Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts

Friday, June 28, 2013

How Hardliners Win in Chaos?

In all revolutionary settings, Islamisicts, repeatedly cooperated with party of moderate libertarian inclination, and later have double-crossed them to capture power for themselves. Let's take an hypothetical example where Islamic Ulemas are allowed to make a list of 'ALL' the things that are wrong with society, and then suppose power center instituted EVERY social change that they demanded. Within couple of years, they will come with new list and with fierce pressure within . The drive for power is only satisfies by imposing a code of moral behavior.

Once the power-hungry and orthodox types have captured control of the movement, there are many moderate Muslims of a gentler breed who inwardly disapprove of many of the actions of the leaders, but cannot bring themselves to oppose them. They need their faith in the Islam, and because they cannot give up this faith and act against social pressure, they go along with the leaders. And those who have guts to oppose them will be physically assaulted, exiled, jailed and even boycotted with the help of the twin notions of blasphemy and apostasy. Thus the fact that many individual Muslims are personally tolerant and fairly tolerant people by no means prevents Islamic hardliners form having a totalitarian tendency to capture power.

However, the most dangerous individuals of all are True Believers. They are governed by dogmatic approach to Islamic ideology who avoid aggressive behavior but work quietly to promote collectivist values even with absolutely good intentions. But they create a society which gradually outcaste individuals with individualistic behavior, and so forth. Denial for others and blind belief are the instruments of True believers and their followers.

The funny thing is replace Islam with Left and all the logic will still appear to be true.

There was a great marxist named lenin, who did two or three million men in. That's a lot to have done in, But where he did one in, That great Marxist Stalin did ten in. - Robert Conquest.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Understanding Islamic Culture - 6

“Islam [is] a different civilization whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power.” - Samuel Huntington ; This quote comes to the truth several times by the most religious persons of Islam.

We have to make new perception on Islam, hence accepting that all Islam is on a par with Al-Qaeda is grotesque and dead wrong. To understand why even falsely proclaimed perfect system of rules "Islam" is failed by its own followers ? . Religious fanatics are present in every society, it does not mean that they are a part of the culture. The extremism and level of violence permitted help us to view the norms of the civil society.

Islamic scholars only look Kuran and Hadith as a pious source and reference while ignoring evidences or voices outside this. The critical mind on the other hand undermines revealed truths and subjects the scriptures to exegesis and interpretation. To confuse the two is to shift religious questions from an intellectual to a judicial level. In the religious society, every objection or joke becomes a crime. And that is why Islamic civil society is considered as most backward in the eyes of others.

It is not the contempt FOR DEMOCRACY that is dangerous, it is what earns this contempt that is the problem. With silence of moderates, the popular opinion triggers towards extreme right or left leading to a catastrophic situation. Surely, passion shouldn’t prevail over reason, or prejudice over logic; nor should one’s credibility be flogged at the altar of patriotism. History over time becomes Interpretation, and then Mythology. Then it becomes sacred where facts are no longer relevant.

1- Political Models after the Arab Revolutions : Islam, Sharia, and Democracy ---  A new loosely organised movement is earning respect among the proponents of Islamic democracy. Distancing itself from militant Islamism, the movement regards itself as a "New Centre" and aims to combine the principles of good governance with the preservation of cultural authenticity. By Gudrun Krämer.

2- Interview with Ibn Warraq : In an interview with Dirk Schönlebe, the author and Islam critic Ibn Warraq explains his views on freedom of opinion and the definition of tolerance in Islam, and the role of multiculturalism in the Western world.

3- The Young and the Old: Radical Islam Takes Root in the Balkans by Risto Karajkov.

The most important challenge for humanity is understanding people, realizing that we are all similar, regardless of which country, race or religion we came from. I rest my case here.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Pakistan : A Failed Islamic Experiment - 2nd View

When you talk about Pakistan, as an Indian a question simply arrives:  What do you do with a problem like Pakistan?. There are 8 steps proposed by the author need to be taken at least from Indian perspective.

I. Cause economic pain to Defence forces / related entities:
II. Offer to pay this mercenary nation for better behaviour
III. Reach out to the suffering masses
IV. Denuclearize this rabid state
V. Increase focus on fissures within Pakistan
VI. Resolve Kashmir
VII. Threaten to break all diplomatic relations
VIII. Provide a face to India’s Pakistan initiative

For (super funny) history as read by most Pakistani citizens, the two news article summary is here. Concise history of Pakistan Part– I and Part– II ; I will analyze the situation in another perspective.

Ideas did not face organized opposition till monotheistic invaders arrived into India. Since Indian Dharmas were not much organized, the blood shed and violence conflict existed in less proportions. There was fight between Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism but to a less violent level. With the passing time, the institutions of organized religions like Islam and Christianity have removed discriminatory practices a little bit but are naturally more suppressive to the new ideas contrary to unorganized religions.

Today, while observing the alliance of secular parties to minority and right wing party to religious causes, we can easily say that it is purely based on the mutual benefit and leaves no space for a common man today. This seems scalable in the world with conservatives that are in majority that includes traditional rigid individuals and zero brain using, yet tolerant citizen.

Conservatives wants to maintain the ties and traditions of the past and ignoring the evil of increasing religiosity of a moderate society. And all the support of military dictators were such people who believed them to be secular from the 'face' value. Suddenly the world changes for them after 9/11 and every bearded face of Muslim becomes a terrorist for them. Then packed with new baggage of information and conspiracy theories, a jerk reaction of Islamophobia is developed by conservatives of west towards conservatives of Afghan-Pak. Brothers in war against communist become thirsty of blood of each other.

On confronting the conservatives with any long-term social or economic problem, and they have only one response: it would go away if only we insisted on our assumptions more aggressively. This denial of reality runs deep. The armchair theorists refuse to face - the need to take sides in an imperfect world. I preferred to take sides with liberals that are imperialistic in the nature than conservatives.

So how to tackle this religious minority ? And again our lab rat nation of Pakistan comes in the scene. Nadeem F Paracha puts a brilliant theory of Radical fatigue in Smokers’s Corner: Whenever an extreme finds itself cornered and desperate, it becomes even more extreme, almost to the point of being nihilistic. Consequently, such an extreme starts facing a paradox. The brighter it burns or the louder it crackles, the quicker it starts to consume itself, until it is no more.

Liberals have been most attacked, mostly by fellow religious leaders and mobs, for voicing their secular opinions or for presenting any other perspectives than state and Mullahs. And increasing religiosity of middle class Pakistani breeds an even more dangerous form of terrorist than the ignorant, brainwashed madrassa students who do not know any better. This middle class religious jehadi is materialistic in worldy sense yet deeply regressive in tolerance level. And all this happened while it was coveted in the hindsight of the liberal and freedom of speech by mainstream parties.

Failure of Pakistan is not utterly fault of Wahabi schools. Pakistanis seem to prefer Islamic or tribal legal codes, it is not because they love stoning women to death but because the modern institutions of the police and judiciary inherited from the British are shockingly corrupt, not to mention profoundly ill-suited to a poor country.

