#silklist_intro Dear List,
Howdy? I am very pleased to join your group. About myself, I shall say very little other than the fact that I have an IQ of over 150. I mention this fact because assumptions are made about Hispanics in online forums (sad to say) and over those, I have no control. (They assume, for instance, that I am not familiar with the English language or, as they put it, English is not my native language. My GRE and GMAT scores prove otherwise. Less charitable comments start something like : "Hey Mexican, go ...."). In my experience, the easiest response to all that is to say that my IQ has been measured to be over 150. That has, until now, been enough. It is a proven strategy that has, thus far, not failed. I am able to use my measured IQ as proof that I am not dumb, and am actually worth listening to. I have generally found that mentioning this one fact about me is sufficient to regain the audience. Indeed, on the Buddhist Internet forums I am a part of, I have, generally speaking, never mentioned anything else about me. And I have managed having mentioned just this one fact. This is important because even this mailing list goes helter-skelter sometimes and, besides, there is always politics everywhere. I don't know the politics around here and so don't want to have a "game" played on me. Nor do I wish for anyone to see anything but absolutely excellent conduct from my side. With metta, without a clearly defined set of rules (such as the Buddhists have in Right Speech), I don't believe that the debate in any mailing list can be considered "fair debate". I am very interested in India, and in Buddhism. Indeed, I am familiar with both Sanskrit and Pali and have "linguistic control" of these ancient languages of India. I have read the Pali Canon in full, and these days, I spend a lot of my time (well, at least some of my time) answering questions for Buddhists on various forums including the Buddhist Debate Group and Buddha Dharma Group on Facebook. If there is anybody interested in Buddhism on this List, please feel free to send me a note. Plus: I hope to visit the Buddhist sacred places in India some day. Maybe I will see some of you in India when I visit. One more interesting tit-bit of information about me: I recreate pre-modern food recipes. I professionally prepare the items and have generally succeeded in preparing dishes that are not only authentic but also quite delicious. I find that all that knowledge of Pali, Sanskrit, et cetera and the accompanying linguistics is very helpful in recreating dishes. This is also an ongoing area of research in that surprisingly little is known about how ancient food items were prepared. Now, that this is not an advertisement for my wares. However, I am a professional researcher in pre-modern studies and get paid for my culinary work. As I understand, Madhu Menon is a food photographer. I call myself a "food recreater". As I said, I don't know the politics around here. So, I will mention also that I will try to add a tag to all my posts here. I will reserve some of my comments on the topic being discussed for the Buddha Dharma Facebook Group, the Way of the Buddha Facebook Group and other Facebook Groups. That is where I hope to say what I really want to say. It is really liberating to be able to speak one's mind without being moderated. I am sure there is moderation going on this list. On those Facebook groups, there is none. So watch out for the hashtag @silklist_introduction or @silklist_intro on those groups if you are a member there. As for my research, my research interests include India, ancient and modern, as well as race and gender in India- both pre-modern and modern. I am currently working on a few papers: (1) "WHAT IS INDIAN SECULARISM?" - this is the paper I affectionately refer to as the "Amartya Sen is wrong" paper. Using his analysis in "The Argumentative Indian" as a starting point, I show how secularism in India has been entirely misconstrued. In other words, totally screwed up. That is, the framers of the Indian Constitution for it totally wrong. (2) "WHAT HATH DONIGER WROUGHT?" This is the paper I affectionately refer to as the "Wendy Doniger is wrong" paper. Here, I make the "bold claim" that that her race (that is, the Jewish race) has significantly influenced -much- of her scholarship. I further show how exactly this has been the case. I go over her book "The Hindus" and show how her race has informed her scholarship - and how it has caused her to get so much wrong. (3) "WHAT IS HINDUISM?" - this is the paper I refer to as the "The BJP is totally wrong" paper. I provide a theoretical framework for understanding Hinduism that I have not seen anywhere else. It is based on my own study of Buddhism and the Buddhist scriptures, in addition to the Hindu ones. (4) " INDIA SHINING" - this is the paper I affectionately refer to as THE "HOW TO SAVE INDIA" paper. All my work is informed by a motivation to provide clear solutions . Virtually all papers in economics simply add theory. This is a paper which will propose actual solutions. There have been a number of books out on this very topic - William Nanda Bissell has a book out (solutions -> highly impractical). Atanu Dey has another (I have not read it, but the solutions proposed on his blog for various problems leave much to be desired). There are several more. Given this significant lacuna in the field, I think this paper is worth reading. In some ways, I find it surprising that actual solutions proposed in various books and papers are seldom, if ever, discussed in the media in India. They really should be doing more of that. That is it from me. Ah revoir. Auf wiedersehen. Alvida. But there is one more thing: don't forget to watch out for the hashtag #silklist_intro on the Buddhist forums. Those forums have a clearly defined set of rules. And those rules have worked well. That is why I plan to stick to those forums, where I know quality, non-abusive discussions can be had. About this list and its politics, I frankly know very little. Best wishes, - James
