[Reader-list] what is to be done?

[prakash ray]

History is fond of her grandchildren, for it offers them the marrow of the
bones, which the previous generation had hurt its hands in breaking.
- Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky

Dear all,

This is not a response to Aarti's post on the Digest, vol-54, issue-74 in
the strictest sense of the word, just some random reflections (not
reasoning, I swear). I am amazed to see that someone like her who support
all kind of freedoms advocating to filter some posts. The P(o)apa of
compueter revolution Bill Gates says that everyone is equal in the virtual
world. But the man himself uses copyrights acts and other machanisms to
prevent people from enjoying the digital revolution. What I want to say is
that claiming to be in favour of reason, democracy, freedom etc. is one
thing and saying that some posts donot deserve to be responded to and should
be filtered is another thing, and both are exact opposite to each-other.

Yes, some posts may be outrageous, illogical, irrational etc like those of
Radhikarajen, Tara Prakash etc, but one should not ignore them. If one
doesn't like to respond or read, it is his or her choice but the posts can
be used as a source to study the particular trends or politics or points.
Remember, for long, the right-wingers were ignored by the intellegentia and
one fine day, they were at our door-steps (and still they are there).

Anyway, it is good to see Comrade Lenin's name in the digest after so-long
(though he had been mentioned meaninglessly). Aarti has provided me an
opportunity to mention one of my favourite novels "What Is To Be Done"
written by Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky. The novel was published in
1863. Chernyshevsky was behind bars and was only 35 when he complited the
work. Many and many revolutionaries was inspired by this novel and
Chernyshevsky's
thoughts and Comrade Lenin was among them. It is believed that he named his
famous book after Chernyshevsky's novel which was his favourite book.

Thankfully, someone thought beyond "To be or Not To Be". Let us try to see
beyond binary or binaries.

regards,
Prakash