A Martha Nussbaum (who?) writhes in agony at the dreaded Hindu Right. A highly notable line distinguished solely by its ability to induce R-O-T-F-laughter follows:
Although illegal for a time, the RSS eventually re-emerged and quietly went to work building a vast social network, consisting largely of groups for young boyscalled shakha, or “branches”which, through clever use of games and songs, indoctrinate the young into the confrontational and Hindu-supremacist ideology of the organization.
A little probing revealed that she is Amartya Sen’s girl friend. Ever the one to take 30824908230958390458345 words where one would do, he has been careful not to use harsh words against the despicable Hindu Right, he has let his better half do the dirty job. They make a nice pair:
Tags: Commentary, International Politics, Media Watch, Pseudo Secularism Hall of Shame, Society & Culture, War on CommunismIf they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix’d foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th’ other do.And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th’ other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
On 05.19.07 Vikas says:
Yawn! Wake me up when this Gassbaumb Maarta’s America pulls out of I-rack where they are daily murdering, raping and looting. Muslims world over say it is a modern day Crusade by the Christians. Gassbaum’s hot air is not enough, let’s see some action on the ground.
People living in glass houses…..
Folks like Amartya Rothschild (divorced emma??) and others come to India once or twice in a year, enjoy parties, lecture us on how ‘West is Best’ and what India should do about poverty and what not and scoot. Enough is enough, for all I care he can stick the Nobel medal where the sun doesn’t shine and spare us, poor Indians.
On 05.19.07 Barbarindian says:
I am heartbroken. Tehelka Foundation has password protected their entire site.
On 05.19.07 vatsan says:
sandeep, i find ur language against Naussbaum pretty offensive, considering her work with Sen on Capability Approach. Just because she does not like the right does not mean you have to resort to such language, everyone is free to have their own opinions. You say the left is bullshit does that make you a pawn in the hands of other right wing guys?
Rather than attacking a person and resorting to ad-hominem, it would be advisable for you to retort to the content of the argument.
On 05.19.07 Sandeep says:
Vikas,
>>he can stick the Nobel medal where the sun doesn’t shine and spare us, poor Indians.
ROTFL
Barbar,
Really? That only means you stand vindicated.
On 05.19.07 Still carrying the burden « Bong Right Army says:
[...] Sandeep has written about one such savior from the west, Martha Nussbaum. She has chosen her “good” brown victim (the poor hapless Muslims of India) and “evil” brown oppressor (the Hindu male) and made a case for the western knights to set things right in India. [...]
On 05.19.07 Bombat Flyer says:
Amartya Sen is a person who refused to acknowledge the horrific atrocities committed against Hindus in Bangladesh. This guy is a fake.
On 05.19.07 kurinji says:
Vatsan,
Check out this account of her expert witness testimony that got her into a spot of trouble http://tinyurl.com/2qw5p2. Tenured profs in the humanities as a rule are terribly unproductive once they have achieved some distinction. Amartya Sen is the best example of this process of degeneration. The man is so lazy that he simply repackages his decade old lectures and passes them off as history - further passing himself off as a “philosopher” and “Sanskritist” simply because he can understand a verse here and a verse there. Which is why the real liberals such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali have little use for these paper tigers and instead choose to work out of rightist think tanks such as the AEI. The right-left line is orthogonal to India’s philosophical heritage. It is best left aside. The right-left line is simply doctrinal religion at the right and its secularised variant at the left. which is why humanists in England have now begun to dub Marxism (the anchor of the left) as just another faith based variant of religious doctrine. Indians should turn to our own intellectual history to make sense of the world around us.
On 05.19.07 Bombat Flyer says:
@vatsan:
**Just because she does not like the right does not mean you have to resort to such language, everyone is free to have their own opinion**
You have problems in comprehension and logic. Sandeep has responded to her ill informed bilge with the contempt it deserves, he has not said anything against her right to speech. By saying that Sandeep should keep quiet it is you who appears to be against the freedom of expression.
On 05.20.07 nkota says:
no point wasting time discussing western academics, when our very own are far worse;
On 05.20.07 sunil vasisht says:
sandeep,
The link beloew is to the audio of Dr.Jakob DeRoover’s lecture in houston. The title of the lecture was Indian-American Communities: How Hindu-Americans can define themselves. As you know Jakob is Balu’s student.
http://tinyurl.com/27mj55
-sunil
On 05.20.07 Barbarindian says:
Hmmmm.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=gujarat+bus+accident&btnG=Google+Search
I wonder how come Hindu fascists in Gujarat who are always looking for an excuse missed this one.
On 05.20.07 Bombat Flyer says:
Sandeep,
Do check out CAPEEM’s Motion to Compel Witzel to comply with subpoena ( http://www.capeem.org/docs/CompelWitzel.pdf ) when you have the time. I blogged about it in a hurry. Someone needs to do full justice to this fascinating document.
On 05.20.07 Vikas says:
From the article,
“When one tells them the story of the American civil-rights movement, and the role of both liberal religion and powerful pluralist rhetoric in forging an anti-racist civic culture, they are quite surprised.”
Had the West relied on this ‘liberal religion’, practising stoning to death virgins found out not to be so on their wedding night would in this day and age be considered acceptable, slavery would still be there, so would killing off anybody found working on Sundays. KKK, hate-mongering evangelicals and GW Bush come to my mind of people applying this so-called ‘liberal religion’ in our daily lives.
