VHP and United Way (fwd)

[Madhav Deshpande]

	I entirely agree that we as scholars of India need to be fully 
aware of all the political issues both modern and ancient.  I have no 
problem with that.  However, being aware of these issues and discussing 
these issues is significantly different from blatantly advocating certain 
political views.  It is this latter type of behavior that has made the 
traffic on this network more like a soap-box forum.  I hope we can either 
change the "soap-box" character of the discourse, or start a new group.
         Madhav Deshpande

On Mon, 7 Nov 1994 R.Mayer at ukc.ac.uk wrote:

> Jonathan Silk is surely correct; it is intellectually naive
> or even dishonest to engage in any study of the humanities,
> such as the culture and civilisation of South Asia, without
> being aware of one's own attitudes and predispositions,
> just as much as one must be aware of the political aspects
> of cultural phenomena in "the other", ie the object of one's
> studies. The difference between a warm, vivid, study full
> of meaning and rich with thought-provoking ideas, and a 
> dry-as-dust sterile exercise is precisely to do with self-
> awareness (knowing our own psychological and political biases)
> as well as paying close attention to those of our subjects;
> and ignoring all these factors in the name of "objectivity".
> We have to allow a certain latitude in "political" comments
> even if we don't want the list to become a soap-box forum.
> Rob
>  
>