And, same phenomenon is happening in Hindutva brand of Hinduism. Remember that when all the minorities are finished, majority will find minorities amongst themselves to prey upon.Without the ability to think, education starts to resemble indoctrination. state-sanctioned propaganda. But, the trivial point comes when the whole opinion of majority shifts to the right. What then ?

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Pakistan : A Failed Islamic Experiment

The idea of India is based on the diversity and inclusiveness. It requires that the Muslims stop alienating to themselves and seek more avenues of engagement with all. All the remnants of exclusivity and isolationism of any Hindu, Muslim or Sikh society should be taken out from the minds first and then from the national life.

So what is the contribution of Government ? By just allowing the minorities to pray, doesn’t mean that the government is secular. Secularism means equal opportunities at every level. It also requires not shunning away from criticism of liberal commentators. India is not doing much good in this category, but seeing the engagement of Islamic culture, it seems praise worthy.

Whenever idea of India is defined, the secession of Pakistan come in the frame. The partition based on exclusivity of perfect Islamic society is the thesis of the idea of Pakistan. I agree with the warning of cultural commentator Nadeem F Paracha. "Pakistan is one of the first examples of a fascist, faith-based dystopia."

Today, Pakistan is a country who is exceptionally sensitive towards religion and in the dream of setting up utopia of Islamic society based on Koranic values. And the result, a sharp decline of rational debates, economic collapse and intolerance of sectarian groups towards each other. Pakistan’s silent majority is tolerant but NOT fundamentally secular in the nature. 'Liberal' People are afraid for taking clear statements against extremists and the gradual cowardly behavior by law makers are signals of influence of religious extremism over public sphere. The signs of conservativeness has increased in the society despite of no visible increase in the vote shares of fundamentalist parties. Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy further analyzes this situationin detail in the interview : Pakistan awaiting the clerical tsunami.

The most educated citizens of Pakistan have lost the capacity to question the false Islamic history served to them in academics and TV evangelists. Mullahs and Army has besized the oppurtunity of spreading their laws on the masses. In the brilliant article "Curse of the ‘almost elite’", Rafia Zakaria points towards mind set of elite (rich, powerful and upper middles class) of Pakistan :
What a society emulates and anoints as the basis for power and importance is what in that context becomes sacred. It is not that Pakistanis are unique or isolated in their devoted paeans to the wealthy, an exercise found throughout the ages in all parts of the world. The inability to create a definition of success that originates solely from within or is the product of hardship is tied not only to an obsession with inherited wealth but also to mythologised ideas of historical origins.

The same effort put into the pretence of revelling in inherited wealth is also invested in the claiming of Arab, Persian or similarly exotic ancestry. Not being actually South Asian, then, is crucial to being good or privileged or socially viable, announcing to all that your presence in the current milieu is a fact not of your peasant origins but the conquering vigour of your ancestors.
Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti are dead now. Who is next, Sherry Rehman? Death threats are shouted and liberals are branded as "infidels" and heretics deserving of death. Government come on rollback the freedoms of the people to accommodate this Islam of Mullah's dreams. We know from history that appeasement of violent extremist doesn't pay, it only emboldens them. These religious extremist have no plan, policies or idea about governance. They run there campaign on the basis of religious slogan and propaganda. And it's easy to guess when structure fails, the response by religious extremist is : ‘If only ...... imposes true Islamic system, we’ll be able to get rid of the hypocrisies committed in its name.

The official lawlessness combined with cruelty has become the daily norm. Suicide Bombing, Taliban insurgents, economic collapse, the rise of extremism is not only due to sheer inability of leaders. It arrived from the movement of a nation towards old age customs of Islamic society.  This is the degrading power of Islam that it devolve society into ancient custom resembling them more with Taliban. And with all respect to all, We all know the advantage for Muslims to live "pious state of Afghanistan" over "progressive state of Turkey".

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Understanding Islamic Culture -5

Continuing from 1, 2 , 3 , 4 -

Women’s rights in the Muslim world is always opposed by conservative circles who constantly emphasize that behavior should follow the the Koran and the Prophet. The orthodox comprehension of the obligation to wear a dress as per the elders is a tradition in each society. In prevalent practice, it is mostly older men – learned or unlearned – who assume the right to determine how a woman should appear. And Islam is fairly in criticism over its fundamentalist approach to the feminist issues.

But a free state based on the rule of law protects a woman and gives a citizen both moral and bodily integrity. To to maintain a 'culture of silence' for honour will anyways lead to the moral corruption of the society . One has to accept that Islam itself is an human endeavor and like all human endeavors “things do fall apart.”. And there must be voice for women's legitimate claim for equality before the law and society.

1- Sixteen reasons why I object to this dangerous cover-up : A dress code for Muslim women when in public institutions would free up our faith from the grip of fanatics and reintegrate us into our country by Yasmin Alibbai-Brown.

2- Azar Nafisi, Author of an international sensation, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books . Interview as Azar Nafisi converses with Robert Birnbaum.

3-Interview with Asra Nomani : - The 44-year-old US writer Asra Nomani is viewed as a prominent representative of "Gender Jihad". For the former Wall Street Journal reporter, there is no contradiction between Islam and feminism. She spoke to Alfred Hackensberger at Qantara.

4-Encounters with the niqab by Rafia Zakaria : Women who choose to wear the niqab, an expression of their commitment to Islam, must wrestle with this thorny ethical question prior to exercising their undeniable rights. Duties and rights must be evaluated on the scales of ethical responsibilities to one’s community.;

5- Shirin Ebadi: who defines Islam? Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian human rights lawyer who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. Shirin Ebadi in conversation with Deniz ndiyoti :- "Egyptian women are lucky in one way. They have witnessed the predicament of Iranian women and seen how the Islamic state has hijacked the Iranian revolution, changed the laws and reversed women’s gains. My advice to Egyptian women is “do not give way to a government that would force you to choose between your rights and Islam”. I believe that Iran was a lesson for the women in the entire region".

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Ten Issues - 11

1- State legitimacy and resistance : State derives its legitimacy from its institutions. Its these institutions that give State credibility and roots to live in the society of hostile crowds.

2-The ‘Viral’ Revolutions of Our Times – Post national Reflections by Aditya Nigam

3- Interview to Devinder Sharma :- On Food Crisis and Corruption. An Interview with One World South Asia: "Corruption has fuelled India's economic growth.

4- Growth and other concerns by Amartya Sen

5- Comments and Responses by the author : Socialism of 21st Century : Author Sunil

6-  An Interview with Guernica Magazine. In the wake of sedition charges by the Indian government, Arundhati Roy describes the stupidest question she gets asked, the cuss-word that made her respect the power of language, and the limits of preaching nonviolence.

7- The multi-individual society By Pratap Bhanu Mehta - An look on liberalism and multiculturalism.

8- Reluctant heroes: International recognition offers a degree of protection to investigative reporters. But, writes Lydia Cacho, being in the limelight presents a new set of dilemmas.

9- Information technology and economic change: The impact of the printing press BY Jeremiah Dittmar.