On 05.20.07 vatsan says:
Bombay Flyer
actually you have not read what i said properly. Naussbaum makes quite a few assumptions/statements, Sandeep should have responded to those. He did not but choose the easy way of responding with contempt. thts where i have a problem. I t is you not Me who has a problem with comprehension.
On 05.20.07 Ravindra says:
How about these guys showing the same degree of righteousness when the other type of right wing (non-Hindu) rears its ugly head?
http://www.mid-day.com/news/nation/2007/may/157449.htm
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070012536
None of these “right to expression” fighters seem to be on the scene when the conservative Church starts putting similar harnesses on this freedom?
On 05.20.07 Jaffna says:
Sandeep,
Vatsan has a valid point - why not deconstruct Martha Nussbaum?
This would be easy. She is highly polemic and ideological. She is one-sided. She fails to back her assertions with evidence.
Nussbaum is part of a virulent anti-Hindu strain increasingly dominant in American academia. Others like her include Frykenberg, Witzel and Wendy Doniger.
I intend to deconstruct her but why not take a first stab
Best regards
On 05.20.07 Jaffna says:
Sandeep,
I submitted my last comment too soon. Here is an addenda.
I have always questioned those who spoke in terms of the inevitability of an Indo-American alliance. The United States is no friend of India - it merely looks out for its own interests - a policy that India too should adopt.
There are others who speak out in favor of an Indo-Israeli alliance. I once again differ. The Israelis only look out for their strategic interests and can not be relied on in all contexts.
Nussbaum assumes significance here. She is part of a broader Atlanticist lobby in the United States - affiliated to the liberal democrats - that is deeply suspecious of India. Others of her ilk include Rosenthal of the New York Times and Barbara Crossette. The maverick Hindu right often provides ammunition to these folks but it should not detract from the inherent anti-Hindu bias of these intellectuals.
The Jewish lobby in the United States is anxious of the future of Israel given the global Islamic resurgence. Hence the attempts to deflect Muslim attention through the international media to Bosnia, Chechnya, India and Kosova! It is the same Atlanticist intellectuals who speak out in each of these cases.
Best regards
On 05.20.07 Sandeep says:
Everybody,
Work is really keepin’ me busy.
And Jaffna,
I intend to respond to Nussabaum’s piece of hatred when I have time. This post is just a placeholder.
On 05.21.07 Barbarindian says:
Hmmmmmm.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=HOTEN20070012703&news=No%20holds%20barred:%20Who%20defines%20morality?&pubDate=Mon%2C+21+May+2007+01%3A54%3A37+GMT&keyword=ndtv_home
Young couples sitting near the 14th century Jama Masjid at Ferozeshah Kotla in the Capital were roughed by Muslim activists for allegedly indulging in ”obscene acts”.
Sadly, no one will report this. Note how the actual story gets overwhelmed by Shiv Sainik references.
On 05.21.07 Barbarindian says:
It is futile to respond to Nassbaum. Who will listen?
Europe has already fallen prey to Islam (Ref. America Alone, Mark Stein). America will last another few decades before being overrun by Hispanics. Again, no offence meant but this is the sad truth. Once Hispanic+Black population exceeds 30% in the US (which will happen by 2050 for sure), it will be a permanent democratic rule. The Dem leaders will fall all over themselves to be open to immigration, quotas etc.
Think of the forces (circa 2030):
1. Europe Islamic majority
2. America permanently Dem
3. Indians are willing to sell their parents to immigrate
It means that every Desi (except Hindu fascists like us) will sell out his bros to get brownie points and a chance to immigrate to an Islamic Europe. Remember, Dilip D’Souza et al actually want an American invasion because of “Gujarat genocide” so that when all of us are killed he will be king and take all our money and women etc.
Depending on where you think you will be in 2030 (I will be dead, too much scotch whiskey), you need to plan for contingencies. Maybe taking over Fiji or Mauritius or Nepal is an option.
On 05.21.07 Jaffna says:
Barbarindian,
I disagree with you.
The combined Black-Latino population in the United States was estimated at 27.6% last year. (Source: Estimates of the Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States and States: July 1, 2006). The Latino population frequently votes Republican. It is not a given that the Democrats would continue indefinitely.
I doubt Indians would continue to immigrate overseas should the Indian economy retain current economic growth rates. For that to happen, instances like the Gujarat pogrom should never recur. The fact that the left intelligentsia have gone to town on the incidents in Gujarat does not detract from the fact that the events should not have taken place in the first instance.
Best regards
On 05.21.07 Ravindra says:
By the way, isnt Amartya Sen one of the many names being listed in the various polls on Indian TV for the preferable next PResident?
On 05.21.07 shadows says:
BarbarIndian,
I did read that last link you posted.
Note that they sure have to add a reference to Shivsena and Saffron even when the news item is about some Muslims harassing young couples near mosques. And damn, nobody seems to realize that the muslim eloped with a minor in Surat !!
On 05.21.07 Jaffna says:
Sandeep,
I finally read Nussbaum’s piece. It is not that bad. She is easy to deconstruct since she lacks rigor but she is not evil. She just needs to get her facts right. I intend to do a post on her.
You mention that she is Amartya’s girl friend? Are you sure……It is better to attack a person’s ideological slant rather than dwell on her sex life.
Best regards
On 05.21.07 Sandeep says:
Hey Jaffna,
Cool, I look forward to your post.
>>It is better to attack a person’s ideological slant rather than dwell on her sex life.
Ouch! I didn’t dwell on her sex life. I merely said she’s Sen’s girl friend in the sense of “a friend who is a girl.”