Wednesday, May 30
The Right Comeback
My chimeric article with Shruti Ravindran and RK Mishra on the case of Chandramohan and the limits to artistic use of erotic religious iconography stirred up a real froth on Outlook's web forum. My name appeared first in the magazine byline, and alone in the web version, so I've been the target of some very creative abuse from local wingnuts and smug NRIs - and much more that wasnt creative. To my disappointment, the website administrator pulled down the most sizzling samples, but the highlights include being called a "Macaulayian European wannbe desi darkie... drone," by Raj, who lives in New Jersey; a "left-oriented fat rat," and someone else asking if I would let him f*** my daughter in public.
There's nothing new about the berserk quality of the conversation - the design of the Rants & Raves section practically encourages people to forget their civility... and their point. What is spectacular about this thread is how quickly it rephrased the art vs censorship debate into the terms of Hindu vs Muslim communal prerogatives - even in situations like this one, where Muslims weren't remotely involved. I was suddenly reminded of the Hindu right's monomania for weighing "our" civil privileges against those of Muslims - a childish jealousy, a fight over who gets the bigger bite of the poisoned pedha.
She's referring to the protest gathering that began after a bomb exploded in the Masjid. People who were on the scene claim that the crowd could have been dispersed without a lathi charge, but for reasons unexamined, the police fired live ammunition at chest-level and killed 11 people (twice the number killed by the bomb).
There's nothing new about the berserk quality of the conversation - the design of the Rants & Raves section practically encourages people to forget their civility... and their point. What is spectacular about this thread is how quickly it rephrased the art vs censorship debate into the terms of Hindu vs Muslim communal prerogatives - even in situations like this one, where Muslims weren't remotely involved. I was suddenly reminded of the Hindu right's monomania for weighing "our" civil privileges against those of Muslims - a childish jealousy, a fight over who gets the bigger bite of the poisoned pedha.
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One of my favourites: "Yesterday muslims in Old Hyderabad city near Mecca masjid have attacked hindu police but outlookindia and secular journalists will never speak against these muslim criminals and terrorists who attacks our hindu police." -- Chitralekha, PanipatShe's referring to the protest gathering that began after a bomb exploded in the Masjid. People who were on the scene claim that the crowd could have been dispersed without a lathi charge, but for reasons unexamined, the police fired live ammunition at chest-level and killed 11 people (twice the number killed by the bomb).
