A fuller and more personal response to Ms. Dorothy Rabinowitz’s attack in the Wall Street Journal
Deepak Chopra - December 03, 2008
When I first read Ms. Rabinowitz personal attacks on me as the lead article on the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal, I have to confess that my first reaction was that she was an ethnocentric racist and prejudiced bigot. After some reflection, I realized that she was probably more ignorant than bigoted. I could have let the matter rest there, but aside from the personal attacks, there are a number of factual errors, that, in the spirit of clarity ought to be corrected.
Ms. Rabinowitz is on the editorial board of the now Fox News-affiliated Wall Street Journal. Its editorial page has long been a faithful stenographer for the Neoconservatives and the Bush/Cheney administration’s benighted approach to militant Islam. Elsewhere, my son addressed the complexity of the terroristproblem and the US involvement in it. Gotham Chopra, has experience as a war correspondent in the Middle East, including Pakistan and Afghanistan. While returning from Afghanistan, he was arrested after interviewing an Afghani leader. (Which caused immense anguish for my wife and I) Suffice it to say that the causes of Islamic terrorism are complex. To trivialize my views on such as vast topic of terrorism with: Deepak Blames America, as Ms. Rabinowitz has done, not only suggests how abysmally uninformed she is, but also speaks to the ever-sinking journalistic standards of her newspaper.
Now on a more personal note:
I am one of Midnight’s Children as Salman Rushdie refers to those of us born during the tumultuous separation of what used to be the British Raj into the newly formed states of India and Pakistan. I came into this world amidst the carnage of the Hindu-Muslim riots that swept across the Indian subcontinent in the aftermath of the separation. Partition of the Indian subcontinent was an idea generated by the British colonial government and resulted in mass migrations of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus to India. Both my parents grew up in what is now Pakistan. They, along with their parents, fled from Rawalpindi, now Islamabad. (My father went to medical school in Lahore, Pakistan.) They were innocent victims and refugees of a mass genocide and a collective psychosis that gripped the land at the time. Members of both sides of our family were murdered by Muslim extremists. And of course, countless Muslims in India were also slaughtered in the violence then. I grew up listening to stories of vicious brutality, but also stories of compassion, and acts of heroism that occurred on both sides of the Hindu-Muslim divide. Although my parents and grandparents lost all their possessions, their bank accounts, their homes, and many of their family members, still, in spite of all that, they never expressed any hostility. There were only stories—poignant, powerful, and tragic stories. I and my siblings grew up listening to these stories, and in turn, so did our children. Now Gotham and Mallika are telling these stories to their children as well.
(Our son Gotham was born in Boston, but Mallika, our first child, was born in New Delhi. At the time, I was an intern training in medicine in the US and our health insurance did not cover the preexisting condition of pregnancy. So, since I could not afford the cost of my wife’s delivery in the US, I sent her at the 11th hour to India where my father took care of the expenses.)
Obviously I don’t blame Ms. Rabinowitz for being unaware of my family’s personal experience as victims of religious sectarian violence, but I hope she can appreciate that my interest in conflict resolution does have a real context in the area of religious extremism. Ms. Rabinowitz smirks “how the ebullient Dr. Chopra had come to be chosen on an authority on terror remains something of a mystery.” While I do not consider myself an authority on terrorism, it has had a formative impact on my life and I have used that experience and interest to become a serious student of the root causes of terrorism throughout my life. I am currently the president and one of the founders of the Alliance for a New Humanity . I, along with co-founders and Nobel Peace Laureates Oscar Arias and Betty Williams, are attempting to create a critical mass of awareness to address the deeper causes of global instability including war and terrorism, climate change, social injustice, and radical poverty.
We live in a world were 50 percent of its population lives on less than two dollars a day and 20 percent lives on less than one dollar a day. We can’t dismiss these as trivial facts if we want to understand the deeper causes of instability and violence in the world.
Ms. Rabinowitz accuses me of being “a faithful adherent of the root causes of crime.” As a matter of fact, I do adhere to the theory that crime does have sources that can be understood, and I have addressed this topic it as it pertains to terrorism in TIME magazine. Ms. Rabinowitz ought to realize that you can kill a terrorist, but that doesn’t kill his ideology. And as long as that ideology has power and life, it will continue to regenerate new terrorists no matter how many terrorists you kill. The ideology of Islamic terrorism is barbaric, savage, brutal and primitive, yet still it is born in a context. That context is historical, cultural, religious, economic, and political. Refusing to understand that context, dooms us to an endless failed anti-terrorist policy.
An ideology can only be overcome through the creation of a new more appealing ideology. In order to accomplish that we need the participation and help of moderate Muslims throughout the world. There are between 1.6 to 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, and by far, most of them are the moderates we need to enlist in our efforts. We can’t solve this global problem by branding almost 25% of the world’s population as terrorist. I would hope Ms. Rabinowitz could recognize that this issue is far too serious of a problem for her to exploit it for her personal petty agenda. The Mumbai tragedy obviously gathered extensive international attention. Instead of channeling this global focus toward productive insight and solutions, Ms. Rabinowitz chose instead to direct the attention of this tragedy into a personal attack that can only further fan the flames of hatred and exacerbate the situation instead of helping it.
In a recent interview on Hannity and Colmes, my long time friend, William Cohen, the former Secretary of Defense under Clinton, and a Republican, referred to Donald Rumsfeld’s memo in which he reveals the futility of the Bush’s approach to terrorism when he asks, “Are we creating more terrorists than we are killing?” Bill Cohen and I have worked together on race and reconciliation issues and have discussed these matters at great length. And in looking at the complex matter of terrorism, one thing is clear: the knee-jerk reaction, the eye for an eye Old Testament response to kill them all , is not going to be a successful long-term solution.