10- All Religions are not same, but Fundamentalists Are By M J Akbar : The four principles of a modern society, which is a necessary prerequisite of a modern state, are gender equality, political equality, religious equality and economic equity.

Quote of the Day: People do not like to be treated like fools, or backward infants, or extras in some parade. There is a natural and inborn resistance to such tutelage, for the simple-enough reasons that young people want to be regarded as adults, and parents can't bear to be humiliated in front of their children. One of Francis Fukuyama's better observations, drawing on his study of Hegel and Nietzsche, was that history shows people just as prepared to fight for honor and recognition as they are for less abstract concepts like food or territory. --- Christopher Hitchens

Monday, February 21, 2011

Islamic Countries and Revolution

People of the Middle East had been living under the tyranny of secular and corrupt governments, which were all supported by the United States and other Western countries. People have experimented with most other forms of governance. Where these experiments have failed to deliver and simultaneously education has been infused with religion, the attraction of the only untried one has increased. This context left them recourse to only one political alternative: religious fundamentalism.

Arab economy is based on oil and knowledge is not valued term their. That is why there academic does not have cultural inquiry and only revolve around theological discussions. The most educated young Muslims have lost the capacity to question the false Islamic history and ideology dished to them in academics. An Islamic country with ethnic, sectarian and religious diversity becomes a issue to fear within the Mullah and Army. And the worse response for any catastrophe is : ‘If only ...... imposes true Islamic system, we’ll be able to get rid of the hypocrisies committed in its name.

Nationalism can flourish without democracy, but democracy cannot have its existence without nationalism. The West does not really fear the rise of a Muslim Brotherhood as an alternative to dictators, since that is a socio-political movement that can be contained in a crunch. It is worried about an explosion of governments that place the people’s interest above that of sectional regimes at home and their mentors abroad. It was this worry that prevented the West from intervening even when dictators looted their own nations.

Foreigners are often accused of "exploiting" suffering for profit or cheap publicity. It is not new that religious parties consider themselves to be the most competent judges in matters of their own suffering – if not in an artistic sense, than in a moral one. The problem in Islamic case is that , like any other religions, they do not like it when foreigners interfere with "their internal reform". The reluctance to admit that something is wrong with their religion  is completely missing.Same nationalistic dare speak up against the  many gross acts of violence and injustice that take place in its heartland.

How long could Islamic world go on loudly supporting the rising and rhetorical tide of anti-Americanism while at the same time be the first to stand the long queues outside American and European visa offices? It’s a vicious cycle that denies us the patience and logic to reflect upon internal mistakes instead of always being on the look out for ‘corrupt Muslims’, ‘heretics’, foreign agents and media-made punching bags to blame for economic miseries, political chaos and moral confusion on.

1- What can Egypt and Tunisia teach us?: The protests in Tunisia and Egypt have won the first of what will have to be many victories. Mubarak and Ben Ali have fled and dictators have fallen to people’s uprisings – the street and the public square have, at least for the moment, reclaimed their voice from the boulevards and corridors of power.

2- On May 13, 2010 Iranian journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji received the CATO Institute’s Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. Upon accepting the award, he discussed his ideas about Iranian democracy, liberty, and U.S. policy in the Middle East.

3- The blocked elite- The problem with most middle-class political movements is that they know whom they don’t want, but rarely do they know what they want.

4-Is there a revolution underway in Egypt? by Daniel Little: Is what is going on in Egypt today a "revolution"? What about Tunisia? And how about the Georgian "Rose" Revolution (2003) or the Philippine Yellow Revolution of 1986? Do these social and political conflicts and outcomes add up to a "revolution" in those societies? Are they analogous in any way to other revolutions in the post-World War II period -- e.g. Cuba, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe?

5-Pakistan after the Arab Insurrections By Anjum Altaf : What do the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt portend for Pakistan? The question is on many minds. One approach to attempting an answer might be to try and infer it from below by investigating the morphology of Pakistani society and noting any significant similarities and differences in the process.

People don't propose for the alternative or recognize the diversity within Islam; Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahemdi, Bahia or Shia has different interpretations of Islam. In the end we have to finally accept (on an official level) that we live in a land of manifold ethnicities and multiple interpretations of Islam.  Neuroscientist and best selling author Sam Harris has openly criticized the term Islamophobia in an article stating :
There is no such thing as Islamophobia. Bigotry and racism exist, of course—and they are evils that all well-intentioned people must oppose. And prejudice against Muslims or Arabs, purely because of the accident of their birth, is despicable. But like all religions, Islam is a system of ideas and practices. And it is not a form of bigotry or racism to observe that the specific tenets of the faith pose a special threat to civil society. Nor is it a sign of intolerance to notice when people are simply not being honest about what they and their co-religionists believe.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Understanding Islamic Culture -4

Continuing from 1, 2 ,3 -

The people's uprising in Tunisia, Egypt or Yemen is not just about the state of the economy, but also about civil rights and dignity. The Arab regimes have exploited 'threat of terrorism' fears and blew them out of all proportion in order to justify its repressive policies and garner support for them. The revolt is an expression of the frustration at social injustice.

Currently, There is no organised political opposition except Islamic movement. The regime has systematically destroyed all peaceful alternatives, from the democratic parties to the political Islamists. All of this has happened over the course of time when manipulative world power were busy in supporting dummy dictators.

I am proceeding on 4th part of essay series to understand the reason behind such events with these articles explaining background and reason for this sudden arrival of wind of change;

1- Predicting a "de-Islamicised Muslim World" : Alphabetisation and a decline in the birth-rate. Courbage and Todd believe these two factors will lead the Islamic world into modernity – and away from religion. With their analyses the two French demographers add a new dimension to the ongoing debate over the clash of civilisations. Maik Meuser reports.

2- "Modernity, Democracy Are Only for the Privileged": The Egyptian scholar Hamid Abu Zayd criticizes the age-old border between the wealthy North and the impoverished South. It still exists, despite globalisation. Universal human values, however, cannot be a privilege restricted to the West

3- Recurring Revolts: In his essay, the renowned Moroccan philosopher Mohamed Sabila describes the generation gap in the three Maghreb states and the social plight of young people, who have turned away in disappointment from the political dogmatism of their parent's generation.

4- Acts of self-immolation have set off waves of protest across Tunisia and Egypt. Amira Muhammad spoke to Ahmed Okasha, president of the "Arab Federation of Psychiatrists" about how Arab psychologists are interpreting this protest phenomenon.

5- The Syrian philosopher Sadiq Al-Azm is one of the highest-profile and most strident critics of the Arab world. To this day, his ideas are between all fronts, making him enemies of both Islamist and secular dogmatists. Sadiq Al-Azm is soon to celebrate his 75th birthday. A portrait by Kersten Knipp

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Ten Issues - 9

1- India's Telecom Scam: How Can a Corrupt System Be Cleaned? : The telecom scam that recently forced the resignation of telecom minister A. Raja defrauded the country to the tune of nearly US$40 billion. Since telecom is an industry that links backward and forward to several others, the total economic cost could well be hundreds of billions of dollars. This scandal shows that corruption has deep roots in Indian society, but informed voters and the democratic process can help eradicate it, argues Rajesh Jain, managing director of Mumbai-based Netcore Solutions, in this opinion piece.

