For crying out loud, people, please respect the man and spell his name correctly.
The British could not pronounce the Indian name correctly and said
gandi (rhymes with Mandy).
I guess the British have been roaming the world for centuries mangling names everywhere.
But at least the rest of us can respect the man and say his name the way he himself would
pronounce it:
gone + the
And one more thing:
Its not "Gan" + "geez",
Its "gun" + "ga"
This is a river that plays a critical role in the lives of a billion people on this planet.
I ask you is it fair that we have to both give up the Swastik because a crazed nazi
had a lunatic obsession AND we have to let the world rename our holiest river.
I guess this diary is not going to contain much substance because I'm not happy about
the Gandhi thing. But let me throw this out there.
How long will it be before we can have our Swastik back?
The cross was used for the Spanish inquisition and reverted to good standing.
It was used again for the KKK but is still in good standing.
Why do we not get to publicly use the Swastik which we have been using for thousands of years?
Why do I have to explain to everybody who crosses the threshold of my house that I am not
anti-semitic - I draw the Swastik on my doorstep to welcome all to my house.
Please don't tell me the holocaust was the worst thing ever to happen. It was very bad. Was there worse? I don't know. Certainly the word massacre was not invented in the 1940s. And genocide
was advocated by Machiavelli in certain circumstances. aborigines in all parts of the globe have been abused over the centuries. The aztecs much? What about columbus? Hindus have been targeted over 14 centuries; agreed - not as long as Jews.
And about recent 'genocidal events' - the Holocaust is not even the most recent one. What about the bengal famine of 1943 ? What about the East Bengal genocide of 1971? These are just events in India. What about South east Asia or Africa? We could go on and on - we all know we could.
All I'm asking for is a little historical perspective on this one.
We all agree it would be terrible not to learn the lessons of WWII. I submit it is also terrible to
assert that nothing that bad ever happened before or that nothing since has gotten remotely close
to that bad.
This is a pretty long rant and I have contributed nothing of substance (sincere but minimal apologies if you have read this far...) - I just wanted to get those little pet peeves off my chest...
[going to sleep now - will respond to comments tomorrow]