08-23-2008, 11:15 PM
The english managed to have their way in australia, america, canada etc because the existing civilizations there were not advanced enough to resist or overcome the insidious invasion, whatever the form it took. The europeans wiped out entire civilizations but pontificate on human rights today.
No tom, prick or harry gave a toss as to who was butchered. They went in and grabbed more than their share while the grabbing was good. All this is very conveniently forgotten now, the concerned parties have gone to the top of the class and are currently the teacher's pets.
India is a different ball game. The cross and the crescent ( sorry, sounds like a cheap pub! ) did not succeed because civilizationally and culturally we were stronger, more advanced and resilient. Enter max muller, maculay and others of their ilk. They had to tinker with the minds and the social fabric of the country before they could make some headway. I have never understood the weak military force that the indian civilization seems to prefer and persist with. We lack long term memory, the capacity for strategic thought and the indian crab story is very true.
We are not a developing nation but a redeveloping one. In sixty odd years we have risen like the phoenix and are back in stride again.
This, mind you, after being raped, pillaged, plundered and beggared for countless centuries by barbarians of all hues.
This has to touch some very raw nerves.
We are the only country that resisted islam and christianity for centuries and will comfortably continue to do so. All the others have been over run. The cross and the crescent are giving it the good old college try all over again.
Having failed the first time around, they are using the same methods again albeit a bit modernized, catering for the internet and TV.
Even the greatest personae in christianity and islam did not have the freedom of speech that the ordinary Hindus have had through the ages. They could not say that they were god, even though they wanted to. They could only vaguely, slyly hint at it in a very round about way.
They would have been killed had they explicitly said so. Those were the times they lived in and the same is true even today.
However the pagan Hindus can all claim to be god, many a village has its own little living god, fed and revered by the local people as god. Living gods abound and yet no one minds, each to his own. Passersby, including many non hindus hedging their bets, silently seek their blessings, accumulating brownie points for the hereafter. And why not?
We have millions of them, one for each occasion,festival, season and no reason.This is true liberalism, freedom of speech and freedom of spirit. This is why we welcomed and sheltered all comers through the ages, even those wretches who would do us harm by using our given freedoms, to malign and abuse us.
Linguistic phenomena is one aspect. Most superpowers are homogenous and lack diversity. For exmaple, how difficult is it foster comradierie among Han people and to enforce a single language. The very fact great powers tend to lack diversity and hence the language seems to have become an important criteria. The Indic civilization on the other hand is highly diverse and has managed to foster similar aspirations among its people. The Indic civilization has made diversity its bedrock and is mindboggling to the others who are used to living with and building nations among homogenous people. For most part, Indians are bilingual to say the least, and that is good thing. A nation and great power is being redeveloped with a single link language (could be anything) with many languages. This is a testimony to the maximum amount of freedom one experiences under such a setup, without fetishness for uniformity or homogeneity. Indic civilization is being re-developed and should not mimic a single Hans race type of deal.
No tom, prick or harry gave a toss as to who was butchered. They went in and grabbed more than their share while the grabbing was good. All this is very conveniently forgotten now, the concerned parties have gone to the top of the class and are currently the teacher's pets.
India is a different ball game. The cross and the crescent ( sorry, sounds like a cheap pub! ) did not succeed because civilizationally and culturally we were stronger, more advanced and resilient. Enter max muller, maculay and others of their ilk. They had to tinker with the minds and the social fabric of the country before they could make some headway. I have never understood the weak military force that the indian civilization seems to prefer and persist with. We lack long term memory, the capacity for strategic thought and the indian crab story is very true.
We are not a developing nation but a redeveloping one. In sixty odd years we have risen like the phoenix and are back in stride again.
This, mind you, after being raped, pillaged, plundered and beggared for countless centuries by barbarians of all hues.
This has to touch some very raw nerves.
We are the only country that resisted islam and christianity for centuries and will comfortably continue to do so. All the others have been over run. The cross and the crescent are giving it the good old college try all over again.
Having failed the first time around, they are using the same methods again albeit a bit modernized, catering for the internet and TV.
Even the greatest personae in christianity and islam did not have the freedom of speech that the ordinary Hindus have had through the ages. They could not say that they were god, even though they wanted to. They could only vaguely, slyly hint at it in a very round about way.
They would have been killed had they explicitly said so. Those were the times they lived in and the same is true even today.
However the pagan Hindus can all claim to be god, many a village has its own little living god, fed and revered by the local people as god. Living gods abound and yet no one minds, each to his own. Passersby, including many non hindus hedging their bets, silently seek their blessings, accumulating brownie points for the hereafter. And why not?
We have millions of them, one for each occasion,festival, season and no reason.This is true liberalism, freedom of speech and freedom of spirit. This is why we welcomed and sheltered all comers through the ages, even those wretches who would do us harm by using our given freedoms, to malign and abuse us.
Linguistic phenomena is one aspect. Most superpowers are homogenous and lack diversity. For exmaple, how difficult is it foster comradierie among Han people and to enforce a single language. The very fact great powers tend to lack diversity and hence the language seems to have become an important criteria. The Indic civilization on the other hand is highly diverse and has managed to foster similar aspirations among its people. The Indic civilization has made diversity its bedrock and is mindboggling to the others who are used to living with and building nations among homogenous people. For most part, Indians are bilingual to say the least, and that is good thing. A nation and great power is being redeveloped with a single link language (could be anything) with many languages. This is a testimony to the maximum amount of freedom one experiences under such a setup, without fetishness for uniformity or homogeneity. Indic civilization is being re-developed and should not mimic a single Hans race type of deal.