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Originally Posted by Jeroen What is very inappropiate is having a governement official tell a citizen off on what he or she should and should not say. That is not a role, nor a responsibility of any democratic goverment I'm aware off. At best the ambassodor could say that the professor opinion does not reflect the Germans' governement opinion on this matter. If he really spoke to her, he has overstepped his authority. |
It's true that the Ambassador overstepped his authority in writing a letter to the lady and making it public. Why the Ambassador, not even the German Chancellor or President have the right to tell her what to say or not. I bet he would not have written the letter to her if he was the Ambassador to, say Netherlands, and a similar incident happened. There would have been absolutely no need for him to get into the picture at all.
That's why I feel sorry for him. He seems to have understood India very well, and felt the need to step in, even if it was grossly inappropriate for him to so do. He basically had very little choice.
I think he perfectly understands the nature of the government, the media and the misguided mobs in India to turn this into a huge, vexing issue between India and Germany. He has to take care of the interests of Germans in India as well. Apart from organisations and their employees, German speakers (from Deutschland, Switzerland, Austria etc.) easily form the largest chunk of tourists visiting India.
Being the wise gentleman he seems to me, I expect Herr Steiner to write another (private) letter to the lady apologising for his previous one, and explaining the circumstances that made him write it.
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Originally Posted by pratyush6 You've said all I wanted to say.
I see a lot of people stating that the documentary paints India in low light and it is filled with propaganda.
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The scary part is the mindset - I have heard educated people talk trash and make it sound as if the girl invited the whole thing. |
Thank you, bro. The sad thing is that it's quite difficult for education (especially what passes off for it in India) to change one's mindset. It can at best polish it and give it a wider perspective, but then again one cannot polish a turd.
As for all the talk about the "propaganda", "anti-India agenda", wanting to show the country in "poor light" and what not, I find it absurd and preposterous.
Propaganda, seriously? Why? Just because it took a foreign woman and her courage to make a documentary as soul-searching as that? Did she usurp the chance of an Indian man (or woman) to make something similar and earn accolades for it?
Of course, she didn't. Most Indian directors are probably busy making third-rate films (in different languages) with five song-and-dance sequences, a couple of fake fights and a cheap (& often vulgar) comedy track. Well, at least this is better than what we used to get earlier. Remember all those crappy films from a decade or so ago that had a mandatory violent rape scene to "entertain" the audiences? Utterly disgusting they were!
The funniest thing is, Indians tend to behave as if we have some great image in the world (present nowhere other than in our own narrow minds) and that those "evil", "racist" foreigners have a single-point "agenda" of destroying this "incomparable greatness" of ours and somehow want to prevent India's rise as a "superpower" and "the natural leader" of the world, nay the entire universe!
Absolutely hilarious! Again, it all boils down to our sheer lack of innate ability to look into the mirror for an honest idea of what we are.
It's not what or who we think we are that matters, but what we do that defines what we actually are!
It reminds me of the famous tale of the jackal from the timeless
Hitopadesha. A jackal stumbled and fell into a vat of indigo dye while foraging for food. On managing to get out of the vat, he thought he could put his newly acquired blue colour to good use.
He called a meeting of all animals and proclaimed to them that the Goddess of the forest had appointed him the new king of animals. Initially, all the animals (including lions, tigers etc.) who were in awe of his unique blue colour, believed him, and paid respect to him as they fell for his cunning calculated lie.
The blue jackal grew more and more arrogant as the days passed. Then one fine day, the other jackals began to howl in unison for some reason. The self-proclaimed "king of the forest" could not control his natural instincts and began to howl loudly with them. The other animals immediately realised that he was a mere jackal and no Goddess-appointed king. The blue jackal's little game then came to a cruel end.
Moral of the tale:
Whatever fake mask one manages to put on, one's true colours would come out in the open sooner rather than later, and often with disastrous consequences.
The jackal's blue colour resulting from getting immersed in the dye mentioned in the fable (indigo) also gives one the idea that this tale is very appropriate for today's India and Indians.
Although I just added a smiling emoticon, I write this with a real tinge of sadness.