On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:12 AM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
As a neutral observer may I add a few bits and bytes. The first provocation came from the lady and until the feminist issue came up I did not know it was a lady. Given DJ's nature ( a tail as straight as 'jalebi' ) he simply gave back and both refused to back off. DJ does not discriminate who he insults and he does it equally to all. The feminism issue was unnecessarily brought up, though if Ms. Aiyer was offended by the 'my dear' comment, DJ could offer his regrets large heartedly, only for this comment as I am sure he did not mean anything bad.
And Dinesh, you are a very talented and intelligent individual. To add to that, the fire inside you gives you an aggression that is a plus point. The raw energy inside you is like a powerful engine. You could add two wheels to it and turn it into a powerbike that zooms across the street with a blaring horn, scaring people on the streets, brushing against them. Or you could add four wheels, a carriage and some seats and turn it into a bus that not only takes you ahead but also ferries others to their destination. Thats the community spirit.
Thanks Rony. I didn't know who this VidAyer person was until she provoked me. Frankly I have not been replying to threads in this list for quite some time.
Sorry for the longish post, but here are my thoughts.
Today a lot of attention is being given to issues involving minorities. Please note the words I'm using because I am *careful* while choosing them. Some of these minorities have been given too many privileges under the guise of helping them. In reality these privileges dont accomplish anything but to create discontent and partition the society. The feminist movements and many other movements including the one started by our revered Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar were meant to give *means* for equal opportunity for minorities. What has happened to the society? These movements had really honorable intentions.
For quite some time now these movements have been twisted into something really horrible a classic example is our quota raj. An open seat male student has less than 5% seats to compete for. Rest are reserved. Is that fair to us? No. Is it being misused? Yes. Under the guise of promoting technical education amongst women, they've been given ~30% reservation. What good has this brought? Women still compete for those 5% seats just to show they're equals. Thats total BS because they cost seats to some really deserving candidates. This is the state of affairs in education.
Arjun Singh, Renuka Chaudhary and such politicians should be punished for creating disharmony amongst our population. Its a social crime and they should be probably sent to the gallows. I feel pretty strongly about such issues so maybe I'm being too harsh. I remember watching Karan Thapar literally screw the new absurd laws that shes brought into the legal system under the pretext of protecting womens and childrens rights. He countered every absurdity of hers and she simply refused to answer.
When I see people like Ms.Ayer promote such nonsense under the guise of helping women I can be only appalled that well educated women have bought into stupid political gimmicks that these politicians pull. For example, the pink chaddi campaign. On 15th February there was a front page news that Ram Sene members harassed women who couriered pink chaddis to their office. It was a juvenile attempt at getting back at Ram Sene activists. The women who couriered the packages were actually stupid enough to write their phone numbers on the packages ( or that is what they wanted so that they could use the harassment as a charge later on. ). When they got obscene calls they complained to the police and charged Ram Sene with harassment. Just appalling. I'm not a supporter of Ram Sene but I'm just showing how dumb people really are. If they felt so strongly against Ram Sene, there a perfectly good legal system in our country which they can approach and actually get these people ( Ram Sene ) banned for creating communal disharmony. Women empowerment is something that people like Ms.Ayer dont understand at all.
I know a certain lady who works at a women's university and is being constantly harassed at her work place by her juniors and superiors for no fault of her own. Every single one of them is a woman. Politicians such as Renuka Chaudhary, Arjun Singh or our revered president Ms.Pratibha Patil dont care about people, they just want to play minority politics.
Take the situation of women in Africa and villages of India. While you're sitting comfy in your AC room these women are being exploited and are facing hardships due to a lot of socio-economic reasons. Does Ms.Ayer care? If shes such a big feminist and feels strongly about women's issues she should migrate to remote villages and see the real issues that surround our society and try to help there.
I can call in any number of my friends who will swear by the fact that I'm positive and I provide encouragement and help as and when needed to all my friends irrespective of their race, gender, beliefs, sexual orientation or whatever attributes make up an individual. I dont go around flaunting the fact that I I'm an admin at XYZ place or what I've done in my life.
I am a *staunch* supporter of certain issues and I cannot emphasize enough how strongly I feel about these issues. If I see something wrong happening I strongly oppose it out in the open. I know this list is composed of not less than a 1000 members. Let me ask you guys this question, if tomorrow you're rejected for a job or funding or whatever opportunity that you need/want desperately based on some XYZ characteristic, what then? How would you feel?
People who're silent and have not spoken out against the nonsense that is being spread should experience how it feels to be discriminated. Lets see how you people react then.
Lastly, there are several reasons that I have loved the GNU philosophy. I am also a supporter of certain values imbibed in Hinduism and Buddhism. These values all say the same thing - "Live and let live".
The country my forefathers had envisioned was a democratic one where everyone had an equal right to live and express themselves. If I'm impolite, rude and curt I have just the same right as the person next to me who may be super polite. Don't try to make everyone behave just the same, frankly, the world would be a BORING place to live in and we as a civilization would become extinct for the lack of diversity.
Learn to live peacefully and in harmony with others.