2- Audre Lorde’s quote “anger is loaded with information” ; When you are at the wrong end of the unjust societies, many truths that are clear to you come out loaded with information. Read complete 6 page essay on Uses of Anger. Thanks to Anu.

3-The narcissism of the neurotic by P Sainath : The Commonwealth Games were no showcase, but a mirror of India 2010. If they presented anything, it was this — Indian crony, casino capitalism at its most vigorous.

4- This is not a panel discussion : Meet four Adivasi intellectuals whose lives have changed the politics and conversations about indigenous people, says G VISHNU

5-The Burden Of Knowing By Charles Hugh Smith: Knowing what lies ahead is a great emotional burden. The knowledge that the present is unsustainable is, for many of us, a great emotional burden. It troubles our sleep, our minds, and our basic emotional well-being. Knowledge, like memory, cannot be erased at will, and thus it runs in the background of our lives, unseen by others but deeply troubling to the knower.

6- Religious Excuse of barbarity by Johann Hari: If you are engaged in an act of cruelty, there is an easy, effective way to silence your critics and snatch some space to carry on. Tell us all that your religion requires you to do it, and you are "offended" by any critical response. Erect an electric wire fence around your nastiest actions and call it "respect".

7- Microfinance is under attack. Even the normally reticent pink newspapers have now begun to bring out the inherent flaws in the microfinance model.Check some facts here- MFIs: Profiteering from poverty and Five myths about microfinance.

8- When girls fear school by Kalpana Sharma: The reasons for the high drop-out rate of girls are simple: Fear of corporal punishment, sexual abuse and the lack of basic amenities like toilets in schools.

9- Valerie Plame, YES! Wikileaks, NO! : It is the American people who should be outraged that its government has transformed a nation with a reputation for freedom, justice, tolerance and respect for human rights into a backwater that revels in its criminality, cover-ups, injustices and hypocrisies.

So savor the Wikileaks documents while you can, because soon they'll be gone. And for the government criminals of the world, and for those who protect them, it will again be business as usual.
10- Meet Dr. Dani: One of the unsung heroes of our public service institutions : . Yet, there are people such as Dani in many of the small hospitals in the country, whose toils go unheard, and whose stories go unsaid.

Thought of the Day :
Julian Assange writes in his blog: “True belief is when a voice booms ‘the prisoner shall now rise’ and no one else in the room stands”.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Questioning Faith

I tried to explore the view that cultivating fear of an invisible external enemy usually serves internal purposes. Let us start with quote of Voltaire who had rightly remarked more than two centuries ago, “So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannise will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.”

Today, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and all organized religions are destroyed by the light of knowledge. Christianity in Europe have been diluted in their view due because once Greek and Roman civilization existed with thinkers like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates without faith based religion. Since church was not able to destroy the records of the past knowledge completely, renaissance and scientific thinking emerged from the fathoms of dark ages.

That was not the case with Islam. Islam is strongly dominated by morality derived from tribal Arab values dating from the time the Prophet. Today, extremist have been attacking whatever they consider ‘unIslamic’ according to their puritanical version of Islam. And the moderates defend Islam as pure and correct while pointing defects as old cultural norms. And this defunction of moderates to see nothing wrong with Sharia law and blaming every wrong laws on patriarchal society diminishes any chance of reform within Islam. Moderates doesn't realize that extremism does not rest after it has defeated its ideological opponents because then it goes on to destroy even those supporters whom it deems too soft or moderate.

In the end, the one who diverges from the correct path prescribed in religious scriptures have to suffer from the hands of extremist in any religion. And Islamic purist tends for stoning to death on the charges of adultery or apostasy to be punishable by death. Islamic Moderates are most likely a Taqiyya driven individual who may not commit acts of terror themselves, but will surely defend Islam and deny the problem within while Reformists will honestly see the problem within their own, do not defend Islam but attack the evil within and don't condemn anti-jihadists for pointing out the obvious. We need more Reformers not the moderates to fight evil within Islam.



Nothing that is observable in reality is exempt from rational scrutiny. Clear, rational thought, based on evaluating current circumstances and real-life issues in all their fluid complexities and contradictions, is always threatened by a stagnant dogma that single-minded sees all situations as excuses to reproduce itself in the minds of the young and vital.

No one is admitting that the fault is in the design of the Islam that is same with any other faulty religious doctrine. Religion is a minor part of the identity of an individual, not the vice versa. In the case of veil, most of us agree that women should be able to wear whatever makes them feel safe and beautiful. Still, we fail to see rules of 'Haraam' and 'Halaal' in Islam that takes choices away from an individual.

Religious scriptures didn’t articulate idea of God because they appeared true in their time and place. No. The ideas are true because Religion said them. Such is the logic. Thus, even providing correct information is no antidote to false beliefs of follower at later stages of education.

Followers of each religion attempted to transcend reality in order to fit religious doctrine, instead of transcending religious ideas in order to explain reality. If I didn’t understand what Religions were saying, it was because they were speaking to a higher truth that I couldn’t grasp with normal human mind. If their ideas were questionable, I can't remain silent spectator under such tyrannical traditions. Faith cannot exist without testing, and faith without doubt is superficial.

The distrust of other races and nations, often based not on personal experience but on conditioning and hearsay. Literalists distorted religion due to its unscientific and contradictory stands on the issues.  Religious people insist on literal interpretations of outdated dogma and thus deprive religion of universalism for the sake of purity. This has debilitated people's capacity to think, analyze and prioritize. Such religious education gives rise to unrealized individuality in a person and stultifies their reason. Thus, blind faith should be attacked and an inquiring mind for truth should be promoted at an young age of the person.

"Businesses may come and go, but religion will last forever, for in no other endeavor does the consumer blame himself for product failure”.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Ten Issues - 7

1- How America Can Rise Again : The simplest measure of whether a culture is dominant is whether outsiders want to be part of it Any great nation can be judged on two parameters : continued openness to immigration, and a continued concentration of universities that people around the world want to attend.

2- (Hi)Story, Truth and Nation: South Africa is facing the process of developing a new identity for itself and its people, and to deal with its past. Jyoti Mistry looks at the meaning of nations and the nation state in examining this process of creation of a national identity. Story-telling, history and memory play vital parts, particularly in South Africa, in building this "whole". In a story that has no end in sight, she looks at how a country is dealing with its past and stepping into its future.

3- A virtual counter-revolution: The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it. The future of the internet is looking bleak;

4- Power, privilege, corruption, hypocrisy : There is nothing to be proud of India's ranking in the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2009. The country ranked low also in the Bribe Payers Index among emerging economic giants.

5- The Economics of Monogamy and Polygyny : Overview of the the economics surrounding marriage institutions by professor Marina Adshade who teaches a popular undergraduate course called "Economics of Sex and Love," in which students apply the analytical and statistical tools available to economists to examine human sexuality.

