From the NY Times:Some months ago, [Mr. Narine] identified his first big cause: to help unify the young members of the Indian and Indo-Caribbean diaspora in southern Queens and develop a political voice for the population. He created a plan to hold a series of events at which young Sikhs and Hindus, the two dominant religions, could “get to know each other, network.”
For the inaugural event, he decided to screen “Sita Sings the Blues,” a 2008 animated feature film that tells a story derived from Ramayana, an ancient Sanskrit epic. The film has provoked outrage among some Hindus who believe its portrayal of the Ramayana and Hinduism is offensive. But Mr. Narine, who considers himself a devout Hindu, did not think much of this. He just liked the film.
Then on Sunday, Mr. Narine began receiving e-mails and phone calls from angry Hindus criticizing his choice of film. Dozens became scores; scores became hundreds. They were coming from across the country and around the world. By Wednesday, Mr. Narine had heard from more than a thousand opponents. Most were unkind, some were even threatening. Words unprintable on this Web site were abundant.
Mr. Narine has accepted the blame for inadvertently inviting the protest: He sent the invitations to people he had thought were community leaders and allies. They had forwarded the e-mails to the Hindu groups that waged the campaign against him.
5 comments:
I loved Sita. Its on Channel 13 all the time and nary a flicker.
Machine politics you can bet. They do stupid things like this to a grassroots person
While the world remains mute that "Honest Joe" Crowley raises his kids far away from the likes of this gent and his community.
But that is ok, right?
Not much of a leader if he didn't have a clue that his own people, including his uncle the Hindu priest, would oppose his event.
None of this fits the pious picture of peaceful and spiritual India that so captivates many Americans. India has served as one of the foreign Edens to which those Americans turn, in order to show their disdain for the United States.
At one time, the Soviet Union played that role, then China, then Cuba, and for some, India. What happens in the real India doesn't matter. It is the symbolic India of their dreams to which they impute all the virtues they declare to be lacking in the USA.
It is not India's fault that some fatuous Americans want to put Indians up on a pedestal, in order to score points against their fellow Americans. But we need to be aware of the truth as well.
Those who are constantly gushing about the supposed benefits of "diversity" never want to put their beliefs to the test of looking at the facts about countries where people are divided by language, culture, religion, and in other ways, such as caste in India. Such countries are all too often riddled with strife and violence.
India is one of the most diverse nations on earth. No more than one-third of its people speak any given language, and the population is divided innumerable ways by caste, ethnicity, religion and numerous localisms. Lethal riots have marked its history from the beginning.
When India gained its independence in 1947, the number of Hindus and Moslems who killed each other in one year exceeded the total number of people killed in race riots in the entire history of the United States. Yet we are told that we should be like those gentle people, as if India were a nation of Gandhis. In reality, Gandhi was assassinated for trying to stop internecine strife in India.
The only reason the select group is opposed to it is because, the film isn't by an indian nor indo-carribean person. It's by a white woman who used the story of the Ramayana and cartooning to get through her divorce.
Also, Anonymous 2 - shut your mouth. Only a small group is opposed, and because they're opposed they're showing their voice.
Intolerate religioud fanatics.......watch out for the machetes.......
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