Indians all over this country are flaying, Joel Stein's Times Column - My Own Private India. (Joel Stein did apologize)
"After the law passed, when I was a kid, a few engineers and doctors from Gujarat moved to Edison because of its proximity to AT&T, good schools and reasonably priced, if slightly deteriorating, post–WW II housing. For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.
"After the law passed, when I was a kid, a few engineers and doctors from Gujarat moved to Edison because of its proximity to AT&T, good schools and reasonably priced, if slightly deteriorating, post–WW II housing. For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.
Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians "dot heads." One kid I knew in high school drove down an Indian-dense street yelling for its residents to "go home to India." In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if "dot heads" was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose."
Beside being Indian et al, I am also a believer in freedom of speech. There is a very thin line between freedom of speech and well... speaking ones mind (that line does differ from person to person). I loathe white lies and the obsession with political correctness. Both basically feeds only the volcano waiting to be erupted someday. Educating oneself on different cultures and at the same time assimilating oneself to the immigrated country is the only way to cultivate a harmonious society. Until then and when one is oblivious to facts, silence is the best language. Also of all the people in the world, Indians and Chinese are very diverse and stereotyping them is obtuse. These are two countries where even the mere "exceptions" are in millions, more than population of some European countries.
I stopped watching news on TV since I never saw any difference between a polemic rhetoric and impolite parody. The raison d'etre of all political (and comedy) shows on TV is to polarize people. Polemicist at the loss of rationale spreads pseudo nationalism and ideology while the "pseudo intellectual" camouflages ideology and lack of humility in the name of satire. The young generation who are oblivious to facts are forced to pick sides on this nauseating parochial airwaves.
We all perceive Stein's column differently and that is good as long its a healthy and productive debate. I would like to end with this famous quote by Aristotle:
"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."
and same holds true not only for anger but also for mocking:
"Anybody can mock - that is easy, but to mock the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."
Beside being Indian et al, I am also a believer in freedom of speech. There is a very thin line between freedom of speech and well... speaking ones mind (that line does differ from person to person). I loathe white lies and the obsession with political correctness. Both basically feeds only the volcano waiting to be erupted someday. Educating oneself on different cultures and at the same time assimilating oneself to the immigrated country is the only way to cultivate a harmonious society. Until then and when one is oblivious to facts, silence is the best language. Also of all the people in the world, Indians and Chinese are very diverse and stereotyping them is obtuse. These are two countries where even the mere "exceptions" are in millions, more than population of some European countries.
I stopped watching news on TV since I never saw any difference between a polemic rhetoric and impolite parody. The raison d'etre of all political (and comedy) shows on TV is to polarize people. Polemicist at the loss of rationale spreads pseudo nationalism and ideology while the "pseudo intellectual" camouflages ideology and lack of humility in the name of satire. The young generation who are oblivious to facts are forced to pick sides on this nauseating parochial airwaves.
We all perceive Stein's column differently and that is good as long its a healthy and productive debate. I would like to end with this famous quote by Aristotle:
"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."
and same holds true not only for anger but also for mocking:
"Anybody can mock - that is easy, but to mock the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."
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