6- Creating scientific culture : The first step towards an African culture of science is to make science relevant to local people, says development expert Oyeniyi Akande.

7-Loving the enemy: Al qaeda version of west - 9/11 organizer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed exploited his trial to remind the court of its own human rights obligations, while Osama bin Laden's video statements include appeals to religious pluralism. Al-Qaeda's use of liberal categories is central to its rhetoric on war and justice, writes Faisal Devji.

8- Language, Poetry, and Singularity: A joint Arab-Jewish identity seems an impossibility given the current political situation in the Middle East. And yet it was a reality, exemplified by Arabic-speaking Jews and their writers. In his extensive essay Reuven Snir investigates the complex history of Arab Jews.

9- Fellows Friday with Sunita Nadhamuni: Water and sanitation are among the most crucial issues facing India today, Sunita Nadhamuni notes in her interview with TED. But while these problems are daunting, Sunita says India’s many innovations in managing water can teach the rest of the world a thing or two.

10- An Open Letter to Manmohan Singh : Not everyone is happy with the working of our appointed prime minister due to his apathy towards corruption and the issue becomes large as an IAS officer wrote an open letter in Livemint journal - The government has lost all credibility with the people, and the buck stops with Manmohan Singh;

Quotes:

“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion” - Henry Steele Commager

"Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government." - B. R. Ambedkar

The Buddha said: ‘If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.’

Friday, October 8, 2010

Overviewing Society

1- Human Values Unite, Religious Values Divide!

There are many different initiatives to strengthen the dialogue between cultures and religions, but they have not let to the desired results. The prominent Palestinian professor of philosophy Sari Nusseibeh see the weak points of such dialogue.

Nusseibeh: Whenever we talk about such a dialogue, we only ever mean the dialogue between the monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and we never speak about the relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism, where there aren't any very serious problems. On the contrary: Shintoism was originally the dominant religion in Japan, and when Buddhism came from China, the Japanese didn't give up their Shintoism, but became Buddhists as well and united the two religions.

The problems seem to emerge primarily between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, because they are so similar and have the same origin. Buddhism and Shintoism could co-exist precisely because they are so different.

The solution lies above all in the abandonment of all religious fanaticism, and in our orienting ourselves on human values, and not on religious values, because everyone can agree on the former. And if a religious principle is in conflict with a human principle, then we have to uphold the latter. That's the only way we will come to mutual acceptance.

2- ‘The Social Network’ and the case against intellectual property rights

Ideas — in this case, an online student network — bear none of the qualities of property. They are abstract and intangible. They don’t exist in any physical sense. If another thinker has the same idea, the original thinker is not suddenly deprived of access to the idea; it simply multiplies.

This is not the equivalent of stealing your friend’s apple. It’s the equivalent of having an apple exactly identical to your friend’s appear in the palm of your hand. Your friend still has his apple.

Defenders of intellectual property protections will object to your apple on the grounds that its existence lowers the value of your friend’s apple; your friend won’t bother to grow apples if you can obtain yours for free. This creates a free rider problem, they allege, in which nobody grows apples and there are none to be copied.

But such thinking ignores that fame can be as compelling a reason to produce something as fortune.

During a legal hearing, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg makes the ultimate statement against intellectual property rights, asking, “Does a guy who makes a really good chair owe money to anyone who ever made a chair?” If people value Facebook and the system that made its development possible, the answer should be a resounding no.

3- The Others Talk: Women's issues, sexual issues, female genital mutilation, virginity problems and "honour killings” are all related to patriarchy and class. Rape is the result of the lack of dedicated societal attention to the safety, respect, and prosperity of women in peace time, as well as in war. That is why empowering women is so necessary to preserve and reform our culture.

Here is an inspiring lecture in which "Kavita Ramdas talks about three encounters with powerful women who fight to make the world better—while preserving the traditions that sustain them." On her bio page is this quote: "Being a philanthropist doesn't mean necessarily writing a huge check. It can mean mobilizing your community to start asking questions." Kavita Ramdas directs the Global Fund for Women, the largest foundation in the world supporting women's human rights across all borders.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Blind Faith - Denialism

Continuing our exploration of the blind faith, this part of essay will focus on Denialism. First part of the trilogy was on Prohibition. Generally, Denialism is taken as choosing to deny reality as a way to avoid an uncomfortable truth. It is much more than that. Denialism is not simply the knee-jerk refusal to accept the truth, it is a deliberate and often sophisticated attempt to create a kind of pseudo scholarship.

Attacks on scientific consensus employ the simulacra of scholarship and a deceptively readable idiom. Those who debunk the deniers tend to be old-fashioned rationalists or committed activists. Neither group are particularly well suited to looking at the deeper reasons behind denialism, warns Keith Kahn-Harris. We can better read about denialism in this essay Unreasonable Doubt in much precise analytical way. Just quoting one paragraph here -

But one of the most serious failings of a rational, scientific enlightenment is its propensity to be turned against itself, as when a firm scholarly consensus is attacked in the name of scholarship. You can find this subversion of enlightenment in quasi-academic claims that there was no Holocaust during World War Two, that other genocides such as the Armenian genocide never happened, that man-made climate change is a myth, that HIV does not cause AIDS, that evolution is a lie. More broadly, you can find it in the attempts of vested interests – industries, politicians and elites – to refute inconvenient scientific findings.

Basically according to this mindset, one should not introspect and work towards seeking constructive feedback of one's actions and instead find similar faults of others and indirectly justify ourselves. This holds true from nation to individual. Conspiracy theories blooms in such environments led by elites turning backs to any sort of criticism.


Let us take example of or suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan recently. But, Instead of seeing the cause of the terrorist acts, the Denial Brigade of Denialistan assert that this must be the doing of anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces, or of elements within the regime, such as intelligence agencies. The basic strategy is to mention the names of India, America and Israel for any wrong done in order to fuel the revulsion that already exists in Pakistan against them and to discredit the other argument not by presenting valid arguments but by presenting excuses. The complete denial of failing of Pakistan as a nation due to Talibani and Wahabi forces has already created a havoc situation in the Pakistan. State of Denial And Apologetic Defense By Raza Habib Raja clearly describe the situation denial has created in a nation form on the religious faith only.

It is evident that the more one deny own moral and ideological failings, the more aggressive and prominent the physical expressions of our inner most religious and ideological prejudices and hypocrisies become. As this attitude leaves practically no space to the liberals and silent reformers. A failed state don't allow any grown-up internal debate, or any appeal against the divine edict. This will swiftly accelerate to an even more failed state and then a rogue one because its limitless paranoia and self-pity must be projected outward.

The tendency to blame external elements for all problems can only be countered by efforts at transparency and seriousness about conflicts. I would like to end this by dedicating the following quote as David Aaronovitch explains in his excellent guidebook Voodoo Histories: "If it can be proved that there has been a conspiracy which has transformed politics and society, then their defeat is not the product of their own inherent weakness or popularity, let alone their mistakes; it is due to the almost demonic ruthlessness of their enemy."

