Thursday, July 13, 2006

This is so totally NOT what we should be doing...

I haven’t watched much TV coverage of the Mumbai blasts, just was constantly updating myself on the internet searching for news the whole day yesterday, but the whole time I was worried about friends and relatives who could have been on any of those trains, more than thinking about what the affiliation of the people who caused this could be , I do fervently hope that things like this don’t happen again, but I find this article disturbing
This is so totally NOT what we should be doing!!!

…. The people who were killed in the blasts were innocents from all faiths.. if you want a reason about why no one's been put in prison for the 1993 bombings, well when has anything happened in time in India ? I would honestly blame politicians (WORLD OVER!!!)…I seriously don’t want India to be a soft target but all this Jingoism is seriously STUPID!!! I wonder who calls for vengeance ; relatives who are grieving for a lost loved one or bystanders who seriously could damage what could be better border relations with all this rhetoric…
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7 comments:

Devang said...

The Terror Management Theory would call that a valid response, but It doesn't take into account all the history. Way too many people think what the author thinks, and I'm pretty tired of arguing otherwise even with my cousins.

Also, the jury's out on whether the US has been made safer by it's actions, as a Democrat not trying to get votes will tell you. Or the FAS.

6:35 PM
Natasha Samani said...

I don’t think fear validates the point, I’m all for increased security and a safer India, but for people asking for war ..I just have to pose the question …. Will you join the armed forces and fight in the war you seem to be asking for ? I don’t think any of the people who are writing this have ever met a Pakistani or even have a muslim friend …how gullible are you to fall into the trap of politicians …Americas stand is so debatable … I’m not for Bush and many people in the US are against the war in Iraq, using Iraq and Israel as examples is absurd, they’re the biggest mess ups of the times we live in!!! All this just alienates minority communities and just adds to the feeling that groups are being marginalized…. I wish people would worry about helping those affected , and put efforts into intelligently finding out who did this and what could have ever provoked them to carry out this horrendous act….

10:07 PM
Natasha Samani said...

Till we turn around, realise that those who fight India in the name of religion do not represent the millions who practice that faith, and fighting the terrorists is not fighting the practitioners, we are condemned to suffer terrorist attacks.

I think the author contradicts himself when suggesting war against an entire nation!!!

11:39 PM
Devang said...

I agree with your views. The theory though is about reactions to acts of terror. They can, more often than not (in experiments), be usually retaliatory and emotional because we do all tend to become a bit more nationalist and rely on our cultural defenses (like religion for one). Like any theory, it has many uses. Fear can be induced by politicians who may play off our cultural defenses.

"Terror management theory (TMT) posits that people deal with the problem of death by employing two distinct modes of defense: direct, rational, threat-focused defenses, that function to reduce the individual’s perception of his or her vulnerability to life threatening conditions, and thus push the problem of death into the vague and distant future; and symbolic, cultural defenses, that embed the individual as a valuable part of an eternal conception of reality that is bigger, stronger, and more enduring than any individual (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1998). These defense mechanisms are manifested in the form of a dual-component cultural anxiety-buffer consisting of: a) a cultural worldview and b) self-esteem, which is acquired by believing that one is living up to the standards of value inherent in one’s cultural worldview."

1:09 AM
Sheraton said...

Winston Churchill said "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last."

With all the death in WW-I and the great depression that followed, England and France were in no mood to go to war with Germany again in the mid 30s. So Chamberlain ( British PM ) appeased Hitler. He wanted Austria in 1936 and he got it. He wanted Sudetenland ( then and now part of Czechoslovakia ) in 1938 he got it. Chamberlain infact signed a treaty with Hitler saying..its okay with invade Czechoslovakia as long as you stop there. In March 1939 he infact occupied the WHOLE of Czechoslovakia and nothing happened. Finally, he went into Poland in Sep 1939. Thats when the Allies woke up ....

Why am I saying this ? Its not about going to war or not. Its about sending the message that we are not a soft state. We are softer to millitants and we are harder on our own citizens - the Indian state is one of the biggest bullies when it comes to creating hurdles in economic transactions and trampling on their own people's freedoms.....our bureaucracy is efficient at being the worst bureaucracy in the world as someone said. ( http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1696357.cms )

I just have to pose the question …. Will you join the armed forces and fight in the war you seem to be asking for ?

This is emotion - not an argument. This is not how international diplomacy is conducted. We Indians have that infection - expecting morality in international geopolitics and diplomacy. So now do you suggest we give up our nuclear weapons as the Indian communists want us to ??

9:30 AM
Sheraton said...

With all the death in WW-I and the great depression that followed, England and France were in no mood to go to war with Germany again in the mid 30s. So Chamberlain ( British PM ) appeased Hitler. He wanted Austria in 1936 and he got it. He wanted Sudetenland ( then and now part of Czechoslovakia ) in 1938 he got it. Chamberlain infact signed a treaty with Hitler saying..its okay with invade Czechoslovakia as long as you stop there. In March 1939 he infact occupied the WHOLE of Czechoslovakia and nothing happened. Finally, he went into Poland in Sep 1939. Thats when the Allies woke up ....

In my previous comment above, "he" wanting Sudetenland, Poland etc. obviously refers to Hitler and not Chamberlain ....the way I put it creates ambiguity though shud be clear from context and our knowledge of history.

9:40 AM
Natasha Samani said...

@ Sharath, I understand your argument , the UK and US are usually late and wrong in the battles they choose to enter…( at least from whatever I’ve gathered)… give up our nukes??… I respect our right to have them.. but we’ll never have to use them right so why keep them???

India soft on terrorists??? definitely let us have better improved security, beef up our intelligence ..what happened in Gujarat was terrorism, Narendra Modi is a home grown terrorist, why isn’t he taken to task??

Just none of this finger pointing and prejudice on the basis of religion ( It happens in America) .. I just feel that the people who are most vehement are the ones from the majority religion, you know I wonder who supplies the money for all these terrorist acts, its not the pious , poor muslims from the subcontinent ..call me crazy but I do buy the conspiracy theories.. yes, even the ones blaming America…

If truly secular means without religion ..as Indians just put yourself in the shoes of our policy makers ..bombing/ attacking Pakistan would alienate 20% of our countrymen, most of whom have relatives there ..barring politicians and misguided individuals.. They are people just like us…it’s a few people bring a bad name to a majority who are decent…

It’s alright to say all this being in the majority and having being affected and all, but what if by some quirk of fate we had been born into a minority family???

6:25 AM

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