Book Review:"Negationism in India"-Part 1

[JSHARMA]

    In message Sun, 14 Nov 93 03:49:04 GMT,
    Richard Lariviere <rwl at emx.cc.utexas.edu>  writes:
> 
> > Dom--
> >
> > Is there any way to keep the sort of rancid pablum Mr. Karanth has sullied
> > our screens with from re-appearing?

 Whereas Richard Lariviere has taken upon himself to speak for all on 
this network, he does not speak for me. I wish to thank Mr Karanth 
for making us aware of Elst's work, and and his interpretation of the 
historical dynamic leading to forces at work in Indian polity today.
 The statement by Mr Lariviere lends further credibility to the 
concept of negationism. Amongst scholars, discussion is based on 
rationale and not invective. It certainly would have been 
intellectually honest to put forth counter arguments; But to dismiss 
the systematic genocide of millions of Hindus over hundreds of years 
as "rancid pablum" and not worth discussion is an emotional 
statement. 
 If this list indeed is for discussion of historical India, then the 
rancid occurence of the Islamic conquest comes with the historical 
baggage. When this event happened, there was no press, no human 
rights monitoring, and the story of these poor souls is largely 
unheard.  If historical science is driven by a quest for truth, it is 
inevitable that these gaps be filled in. In this light the call for 
censorship by Mr Lariviere and the accompaning political correctness 
begs the reason.. why?
 One way postings of this nature can be avoided is to rename this 
forum as the "happy days "of Indian history, the other unfortunate 
occurings being classified as "rancid pablum' and not suitable for 
discussion. 

J.B. Sharma
Assistant Professor of Physics
Gainesville College