tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post6509757964076447324..comments2023-08-28T02:46:47.127-07:00Comments on The Slippery Fish: At the risk of sounding ethnocentric...Litsa Dremousis:http://www.blogger.com/profile/02805126173325772698noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-15422154648768565942007-07-07T15:48:00.000-07:002007-07-07T15:48:00.000-07:00An excellent article which should put a lot of thi...An excellent article which should put a lot of things in perspective:<BR/>"India: The Western press and their blanket statements" by Arthur Dudney.<BR/><BR/>http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/06/india-the-weste.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-60847033157020700112007-07-07T10:49:00.000-07:002007-07-07T10:49:00.000-07:00Thank you, everyone, for an honest and thought-pro...Thank you, everyone, for an honest and thought-provoking discussion. I really appreciate the different points of view.<BR/><BR/>I think this is clear, but I posted the CNN article because suffering, wherever it occurs, cannot be alleviated until it is recognized.<BR/><BR/>All the best,<BR/>LitsaLitsa Dremousis:https://www.blogger.com/profile/02805126173325772698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-35399420837703105032007-07-06T08:48:00.000-07:002007-07-06T08:48:00.000-07:00vikram:All Indians are not being defensive about t...vikram:<BR/>All Indians are not being defensive about the problem (atleast iam not). the problems exists and has to be acknowledged and remedied. My issue is in the way it was presented. The report reads more like a melodramatic novel, and it projects the insufficient statistics to color an entire society and religion. The author made sweeping generalizations about Hinduism which are apocryphal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-4321562813646739502007-07-06T07:19:00.000-07:002007-07-06T07:19:00.000-07:00It is very sad and shameful that our society allow...It is very sad and shameful that our society allows this. But, the article certainly had a hidden agenda. There was no mention of respect given to parents in Hindu tradition and how widows have ruled India. <BR/>Sanskrit poem is as follows:<BR/>Matru Devo bhava-Mother is GOD<BR/>Pitru Devo Bhava- father is GOD<BR/>Acharya Devo Bhava- Teacher is GOD<BR/>Athithi Devo Bhava- Guest is GOD<BR/><BR/>I Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-53835029679162163532007-07-05T20:42:00.000-07:002007-07-05T20:42:00.000-07:00I am from India, a Hindu & past 60.My mother wasn'...I am from India, a Hindu & past 60.<BR/>My mother wasn't thrown out after my father died. Never heard of a widow thrown out among anyone I have ever known in India, among family, relatives, friends, friends'friends.<BR/>No doubt it happens & it is a human tragedy. India has its share of jerks. Fail to see what this has to do with Hinduism.<BR/>Supro MukherjeaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-85984567482064249682007-07-05T20:28:00.000-07:002007-07-05T20:28:00.000-07:00I dont know my fellow Indians are being so defensi...I dont know my fellow Indians are being so defensive about this article. The fact is that this journalist cared about these widows, went to them, talked to them and told their story. How many of us would do the same ? What are we doing for them ? Nothing. I dont really care about how Americans treat their parents, the point is that there are some parents in India who are not given the respect Vikramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15184698535624088994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-67571029277702940012007-07-05T17:47:00.000-07:002007-07-05T17:47:00.000-07:00Yes, you are running a big risk there. Always chec...Yes, you are running a big risk there. Always check your facts even when you get them at CNN. I've written a critique of the CNN article at http://atmaav.blogspot.com.abhishekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00486440637900771888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-53327837834462053152007-07-05T16:56:00.000-07:002007-07-05T16:56:00.000-07:00Hi SF, i admire your patience in replying to anon...Hi SF,<BR/> i admire your patience in replying to anonymous and simone, while i appreciate simone for trying to put things in perspective. The problem may be real, and it may have to be addressed right away. However, my issues with the article are as follows:<BR/>1. the article stayed as the top headline for three-quarters of a day, which is quite unusual even for a sensational newspiece on CNN<Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-63085803258572700222007-07-05T16:47:00.000-07:002007-07-05T16:47:00.000-07:00The insinuation that this is a common practice in ...The insinuation that this is a common practice in Hindu society in India today is completely bogus and blatantly untrue. The story of the destitute widows of Varanasi is one of human tragedy. But the cruelty meted out to them is an exception, not a rule. It speaks more about the depraved mentality of the children and extended families of the victims who throw them out, than of Hindu society in Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-82884541089443565532007-07-05T15:00:00.000-07:002007-07-05T15:00:00.000-07:00I posted the same comments on CNN. Guess what, my ...I posted the same comments on CNN. Guess what, my comments (at 2.03PM) were not posted by CNN. No surprises there. Just proves my point.