--- On Sat, 2/7/11, Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]>
> Subject: [silk] PLU, PLT
> To: "Silk List" <[email protected]>
> Date: Saturday, 2 July, 2011, 23:23
> Reposting primarily for this quote,
> which had resonance:
>
> "If the “them” at the very top are unacceptably
> corrupt, it may be
> because the “us” taught them everything they know."
>
> Also because there' a notion that "chatterati" just
> "talking on mailing
> lists" can't cause or facilitate social change. I think
> that is a
> mistaken notion.
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/asia/02iht-currents02.html
>
> Udhay
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com))
> ((www.digeratus.com))
>
Copied, the beginnings of a similar discussion, elsewhere, with a slightly
different point of view:
"The Indian republic was founded on the truth that power should not be handed
over by the colonial rulers to the princes. India’s next general election was
likely to return not a Lok Sabha, a house of the people, but a Vansh Sabha, a
house of dynasty. Nehru, Patel, V.P. Menon and others went to enormous lengths
to make sure heredity was knocked aside as a criterion for rule, and to ensure
the 554 princely states were absorbed into a modern and democratic nation. The
Indian Constitution was based on the principle that sovereignty was derived
from the people."
---
Added commentary by the discussant:
"My personal opinion - unsubstantiated by any data - is that the extent of
support for the Anna Hazare / Lok Pal movement stems mainly from the increasing
disenfranchisement of the Indian citizen, evidenced by French's careful
research. Again in my personal view, we are seeing the collective Indian
cultural meme head back towards monarchy, and perhaps a renewal of the caste
system taking place in a different avatar. Corruption and the obviousness of
people's concerns about it are the symptoms, not the problem."
