading the list longer, I would already know that.
>
>All the best,
>
>Keith
>
>
On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 Sanjay Ghosh wrote :
>   >
>   >
>   >Dear Keith,
>   >
>   >I forwarded that article from GuardianUnlimited. I'm delighted by your response. You've presented just the dimension missing from Rifkin's article. Very often an existing text can give shape to concerns one is not confident of articulating properly. Even though Sarai is Delhi based, the readers-list members are 'spread over many parts of the world', I don't see the merit of it assuming an exclusively 'Indian' character. 
>   >
>   >The fact that the Guardian also 'peddles' has important implications in the media sphere. The Guardian which calls itself a 'trust run paper' (to distinguish itself from the Murdoch empire) has assumed a 'holier than thou' stature with it's intention to build 'a ring around the world'. Evaluating a presumed stature is very important. 
>   >
>   >On the other hand there is an enormous hostility in the UK tabloid press towards the EU. Considering tabloid press' bonhomie with big business, it's necessary to understand the complete implications of this issue. 
>   >
>   >Little pools of 'trade zones' are developing all over. SAARC, ASEAN or ECOWAS wouldn't be here without the example of EU. The character these 'pacts' are assuming is extremely debate-worthy. Implications on representative government, culture, local environment, etc. are very serious. 
>   >
>   >Assuming that these economic zones might replace the present political fora, their examination becomes essential. Particularly because 'trade pacts' are famous for their 'closed door consultations'. Whether considering low voter turnout in European parliamentary elections or the extent to which trade pact organisers go in order to hide from the public - the issue needs highlighting. Public Domain is a core concern of Sarai.
>   >
>   >Lastly an article may not be useful for it's conclusions only, fragments of data can be illuminating. The enormous longing among the Indian youth for a US visa suggests that certain facts about the US (as pointed out by Rifkin) aren't exactly well known.
>   >
>   >regards,
>   >Sanjay Ghosh
>   >
>   >
>   >