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-78260153031229373252007-07-05T14:03:00.000-07:002007-07-05T14:03:00.000-07:00This article is grossly inaccurate. It is akin to ...This article is grossly inaccurate. It is akin to saying Christians discard their parents soon after they are old enough to leave the house. Once they leave their house they never look back. Their parents are discarded like loose rubbish and left to rot in old folks homes. Maybe some one should do a story on that and sensationalize that aspect of their religion which says you have no duty Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-62128683519961603632007-07-05T14:00:00.000-07:002007-07-05T14:00:00.000-07:00Anonymous, I looked at the study you mentioned. It...Anonymous, I looked at the study you mentioned. It is informative about the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the widows in Varanasi and Vrindavan. However, the study does not have a "control group" drawn from widows outside these cities (a sample drawn from all matropolitan cities in India for example), with the stattistics regarding their conditions and their socio-economic and Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-87829235710117625132007-07-05T13:56:00.000-07:002007-07-05T13:56:00.000-07:00The annoying thing about this article is that it m...The annoying thing about this article is that it makes it seem as if all Indian widows , irrespective of class, education, and location, are treated horribly. My entire extended family is from Punjab, and my cousins and I were always told that when our parents, father OR mother or both, became old, it was our duty to take them into our homes if necessary. My mother was incensed when she read the Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-76329277013378051432007-07-05T13:34:00.000-07:002007-07-05T13:34:00.000-07:00I just saw that in the comments section for this a...I just saw that in the comments section for this article, CNN has published a comment by someone called Rajen Patel who says "Not to mention that not too long ago, the Hindu bastards forced their widows to be burned alive with their dead husbands". This is clearly inflammatory ( the whole tone of the comment is inflamatory and fundamentalist in nature) and comments like this can cause social Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-76140524433859742352007-07-05T13:33:00.000-07:002007-07-05T13:33:00.000-07:00This is surely some one's way to get to the next l...This is surely some one's way to get to the next level in CNN. Does not reflect the majority. I mean the 99.99% of widows. 15K out of 40Mil is less than 0.37%<BR/><BR/>And by the way, how many western families take care of their parents! Talk about the issues in own country rather than looking around to find sensitive topic around the world. Actual issue could be poverty. <BR/><BR/>If CNN is Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-17100210694449930252007-07-05T13:11:00.000-07:002007-07-05T13:11:00.000-07:00To Anonymous: It's not a question of whether or no...To Anonymous: It's not a question of whether or not someone can write his or her name. Literacy is often determined by the geographical region and/or historical epoch into which a person happens to be born. (I Googled "Top Gear": sounds like a lively show.)<BR/><BR/>To Simone: Even a cursory reading of this blog leads one to notice that I often write about atrocities that are fueled by or occur wLitsa Dremousis:https://www.blogger.com/profile/02805126173325772698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-9470911676992412442007-07-05T12:11:00.000-07:002007-07-05T12:11:00.000-07:00It'd only be ethnocentric if you forgot to mention...It'd only be ethnocentric if you forgot to mention the horrible selfishness and carelessness Americans exhibit when leaving their parents to die in nursing homes, often at the hands of incompetent and abusive nurses. But why wax on that, it's happening in our own backyard but CNN doesn't want to cover it.<BR/><BR/>Plus, we need some distraction from all the innocent women and babies we're Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598742.post-90180783587266695642007-07-05T11:35:00.000-07:002007-07-05T11:35:00.000-07:00the people that practice this sort of barbarism pr...the people that practice this sort of barbarism probably cant even write their own names. it reminds me of the top gear episode where jerremy clarkson visits the US and goes to missisipi. he pulls into a gas station and talks to the locals. on his car he has the words NASCAR SUCKS. do you know what the locals do? they start throwing rock at him because they think he's gay and for hating nascar. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com