Mitt's father, George, was the Governor of my home State, Michigan, back in the 1960's...

I think they should wiretap ALL of the religious houses of worship. I'm sure it would be similar to reading/hearing the offerings in the suggestion box of the Aryan Brotherhood.

Whatever you do, folks, don't follow me. I'm blazing my own trail...:)

I don't care two hoots about the mosques being wiretapped but otherwise the blatant Big Brotherism is indeed scary. This is not to say that I had any illusions about the lip service paid to freedom in this country. India has always been more intellectually liberated than any other place I've visited. This is increasingly beginning to change as the Indian elite copy the west. In the U.S. I have always felt the uncomfortable presence of the thought police. Nobody dare express anything other than the politically version of the "truth" as determined by the liberal elite. And on the other side, and equally insidious, is the word of God. The minions of God have infiltrated the highest levels of academia. Harvard and Yale are crawling with them in equal measure as they are crawling with the liberals. It is these people who churn out their version of reality for the rest of us to follow. If we can live with the thought police, wiretapping is just an extension of the same mindset which does not permit multiple outlooks to life.

But I'm optimistic. The internet will bring out the truth in all it's diversity. When that happens, perhaps people will not need to resort to lowdown practices like wiretapping.

I somehow feel that the usage of term intellectually liberated is relative. Care to explain why you feel "India has always been more intellectually liberated than any other place I've visited." I will be happy if you can compare India with US and certain other advanced Western Europen countries, and explain your point. Please don't think I am attacking your view. I am just curious to know why you said so.

Krish - I'm not scared of hostility but I am petrified of being sucked into some kind of a black hole of endlessly repetitious arguments like I have experienced with you and you alone.

Here's some things I can think of off hand:

1. Indian thought is not bound by normative strictures like western thought.

2. There is a room for simultaneity, unlike in the west where the "you're either with us or against us mentality prevails.

3. There is no concept of evil like in the west, hence no demonization.

4. The western intellect has been seriously damaged by Freudian notions, most of which have no logical basis but are accepted as God's truth. Freud managed to convince entire generations that penis envy is a phenomenon restricted to women!

5. Indian thinking is not as clouded by religious beliefs which have created an intellectual ceiling in the west, but there is no such ceiling in India.

Having said this, most Indians who are reading this blog are thoroughly westernized in their thinking and are not able to intellectualize or theorize in any other way other than western. By instinct, however, they have an appreciation of these points and may still manage to live out their lives by alternate principles.

And Krish, since all of the above was addressed to you I am compelled to emphasize that all of those aspects listed above are elements of Hindu thought - without which we would be no different from any one else since the intellectual heritage of all other native civilizations has been wiped out so we have one monolithic worldview in the counterbalance. I hope you are able to understand my passion for trying to invigorate our heritage instead of blindly following the west. It has nothing to do with fundamentalism.

Before I talk about this, I want to mention that it was repetitive because you kept on going in a tangential direction. You can read what you have written and see for yourself.

Now to this topic.

1. Indian thought is not bound by normative strictures like western thought.

I don't know what exactly you are talking about here. But I cannot agree that Indian thought is entirely devoid of any normative strictures.

2. There is a room for simultaneity, unlike in the west where the "you're either with us or against us mentality prevails.

I agree with you that we have room for simultaneity. But I am not sure why you want to term that the entire west is having this mentality.

3. There is no concept of evil like in the west, hence no demonization.

I agree on this.

4. The western intellect has been seriously damaged by Freudian notions, most of which have no logical basis but are accepted as God's truth. Freud managed to convince entire generations that penis envy is a phenomenon restricted to women!

I could call this as your interpretation of western intellect. Though I might agree to part of it.

5. Indian thinking is not as clouded by religious beliefs which have created an intellectual ceiling in the west, but there is no such ceiling in India.

I completely disagree. I will say that most of your arguments in various posts are based on your religious beliefs. Definitely, the ones related to political issues are driven out of your thinking that your religion is better. I would put this one into what is known as "religious beliefs".

Also I want to point out one thing. I fully understand your passion for our heritage. But your argument that "people who don't have the same passion for hindu heritage are people blinded by west" goes against your own theory that west sees everything in black or white. You are doing the same thing about other people who are born in Hindu religion and differ from you. I am saying that your worldview comes down to the same thing that you are criticizing. Well, again, it is just my opinion and I don't want to go way off from the post topic. Thank you for taking time to reply to my query though.

and this . . . .
http://www.frontpagemag.com/index.asp

is the mind set that has invaded poor Govenor Romney's mind.

I agree with Art.

I apologize, wrong link,

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19471

I always thought that Masshole referred to their driving abilities - like making a left-hand turn in front of ongoing traffic.

Gotham ... Your dad sent you to an all boy Catholic school? Did I understand that right??? Love, Char

Gotham: Personally--I find your posts to always be both humorous and informative simultaneously (although you are skilled at tilting the balance to one or the other, depending on the hert of the message).

It is amazing to see how far the Intentblog has evolved, or "morphed," to use one of your father's descriptive tools, since late June!

Richard's post added nicely to several others regarding the technical knowledge of how to further refine the "user end" of things while safeguarding your respondents "intentions" toward the the Intentblog founders and the "blog audience" itself, both for and from each other!!!

This means that you and your respondants will eventually be able to censor my "rambling babble!" ...And I started to think Shekhar's post signalled that "free speech" had actually arrived!!!

Laila called from Ireland tonight and it was sooo...cool to realize the depth of freindships that have formed as a result of the media-child born from "Meet the Chopras--and Shekhar!"

Laila mentioned that you most definitely have book/movie material "brewing in this mystical magical stew!"

That was also one of my first impressions as I remember thinking the words, "Too Cool For School" after "stumbling" into the Intentblog.

Your are still a #%&!@$$) idiot...(well,...-savant, at least!) Dave

Taking off from Divya's comments... having lived 10 years in the US and now nearing 10 years back in India, I cannot help but agree that, in reality, it is "less of a fuss" to remain different in India. Unfortunately, intelligentsia here has begun the process of protecting the diversity, and as in the US, may end up killing it by talking much about it.

One interesting observation is that... Indians or other ethnic communities in Canada or UK, seem to act, think and behave like their respective differentiated groups. Relatively, they appear far more mainstreamed in the US.

In this context, we may be wrong in synonymously using the term "west" and USA.