Sunday, August 13, 2006

CBCNN's cardinal principles

I was on slippery ground.
Ever since you chose to defend N.Ram

There were some who challenged the assertion that The Hindu's core values are rationalism and secularism. According to S. Venugopalan, Chennai, "secular is a relative word now." Is the name The Hindu secular and should not this name be changed for secular reasons, he asks.
Rationalism — the belief that all behaviour, opinion should be based on reason, not emotion or religious beliefs — has always been The Hindu's credo. However, its rationalism was not of the kind that rationalists and non-believers campaigned for.
And finally the reference to secularism: my understanding of secularism is, not allowing religion to influence or shape your outlook or activities in the public realm. It does not mean irreligion or non-religion. Hinduism stands for catholicity; it is all-embracing. It has no place for bigotry. And that according to me is what the 128-year-old name of the paper represents.

CBCNN's mastery of the language and utter lack of any logical coherence turns this into a mumbo-jumbo. Its rationalism "was not of that particular kind" suggests that under N.Ram it now is. That opens two questions. What exactly is the rationalism of the "rationalists and non-believers" and how is it different from that of "others"? Is the switch in rationalism from one type to the other, good or bad for India and its people and what impact does it have on China?
And the reference to secularism: Notice the clever switch to give the author's perspective rather than the editor's, while all along we were presented the editor's view. The reason is obvious -- the editor is cornered, so he uses the well-tutored marxist strategy of getting a minion to defend him and to inundate us with mumbo-jumbo.
Doesnt Catholicism represent catholicity better than Hinduism. Is the author trying to suggest that apart from Hinduism, religions have large space for bigotry. 3 out of 4 metros have recently changed their names, which have been in use for more than 200 years. Then why cant this 128-year-old paper change its name to represent what it stands for. A few suggested names are "The Chindu", "The Anti-Hindu", or better still "CBCNN".

Many readers do not provide their postal addresses, though we request this be done, as it helps us in many ways.
This got me thinking. In what one good way does it help CBCNN, apart from sending thugs to silence dissenting voices marxist style.
We have repeatedly requested CBCNN to provide the political affiliations, personal assets and sources of income of its editor-in-chief and all its correspondents. We have also repeatedly requested you to provide below each article, the money received (in rupees and not Chinese yuan) towards publishing it. It sure helps us in many, many, many ways.

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