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A Question on Islam

Why "moderate" Muslims almost never admit that Muslim terrorists are doing acts of terror in placing their supreme faith in the Islam ?

I will explain this with a fallacy what is called the “No true Scotsman” fallacy, a fallacy of equivocation and question begging. Here it is, from Thinking about Thinking (1975), by Andrew Flew:

Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the “Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again.” Hamish is shocked and declares that “No Scotsman would do such a thing.” The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again and this time finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says, “No true Scotsman would do such a thing.”

When faced with a counterexample to a universal claim, rather than denying the counterexample or rejecting the original universal claim, this fallacy modifies the subject of assertion to tautologically exclude the specific case. That is what done by liberal Muslims all over the world on the issue of Islamic terrorism.

In the debate about Islam, all the points are taken from Koran only as it is some sort of scientific journal updated to the latest version daily. No question has been raised on the authority and validity of the Koranic palms written in 600 AD. Instead of quoting Koran as a source of universal wisdom in a logical debate, Koran should be openly, freely and publicly subjected to the kind of historical and philological scholarship. Some interpret it to preach peace while others interpret it to preach hate and both the sections are convinced about their interpretations. There is such manipulation of language and such massive double standards, that goes beyond sound reasoning ground.

Few liberal Muslims often quote the Koranic verse: 'There shall be no compulsion in religion'. For a Muslim wishing to leave Islam this is simply not true. Even few victims became part of mainstream, fewer raise their concern. Most of them are done muted by institutional propaganda. Islam reveals itself as a closed system that precludes any critical thought about itself, as well as any fair and honest dealings with non-Muslims.

While all the dogmas of the religions have been suppressed by society's need to embrace materialistic needs and custom of their non Islamic neighbours, Islam has a great tendency to exclude even after hundred years of co existence in a diverse society. Islamic institution forces Muslims to go back in ghetto on the criterion of piousness and purity mentioned in Koran set as per dark ages. And there is no distinction between teachings of the Koran and the anachronistic 7th century Arabian tribal customs.

Observing a rise of radical Islam in diverse societies, Christopher Caldwell, a journalist reporting on Muslims in Europe concluded : "It was not just that young Muslims were assimilating too slowly into European culture as the generations passed, it was that they were dis-assimilating." What we are witnessing today is a shift from a Muslim to an Islamic identity. The religious self for individual Muslims is being shifted from the private to the public realm. Rather than encouraging their next generation to integrate in the society, Islamic institutes today seek to insulate them from secular values. Some of these young people become quickly radicalised, and seek clarity in the black-and-white world of religious extremism. Unfortunately, too many of them lack the education to realise that ultimately, no set of beliefs or values are inherently inferior or superior to another.

While Islamic fundamentalism is a reaction to political corruption in Islamic nations: modernizing movements failed to provide their citizens with the fruits of modernity and instead developed into authoritarian-style regimes. The only place for resistance and opposition has been the mosque. Nevertheless, the decision to oppose modernity in the form of the West is a sign of weakness.

I personally assume, Muslims as individuals capable of accepting cultural norm of others very easily and Islam as an institution going towards reform very slowly. Still question of dis-assimilation of Muslims from mainstream for separate identity remains. It will lead to coexistence of Muslims in a nervous society that suspects every devout Muslim of being a potential terrorist.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Waiting for Ayodhya Verdict

Using Hinduism or Islam as a badge of cultural identity rather than acting from the tenets of humanism has sown seeds of bigotry and hate in us. We misguided look at the past for golden age to prototype our utopia of the future. Faith dilutes the rational thinking of the people and the destruction of Babri Masjid was one shameful incident of independent India based on such blind faith.

Under the evil ideology, people lose humanity & descend into organized homicidal insane savagery. I sum up the religious glorification concept in this line. One has to unsubscribe to our polite cultural belief of respecting religions. There is a circle of violence in the name of religion going on and there is no pinpoint for me to mark the origin point. Sometimes we evaluate history using contemporary reasoning and perhaps misrepresent the events in our minds. But, the overall look on the development of religion as institutions will help in seeing the corrosion of its principles. Religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules, it ceases to be a religion, as it kills responsibility which is an essence of the true religious act.

Repetition, a lack of awareness around sound practices, and varying degrees of commitment inevitably create different rates of success. We don't have to go for the entire cycle of suffering before we look for relief. Crisis gives chance to innovate and make a society seek and make fundamental changes in its thinking and policies. There is always an alternative route to social justice that is more sustainable than the other societies chose. Reforms require key controversial steps but without compassion and love, all the efforts will go in vain. This judicial verdict is the moment in our history that will shape up the future of this secular country.

There is a fear of reasoning in faith issues as it is the fear of hearing two voices in our head while submitting blindly to the authority for protection is easy. Understanding gives us more reason to co-exist together than to falsely pretend of respecting each other. Unity in diversity has to be the principle of those who genuinely wish to build a country of a variety of languages, cultures, and beliefs. Only a society that tolerant opinions and attitudes different from its own will be able to create a where people of diverse traditions and aspirations can breathe freely in an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding. We have to give way to love and reasoning than to go for easy labels, stereotyping, and violence. Stereotyping has to go away otherwise how much I raise the voice, it will be dismissed as pseudo-secular and veiled middle class and upper caste opinion rather than a sound view of the citizen.

The ability to empathize is directly is to put yourself in the place of another through consciousness and share the sadness and joy of fellow humans. This random virtue will pull you into the category of revolutionary. I am a revolutionary due to my love for deadly truths than noble lies. In the words of Che Guevara - “Above all, try always to be able to feel deeply any injustice committed against any person in any part of the world. It is the most beautiful quality of a revolutionary.”

Today, Indians think as partisans, not citizens. Today Ayodhya verdict will be delivered by the judiciary. I don't know the future of the nation, but it heavily depends on our reactions and wisdom. We have to be right than righteous in shaping our attitudes towards each other. We all want the world to be free from the conflict and wars haunting us from nomadic times. Let the peace prevails...

"For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights." -B. R. Ambedkar

Friday, September 17, 2010

Blind Faith - Prohibition

I will start the first part of trilogy on the blind faith. Trilogy will be composed of the essay on Prohibition, Denialism and Irrationality. This is an attempt born out of my anger on the ignorance, intolerance and indifference surrounding us. The need to confront violence and injustice began through questioning taboos and rituals. Overall, I am not here to worship what is known, but to question it.

Prohibition

When a small authorising groups such as state, businessmen or priestly class of a given population disapproves of and/or feels threatened by an activity in which a smaller group of that population engages, and seeks to render that activity legally prohibited. Most of the Blasphemy Laws, censor rules on piece of art like books, movies or music form in this category. Prohibitions are used as a tool to maintain status quo of the authority in the power.

