I just heard an interesting interview on the radio with the writer, Philip Roth. He talked about his school education and what made him take up a writing career, something totally different from what his parents had done and had expected of him. He said that he had good or fair teachers most of the time, but two or three memorable teachers who gave him critical thinking skills. He pointed out that most of us are taught to think through the filter created by the establishment. Why, only a few decades ago, people in the colonies did not question the right of the colonizer to make a grab for our resources and keep us in second class position. The masses never thought of challenging the established powers. Then came 2 or 3 thinking rebels who questioned the status quo. Most people don't question miracles or the requirements for official sainthood. It doesn't bother them that the process is unfair, unscientific, or any of that. They see the situation through the filter created by the establishment. A few people do think, however, and dare to make an assessment. Nowadays, the power of the establishment has been diminished greatly. There is room for critical thinking and we should excercise it! Filomena
--- Santosh Helekar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Filomena Giese wrote: > > > > >As far as any cool-headed reader can tell, > Srinivasan has not > attacked Mother Teresa. > > > > It turns out that Christopher Hitchens, the author > of "The Missionary > Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice" has > just written a > scathing article in an Australian news publication > denouncing her > beatification. The article rehashes his old > criticisms of Mother > Teresa, and astonishingly, calls her a fraud. I > don't want to post a > link to that article here, not just because I think > that most of the > criticism in it is unwarranted and unjust, but also > because I worry > about the health of our home-grown pious apologists > for the miracle > business. > > Nonetheless, I am posting below a less provocative > excerpt from that > article because I was surprised by the statements > contained in it. > From the many published accounts that I read over > the past couple of > weeks, I thought Hitchens had played the role of a > devil's advocate > in the investigative process. But here is what he > says: > > "As it happens, I myself was interviewed by them > (Vatican > investigators) but only in the most perfunctory way. > The procedure > still does demand a show of consultation with > doubters, and a show of > consultation was what, in this case, it got." > > Cheers, > > Santosh > > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
