Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: INDIAN CULTURE - Subservient
From: reddyp@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Pardhasaradhi A. Reddy)
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 17:22:54 GMT
Organization: University of Cincinnati
Keywords: soc.culture.indian

In article <1992Nov13.010214.11313@massey.ac.nz> J.Ainikkal@massey.ac.nz (J. Ainikkal) writes:
>If culture is 'intellectual development' or 'rearing' within a
>society - our society is an excellent example of one of the
>greatest subservient cultures. An example of what a culture does
>not want to evolve into.
>

	Oh ya!  why don't you enlighten us about any other culture that's
	perfect. which other culture has been so superior to our's that
	we should be ashamed our culture ?. 

 
>On the net we read a lot about how great our culture WAS. But the
>reality, over the past 1000 years, is that our culture has
>declined to that of subservience.
>
>We keep trying to fool ourselves about how great a nation ours
>is. We keep trying to fool ourselves about our 'cultural
>heritage' and the lack of it in 'younger countries' (like the
>U.S.) - I would rather have the 'human rights', pride and the
>wealth of an American than the subservient culture of India. 
>

	This sounds stupid and baselss. Its is a well known fact that 
	US is a country without a culture of its own. And it also
	true that India is a country with a culture that finds its
	origins to years before Christ was born. And I am sure many
	Indians are proud to know that. Just because, our culture
	disintegrated in the recent years owing to ignorance and
	fundamentalism, it doesn't mean that we should be ashamed of
	it. 

		How can you even praise US culture and denounce Indian
		culture when the american culture itself has so many 
		black spots in it. Rascism exists even to this day. 
		America is a thrid world nation and most advanced 
		scientifically. And people still face rascial discrimination.
		Isn't that ironical ?. Compared to USA, India is poor
		both financially and technologically. Also, our literacy
		percentage is much less. That's not a reason to blame our
		culture. In a country like US, even to this day there
		are people who worship evil, sacrifice other human beings
		as offerrings to Saturn. Isn't that ridiculous compared 
		to our culture. And you claim that you rather have the 
		human rights, pride (for what ?) and the wealth of an
		american. What human rights have you been denied if you
		ever stayed in India ?. What social acceptance 
		have you gained staying in US ?. I don't know about you but
		i know a good no. of indians who have no other choice but
		to live like cocoons within themselves because they can neither
		accept the cultural veracity nor can they stick to their own
		culture. If earning money is the only criterion behind your
		claim, your comments about Indian culture are unacceptable,
		and you sound like a politician with vested interests.

>Our cultural heritage is one of subservience and radical racism.
>A culture not fit for animals of lesser intellectual capacities.
>

	Not for those who look at it with an optimistic attitude.
	A culture is something that has evolved over centuries.
	When there are so many people involved in passing on this
	culture to the future generations, it is very much natural
	to find discrepancies. No body is perfect. How can you expect 
	a million (or more) people to be perfect ?. Why look at the
	bad part of our culture and consider that as an epitome of
	our culture. Why don't you look at the obverse of the coin too?

>Even today we fight and strive hard to break away from each
>other. We fight for 100 different 'Indias'. A fight that will
>only lead to another 1000 years of subservience. M. Ghandhi was
>only scratching the surface with his fight to instill pride among
>our  people. But we never seem to learn. 
>
>How does one change the mentality of a nation?
>

	By refraining from insidious comments like yours. By being 
	critical about anything from a constructive point of view.
	When you criticize something, it would be acceptable if you
	could criticize that something by stating the pros and cons.
	Cristicisms that find origin in your mind one fine morning
	are not criticisms but would be construed as ignorant babblings 
	of a immature human. 

>We only live in the cesspool we create.
>
	Better than living in a cesspool others created. That's worse.
	Sufferring for our own mistakes is better than sufferring due to
	others mistakes. Atleast, we have no reason to think that we don't
	deserve the sufferring.

>John AinikkaL


	I am proud to be an Indian and will be unto death. I am a part and
	parcel of Indian culture and i would like to accept the negative
	side of my culture with a smile because no culture is perfect. I
	believe in learning the good from other cultures with respect to 
	my own. I don't believe in getting excited about cultural
	disintegration because, as long as there are people who know the right
	definition of culture, people who are ready to accept our culture,
	our culture will be preserved. I firmly believe that neither our culture
	is superior to other cultures nor is it inferior. After all no human 
	is perfect. And i am no exception, neither is Indian culture.


Pardha.