SV: SV: Plight of Buddhist art

[Rohit Chopra]

Tina,
Your point is accepted. It's at times like these that I feel that as a
graduate student one is lost in an ivory tower with limited agency. Any
suggestions on what I can do to put in my two bits of effort will be welcome

Rohit

>
>sorry but i think it is a shame that you are fighting about this instead of
>talking constructively!We all must feel sad about the fact that a part of
>human art will be destroyed in a few days! Tina
>
>
>>From: Rohit Chopra Reply-To: Indology To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
>>Subject: Re: SV: SV: Plight of Buddhist art Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 02:41:08
>>+0000
>>
>>>Dr. Fosse - when you, as an Indologist, a Norwegian, a human being, are
>>>complicit in the international policy that says the Taleban government
>>>must be treated as international pariahs and the Afghan people as
>>>legitimate casualties of an extradition dispute, what right do you have
>>>to protest when they behave desperately and irrationally? When the
>>>Afghans have been subjected first to widespread destruction by the
>>>Russians, then to the funding and arming of disparate private groups by
>>>the wealthiest country in the world to the point where the nation's
>>>capital became the permanent battleground of those groups, and then to
>>>the active and effective hostility of that same country with all other
>>>nations (except a few like Pakistan and Turkmenistan) acquiescing, by
>>>what logic can you attribute their adoption of extreme ideologies and
>>>desperate (and unpleasant) actions to their inherent failings rather than
>>>to the pressure of contingent circumstance? Forgive me, but if your
>>>hypocrisy is not clear to you it is quite revolting to me; you sound like
>>>a German of, say, 1941, complaining that Poles are violent terrorists by
>>>nature.
>>>
>>
>>I second that, it seems almost to comply to the classic definition of
>>orientalist stereotyping. It is interesting that if a white European or
>>American group or individual commits a reprehensible action, it is always
>>made out to be the case of an "pathological, disturbed individual" or the
>>work of some aberrant group (such as David Korresh's cult for instance).
>>This is the idea the western media reinforces and one that echoes popular
>>western sentiment as well. However, if any other population commits the
>>same action, then a generalization is made about the innate negative
>>qualities of that group, people, population or even civilization. Thus
>>neo-nazi white supremacist groups are conveniently designated part of a
>>lunatic fringe in chiefly white, western societies, whereas the Taliban is
>>supposed to represent the innate "fanaticism" of all Afghans or even
>>Islam.
>>
>>What is equally sad is that an equal number of Indians on this list jump
>>to the same easy conclusions mirroring in the in-built assumptions of a
>>centuries-old means of representing the geographical equivalent of the
>>subcontinent. This is one of the infections of colonialism, that
>>ironically, infects most strongly those who stridently makes claims about
>>the purity of Indian (which, in their opinion, is Hindu) culture.
>>Unfortunately there still is a reliance on the categories of neo-liberal
>>democracy, which is based on so-called universals that in actu have their
>>provincial roots in European history, and thus innately endorse a white,
>>male ideology. The same neo-liberal democracy allows for affluent western
>>countries to choke third world countries in the name of "justice" or
>>"world peace". Additionally, the models of "civil society" cannot account
>>for the historical specificty of formulations of community in cultures
>>other than those European provinces where these models were formulated.
>>Arms exports to the third world form a significant source of revenue for
>>affluent developed and postindustrial nations. It is on the basis of this
>>money that the west can afford to make those "democratic, liberal"
>>generalizations about "fanatics" and Islam.
>>
>>Rohit
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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