Authority wants everything to be governed and monitored by too much closeness. It is all done in name of protecting the weakened from external harmful elements. They put prohibition by depicting falsely to inception of 'alien idea'. The deep belief that everything — especially anything open and external is already and by definition an intervention is part of the very identity and ideology of the image of the authority (state or religion).
Religion and state has always used prohibition masked as social customs to the majority. These victims of prohibition are mostly society's marginalized or uneducated working class member.  Legally disadvantaged position of women, poorer sections and religious minority helps authority to put violence, oppression and discrimination against them.

Let us take example of Islamic theology. Today, Islamic Prohibition is not solving any problem of the Muslims. Millatfacebook &  halaalsearch.com are way to grow in isolation than to confront others with reasons on world wide web. There is dearth need to question hypocritical religious laws that prohibit a wide range of normal human pleasures. Curosity of human nature is irrepresible by any laws. Take case of war on drugs. And only legalizers are the people who can bankrupt and destroy the rackets of prostitution and illegal alcohol and drugs. Only the prohibitionists can keep them alive as they try to repress the need of others. Demand and Supply principle is the axiomtic principle of the human nature.

The affinity for bans suggests the increasing prevalence of a worldview that wants to eliminate perspectives that are repugnant, rather than develop intellectual arguments against them. It is always more productive to engage with, rather than censor. Prohibitionism based laws have the added problem of calling attention to the behavior that they are attempting to prohibit. This can make the behavior interesting and exciting, and cause its popularity to increase. These prohibitionists made a serious miscalculations: they reacted to their failure by demanding the laws be tightened even more. When trying to block information backfires, it gives rise to the Streisand effect.

A conscious individual in this society has to constant tightrope walk between tradition and emancipation, between freedom and censorship. Today, there are many people that have been killed or persecuted, through bigotry, intolerance and iniquitous blasphemy laws. Hence,I am raged to ask this question: Is all and anything justified in the name of faith ?

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Understanding Islamic Culture -3

Continued from the Part 1, 2 -

Islam is the answer to most of the Muslims for a wide range of questions, whether they're social, or political, or personal, or spiritual. Within the sphere of people who have that view, and it's a large number of people in the Muslim world who disagree with bin Laden in his application, but agree that Islam is the answer. Islam represents a way of engaging the world through which one can achieve certain desirable goals. And the goals from the perspective of Muslims are, in principle, peace, justice and equality, but on terms that correspond to traditional Muslim teachings.  I am proceeding on 3rd part of essay series to understand the reason behind such views with these three interviews of the leading reformers in Islamic society ;

1- Q & A with Shereen El Feki: A glimpse of Arab society in a globalizing world :- Shereen El Feki is based in Cairo, where she works on issues related to health and social welfare in the Arab region. In the whole discussions, two paragraphs struck me too much (In Underlines).

Largely, the model in the West in society is the autonomous individual. The individual is almost like the atom of society. It’s the unit of society. And that’s how Western society has developed over the past few centuries. It’s very different in the Arab region. People don’t necessarily conceive of themselves as individuals. They really don’t see their place in society in that way. They see themselves as part of a collective. And that has really interesting implications on a number of levels, but it is also one of these really big differences between the West and the Arab world.

While she has worked in regional media, as a presenter with the Al Jazeera Network, and continues to write on social issues in the Arab world, her passion lies in the many projects in which she is involved which aim to better understand, and surmount, the social challenges facing Arabs, particularly young people.

It is interesting if you look at the Arab region, the majority of the population is young, as I mentioned, but most of the people who actually call the shots are much older and so they’re actually not part of an Internet generation. So for them, often when they react to the Internet or there are forms of censorship, it’s often because you’re talking about a generation that doesn’t get the net, that doesn’t adapt easily.

2- Interview with Hamid Dabashi : "Islam Is an Abstraction"

The US-Iranian intellectual Hamid Dabashi is among the most highly respected scholars of Islam in the US. In this interview with Lewis Gropp, he explains how Islam in Europe will change as a result of the influence of European culture and European Muslims.

"If in Europe, you have a – not secular but – cosmopolitan context, it is not out of the goodness of the heart of Christianity, but it is because the social context that has created an organic environment – particularly during the era of Enlightenment – forced Christianity to accommodate non-religious sentiments. The same holds true for Judaism, and a fortiori for Islam.

When people ask whether Islam is compatible with modernity, they have an entirely essentialist concept – not a historical, not a material conception – of Islam. If you leave it to Muslim theologians, the Muslim jurists, the clergy, the Mullahs – of course they want the whole world according to their vision. But the same is with the Christian clergy and the Jewish rabbis!
" says Dabashi.

According to Dabashi, Islam in Europe will be transformed not by Muslim intellectuals like Tariq Ramadan, but by social forces. I was thinking about abstract concept of Islam that will adapt to the Europe and will still be promoting concept of diversity.

In my conception of religion, which is Durkheimian, religion is an expression of a collective consciousness. You have a group of people here, and whatever it is they believe – metaphysically, religiously, and in terms of what is "sacred" to them – constitutes the religion. So forget about Europe for now – if you go to India and go to Saudi Arabia and go to Morocco and go to China you have four different kinds of Islam. Islam is not quintessential. It is a sacred language spoken in different dialects by people living different lives. So by the same logic when Muslims come to Europe, they will redefine Islam. And there is nobody on planet earth who can tell them, what you're doing is not Islamic, you're losing your religion. The successive generations will redefine Islam.

3- How to become a real Muslim- A media reliant on scandal has colluded with self-promoting but marginal Muslim clerics to create a cycle of self-reinforcing myths around the Mohammed cartoons, writes Kenan Malik. The fear of causing offence has helped undermine progressive trends in Islam and strengthened the hand of religious bigots.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

The Importance of Unbelief

It is easy to blame individuals without tracking down the institutional, historical and analytical manner of his/her brainwash. IHM pointed out our default problem solving approach : we seems to think we can solve problems while we cherish and protect what’s causing them.

When it is said that terrorist has no religion, speakers are grossly wrong. Most of the terrorist activities are done in the faith and name of religious supremacy. Each religion has to necessarily take the blame for its extremist. And same bunch of speakers also believe their religion slightly better than others. This attitude has come from the upbringing in a religious environment that even if individual gives space to other religion, never treats them equal. Roots of activities of Terry Jones and Osama bin Laden are hidden in their religion only.

Tolerance is lacking in religion in terms of tradition and they are intolerant enough in raising wars. There will be attacks on physical structures and cultural fabrics will be blown out slowly and slowly. We are bound to get only ruins and ashes in this religious wars. Attacking somebody else because of his or her convictions and faith would be a betrayal of what we stand for: Value of our own life. So I believe very strongly in co-existence with rationality and love. It is high time to question what we believe or to be blown away by wars based on religious differences.

Religious insanities are the logical outcome of the faith. Religions are institutions that demand loyalty and justifies each wrong deed by quoting dark ages scriptures. Follower fails to investigate due to iron curtain of faith. Institutional thinking harm humans as its hinders uniqueness in him for homogeneity through hegemony.

At last, we work together in the same space, the same world, breathe the same air, hopefully dream the same dreams. It's about the common weakness that makes us susceptible not just to any bigotry but to political polarization: our propensity to see one another as members of groups rather than as individuals. Human rights, rational thinking and secular principles have evolved through lot of public debate. And it should not be compromised for bleak and violent past based on religious hatred.
Let me explain religion through an analogy of Economic Rent .

