Hindus Under Siege – The Way Out

[wundermonk]

2) There is an advantage to knowing other cultures when one formulates one's foreign policy, and Rajiv Malhotra in a couple of his writings alludes to American foreign policy towards India being colored by attitudes about India coming out of Western Academia.

Hmm...So, US government funds US citizens to study other cultures so that foreign policy can be framed accordingly. But this still does not explain why only rabidly anti-Hindu views should be the outcome of such efforts.

4) They don't research Indian philosophy because they find it "superior" in any way. Many academics are Left-wingers who see the State as an inherently virtuous institution, and their own roles as equalizers to expose alleged inequality. Thus, it goes without saying that a Western academic will only see casteism and sexism while the Hindu sees humility and devotion.

First of all, the so-called "left wingers" in most countries, including the US, are intellectually dishonest. Whether it is economic ideas or political ideas, their hypocrisy is mostly easily uncovered. But that can be for another thread.

Yet, the above still does not make sense. Let us assume the Indian government is willing to provide me with a lot of funding to study Hebrew culture. Why would I, an Indian Hindu, with this money, reach the conclusion that Israelis are racists and Jews have no Biblical claim whatsoever on Palestinian lands? If I reach that conclusion, why would I proclaim myself to be the self-appointed scholar on such issues? History ALWAYS has two legitimate POVs regarding any issue.

So, the question still stands, WHY would a Caucasian non-Hindu research Hinduism with the plethora of funds which the US government provides? Why not study something else? To me, the Donigers and Witzels of the world are intellectually dishonest and shoddy "scholars". They bend over backwards to try and fit square evidence into round-shaped preconceived notions.

[philosoraptor]

Hmm...So, US government funds US citizens to study other cultures so that foreign policy can be framed accordingly. But this still does not explain why only rabidly anti-Hindu views should be the outcome of such efforts.

First of all, the so-called "left wingers" in most countries, including the US, are intellectually dishonest. Whether it is economic ideas or political ideas, their hypocrisy is mostly easily uncovered. But that can be for another thread.

Yet, the above still does not make sense. Let us assume the Indian government is willing to provide me with a lot of funding to study Hebrew culture. Why would I, an Indian Hindu, with this money, reach the conclusion that Israelis are racists and Jews have no Biblical claim whatsoever on Palestinian lands? If I reach that conclusion, why would I proclaim myself to be the self-appointed scholar on such issues? History ALWAYS has two legitimate POVs regarding any issue.

So, the question still stands, WHY would a Caucasian non-Hindu research Hinduism with the plethora of funds which the US government provides? Why not study something else? To me, the Donigers and Witzels of the world are intellectually dishonest and shoddy "scholars". They bend over backwards to try and fit square evidence into round-shaped preconceived notions.

Right or wrong conclusions invariably fit someone's ideology, and so there is always a "market" for such conclusions in the political world. Why would anti-Hindu views be the repeated outcome of research into Indology? Aside from the fact that the humanities tend to attract Left-wingers, and Left-wingers have been heavily influenced by neo-Marxist theories of class and race-relations, we can probably speculate that anti-Hindu conclusions serve the purpose of those who don't want the US to improve its relations with India for one reason or another. Perhaps those people would rather we talk to Pakistan (look at the last 8-10 years of US foreign policy which privileged Pakistan). Or, perhaps those people just don't want us to give foreign aid to India. Also, and this is an extremely important point to consider - politics, like the humanities, are for those who don't have any truly marketable skills. That sounds cruel, and in all honesty I do respect honest scholarship in the humanities, but let's face it. Scholarship in the humanities is often about "fitting the round peg" of established knowledge into the "square peg" of some en-vogue political ideology, as opposed to the quest for true knowledge based on exposition of known facts. The Witzels and Donigers of this world could never make it as true scientists, engineers, doctors, etc because they don't respect the scientific method, however much they may allude to it as a rationalization for their views.