Attitudes

Last month there was this huge thread that started off with a reference to Vedanta Desikar. It went on to a discussion on the supremacy of the Vedas and how Hinduism was threatened because of the Muslims and the Christian missionaries and how Sonia was the instrument of the Church and other drivel.

The argument was strange. There was one person expressing these views – totally fundamentalist views – I quote

All weaklings advocate tolerance because that's the easiest thing to do, including governments. It takes courage to act positively which is positively lacking in all of us. Just sit back and relax when there is a problem and say that you have tried all negotiations and live with the problem for ever and say you are silly tolerant over the ages. And still audaciously claim that's the best thing to do. What a shame we put ourselves to

The rest of the group – a substantial number – were trying to convince the author of these words that he was wrong. There were those who agreed with him, though their agreement was slightly wishy-washy. There were those who were trying to goad him on from the other side.

In the end, after several people expressed their opinions in several hundred words, and there was pretty much unanimous agreement that the the provocator was a pitiable piece of work – which was of course tempered by a sneaking suspicion that the entire group was being had and the whole thread was an opportunity for the members to have a monstrous intellectual circle jerk

After the arguments died down, the author raised the plight of an old school master suffering from a degenerative nerve disease and basically got things going – getting contributions, visiting him, getting info on the state of his finances etc and setting up something like a fund to take care of the old man in his time of need.

The funny thing – the master’s name is Prakash William Shantakumar.