False liberals having high regard for anti-liberal religion

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The Charlie Hebdo editorial did create a lot of confusion among Left liberals. Many liberals in the  west thought it was Islamophobic and racist. But for those who had directly witnessed  the fascist nature of the religion,, there was not much confusion. May be real life experience determines our perspective.

Here listen to what Eiynah, the Pakistani atheist, now living in Canada, have to say in her podcast.

She says :

We must be wary,,careful to walk that very thin line between Islamist apologist parts of Left and the anti Muslim parts of the Right. True secularism resides somewhere in between those extremes. Somewhere I think Charlie Hebdo hits perfectly. Which is why it causes scurrying panic among false rebels who for some reason wish to hold anti liberal religions in high regard.

A band with a difference

“Why are you begging on the street ? Why can’t you do a proper job ? ”

This question is often asked at Hijras of India. The answer is always this.

“Who will give me a job?  Who will give people like us jobs ?

Hijras are transgender women of India. They are shunned by society at large. Usually they are disowned by families and are forced to live in ghettos under a leader (Guru). They earn money by begging on the streets and trains. They also get some money by singing and dancing during certain ceremonies and many end up in sex work.

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Institutionalised victim blaming

Under current policy, the university investigates students who report sexual assault for violations of the school’s strict honor code, which bans premarital sex, same-sex dating, alcohol consumption and being in the bedroom of someone of the opposite sex, among other things. This means a student who reports a sexual assault could end up being placed on probation, suspended or expelled if the university finds them to have been in violation of the honor code.

An honor code in a university? Must be in an Islamic country or a culturally conservative Asian or African country.

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Imposition or choice ?

Sushama Swaraj , the external affairs minister of India, visited Iran recently. From Tehran she went to Moscow for a joint meeting between foreign ministers of India, China and Russia.

From Twitter feed of Sushama Swaraj

From Twitter feed of Sushama Swaraj

 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj pose before their meeting in Moscow, Russia, (PTI)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj pose before their meeting in Moscow, Russia, (PTI)

The irony is many a time Islam imposes dress code even on non-Muslim visitors but claim Muslim women follow dress code as a choice. And some people fall for it too.

 

Using tragedy for votes

Nursing professionals hurrying to attend to patients in intensive care unit after a mass casualty were stopped by security personal for thirty minutes.

A group of junior doctors called to attend an emergency were prevented from accessing Lift or stairs to go to the Operation Theater for some time by security personal.

Is this really happening?

Yes, it happened in India after the recent fireworks accident at Kollam, Kerala.

Why were they prevented ?

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Religion and phobias

“Why are you so anti Hindu ?” or “why are you so anti Muslim?” or “why are you so anti Christian ?

Questions like these are asked of me quite frequently in social media. My reply is this.

I am not against Hindus or Muslims or Christians. I usually debate and criticise ideas, not persons following them. So when I criticise a Hindu custom of not allowing equal rights to women devotees or a Muslim custom of forcing veil or burqa on women, I will not become anti Hindu or anti Muslim. When a Dalit is killed for marrying an upper caste girl I will call it a religious killing because casteism is part and parcel of Hinduism. Similarly when an atheist is hacked to death as per Quranic verses, I will call it again a religious killing.

Theists and some apologists for religion feel that only those who actually kill or cause harm, or order it, should be criticised, but not the idea, the religion concerned. This is like saying Hitler should be criticised but not Nazism. This is  giving free pass to dangerous inhuman irrational ideas. I do not want to give such a free pass.

Does that make me Hinduphobic or Muslimphobic ?

What is a phobia ? As per Oxford Dictionary it is “an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something”.

No, I do not have such a fear or aversion of Hindus or Muslims or of any theists as an individual.

Does that make me Hinduism-phobic or Islamophobic ?

It is true that I have an aversion to most religions. I also have a fear, may be not extreme due to my location,  that I can be harassed or harmed  by people inspired by love and devotion for religions, because I debate and criticise them. I consider it as a rational fear. So I can be justly called Hinduism-phobic or Islamophobic or Christianity-phobic if a person who is allergic to peanuts can be called peanut-o-phobic, an aversion and fear, but not an irrational one.

India remember a towering personality

I had no friends among the untouchables of Baroda State. But I had friends among other classes. One was a Hindu, the other was an Indian Christian. I first went to my Hindu friend and told him what had befallen me. He was a noble soul and a great personal friend of mine. He was sad and also indignant. He, however, let fall one observation. He said, “If you come to my home, my servants will go.” I took the hint, and did not press him to accommodate me.I did not like to go to the Indian Christian friend. Once he had invited me to go and stay with him. But I had declined, preferring to stay in the Parsi inn. My reason was that his habits were not congenial to me. To go now would be to invite a rebuff. So I went to my office, but I could not really give up this chance of finding a shelter. On consulting a friend I decided to go to him [=to the Indian Christian friend] and ask him if he would accommodate me. When I put the question, his reply was that his wife was coming to Baroda the next day, and that he would have to consult her.

I learnt subsequently that it was a very diplomatic answer. He and his wife came originally from a family which was Brahmin by caste, and although on conversion to Christianity the husband had become liberal in thought, the wife had remained orthodox in her ways, and would not have consented to harbour an untouchable in her house. The last ray of hope thus flickered away. It was four p.m. when I left the house of my Indian Christian friend. Where to go was the one supreme question before me. I must quit the inn, and had no friend to go to!! The only alternative left was to return to Bombay.

  The above quoted autobiographical account is from the life of an official in the office of Maharaja of Baroda, that took place in India 1917. He was 26 years old. By then he already had an M.A and a PhD from Columbia University, New York. But he could not find accommodation in Baroda and was forced to resign his job.

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A “period” protest

I remember that in my childhood, I was confused when I realised we were not allowed to touch women during their menstrual periods. I could not get any real explanation for this custom. Also they were not allowed to enter kitchen or rooms were gods are offered prayers.. I noticed this mostly in the ancestral home of my parents, when a large number of family members  converge for some occasions and not (as far as I can remember) in my own home. Of course they were not allowed to enter temples during that time and this restriction continue even now. I  was sure there were many more restrictions and taboos on menstruating women then and some are persisting.

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