nandhu@ut-ngp.UUCP (Nandhakumar.) (10/10/86)
Mr. Martillo's comments: >I have also read this as well and I am not sure if I believe it. If >there is a knowledgeable Sikh on the net, I would be interested in >comments. I was under the impression Sikh religion rejected a lot of etc. Mr. Martillo's comments seem to indicate that he is another one of those educated 'intellectual' Americans intent on forming strong opinions on an Indic subject which he has little information about. He is looking for an ingeniously simple prescription for the complex problem that the Sikh conflict involves. He knows little of the culuture of India and probably will not learn much even from a visit to India. I doubt if any efforts by us will dissuade him from his beliefs. I have met others of his kind, some who are reputed sociologists/anthropologists with many years of study in Indian ways. They propound elegant theories about the Indian society which leads to many publications. Ten years later they publish more papers commenting on the drawbacks of the previous approach. I recently attended a talk by one (so called) expert who expressed great surprise because when visiting India after a 20 year absence she found that discrimination based on caste differences (in a small village she had been studying) was considerably less than it had been 20 years ago. Her evaluation in the past had been that the government's efforts at reducing discrimination were 'utopian' !!! I understand the feelings of frustration expressed by my fellow ex-patriots in trying to educate people like Mr. Martillo but I have found that the effort involved is usually wasted. Approaching cultural issues such as the one Mr. Martillo is trying to understand takes more than just an objective attitude (which I doubt he has) but also a degree of sensitivity which many sociologists/anthropologists in the USA lack. You must have heard of the term "Ugly American" being applied to some American tourists. They have their equivalents in the scientific community as well and when it is found amongst sociologists/anthropologists/political- scientists/etc. it seems to take on a very abrasive form. It's heartening to see the opposition to Mr. Martillo's theories. Jai Hind ! N. Nandhakumar Computer and Visions Res. Cntr, Univ of Texas, Austin (P.S. This is my first posting on this net.)