One of the rather horrible side-effects of the media explosion is that it has somehow made India far more intolerant by giving rise to a media-obsessed bunch of loonies. But I never expected this in Kolkata. A great article by Deeptanil Ray over at The Hoot. And the article that 'sparked outrage'. Sometimes I wonder if our lurch towards the 21st century hasn't made us more tribal.
And why is it wrong to criticise Islam?
Think about it, virtually all our lives, across the world have been determined by terror committed by Islamic terror. I know it is not fair to tar an entire religion because of the actions of some loonies, even though elements of the Indian media like nothing better to lump the entire right as the 'Sangh' and generally poke fun at them. Sure, they do things that deserve to poked fun at - Cow Urine - after the fiasco of the $10 laptop did we really need the gora's making fun of us again.
Anyway back to the pointm why is it wrong to criticise Islam? If one even dare question the religion in India they are dubbed 'anti secular' or 'communal'. What? Democracy allows me the right to question something? Sure outlaw imflammatory comments -flamebait in internet speak (sorry for the net analogies) - that is the more resposible blogs have 'comment moderation', but that said this utter intolerance will spark more Muthalik's and Togadia's people who support them. If your inner liberal shudders at that thought, you might be facilitating it because you're the intolerant one.
By arresting the Editor and the Publisher of The Statesman, the commies of India have again exposed themselves as Grade-A hipocrites. But what else did you expect in Commie-dom! While Chinese Commies sup on the opium of money, Bong Commies grow fat on Religion. Didn't all Commie philosophy question both of those things?
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6 comments:
well. i am glad that at least you spoke up against the arrest of the Statesman editor. I am sure you must have written an equally delightful piece on the arrest of an editor in Karnataka.
The tolerance is the best method to arrive to the diversity. The diversity is the best factor to stimulate the developement of a country.
i read your posts from time to time. while many of them are about idle gossip in the industry, i am really pleased that this one addresses a subject that everyone in the media needs to think about.
the issue is not just why a commie government arrested the editor of the statesman or even why the press has remained silent about this.
the issue is why the majority of us in the media profession are afraid of calling a spade and spade -- afraid of taking on Islamic fundamentalism head on, and in exactly the same manner that Hindu fundamantalism should and is being taken on.
We need people to stand up and be counted. Otherwise, we will have more and more events like this one, in which an ostensibly secular government throws its weight behind fundamentalists.
well done and please continue to highlight this and related issues.
This is truly incredible. I actually checked to see in case you have got the sources etc wrong. After all, I wasn;t even sure the Statesman still exists. In Delhi, the silence of the media we get here on the issue is absolutely stupefying. Perhaps, they can also explain away their conduct on the same premise as my uneducated one.
If not, then they really have a big problem on their hands.
I am surprised that you "never expected in Kolkata"..a few years ago,Narendra Modi was stopped from speaking at a eminar he was called as a guest speaker,all the Kolkata was ga-ga over the act(secularism vs. freedom of speech?)....Taslima was thrown out of WB by the Govt.,the state and its leaders remained the paragon of secularism in the eyes of media....Now this case,and no media (including 24 hrs channels)reported it...Indian Media is choosy and guarded by "herd mentality"..they are prisoner of a concept they fancifully call "Secularism" "Freedom of Speech" blah blah..actually they are a bunch of spineless penpusher who are lobbying for a group or other for some money & glamour thrown at them
I posted a query on the Indian media's spineless capituation to the islamic fundamentalists on Vir Sanghvi's site.Needless to say,the question never got published...
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