As a Hindu, I can say categorically that Hindus are definitely capable of similar acts. As are Christians, for that matter, or Americans (as a nationality) or people who are left handed (I'm left-handed, too).
The point is not the label we place on them so we can fearmonger. The point is that this was a terrible act, which deserves condemnation.
I think it weakens this discussion when we get into a pissing contest over whether or not the Muslims killed more people than the Hindus killed. It's like the opposite of a war, where we're all trying to assert that we have the highest kill counts...this is the piety race, where we're all insisting that the other side has the higher kill counts. That's not the point. Hindus and Muslims have both done things that deserve condemnations, just like any other religious group in the world (with the exception of Buddhists / Taoists ...don't know anything about them that I'd condemn them for).
And Wikipedia is an incredibly reliable, useful reference source, Braznor. If you'd ever used it, you'd know...inaccurate information is deleted very quickly, and it's generally very up to date.
Either way, I agree with the poster who said there may be no real solution to the Kashmir situation. The US has supported Pakistan's position on this (for all my fellow Americans reading this) for so long that India refuses to accept direct US intervention or mediation on the issue, and Pakistan similarly calls for mediation only when they know their interests will be served by such intervention.
In the end, I believe India will win. Want to know why? Not for patriotic reasons (I spent the latter part of my childhood in Calcutta, though I was born here in the US). I believe India will win because we're leaching Pakistan dry. India is a larger country (there are more Muslims in India than there are in Pakistan, actually...did you guys know that?) and much, much stronger economically. This puts India in a position where the country can commit to an arms race indefinitely. Yes, there are poor villages the government could help with that money, but the point is that India can do that *and* still develop the economy, reap the rewards of an incredible IT infrastructure, and continue moving towards superpower status. India already dominates South Asia and is the world's largest democracy, and is industrializing at a furious rate. Pakistan, on the other hand, has an incredibly poor economy dominated by a military regime, relying on US intervention to keep the government in place over a population that *hates* the United States. India doesn't have to build better weapons and nuke Pakistan...all India has to do is continue the arms race at a level that India can afford, but that Pakistan has to commit *all* of its resources to to continue the race. India is slowly but surely bankrupting their country by doing this.
So it's a bloody, painful, and coldly (and inhumanly) calculating process, but I think India will eventually win. The past half century has shown that India is developing in leaps and bounds, and there are already communities in India that enjoy a standard of living far higher than in the United States. Pakistan doesn't even come close. In a world where economics dictates power, Pakistan will simply continue to slip closer to the position of being economically bankrupt and unable to compete. That's a much surer victory than beating them in a war. But a victory that has, perhaps, much greater cost.
Dave.
The point is not the label we place on them so we can fearmonger. The point is that this was a terrible act, which deserves condemnation.
I think it weakens this discussion when we get into a pissing contest over whether or not the Muslims killed more people than the Hindus killed. It's like the opposite of a war, where we're all trying to assert that we have the highest kill counts...this is the piety race, where we're all insisting that the other side has the higher kill counts. That's not the point. Hindus and Muslims have both done things that deserve condemnations, just like any other religious group in the world (with the exception of Buddhists / Taoists ...don't know anything about them that I'd condemn them for).
And Wikipedia is an incredibly reliable, useful reference source, Braznor. If you'd ever used it, you'd know...inaccurate information is deleted very quickly, and it's generally very up to date.
Either way, I agree with the poster who said there may be no real solution to the Kashmir situation. The US has supported Pakistan's position on this (for all my fellow Americans reading this) for so long that India refuses to accept direct US intervention or mediation on the issue, and Pakistan similarly calls for mediation only when they know their interests will be served by such intervention.
In the end, I believe India will win. Want to know why? Not for patriotic reasons (I spent the latter part of my childhood in Calcutta, though I was born here in the US). I believe India will win because we're leaching Pakistan dry. India is a larger country (there are more Muslims in India than there are in Pakistan, actually...did you guys know that?) and much, much stronger economically. This puts India in a position where the country can commit to an arms race indefinitely. Yes, there are poor villages the government could help with that money, but the point is that India can do that *and* still develop the economy, reap the rewards of an incredible IT infrastructure, and continue moving towards superpower status. India already dominates South Asia and is the world's largest democracy, and is industrializing at a furious rate. Pakistan, on the other hand, has an incredibly poor economy dominated by a military regime, relying on US intervention to keep the government in place over a population that *hates* the United States. India doesn't have to build better weapons and nuke Pakistan...all India has to do is continue the arms race at a level that India can afford, but that Pakistan has to commit *all* of its resources to to continue the race. India is slowly but surely bankrupting their country by doing this.
So it's a bloody, painful, and coldly (and inhumanly) calculating process, but I think India will eventually win. The past half century has shown that India is developing in leaps and bounds, and there are already communities in India that enjoy a standard of living far higher than in the United States. Pakistan doesn't even come close. In a world where economics dictates power, Pakistan will simply continue to slip closer to the position of being economically bankrupt and unable to compete. That's a much surer victory than beating them in a war. But a victory that has, perhaps, much greater cost.
Dave.
