You’re right that people here are adults, and can play fair here. Concede graciously, and argue without stereotyping or name-calling. No such luck though.

Scores of comments ago, this thread was actually enjoyable.

In the meanwhile, stop lying about “if this were about sucky Christianity or terrorist Islam, these fantasy-land dwelling mutineers would’ve swooped in. wah!”. See my first paragraph for the cause of “inconsistent” application of guidelines by over-extended volunteers. We do our best with this site and yes, we’re imperfect. However, we have never disrespected Hinduism in the way some of you have wet dreams about– “oooh, pseudo-secular south asian progressives hating vulnerable mother india! we must go to their site and hit F5 and torment ourselves as a witness to her virtual pillaging, then we can bitch about it in the comments! victory is ours!”

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The mutineers are real people, with real lives and obligations– and sometimes, all of that prevents us from being here. But I shouldn’t be surprised– last year when there was a death in my family, I was eviscerated for not paying attention to the threads. How low will some of you stoop? What if there’s an emergency in one of the bloggers’ families? What if one of us is in the hospital? Do we have to announce that, so that you’ll cut us some slack/treat us with the fairness we deserve and should have WITHOUT such destruction to our privacy?

Shame on you. You know, you’re not toddlers who require constant vigilance. You’re adults who should be able to carry on a civil discussion. And if you come here all the time, we would be so grateful if you could pitch in and help moderate if you see that we’re absent.

I’m going to close this thread, because some of you don’t deserve the right to post on it, after your unnecessary and hurtful words about SM and our criminal, inexcusable absence. As for the rest of you, ending this conversation is for the best– it’s impossible to weed out the trolling at this point and you deserve more than this.

Thread closes at 9:45pm. Well-done, to those who caused this.

Uhh actually I’m in my early 20s and I majored in religious studies.

What is it with people making all sorts of detailed comments on who I am and what I believe?

I suspect I am much more well-read than many here who get their perspective on Indian politics from Pankaj Mishra and the other PC authors they read in college. I actually read Hindutva literature, anti-Hindutva literature, Islamist literature, moderate Islamic literature, etc. Those who interpolate a whole set of beliefs from an argument on one topic and start flinging irrelevant accusations are compensating for a lack of knowledge of the particular topic.

Its easy to out gun me by attributing all sorts of positions to me. I explain why Hindus should fear living among a Muslim majority an all of a sudden I get self-righteous individuals condemning me for untouchability, brahminism, stealing land from poor squatters, widow-burning, etc.

The arguments here are not xenophobic. I welcome immigration of Tibetans, Nepalese, and Bohra Muslims. Some immigration is bad for a country and some is good. Our argument is mainly that BDesh immigration is bad for India and for Hindus who make up most of India. Our evidence is offered above. Its easier to ignore those arguments and make irrelevant accusations.

No one is arguing Hinduism is perfect and Islam is irredeemable. But Islam right now is fraught with pathologies that is causing non-Muslims lots of suffering. It is perfectly sensible for us to have concerns about massive Islamic immigration. That Hinduism also has problems does not make those concerns any less legitimate.

But all that said, caste is also relevant to the decision of at least some lower-caste Hindus to convert to Islam. Here is a report of the Meenakshipuram conversions in Tamil Nadu – 25 years after they happened, from Rediff Sep 2006.

“We converted as we were not respected by other caste Hindus. My name then was Uma Devan. We did not convert to Christianity because there is caste distinction in that religion too.” Says Umar Qayam (former Uma Devan): “Now, as Muslims, we are respected. We have marriages taking place between us and other Muslims from Kadayanallur, Vadakarrai, Tenkasi, Achanpudhur and other places.”

BTW, Modi seems to have another overwhelming victory in Gujarat for his govt’s performance on developmental parameters. Celebration time for you, Gujjubhai !

I am seriously disappointed by the moderators on this thread.

I don’t think you understood what I had to say. If what I said was truly for the American paradigm, then it would have said, “Black Poh-lees showin’-off fo da white KKKops”.

You are clearly outgunned here, buddy. You guys are generally older and in possession of an engineering or business degree (or, both). Doesn’t matter which one, but mainly it’s the lack of exposure to some humanities and social science courses. Like these one’s being put in place in schools, to help children articulate a real understanding of India. They will articulate a very different view of India from people like JGandhi, Paramhansa, LouieCypher, et. al.

It’s sad. Compare this thread with the one on the deaths of the two students at LSU. The hit-counts of the threads reveal that people would much rather fight over these concerns, then deal with the here and now.

Maybe it’s the isolation and loneliness that people feel living as brown people in such a large, mostly unfriendy land.

I was in Thailand. Most of the Thai elite also harbors similar hatred of their neighbors, the Burmese.

The point is to rise up above the hatred. Is that such a difficult message to comprehend? I know some founding figures who went to their deaths believing in such principles.

Some of you know that I’m from Fiji. The language I see used by ethnic nationalists against Indians in Fiji, is shockingly similar to that evoked by religious nationalists in India.

It’s just sad that so many of my peers are succombing to the blind rage of ethnic chauvanism and nationalism. Look at yourselves? It doesn’t make you good people. You make ape-like gestures taunting players at cricket matches–further subjecting yourselves to international humiliation. We want to behave on a level that equates to European soccer hooliganry?

This is the “Great Civilization”? Which produces minds that cannot rise above simple xenophobic sentiment?