Comments on A Yell from Outer Space: Deadlock in Disturbia

Dear Bobby,

Very well articulated by you! I...

2008-12-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

Dear Bobby,

Very well articulated by you! It was shocking to see the terror tale that night. The India-England ODI had just ended at Cuttack when I flipped to the news channel....did not sleep that night as I watched the unleashing of terror live.

Well, we can legitimately blame our Government and leaders for their failures but not to a great extent. After all, they are products of our society and we have collectively failed in maintaining ethical standards; morality; respect for the rule; et al.

We have to get out of our caste, religion, linguistic and regional madness for any redemption. But I don't agree to the abolition of religion because atleast the power of the unknown keeps the mind deferential. Remember, even law fails to curb unlawful acts.

Blacksheep, making a statement like "it is not as ...

2008-12-08T18:57:00.000-08:00

Blacksheep, making a statement like "it is not as simple/clear/logical..as math or physics or clearly defined laws" is precisely what I mean by us abandoning religion without knowing it. Religions have a simple purpose in life - to give you a set of principles to live by. Institutionalisation of relgion has resulted in a number of seemingly "illogical" concepts being imbibed in it, but at its core, religion (and I know only about hinduism here) has considerable logic and philosophy in it. My statement merely implies that form your own interpretation and understanding of what religion is before calling the person who believes, fanatic or illogical. I think our (india)society under the guise of progress is weeding out any defined sense of morality, be it based on religion A or B.

2008-12-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

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well written bobby. good literature but again i ca...

2008-12-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

well written bobby. good literature but again i cant help feeling helpless groping in the dark for a solution to this mess.

blame is all in retrospect. cant imagine how ppl can stop this from happening proactively. pak as a country is at a risk of being a failure state like Afghanistan and to me is a bigger worry for india and the world than to its own citizens.
Lot of issues like terrorism etc can be resolved if inequalities in the world can be reduced. massively generic statement but i think it makes sense.
if these 20 yr olds had a college to go to or something meaningful to look forward to in terms of career or family, they wouldnt risk potentially what could have been a decent future. So, if ppl can individually do something to reduce inequality in this world, it will be the first and the most significant step towards solving a lot of these social evils.
my 2 cents.
DV

also cant fault Captain molecule's logic on participation and responsibility as a generic theme. But hey who ever "understood" religion. Even if someone did, there are a million others who understood it differently which means it is not as simple/clear/logical/universally-acknowledged as math or physics or clearly defined laws.
So, captain's extrapolation of the generic theme to religion can be questioned. or maybe i dont see the point because i myself dont understand religion. its almost like calculus and limits kind of a situation.
anyways, you all have a good week ahead.

Participation to me is being responsible for yours...

2008-12-05T08:38:00.000-08:00

Participation to me is being responsible for yourself and your actions in the society. That means you stop honking for no reason while driving on the roads, pay the fines you get for violating the traffic rules, and not stiff the poor vegetable vendor out of those 5 bucks that is his margin on his goods. That means we stop calling ourselves atheists without understanding religion, and stop calling ourselves hindus and muslims without knowing what these religions stand for. Means you stop cribbing about how difficult it is to vote in the country and actually make an effort to cast a vote. Means you treat the people around you with some dignity, whether they are your friends or your drivers or maids.

I'm too am disappointed by what the country has become, but its not because of politicians, but because of people like us. Amazing how our friends and families back home have no qualms blaming politicians for the mess when they themselves show such drastic moral degradation in their daily lives.

Exactly buddy - which is why I dislike people comp...

2008-12-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

Exactly buddy - which is why I dislike people complaining about politicians. Half of us don't vote for some reason or the other, and the half that does has not much choice.
What is your definition of participation? Living IN India, paying taxes to the Indian government, or bowing to its tradition?

Balaram, Krishna's brother had refused to particip...

2008-12-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

Balaram, Krishna's brother had refused to participate in the Mahabharata, the epic war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. The war saw many instances of deviation from the ethical rules of engagement embraced by warriors of that period. Among them, was the notorios slaying of Duryodhan, the heir to the Kaurava dynasty by Bheem, the Pandava who was younger only to Yudhishtir.

"With the luxury of your non-participation, comes the loss of your right to judge."

These profound words were uttered by Krishna to his brother Balaram, when Balaram raised exception to his use of deceit in orchestrating Duryodhan's slaying by Bheem.

Remember bob, you and I don't participate in this society called India. Yet we reserve our right to judge what it has and what it will become.

Yes you are right about the US having warned India...

2008-12-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

Yes you are right about the US having warned India. Even the State department here has confirmed that. My hunch is that they must have warned India about a 100 other things also and our 'intelligence' must have taken time to look into each warning. But by then, it has been too late. According to Kasab, they had initially planned to carry out the attack on 27th Sep - 2 months back!

Anyways, I respect your view that things in moderation are healthy. But I do believe that religion is an exception. It's a fictional philosophy and thus there is no question of moderation or extremism. They are the same. Take any evil or war in history (don't quote me Mahabharat or Ramayana - those are unverifiable myths) and at the root of it lies religious hatred. Not women, cows or unclaimed islands.

You belong to the majority of moderates, but there will always be the extremists in all religions. Even if you were to round them all up and blow them up with dynamite, that will trigger twice the number of extremists from amongst your moderates. That cycle is never going to end unless religion is eradicated. Small pox was nothing compared to this.

But I know it won't be - not in my lifetime atleast.

Finally something that is written from heart!
...

2008-12-02T04:20:00.000-08:00

Finally something that is written from heart!

Absolutely loved the way you wrote it. I believe that the aspect of blaming a part of it to religion is an over stretch though. I strongly blame "regional communalism" rather than religion. If it was not religion then it will be women or land or anything that men feel strongly about and history can vouch for that. Anything in moderation is healthy and so is the same for religious beliefs but again "moderation" is a relative term.

Apart from all this, I find it very surprising to read that US had "warned" India regarding the attacks- did they? And yes, the icing on the political drama cake is the fact that Thackrey camp reportedly sent sms that all those people who lost their lives were "Marathis"- Now that's an example of cynical and provocative crap promoting regionalism even in tougher times.

I can't wait for the current generation of politicians to fade and welcome some educated and progressive people as leaders.

No matter what- The incident was shocking and I am still not sure if it could have been avoided. The response of Calcutta anti-terrorist squad/cops to the security issue for Kolkata was classic though!!