[Reader-list] 'Going Muslim' - America after Fort Hood.

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear all,

The last that I remember, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who openly supported  
nationalist terrorism in British India, also wrote a commentary on  
the Bhagavad Gita. You might find his thoughts on the cult of the  
bomb, quite interesting. In his day, he was as reviled as Osama Bin  
Laden by people writing editorials in London.

Many of those who opposed British Rule in India, did so with the  
message of the holy war, ordained by their understanding of the Gita,  
as their inspiration. Naturally, we should assume, following  
Kshmendra;s logic, ( - 'the best (or worst) thing about stereotypes  
(and cliches) is that they fit so often') that the image of the  
fanatical Hindu terrorist with a bomb in one hand and the Gita in  
another is an arresting and authentic way for us to understand Hinduism.

I don't think that this is the most intelligent way to talk about the  
Hindu ways of life, but if you subscribe to an Islamophobic view of  
the world, then, you might as well also subscribe to a Hindu-hating,  
Christian-bashing, Jew-baiting view of the world as well.

And of course, if you take into account the well documented  
complicity of Zen Buddhist orders in war crimes committed by the  
Japanese military in the second world war, then you might even be a  
Buddha-basher as well. Why leave anyone out?

I find this entire discussion on the relative proximity of particular  
religions to violence, utterly, utterly pointless. It neither helps  
us understand violence, nor does it help us understand religion.

regards,

Shuddha



On 15-Nov-09, at 5:00 PM, yasir ~يا سر wrote:

> Dear KK,
>
> Following your logic, I have al-qaeda connections, which i have.  
> nice fit.
> needless to say, I say allah ho akbar quite often.
>
> secondly it wasn't important what Mc Veigh was saying. It was  
> announced on
> the media channels that middle eastern folk had brought down the  FBI
> building. whether McVeigh liked shish kabob or got trained by  
> christian
> militias in lebanon, i dont know. but certainly he was against the US
> government, like the other christian militias in the US at the  
> time, and FBI
> and its operations against religious groups in particular, among  
> which the
> Waco, Texas massacre stood out.
>
> so certainly by pointing out that he was agnostic, one can overlook  
> at why
> the FBI got bombed in the first place. so US actions in Iraq should  
> justify
> al-qaeda and this killing spree in Fort Hodd, but no.
>
> there's also this very american rant:
> http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/american_muslims_to_fort
>
> this is the wrong discussion to have. What is the US doing in  
> Afghanistan
> and Iraq is the right discussion.
>
> best
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 6:59 PM, Kshmendra Kaul  
> <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>  Dear Yasir
>>
>> The best (or worst) thing about stereotypes (and cliches) is that  
>> they fit
>> so often.
>>
>> It is easy to dismiss with a "bs" (presumably Bullshit) without  
>> pondering
>> over possibilities. It shows being in a state of denial and not a  
>> plausible
>> one at that.
>>
>> It is early days and we now have reports of Hasan having been in  
>> touch with
>> Radical Islamists; of Hasan having financial transactions with  
>> Pakistan; of
>> Hasan  in his business card calling himself "SoA" (Soldier of  
>> Allah). Media
>> concoctions? Dont know. But certainly are bits and pieces that  
>> might just be
>> innocent coincidences but makes you wonder.
>>
>> Then of course, all this might be an American-Israeli-Indian  
>> conspiracy.
>>
>> It is interesting that you should mention Tim McVeigh and the  
>> Oklahoma
>> Bombing. As far as I know, McVeigh did not claim it as a strike by a
>> Christian (if McVeigh was one) against Non-Christians.
>>
>> As per one report McVeigh proclaimed himself an agnostic. See:
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jun/11/mcveigh.usa4
>>
>>
>> Kshmendra
>>
>>
>> --- On *Fri, 11/13/09, yasir ~يا سر <yasir.media at gmail.com>*  
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: yasir ~يا سر <yasir.media at gmail.com>
>>
>> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] 'Going Muslim' - America after Fort Hood.
>> To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
>> Date: Friday, November 13, 2009, 12:46 PM
>>
>> what a stinking piece of hate this article is.
>> an exercise in how to make full use of the worst stereotypes.
>>
>> this is just postal. rest is bs. pc or no pc.
>>
>> the FBI building in Oklahoma wasnt bombed by postal workers
>> I'll take it as a sorting mistake.
>>
>> best
>>
>>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with  
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>

Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net