Looks like it's the Marshall Mendonza hunting season, and while it's time for an active cabal to gang up against him, I feel obliged to make a few points here.
* I disagree with Santosh's weasel words [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word] in describing Marshall's posts: "Marshall is giving you bogus information as usual." "Vijay Prashad's wavelength is on the extreme left fringe of the invisible spectrum." "Prashad spreads lies about others for political reasons."] ["The expression weasel word derives from the egg-eating habits of weasels. An egg that a weasel has sucked will look intact to the casual observer, while actually being empty."] I think it would be beneficial if Santosh told us exactly what is wrong in the arguments, instead of taking pot shots at Vijay Prashad's ideology. And btw, since one of Goa's greatest intellectual giants Dharmanand Kossambi was himself a self-avowed Marxist, should we be dismissing him with nasty comments, instead of spending taxpayers' money to celebrate his legacy? I think not... Even assuming Prashad was totally wrong in identifying the accused in some West Bengal case, can and should this be used against his arguments here? The manner in which people's arguments are distorted, and then they are slapped with it, is certainly unfair. Repeatedly, it is made out as if Marshall is some kind of a bigot, out to spread communal flames. Religious fundamentalism is a major concern in today's India, and I think Marshall is doing a good job of using logic and facts (mostly without losing his cool). Needless to say, it makes our efforts much more credible if we talk out in the cause of all underdogs -- not just when our own 'community' is affected. What are we getting so worked up with the view that expats often tend to have a more conservative ideology compared to their counterparts back home, battling as they do their own issues of racism and needing to fit into new societies? This is not a new perspective, and the point has been made when the Sikh insurrection in the Punjab seemed to be fuelled from abroad. Muslim extremism also has its diasporic nature. I don't see why Hindutva would be different, it's support from the diaspora has been well documented. Likewise, the Christian expat tends to have a lower tolerance threshold -- as the debates on Goanet sometimes shows -- though we in Goa ourselves are pretty bad on that front too. Having said all this, I think the suggestion made [ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoenchimXapotam/message/20516 ] to say "can anyone provide me with personal details on Marshall, such as his phone number, address etc? I would like to help him in his fight against the extremist hindutva forces, but posting his contact details on various hindu forums. He can then get acquainted with these people directly and stop bothering us with his paranoia." is not just unfair. It also shows an inclination to incite further bigotry when we see it as suiting our goals, or scoring points. FN -- FN * http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com M +91-9822122436 P +91-832-2409490 http://twitter.com/fn On Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/people/Frederick-Noronha/502514643 "It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk Bone shorts." - Kelly Allen
