Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 20:31:55 +0530 (IST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > I do not doubt nor disagree with you that Santosh is a fine person, a gentleman, a scholar and whatever other glowing adjectives you may wish to describe him. As a fellow goan, I too am proud of him and his achievements. > Mario responds: > Marshall, > I said none of the above and I have no idea what Santosh's achievements are. Though all what you say may well be true, please don't put words on my keyboard. What I objected to was your comment that Santosh did not practice what he preached. I wondered how you would know that from half a world away, and then I said that people who had actually met him spoke well of him, unlike what the same people have said about some of his friends and supporters on Goanet whom they have also met. > Marshall wrote: > If you find the word 'hypocrisy' offensive, I wonder how you would categorise the words 'militant political operative' and 'rumour mongerer' used by him. Does it enhance his standing? > Mario responds: > I find any word offensive when it isn't true. > As one who engages in robust denbate myself, I would never dream of squealing my head off at being called a third class citizen if I were one, or a hypocrite if I were one, so, it depends if these appelations are true or not. If what Santosh writes is not true, such statements would not enhance his standing. They could also be easily rebutted by asking him to provide his evidence. If he had none then everyone on Goanet would know he was talking through his proverbial hat. > If he had the evidence, these names would just be true. > For example, if I knew Santosh personally and had evidence that he did not practice what he preaches, I would not take issue with your calling him a hypocrite. I just didn't think you had the evidence. > As you may also have observed, Santosh often engages in wry fact-free hyperbole, which sometimes makes his point, and is sometimes just plain silly as some of his recent series of bogus comments about Barack Obama show, in which he was using sarcasm to show his strong support for Obama and his far left wing philosophy, in my opinion, the same kind of philosophy that caused many of us to leave India. Maybe not Santosh or George Pinto, who joined Santosh in similar comments, but most of us. >
