March 15, 2006

Lose this point

India Currents, a magazine published in California, carries a column by me every second month. Here's what I wrote for their March 2006 issue. Thoughts welcome.

3 comments:

Transmogrifier said...

I don't see how the end of war in Iraq is going to reduce or lessen the support for the "homegrown" killers by some people back home.

It is the inability/inaction of the home govt. in it's response to (may I say, Islamic here?) terrorism (such as Varanasi and Delhi most recently) and the feeling that "someone should retaliate", that makes these people support the killers at home. It is the same sentiment that makes them a supporter of Iraq war.

I think as long as acts of terror continue, support for the homegrown terrorists will also continue to some extent by some portion of the society.

As to reducing terrorism overall, I agree that only bringing the terrorist to justice (homegrown or otherwise) will help reduce it.

Since the topic is up, I always wonder why a large section of peaceful Muslims is not more vocal about speaking out against Islamic terror at home. Maybe I am just not informed about it. Maybe they just don't want to speak defensively about their faith all the time. Why isn't there a move by the majority of peaceful Muslims to remove or censure people like the Imam of Jamma Masjid when they make statements like this . Or am I wrong to even expect such things? After all, if I feel that my faith is being hijacked be people like the Imam, shouldn't I go ahead and speak against it or act against it. I feel that either the perceived (due to my misinformed nature) or real silence of a majority of peace loving Muslims gives more ammunition to the supporters of Modi et. al.

Sorry for the long comment but I guess I have always wondered at this. Even on a global scale when maniacs were burning embassies over the cartoons, there were very few silent protest and very few people speaking out against the maniacs. Is it just that the peaceful protests and actions dont' make it thru the media filter? (at home and abroad) OR is it that they simply don't happen on a large enough scale? I wonder!

Kartik said...

Sorry for the digression, but -

You're a computer scientist by training? Wow. Did not know that.

On the article -

Perhaps, but then the polarity will always exist when giovernments themselves exhort their people onto one viewpoint or the other. The ancient Greek thinking state is a myth today.

Dilip D'Souza said...

Kraktik, yes. I have an undergrad degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering (can't say I know anything much about the subject, then or now) and a graduate degree in Computer Science.