Saturday, September 4, 2010

Fwd: [india-unity] Paranoia



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Xavier William <varekatx@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [india-unity] Paranoia
To: india-unity@yahoogroups.com, keraladd <KeralaDD@yahoogroups.co.uk>


I think it was Thomas Paine that said that those who nothing to boast of boast of their heritage. Just as boasting of my heritage is meaningless I do not see why I should be ashamed of my heritage either. My heritage is not of my choice and so I am neither proud or ashamed of being an Indian just as I am neither proud or ashamed of being born a Catholic. Such accidents of birth like culture, religion, language and other ethnic factors are of no consequence. Should I have hated India if I had been born in Pakistan or should I have hated Christians if I were born a Muslim? I think being human is more important than other ethnic factors of an accidental nature.
Ever since birth or even before it, we are conditioned to many things. Much of it is very useful and in those factors that are useful such as in technology we are allowed to change our views when evidence warrants it. Thus in the past most Indians were reluctant to send girls to school. But now things have changed. Similarly we do not cultivate our fields as our forefathers did nor do we get on with joint families as our parents and grand parents did. But there are other matters of consequence such as religion wherein we are not allowed to change our views in spite of evidence to the contrary. Politics is another field where changes are not accepted as readily as changes in technology. Patriotism is something that has been drummed into our heads from childhood with millions of times or repetition and which we are not supposed to question. According to me, too much of patriotic favor is as dangerous as too much of religious favor. I think first and foremost we are humans and being Indians or Christians come in only at second or third place. All human beings, irrespective of nationality or religion, have much the same aspirations, and I do not see why Kashmiris or any others should sacrifice their aspirations to protect the aspirations of Baluchis or Pattans or Malayalis. Last month our PM had talked of autonomy for Kashmir. It is amtter of time before Kashmiris are given some sort of autonomy, and once you give them autonomy there is no stopping them asking for more. But that is their right.
Be that as it may, the subject-line of my posting was paranoia. We have been hearing state propaganda from our childhood that external powers are jealous of India and are just waiting to take us over. I worked for some 8 years in the gulf and met many Pakistanis. Their state propaganda too has been telling them all along that external forces especially India and the West are jealous of them and are just waiting to attack Pakistan. I guess every country in the world the world puts out the same paranoid propaganda so that they can have large but idle standing armies, so that those in power can buy large caches of unnecessary arms and pocket the commissions.  In fact commissions from arms-deals form a very good source of funds for ruling parties the world over and how can they purchase arms unless they whip up paranoia among the people. What is more the defense departments of all countries are well protected from transparancy in the name of national security.
The whole point of my posting was why should anyone including the Pakistan or Taliban or China should be interested in taking over India when there are far more attractive propositions like Brunei or the Arabian Gulf Gulf. Thus it is much easier and profitable for the Taliban to take over the oil-rich countries surrounding Afghanistan, countries like Iran or some countries of the erstwhile USSR, than to take over India. So this paranoiac hype about the necessity to defend India at the expense of the poor in India is going to be suicidal in the long run. It is because of unnecessary diversion of budget allocations from welfare schemes to defense that Naxalism, sons-of-the-soil and separatist movements are springing up all over. As Machavelli said, the strength of a nation lies in the welfare of its citizens and not in the size of its armies and the  stockpiles of its weapons.
Bhasker Menon and others have been boasting that we have the money and the strength to finish Pakistan off and thus solve the Kashmir issue.   The US also thought that its money and power was supreme and could solve issues and so they attacked Vietnam and then Afghanistan and then Iraq. The result is there for all to see. The US is almost a has-been as far as economy goes and it is matter of time before it becomes a has-been on the military front also. They say that the wise learn from the experiences of others while ordinary folks learn from their own experiences while fools never learn at all. I wonder where India belongs.
In conclusion I reiterate that it is humanism that is going to win the war whether in Kashmir or elsewhere though armies may win many a battle.


On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 11:56 PM, Najid Hussain <najidhussain@yahoo.com> wrote:
 

I have seen a lot of those who have low opinion of themselves, their origin, their country, but Xavier, my dear, you beat them all! :-) JK

But seriously, think for a moment about all the wars that we have fought and the territories we have lost. Then think about Mumbai attacks, Parliament attack, and many other similar terrorist attacks. And then ask yourself: Why?

Either we have one heck of a 'kidney' others are after, or your thesis - that India is a country with a begging bowl in hand and has nothing to lose - is faulty. And in either case, we need to protect what is worth protecting - the property and the people.

Najid

PS. Also don't forget India is an emerging super power in the region. We have a lot to lose. The last thing we want is Talibans at our doorsteps.
 
Najid Hussain
(302) 834-5426



From: Xavier William <varekatx@gmail.com>
To: india-unity@yahoogroups.com; keraladd <KeralaDD@yahoogroups.co.uk>
Sent: Thu, September 2, 2010 11:50:32 PM
Subject: [india-unity] Paranoia

 

Many like Bhasaker Menon have been extrapolating things to irrational proportions. Thus they say that if Kashmirfalls Pakistan/Taliban/Muslims will take over bit by bit of India starting with Punjab and will ultimately conquer TN and Kerala. This amounts paranoia of  psychotic proportions whipped up by State propaganda.
I do not see why we should be so paranoid about Pakistan. Why cant taliban/Islam from invading us from Bengladesh or Nepal? Nepal is Hindu and yet Nepal has been anti-India on many counts and even now most of counterfeit notes from Pakistan reach India though Nepal. So our fixation on Islam and Pakistan is unfounded.
Go to any place in India and we can see beggars, indigents and drunks sleeping on street-sides and shop fronts. They are perfectly safe because they have nothing to lose except may be their kidneys. We boast that India is now economical powerhouse. But if we take the per-capita income India is one of the poorest countries in the world especially if we leave out African continent out of the reckoning. So our fears about being taken over by neighbors is as ridiculous or psychotic as  a beggar fearing about being robbed. In fact there are many rich but defenseless countries in the world and yet no one bothers or dares to take them over. Thus there is Brunei with perhaps the highest per-capita income in the world. For nations like Indonesia or China, Brunei is just a walk-over and yet no one has attacked it or taken it over. Even the oil-rich Gulf can be taken over by the West if they put their minds to it. So our fears that everyone is waiting to pounce on India is nothing but the ravings of a madman. India is not worth the trouble when there are other countries which are far better endowed than we are and we ever will be. So Indians of the world take courage, we have nothing to lose but our kidneys.

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Xavier William |


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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

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