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American Muslims and Presidential Elections 2008 Ref rf786 #11

[Nomination of a woman and African Amercian as presidential nominees shows the evolution of thought in America. Race, colour, religion have become secodary for many Americans excluding the right wing extremist Republicans. I wonder how will Muslim voters decide when it comes to race and gender?]

The MooseLimbs of America are up the proverbial creek.

The Republican candidate John McCain is planning for the US to stay in Iraq for 100 years and is threatening to bomb Iran.

On the Democratic side, they would be given either a woman or a Black. The former, according to Islam, cannot be allowed out on her own without a mehram and the latter is beneath contempt to MooseLimbs no matter some Moor was butler, butt-licker and boot-licker to Mohammad.

Time for the Ummah to commit hara-kiri.

Indian Exceptionalism: Colonial Stereotypes and Postcolonial Realities Re neembu #38

[also, why are anglo indians not absorbed into the national narrative? are they symbols of colonial transgression, unplaceable entities in colonial/colonized/postcolonial structures? is their otherness to mainstream india indicated by paticular policies and are there places in which they enact agency?]

While the British were still in India, the Anglo-Indians were given preferential treatment in jobs in the Railways, Telegraph Department and even Armed Forces, presumably because the Natives were incapable of handling technology such as steam engines or the telegraph... that post-1947, the Indians have truly proved this by fcuking up every single activity by using SC/ST/BC/MBC/OBC as the sole criterion for jobs is a different matter.

The Anglo-Indians, even fifth-generation ones who have never seen England, used to refer to 'ome when they talked about England. They all packed up and left for England and Australia after 1947.

The Indian Parliament had one appointed member to represent the Anglo-Indian community. If it doesn't have one now, it is because they exist in such small numbers.

On the other hand, Goan Christians are well represented everywhere in the Indian scene.

But then, folks like Rohit Chopra havre this desperate need to find yet another marginalized group of people who have Fallen Victim to the Hindu Right. Such grave crimes of the Indian Right can only be rectified if India stops building dams; stops improving roads, ports and similar infrastructure; stops foreign investments in India; cancels the Nuclear Cooperation Treaty with the US; and shuts down the IITs unless they admit 27% SC/ST/BC/MBC/OBC along with the required number of farm animals for recreational purposes.

Indian Exceptionalism: Colonial Stereotypes and Postcolonial Realities Re antihistory #33

[Your reading is absolutely correct that some weaker and vulnerable groups are shut out when they face dominant voices. I will clarify what I meant in the paragraph and then provide a couple of examples of this.]

Let us take the example of fishermen's villages along coastal Tamil Nadu.

Each village is controlled by a group of traditional leaders who form the panchayat (or, Nattanmai, as they are called in Tamil). The decision of the panchayat is absolute. Anyone disobeying the decision of the panchayat is ostracised by the entire community.

The question is: how can you social scientists figure out a way to lay the blame for this shutting out of the voiceless by the dominant voices of the Nattanmai?

The next question is: could this somehow be blamed on the caste divisions of Hindu society and is there a possibility that we can set aside a quota for human worms in professional education, never mind that the boys in the fishing community quit school by 7th grade?

Let us ignore in all this that the fishermen's villages contain no other castes and that the Dalits feel superior to the fishermen and treat them as Untouchables.

[Usually in Indian politics, the Left and Right are seen as opposed in their views and ideology. No doubt they have different agendas.]

There is no Right in Indian politics. Right would mean Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilley, Fox News Channel, Mike Savage, and the Dittoheads. The True Right has been so emasculated by the Left in India that even the BJP is chanting the mantra of 'swadeshi' and other crap in this era of globalization.

[However, each of them has an idea of what a 'true' Indian is or what the essence of Indian culture is. The Left will say that Indians are naturally socialist and not materialistic and there is some natural quality of secularism that all Indians have. The Hindu Right will say that a certain version of upper caste Hinduism is what truly defines Indian culture.]

Well, let ME tell you what the True Indian is. The True Indian is one who has been turned into someone who panders to the lowest common denominator (by this I mean Indian Muslims; Indian Christians who have suddenly become uppity and are propagandizing Christianity in an in-your-face manner; SC/ST/BC/MBC/OBC, etc., who have spent the last 3000+ years having sex with farm animals in their spare time instead of trying to evolve literacy and numeracy but have now decided to blame their backwardness on "dominance by the Upper Castes"; and all those who belong to the Leftist persuasion).

[And no matter how many debates take place, this idea of unique Indianness always survives and endures.]

Yes, even in the US, they take one look at you and ask if you are from India...Sigh.... how do we overcome this? I think the Field Marshal has a good idea. You, Rohit Chopra, can wander around in a T-shirt with a Paki flag and "Proud to Be Pakistani" emblazoned on it.

[Another example is would be Anglo-Indians. They have been completely invisible and marginalized in the political conversation in post-independence India, because that conversation cannot recognize them.]

Maybe their invisibility has everything to do with their miniscule numbers in the population. After all, a vast majority migrated to Britain and Australia after 1947. In Australia, they were given preference over full-blooded Indians; so they should complain the least about suffering on account of their mixed-race.

Indian Exceptionalism: Colonial Stereotypes and Postcolonial Realities The post-colonial reality is that we now have a bunch of hand-wringing, self-loathing Hindus in India such as Rohit Chopra who are sorry there aren't enough womenfolk in their households to be offered to satisfy the rape-lust of Muslims.

Indian Exceptionalism: Colonial Stereotypes and Postcolonial Realities Pure crap.

If printed on paper, this article couldn't be used to wipe one's ass; it would leave more sh!t on one's butt than one started with.

Five-cent words looking to justify a one-cent idea.