Raja Kumar will be the new FATF President starting from today.

[shayyman]

Not at all interested in your preteen back'n' forth.

lol. of course not.
aagay say soch samaj kay munh kholna.

 

[WotTen]

Chinese members

To be fair, China and the Chinese members are also under constant attack on this forum.

I have a soft spot for China because it has steadfastly helped Pakistan a lot over the years: militarily, economically, diplomatically, etc. I also admire their work ethic, determination and how far they have risen in the world despite Western obstacles. And, finally as a Muslim, I find a kinship of sorts in how they are maligned and demonized by the West beyond their actual faults.

Western liberalism and domestic institutions are arguably the best model to follow but their foreign policy aspect is less admirable.

I would say that the rise of China is the best thing that happened to India. It gave it the kick in the pants (not meant offensively) to get cracking in developing the country, and it got the West fixated on China as a threat to its domination, giving India an opportunity to play upon the West's fears.

When put in those terms, well, no, they shouldn't. But they do, and within the confines of present, very muddied habit, yes, I do feel content to hear of Bengali, including Bangladeshi, progress, and of east Indian and south Indian progress beyond that, and beyond that, general Indian achievement, followed by south Asian as an entirety. Without any qualification, the achievements of women come right up at the top of the scale.

On religion, no, definitely not. It has to be confessed that this is a validation that is compromised by the reality that the numbers of those professing or born into my religion are so large that inevitably they occupy a larger number of positions in these lists of the praiseworthy than others do, so holding primly aloof and professing a freedom from parochial partiality is an easy position to take. The alternative would be perverse, however. Deliberately ignoring those who have done well and happen to be Hindus, and holding up for distinction only others would be even more hollow and unredeemable.

The question of identity is complex as you mentioned. I would say that something becomes part of a person's identity if it is used negatively against them. It is a defiant reaction. Sometimes it becomes a trap, sometimes it is useful.

Back in the colonial days, ethnicity would have been a legitimate part of our identity. I don't see too many white people conscious of being white, and maybe in time we will also be less mindful of our ethnicity. Right now, with the rise of Islamophobia, Islam has become a more conscious part of my identity than otherwise.

This is also true for people with disabilities. I watched a science lecture about human hearing and the lecturer said that cochlear implants are sometimes resisted by deaf people because deafness is such a core part of their identity.

If, someday, you do bring up this thought as such an independent thread, I hope to notice it and to read the posts with great interest.

LOL, to be honest, I have been thinking for a while that I need to cut down on my time on social media. Maybe your comment gave me the proverbial kick in the pants

Thanks for the discussion. I will be sure to tag you if I start such a thread.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Not a newbie to this world and this is not entire world or is it to you?. I can spot a bhakt when i see one. You'll have to prove it harder.

LOL.

Try again. Harder.

To be fair, China and the Chinese members are also under constant attack on this forum.

This calls for a refinement in what I said.

I resent the present behaviour of the PRC, and of the CPC. I resent the behaviour of the Chinese members, as they have become arrogant and downright insufferable.

On the other hand, I am a fan of Chinese civilisation, taken as a whole, and not the truncated version imposed on the whole country today, watch Chinese movies, and cook Chinese foods (with severe restrictions due to my recent administrative decision to go vegetarian - in normal life, I eat everything). No point in mentioning specific friends as that would run the risk of being parallel to "Some of my best friends are Negros"; not blacks, not African-Americans, but Negros, with all the condescension that it holds. SO, for that reason alone, none of my friends will enter this conversation.

My dislike is very specific and very particular. It is emphatically not civilisational, it is political.

The question of identity is complex as you mentioned. I would say that something becomes part of a person's identity if it is used negatively against them. It is a defiant reaction. Sometimes it becomes a trap, sometimes it is useful.

Back in the colonial days, ethnicity would have been a legitimate part of our identity. I don't see too many white people conscious of being white, and maybe in time we will also be less mindful of our ethnicity. Right now, with the rise of Islamophobia, Islam has become a more conscious part of my identity than otherwise.

This is also true for people with disabilities. I watched a science lecture about human hearing and the lecturer said that cochlear implants are sometimes resisted by deaf people because deafness is such a core part of their identity.

I have not a single argument, not a word, in contradiction of this.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Thanks for the discussion. I will be sure to tag you if I start such a thread.

I will look forward to it.

For myself, today, earlier, I promised myself (and one or two listening in with amused interest) to devote one hour from tomorrow onwards to watching decent films - there's a guy who has been posting very decent stuff - film URLs - and this is something that needs to be taken up, and another hour to reading. Next on my reading list is Parvez Dewan's History of Kashmir, mainly because I wanted to write that myself, and never got together enough money to buy the books I wanted.

So, a better, cleaner, Internet-light life starts tomorrow. See you around, and please tag me for anything interesting you might think of posting.

 

[Dash]

I will look forward to it.

For myself, today, earlier, I promised myself (and one or two listening in with amused interest) to devote one hour from tomorrow onwards to watching decent films - there's a guy who has been posting very decent stuff - film URLs - and this is something that needs to be taken up, and another hour to reading. Next on my reading list is Parvez Dewan's History of Kashmir, mainly because I wanted to write that myself, and never got together enough money to buy the books I wanted.

So, a better, cleaner, Internet-light life starts tomorrow. See you around, and please tag me for anything interesting you might think of posting.

Buddha abhi tak zinda hei? And where is your clutch hellgirl

 

[xyxmt]

he is south Indian and they hate Indians as much as we do