[QUOTE=lotusgirl;53122]No, SD, I know for certain I am not perfect. I have and will continue to apologize for things I do that warrant it.
And I too will turn on my own if I disagree. I can agree with 100% of what you say and you have every right to say it. What I have tried to make you and N both understand is your delivery! I have agreed with many things you have stated. As far as the caste and dowry thing, I think what I was trying to get you to understand back then is that there is violence in every religion/culture. Hinduism/India is no different. And I have stated over and over again there has been much less violence in Hindu/Indian history than others. Please don’t skirt over this last sentence.
And as far as me sweeping it under the table, what would my outrage do? I expressed sadness in what happened, event though I didn’t understand a word of it. Don’t look for the bad SD. You read too much into things.
Again, I am not your enemy. Most of us do understand. I am sorry that we do not see how to go about change the same way. But we each have to follow our own path.
And we should probably move on.[/QUOTE]
I wish I had the luxury of agreeing 100% with you.
However, what we are trying to get you to understand is that sweet-talking with those who hate us has done nothing to us for the past 1000 thousand years. India has repeatedly been conquered, raped, shitted-upon, and essentially desecrated by Christians and Muslims.
What would your outrage do? Highlight the severity of the problem. What does your outrage do? Galvanize you to act in a strong and persistent manner.
As for the “caste/dowry” thing, these are societal matters and not to be attributed to Hinduism in the same way slavery, and the lack of rights for blacks and women cannot be appropriately attributed to Christianity. However, Imperialism, Holocaust, Crusades, religious intolerance, and skepticism of Science can be appropriately considered a result of Christianity’s debilitating influence upon Western “civilization.”
Christians, and others with Westernized/Christianized biases, do not realize this and use societal regression as an attack against any given religion. They ignore the fact that they effectively screwed over the world and forced it into the depths of poverty and barbarianism. It is akin to running over a limping man with a car and accusing his faith of bringing about his condition. This is what you, this forum, and almost every other Westerner out there, do. This is precisely why SD and I say you and most Westerners have anti-Hindu biases. Biases do not have to be consciously known and acknowledged to be considered biases. Biases can be ingrained within. And you have these biases. Deal with it.
The above is precisely why the world has a problem with Hinduism. They view the poverty, idol-worship, and casteism within India and equate it with Hinduism. They have no knowledge about the fact that idol-worship is a particular interpretation of Hinduism, the fact that the Western/Islamic world looted heavily from one of the richest civilizations for centuries, and that “caste” was a system revived by the British (it was beginning to die out during the Middle Ages) and an unfortunate result of societal stratification that always comes with the development of civilization. It is these biases and misconceptions that I condemn and attempt to bring out. The problem is aggravated, however, by the AIT and institutionalized bias and intellectual dogmatism against Hindus/Hinduism/India. Take, for example, the false assertion prevailing throughout these forums that Yoga predated Hinduism (to which you agree with, despite repeated attempts by SD and I to correct your ignorance). More reason to believe why you have anti-Hindu biases.
Do you see my point? Sweet-talk and niceties won’t work in a world with heavily inculcated biases against Hindus, in a world run by the people who seek to undermine us. That is why I say what I say and do what I do. So don’t criticize. It looks damn patronizing and insulting when a white person does this. It is tantamount, for example, to a white person telling black people during the Civil Rights Movement to “Chill out. Just wait for another decade or two. Maybe we will give you your rights, even though that hasn’t happened for 2 centuries.”
Rest assured though, the overall resistance and protest is physically peaceful but intellectually violent. Very violent. If you can’t handle it, then check out my signature.
