Re: Introduction: Nepali Pandit
Well Ms. Nepali, thanks for disclosing your identity. Most importantly thanks for helping us understand your stance towards Hinduism. I cant speak for all of us but at least it helped me understand Hinduism a little better than I used to.
Let me assure you that your gender disclosure would have not been a problem because few of the frequent members of this website are females and majority of male members come for their defense if abusive posts are directed towards them. I can vouch for such past defenses. More importantly, I think that its about time that South Asian women, regardless of their religious background, start to be resilient to any abusive attacks. You cant just share the goods of world with men, you also have to share the harsh realities. Men also get abused every day. This does not stop men from achieving their goals. So I think that south Asian women should have the courage to face the rude attacks. Otherwise men can throw you out of their ways by simply being abusive to you.
Your educational background is impressive. One of the advantages that educated people have is that they are more effective communicators than the relatively uneducated ones. They also have better comprehension capabilities because they are trained to exercise it. Needless to say, due to better comprehension skills they are better observers. Hence the educated ones have a higher moral responsibility to understand the differences among the people and transfer that understanding to the people who did not have the opportunity to receive higher education. The societies throughout the world, via subsidized education, invest more in the educated ones. Therefore its only fair to expect more from the educated ones. This does not mean that the lesser educated people are not intelligent. Obtaining education is a function of resources and circumstances. There are lots of intelligent people who cant obtain higher education because they are poor or have family members to support. When I audit companies I come across a lot of owner managers who dont have a strong educational background. Yet their business acumen and understanding of the rationale of financial reporting requirements simply amaze me. Hence if the lesser educated are provided with the info they are able to make very intelligent decisions.
Intelligence is measured by the effectiveness of decisions made in a short period of time, not by the universities people went to or the degrees people obtain. My professional community was unable to stop the global financial crisis of the past summer with all our degrees and educational backgrounds. The world is still trying to recover from it.
The point I am trying to make is that we all play our roles. Some play the role of aggressors, some are defensive and others are moderate. Each group plays an important role. For example, I dont agree with everything that Zaid Hamid says or write but I know that he plays an important role. His role is needed to counterattack people like Bharat Varmas of India. Similarly, I know that there are ultra appeasers in Pakistan but their role is also important. Someone has to deal with the friendlier people of the other side of the border. There are moderates who try to have the balanced view. At the end of the day the moderates will and should win because the aggressors will deal with the aggressors and the defensive with the defensive ones. The moderates will prevail because you cant fool all the people all the time. People in general are intelligent. Once the fog of rough times is over the moderate thought/stance will prevail. Until then everyone has to play the pertinent role. Otherwise, too much silence from one side may explode one day like a volcano and that will be the end.
I, through my posts play the role of an aggressor when there is too much Islam and Pakistan bashing and no one is responding to it. If some Pakistani has already given a reasonable response and I am happy with it then I play the role of the moderate. I think that you will vouch for it that this forum has provided us with some extremely interesting debates on religion. Lots of Pakistani members have come out to defend the Indians when the time warranted it.
It is imperative that you continue your role of informing us of your religion. Misunderstandings should be wiped off, differences should be reconciled. Both India and Pakistan spend millions and trillions of dollars on their weapons and defense. These monies can be used to help millions of neglected people of both the countries. The effective communicators have the responsibility to reconcile the differences via the elimination of misunderstandings. The first generation of Pakistanis and Indians were unable to reconcile the differences and it seems that our generation is heading in the same direction. Which means that the generation after ours will also not be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life which we take for granted in the west. I think that we should be stronger and be able to bear the abusive language and be determined in our cause of understanding each other better. It took the Europeans centuries to get a peaceful environment. Their conflicts were more brutal than ours. But common sense prevailed at the end because of the moderate thought.
You have mentioned how the abusive posts regarding your religion have affected you in a negative way. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a todays Muslim. How he/she feels when he/se reads Islam bashing posts on this forum or bias news coverage on TV, every day of his life. Can you imagine the humiliation they have to go through at the airports of the world? Can you imagine the magnitude of the negativity in their minds after reading, hearing and watching all this crap? I think that it is far much better, if they can vent their anger via their posts rather than letting the anger create an inferno within them. There are lots of anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan messages posted on this forum. They will be answered whether the respondents are effective communicators or not. It will be the moderate people who will have to continue to play their roles so that there is no vacuum left which can be filled by the aggressors.
For the future of Pakistan and India, the moderates must continue their roles. You should continue to help us understand India and Hindus better via you posts. Otherwise your space will be taken by an aggressor.
Sorry for the long post. I dont know if you will even read it or not. Probably you have taken a solemn oath to not to visit this website again. The life will continue with or without you. You have to make a decision whether you want to play an important role or not, and give back to the world which has awarded you two masters degrees. Just dont be surprised if in future you give-up on something else, just because someone was being abusive to you.
I would not be surprised if I was unable to convince you. I am simply an educated person, not an intelligent one.
