RAJIV - REDIFF INTERVIEW AND YOUR
ARTICLE ( Below)
The best way to combat anything in
life is to produce a better product. Rajiv Malhotra has done that, I am glad to
read both sides of the issues – that’s what ups us to see things rationally. I
watched the Video, it is good as well. Indeed, some of the references made were
not there either.
This was done to Quran
as well in 1142 AD – the Europeans deliberately mistranslated the Quran – to paint it in bad
light. It was to cause Christian subjects to hate Islam and Muslims. All the
European and American scholars of Islam base their knowledge on that
mistranslated book. Unfortunately, even a Muslim has mistranslated it to do the
opposite.
All of this is being picked up
in the last ten years, I have done quite a lot of work on it and more needs to
be done to undo the damage done.
We
will be launching “Journal of Pluralism” to set a few things right, we will
publish both sides of the issue, if there is a controversy.
However, the ban on the Hindu book by Wendy Doniger and
Satanic Verse by Salman Rushdie are wrong. The right thing to do is publish a
counter book – as is done by Rajiv Malhotra.
The real issue is freedom of press. No matter how bad and
ugly it is, freedom is the right way to guard all in the end. I have opposed any
censorship of freedom of expression. If we introduce discretion, then it will
create more problems. Thank you
mike
Mike
Ghouse
(214) 325-1916
text/talk
...............................................................................................................................
Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a
writer
on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work
place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers
pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in
Standing up for others and a
book with the same title is coming up. Mike has a strong presence on national
and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on
Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to
the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly
at Huffington post; and
several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work
through many links.
Interview
on Penguin's controversial book
withdrawal
Most of you know of the recent media controversy over
Penguin's decision to withdraw Wendy Doniger's book, "The Hindus".
Almost daily there have been extensive TV and major print media discusions in
India. In the USA, NPR, CNN, New York Times, New Yorker and various other media
majors have featured this story in a big way.
Rediff recently interviewed me because I was the one who
first started this debate around the year 2000 in a series of articles. (Article-1.
Article-2)
Soon after my initial articles, Wendy Doniger's own
University of Chicago Magazine interviewed me and did a large and
balanced coverage. It was their leading story. (Read)
The debate quickly ignited the Indian diaspora and the
American academy for a few years, with numerous mobilizations and accusations
from both sides. This fight was one of the defining moments in the awakening of
Hindu thinkers about the way their discourse was controlled and distorted by
others. The academic study of Hinduism has not been the same
since.
The drama quickly intensified. With the help of her
hordes of powerfully placed students, Doniger fought back furiously. She
arranged a front page article in the Washington Post and another
feature article in the New York Times. Unlike the magazine of her
university, these were PR jobs tilted in her favor.
The theater widened across the academic and litarary
circles of Europe, North America and India. More players join in on both
sides.
Martha Nussbaum, the prominent feminist and University
of Chicago colleague of Doniger, wrote a scathing book against Hindus with a
whole chapter dedicated to me - without bothering to interview me even
though that was suggested to her. She and Doniger have consistently ignored my
requets for a live debate in public.
In response to what I felt was a one-sided portrayal of
the events, I compiled a new book, titled, Invading the Sacred: An Analysis
of Hinduism Studies in America", and it was published in 2007. Its launch
video gives a good idea of our side of the story. (Video)
And so does its web
site.
The fallout of all this was very
significant:
- Wendy
Doniger lost her clout in the American academy, and being on the defensive, she
lost most of the students who earlier thronged at her doorstep for PhDs in
Hinduism.
- The
American academy made numerous changes (still not enough) to become sensitive to
Hindus' views concerning Hinduism, or at least these academics become less
blatant in their denigration of Hinduism.
- The most
significant change was that there emerged a new appreciation among Hindus and a
new mobilization of their leaders. It became widely accepted that it was a bad
idea to outsource the study of our tradition to scholars whose lenses were
programmed with Judeo-Christian and Marxist premises. In fact, no other major
world faith is studied by outsiders with the same authority and power as
Hinduism is.
A brilliant compilation of these debates and
controversies has recently been turned into a web site for those who want to get
an good overview. (Read)
Meanwhile, I moved on to many other projects of research
and publishing, pretty much forgetting Wendy Doniger as a closed chapter. But
the story does not end here.
Some years back, Doniger struck a new alliance to help
her make a dramatic comeback: She positioned herself with the Indian Left as
their "expert on criticizing Hinduism". Since Indian secularists are uneducated
in Sanskrit and only superficially informed about religious studies, Doniger was
a useful ally to supply them "masala" which they could use.
In turn, the well-connected Indian secularist/leftist
media and writers helped reposition Doniger in India as a great authority on
Hinduism. Soon she was winning awards in India, even though back home in USA her
own academic colleagues had distanced themselves because she was seen as a
tained scholar with a bad reputation.
Then yet another new chapter began. Some Hindus in India
decided to contest her relatively recent book. They filed a lawsuit in Delhi
alleging that it was biased and insulting to Hindus.
After four years, an out of court settlement was
recently reached under which Penguin agreed to withdraw the book from India. But
the terms agreed to, do not ban electronic copies or foreign editions from being
sold in India. Doniger's massive PR machinery went to work overtime to put the
matter into the limelight. The largely ignorant Indian media and its love for
sensationalism served her needs. As a result, her book is once againt selling in
India even though the Indian edition is withdrawn.
Bottom line: I have mixed feelings about the
effectiveness of the litigation and settlement. My own approach had been
entirely through a scholarly debate. This takes a lot more hard work, rigor and
creativity. Undoubtedly Doniger and her followers had retreated. But now she has
made a comeback, ironically using the withdrawal of her book, to position
herself as a victim.
The recent interview appearing in Rediff.com is the
first time I have spoken on this development over the past month. I wish to
give my 15 years of perspective on this issue.
I hope you will read it with an open mind and form your
own views.
Regards,
Rajiv
