I beg to differ. The VT does deserve this because as someone pointed out in Shanti’s blog comments, it is not enough to ignore her invectives in the hope that she’ll stop. She’ll stop only if the attention she gets today is significantly diluted; I don’t see that happening in now or in the near future. Therefore I see it worth my while to condemn her inanities at every turn so that *someone* may wake up to what she says.

Am not going to get into a counter-argument again - there’s a long debate on at Shanti’s blog and my views have been very clear (i hope) there and at my blog post about it.

Having said that, i must say i am shocked at this statement you make - “I don’t want any community to be wiped off, but only the ideology that inspires such terrorist acts. If people are made to see the reality of the ideology that inspires humans to kill fellow humans, the world be a much better, safer, and peaceful place.” - an ideology exists only if there is a community to carry it forward - are you then suggesting (even tho u say you aren’t) that wipe out the community that lives by it? Can you spell out this ideology for me please? Could it be something to do with Islam ? Or liberal as opposed to right wing ? Perhaps thats where i got the pro-Bush, pro-BJP feeling.

The world at large is appalled (with the exception of a few countries)at his unprovoked actions in Iraq. Unfortunately, not enough or not powerful to stop him then.

Maybe next time ? I hope.

I’d seriously urge you, just for one moment to step into the shoes of an Iraqi - and feel these lines you quoted :

“To save a family we need to sacrifice a person
To save a village we need to sacrifice a family
To save a nation we need to sacrifice a village”

If that makes the Iraqi a terrorist … then Bush and Co are the same don’t you think ? And they aren’t even saving their own nation … nor do they have the mandate to save anyone else’s.

I’ve said this at Shanti’s blog - will say it again - sometimes our biases and stereotypes and things we have been fed since childhood do not allow us to see another’s point of view … and sometimes they make us forget our dignity as humans, one to another.

Don’t fall into that trap Sandeep…. it will only breed more hatred, lead people to operate from fear rather than love.

naah.. shes a humbug alright.

However, all this comes later, the first step that one may take is to recognize that there is a problem.

The solutions - containment/engagement/confrontation/concessions and so on can come later. Doing nothing about it, while the problem grows and grows and grows to reach proportions where an enormous amount of harm comes to all of us, is a wrong choice.

Lest you post another question to draw me out the problem I am talking about is political Islam or the temporal authority that Islam excercises over its adherents and the problem of integration of Islamic communities into western/eastern multicultural societies.

I think AR and her commentary, her way of thought, the ideology that she represents, stops (some) people from recognizing that there is a problem in the first place. Her world view is just as jaundiced as the targets of her diatribes.

By the same token should Hinduism as an ideology be wiped out because of a handful of militant right-wing fundamentalists ? Ayodhya is an example. Godhra another.

And Rahul … Christianity too since it tries to convert people to its ideology ?

The Nazis tried it with the Jews and failed ….

Or Sudeep is it militancy and terrorism as an ideology that you feel needs to be wiped out ? Whether it is among its followers within the realm of Islam, or Hinduism, or even George Bush?

Because all who subscribe to the above “ideologies” fall into the same group of “sinners” - those that take innocent lives, those that show intolerance and adopt violent methods against its detractors.

What a world !

The Mahatma’s eyebrows would be at the back of his head if he heard this.

>> So Islam is the problem and needs to be attacked and wiped out as an ideology or religion - is that what you are saying ?

Read what I said carefully, I might have issues with Islam at a spiritual or metaphysical level, but thats a private matter and nobody elses concern. I and a lot of other people have issues with political Islam, and the temporal authority it excercises over many of its adherents. It is a problem that needs to be recognized, what an appropriate solution or process might be is a whole other question.

>> militancy and terrorism as an ideology

exactly who are these people who have militancy and terrorism as an ideology ? People may have extreme views, but I dont think anyone holds “militancy and terrorism” as goals or ideals in themselves. They are methods to achieve those goals, whatever they might be. Recently, a lot of people have moved to the thought that war itself is a way of terrorizing people of one state by another.

Having said that, I have problems with both the goals *and* the methods adopted by political Islam - where it affects my own life and where it affects the lives of my muslim co-citizens.

Personally, I find war distasteful, but I dont have such a vehement and fundamental disagreement with the ultimate goals, ideals or the thought process that drives a decision to go to war in most other societies.