Why the following ought to be of interest on Daily Kos:
Ignorance might not prevent the American academia from sermonizing to the world but, when coupled with pompousness, it damages what many good Americans hold very dear to their hearts: ‘the American national interests’.
Background:
Wendy Doniger, Professor at the University of Chicago, wrote a book "The Hindus: An Alternative History" with many errors of fact and of interpretation. The book was published in 2009. In 2014, Penguin, the publishers of the book in India, withdrew Doniger's book in India as part of a settlement of a civil law suit brought by an elderly activist, Dina Nath Batra. The lawsuit was brought under Section 295A of the Indian legal code, which punishes "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings" of any class of people in India. This law was instituted in British India, in the 1920s, but continues in independent India.
For myself and for Professor Balagangadhara (Balu) whom I shall be quoting below, I will say that banning of a book is deeply troubling, and we strongly wish that it did not happen. I should mention that I am told by people who know more about the lawsuit than has appeared in the press, that Wendy Doniger apparently refused to correct just the errors of fact in her book during the negotiations for a settlement of the lawsuit. That is deeply troubling too. It should also trouble everyone, but apparently it doesn't, that any criticism of Doniger's book is dismissed as "Hindu fundamentalism", whatever that means.
Anyway, this incident seems to have caused a huge amount of ink to be spilled in the US press, more so, than e.g., when the US government took down a Mexican political activism website. Perhaps Indians should be flattered that Americans care so much more for their far-away nation than their own government and the nation on their border. But perhaps something else is at play.
Wendy Doniger wrote an OpEd in the New York Times, "Banned in Bangalore". I will not characterize that OpEd, Balu does it exceeding well below the fold. Since he introduces himself (or you can follow the link above) I shall not say more about him.
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