In the early 19th century, David Ricardo postulated that a society expands more land is cultivated to support it. However, since the best land gets used first, the owners of that terrain earn excess profit. This is the essence of economic rent.

Brands are, in truth, an attempt to extract economic rents. That’s why Internet start-ups invested billions in the 90’s in the hope of gaining enough “eyeballs” to achieve a sustainable advantage. The idea was that once you have enough people devoted to your brand, network effects will kick in and you will have a dedicated market for your product or service.

Many believe that is what is going on today. Companies like Apple and Facebook have attracted such a large and dedicated following that they can earn rents from the rest of the Internet. Moreover, they will wall themselves off in order to extract maximum value from their powerful position.
[Source]

Replace facebook and Apple with the religions that have new consumers (followers) by the virtue of default( birth ). When some one start small group of product boycott (atheism), one is not welcomed in the market. Even if the product is harmful in long usage, the stickiness and loyalty factor comes as hindrance. And even it has positive virtue for short time like drugs. Fanboys of the product act as soldiers of their religion in quite violent way. Fanboys (extremist) arguing to use product in most older and faulted versions are wrong as they even don't care about the ultimate sanctity and value of a human life. A product (religion) should evolve to remove vulnerabilities rather than covering up the issue by quoting high number of current users.

Businesses may come and go, but religion will last forever, for in no other endeavor does the consumer blame himself for product failure.” – Harvard Lamphoon

Friday, September 10, 2010

Questions of Identity & Caste

Questions of Identity, Caste & State has bothered me from long time. This article is mine stand at present moment on these issues. I will start this article on the caste matters with the opinion of two prominent bloggers.

1- My friend Apocryphal pointed correctly about mentality of upper caste Hindus: For them, Caste is passe. That is no longer a problem, the problem of course is ‘reservation’. All problems radiate from ‘reservation’ playing it out through ‘vote bank politics’.

2- Namit Sir on famous Shunya blog was telling his experience on this issue : An upper caste friend recently complained that reservations are socially divisive and instigate disharmony. I had to laugh. Isn't the caste hierarchy all about social division? Caste identities have been strong for ages, since folks marry within their own. If caste now also shapes political consciousness, it is because, in part, its members share a common experience of discrimination and inherited disadvantage. If the db level in society has gone up, it's because the lower castes are unwilling to put up with the "harmonious" arrangements of the past. They want a greater share of the opportunities and resources they think is their due, and the primary tactic open to them is via political alliances and lobbying for favorable government policies. So it's easy to understand why caste politics has gained prominence in India.

Dignity comes from choice and recognition in the society. It is the reason of emergence of caste identities and their relation with honour. Every leader of independence has been reduced into mere representative of their caste group - ex Sardar Patel or B R Ambedkar. A breaking away from the past in the search of new identity had began and now, each caste based community is outraged by any reference to the downtrodden past. Shyam Benegal pointed out this phenomena very poignantly:

In the process of dismantling caste equations, some of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Dalit communities give themselves identities that no longer associate them with their traditional professions. The new identity requires a reworking of community histories and mythology. Any reference to the old identity can only seem offensive. As part of the mainstream, they are likely to lose their special identity.

It is largely for this reason that it becomes important for them to adopt dominant forms of expression so that others may hear or understand their points of view. Even more important for them is to establish their view as the last word. Any expression that they perceive as an attack on their identity is responded to with considerable vehemence.

Take the case of caste census. There is huge uproar in liberal minded higher caste Indians to ignore census based on caste and put their identity as Indians only. They are already privileged part of society and don't need caste labels for their growth in any field. I feel data is needed to see through caste based system arrangement in vast country like India. The national census is the only source of primary and credible data in India and is used not just to formulate government policies but also by private sectors. Groups will always raise their voice for the sake of stake in the reservation and trail towards more caste based society. There is dire need of the restructuring of society and informed stats will be more helpful in the era of vote bank politics and social engineering. We need to count caste in this census to annihilate it.
 
Prof. Kancha Ilaiah has explained this in his article: Who’s afraid of caste census?
 
"Caste culture is all around us. In the dalit-bahujan discourse, the upper castes are being shown as constituting less than 15 per cent. This could be totally wrong. Even within the lower castes there are several false claims about numbers. Every caste claims that it is numerically the strongest and keeps asking for its “rightful” share. How to tell them that their claims are wrong? When caste has become such an important category of day-to-day reckoning it is important to have proper data at hand to tell communities that they constitute this much and cannot ask for more than their share.

It is true that we cannot distribute everything based on caste. But caste census is the right basis for statistics such as literacy rate and issues like the proportion of representation. Once we cite the Census data there cannot be any authentic opposition to that evidence. The upper caste intelligentsia is afraid that once detailed data on number of people in lower castes is available it would become a major ground for asking for accurate proportional representation in certain sectors, such as education and employment. "
 
George Orwell's warning that a corrupt system will if unchanged, stay corrupt even if power shifts hands from its tryants to its past victims - and soon enough, as he wrote, ' it's impossible to tell which is which ' ; When a long abuse of power is corrected, it is generally replaced by an opposite violence. In the new dispensations, all that was good in what went before is tarred indiscriminately with the bad. Those who have to face political or social persecution become highly polarized.

Power shifted from the hands of the Brahmins to low caste will have bad affects till few decades. It is bound to happen and politics of revenge than cooperation will prevail for few decades. Slowly, caste will take back seat and new identites based on new parameters will emerge in the society. This help me to understand importance of democratic & political model in this upheaval of Hindu society. Democracy was never meant for electoral representation of all, it was there to annihilate the destructive and violent outbursts of groups against each other through people consensus. It's about the common weakness that makes us susceptible not just to any bigotry but to political polarization: our propensity to see one another as members of groups rather than as individuals.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Daniel Everette’s Deconversion



This video confirmed my trust in the lectures of Osho on Tao. Daniel Everette 's deconversion from chiristianity to tribal way of life is quite heartful. Influenced by the Pirahã's concept of truth, his belief in Christianity slowly diminished and he became an atheist.

I don't subscribe to the theology of the westerners. There theology like culture is so limiting and binary –its always a choice between atheism or faith. Issues of epistemological justification are outcomes of theological pursuit of truths in eastern religions, that is completely missing in the western religious discourses. Here, there are remarkable quantity of intellectual theories and philosophies like world view concepts of Dharma, Karma, Nirvana and ideas of reality.

A true religion teaches man to aspire to that which is “higher” in him. Buddhism emphasizes individual “willing” to the “better” in man and does not rely on grace of God, prophet or any scripture. It believes in transforming the mind and using it to explore itself and other phenomena. For Easterners however, there are transcendentant principles without believing in the supernatural –this is the difference.

I will say today a valuable lesson learned by me on the path to discover about faith : Trust is not the same as faith. A friend is someone you trust. Putting faith in anyone is a mistake.