This post shows what happens when religion and religious references are gratuitously and unnecessarily included in a discussion. > This post has also associated the name of Miguel Braganza with bigotry for all time in the Goanet archives, something his friends assure us he is not. > I blame the moderators for some of this contretemps. I recall once, when one of the moderators was in a good mood and explained why a post was being rejected, I was asked to edit a post to remove a Goanetter's name from the subject line. I agreed that this was a good idea. I'm sure Miguel wishes this standard had been followed in this discussion. > Selma, who is often too clever by half, started this firestorm, unintentionally I'm sure, in the following post where she wryly commented about being unable to keep up with Goa's intrigues: > http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-June/076060.html > in which she unfortunately said, in part: > "....a few months ago, one Dr Anand Virginkar made us believe that Manohar Parriker was the reincarnation of Vishnu himself." [end of excerpt] > Apparently unable to resist, Miguel Braganza, who his friends assure us in NOT a bigot, nevertheless gratuitously raised the stakes in his response: > http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-June/076065.html > where he said, in part: > "1. Manohar Parrikar cannot be an incarnation of Vishnu. He is an "addvo Bamonn" affiliated to Partagal Mutt [not to be confused for "Portugal"] and so is a Shiva worshipper [Hence,perhaps, Rajan Parrikar's phallic fetish]. For the uninitiated, Shiva is the Lord outside whose temple there is always a patient Nandi bull ....like the one Manuel Caldeira wants to put as the logo of the "Goan Solidarity for Change" with Hema Sardessai, Prajal Sakhardande and others." [end of excerpt] > This was far more religious imagery than was really necessary or called for, which got the attention of Anil Desai who accused Miguel of being a religious and political bigot in: > http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-June/076538.html > And the mud-wrestling was on:-)) > Ironically, the defense of Miguel's honor is being led by, guess who? The very person who made the wry Vishnu reference in the first place, the inimitable Madame Selma. > Curiously, the only person who has stayed out of this fracas, THAT CONTINUES TO IMMORTALIZE HIS NAME WITH BIGOTRY IN THE ARCHIVES, after he raised it out of the obscurity of Selma's original wry musings about intrigue in Goa is, guess who? Senor Miguel Braganza, who Selma says "is NOT a bigot". Not a peep on this subject from Senor Braganza since then. > In my never humble opinion, Senor Braganza could have ended all this with an apology for his unnecessary references to Vishnu, Shiva, addvo Bamons, phallic symbols, and so on. I'm sure Miguel is smart enough that he can figure out a way to criticize Manohar Parrikar without any religious references. > As a Catholic Bhayya from MP, I even find the ongoing references to "saffron" and "saffronites" to be subtle, gratuitous and offensive references, with religious connotations aimed at certain Hindus. The fact is there are Hindus on all sides of almost every issue in India and in Goa. > The last word on the subject should have been the following post by Santosh Helekar, who wryly observed that anyone with more than half a brain, including himself who, by my scientific calculations, has a brain and a quarter, is a bigot on one issue or another. > http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-June/076574.html > The lesson in all this is to avoid gratuitous and unnecessary religious references when trying to skewer a political adversary, unless the context is clear. > I'm sure we are all smart enough to debate an issue simply on its merits - even if, as Santosh has hypothesized, we are all bigots:-)) >
