[Buddha-l] Hindutva california textbook controversy #2

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

I've read about this censorship in Hinduism Today and it's not an 
isolated incident.
Some years ago I was on the Indology list and suddenly new subscribers 
came, most with Tamil names. From that moment on the debate about the 
Aryan Invasion Theory, i.e. that Sanskritculture was introduced into 
India by Aryan invaders, never was off and became ever more nastier. All 
classical arguments were called signs of Western Neocolonialism. At last 
all the old  indologist just left the list.
Three months ago two surgeons in New Delhi made the headlines in local 
papers with the accusation that meditourism caused the death of Indian 
poor people because the tourists occupied the beds that were needed to 
treat them.
It's clear that there's a wave of conservatism, xenophobia and 
nationalism going on. Not only in India but in many places all over the 
world. Question is what causes this? My guess is that there is a new 
class of people who want recognition and want it fast and who have the 
means now to force it. People who were powerless and nameless before, 
but now try to enter the game and bend the rules into their favour.
What can you do? Convince them with retorics? I think that's impossible 
because their reasons don't come from outside. Maybe the best thing is 
to do what we do best: educate people. For the rest we may have to sit 
it out and hope for better times. 


-- 

Erik


www.xs4all.nl/~jehms