[lit-ideas] Re: Simon's World
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 12:09:48 -0700
Lawrence's true colors finally start to come out. Bomb them all.
Lawrence, your ideas are based on Huntington and Fukuyama, and it's clear that you've
misread or misrepresented both of them. I gave you very good summaries of both.
- Huntington's idea of civilizations is too shallow and too broad. It sounds good if you
don't know much in particular about a country. For example, India. That's a great example of
how Huntington's idea is useless.
India is a Hindu culture, right? Welll... no. India was first a Buddhist empire. Then it
became a Muslim empire for 700 years. And then it became a Hindu nation. It also has a
sizeable Christian population that has been there for nearly 2,000 years, founded by St.
Thomas. And it has both a Jewish and Zoroaster population as well. Its Muslim population is
greater than the population of England and France combined. So which is it? Hindu? Buddhist?
Muslim?
India is seen by the West as a land of religious fervor. It lacks the Western principles of
science and rational inquiry, which are necessary for democracy. Oh, really? India developed
philosophical schools of atheism which have been active for 2,000 years. In contrast, people
were burned at the stake in Europe in the 1700s for atheism. Science and mathematics? Those
zeros in 2,000? India invented those. And the decimal system as well. The next time you pay
$0.25 for a newspaper, thank India.
Amartya Sen's latest book, the Argumentative Indian, points out that British colonialist
attitudes towards India are mostly self-justification for empire. a) Indians are chaotic and
disorganized: therefore, the British are obliged to come in and rule them. (Omar asks: so if
Iraqis are chaotic and disorganized, is the USA obliged to come in and rule them?) b) India
is a land of mystical religiosity, in contrast to the UK, which is rationalist and
scientific. This was self-justification for the British to assert their right over India.
Thus India's mathematics, philosophy, and science are ignored. And that's a big mistake,
because they are excellent at mathematics, science, and technology. It has been highly
valued for 2,000 years. Indians place great emphasis on education (in contrast to Americans,
who place emphasis on watching TV) and they are churning out hundreds of thousands of
engineers.
But capitalism: The US invented that, didn't it? Do Indians understand business? What they
do understand is to take a low profile. Indian capital is behind many Silicon Valley
companies, such as Google. I don't know what percentage of Silicon Valley venture funding is
Indian, but it's very substantial, perhaps 30-40%. The Chinese also have a very large stake.
It's no exaggeration to say that Silicon Valley, the technological engine of the American
economy, is financed, directed, and engineered by Indians and Chinese. Where is the inherent
Western superiority in technology and capital?
By ignoring India's achievements in the sciences and business, the West has self-inflicted a
blind spot and doesn't notice what is happening.
Once you start to look at a country in depth, Huntington's thesis becomes useless. India is
chaotic? Hardly. They have 1,600 languages and 300 million gods. That means there is a
tremendously complex social world. In contrast, the USA is simplistic, perhaps too
simplistic. Americans go into a frenzy if someone sings the national anthem in words they
don't understand. We only have one calendar in the West. How... small minded? India has 30
calendars. India's secular democracy shows that it's possible for Hindus, Muslims,
Christians, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, and many others to live together, each with strong
identities both to their communities and to India. Multiculturalism doesn't work in the USA?
Oh, it works very well. White Christians just don't like it.
- As for Fukuyama: Lawrence, you are misrepresenting him. Fukuyama is bemoaning the fate of
the West: weakling democracies with equal rights for all will produce a world without
meaning. Democracy is something perpetrated by Christian slave morality. Fukuyama calls for
war, combat, and death as necessary for valor and self-dignity. The conquerors have the
right by force to rule over weaklings.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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