Ms. Rabinowitz also says, “nor did we hear in these media meditations, any particular expression of sorrow from the New Delhi born Dr. Chopra for the anguish of Mumbai’s victims.” In the few second sound bites that are characteristic of the Larry King Live show, I did mention the media obsession for pointing out victims mainly of Western origin. I specifically told Larry that we should be feeling the anguish of everyone and that all lives were precious. Perhaps Ms. Rabinowitz didn’t hear that only because she chose to ignore it.
Ms. Rabinowitz has fun trying to diminish my credibility saying I am an “advocate of aromatherapy and regular enemas” and sarcastically says “no one can fail to grasp the wisdom of him who has informed us that if you have happy thoughts you can make happy molecules.”
While I do not claim to be an expert in aromatherapy, there is some useful research that can clarify this issue with research. Aromatherapy has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment modality for anxiety, high blood pressure, fast heart rate, and in modulating immune function. Along with neuroassociative conditioning, it has been used for treating illnesses and for mitigating the harmful side effects of chemotherapy, including nausea and vomiting. See citations below.
Therapeutic enemas have been used both in Eastern and Western medical traditions for thousands of years. I must admit I have prescribed enemas to constipated patients, though that can hardly be considered unique for a physician. Perhaps Ms. Rabinowitz is referring to “cleansing enemas” which are also part of many medical traditions, although I am not personally enthusiastic about them.
I do not expect Ms. Rabinowitz to know my family history with terrorism, nor do I expect her to know anything about research on traditional, alternative or conventional medicine. But her baseless and reckless pretense that she does know these things, as a means to incite intolerance, is irresponsible and callous.
In her snickering and condescending manner, Ms. Rabinowitz is suggesting that "I am a snake oil salesman." This tired canard is meant to pull the audience in on the joke that I am some kind of a con artist who doesn’t deserve whatever attention I have gained. I am quite familiar with detractors using this ready-made prejudice to try to discredit or diminish me. This strategy is somewhat effective because it appeals to a certain mindset that sees the world in those terms, so I don’t expect to disabuse those who are not open to the facts.
For my part I would simply say that I value practical, verifiable results in medicine as well as in global issues of terrorism. Repeating old failed policies and procedures based on outmoded ideologies makes no sense to me, whether it is political ideology or medical ideology. This creatively pragmatic view for solutions is also thankfully the direction of the future, and we see this especially in the field of medicine now.
For the record, I am board certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, and Metabolism. I have a licence to practice medicine in the states of Massachusetts and California. I am a member of the American Medical Association (AMA), and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
For the last several years, the Chopra Center has offered courses on integrative medicine that have been approved for continuing medical education credit by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
Aromatherapy enhances immune function (Shibata, 1992)
Aromatherapy reduces need for antidepressant medication in psychiatric patients (Komori, 1995)
Fragrances can be sedating or activating (Buchbauer, 1993)
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Posted by Deepak Chopra at December 3, 2008 04:53 PM
Comments
To me you are and you will stay: Deepak Chopra, the writer that stole my heart in the most important phase of my life.
I have also read your biography.
Being born just after world war II and having heard stories from that period, I can fully understand what you mean.
My best wishes go to you and your family and I hope that you will succeed in your intentions.
But remember, the higher the goal the more difficult the road.
And most heros are honoured long, long, after they have gone.......
Love, from the heart
2. Posted by
heartphone
![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.intentblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
on
December 4, 2008 12:21 AM
"Ms. Rabinowitz is on the editorial board of the now Fox News-affiliated Wall Street Journal"
That explains it. They put right-wing, conservative reactionary ideology above Nature.
The fact that Nature always destroys *any* ideology(or "common sense", or "public opinion"
whenever they get into contradiction) is alien to them.
Maybe maturity will come to them some day, maybe not.
Conservatives are conformists. "Stay there where you are and don´t grow!!" Therefore
people with a sense of spiritual evolution will always find resistance from them. Like
water in a river, the best solution I came up with was to circumvent them.
3. Posted by
Rafael
on
December 4, 2008 05:18 AM
seems she is accusing you of
not loving the United States and
not loving India either.
Well, a contradiction, at best, and
two misstatements of the facts, at worst.
You obviously love BOTH countries (and others)
very very much,
the people of India and
the people of the United States.
I believe she did get THIS part VERY right.....
"his emergence in the recent presidential campaign
as a thinker of advanced political views.
Also commending him, perhaps, is
his well-known capacity
to cut through all sorts of complexities
to make matters simple."
I am beginning to wonder if you are making up the whole Deepak character and your kids, too, as a sort of mix between reality and fiction, while providing excellent ideas and guidance for your readers. A new sort of literary genre. If so, how Creative! It has even occurred to me that your yourself actually wrote this "Deepak Blames America" article. Hope Ms. Dr. Rabinowitz will not sue me, but is she a real person or simply another of your literary and "real-world" creations? How creative! Not surprising, coming from a person of Your genius! So, if so, Thank You for again expanding our literary and media and thespian horizons (perhaps actionably) and for creating an increasingly boundaryless (if confusing) reality for us all. Hope you are still a barracuda at court (wink wink).
Deepak Blames America Deepak Blames America
Deepak Blames America Deepak Blames America
The media look within to explain the sick delusions of the Mumbai killers.
By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ
If the Mumbai terror assault seemed exceptional, and shocking in its targets, it was clear from the Thanksgiving Day reports that we weren't going to be deprived of the familiar, either. Namely, ruminations, hints, charges of American culpability that regularly accompany catastrophes of this kind. Soon enough, there was Deepak Chopra, healer, New Age philosopher and digestion guru, advocate of aromatherapy and regular enemas, holding forth on CNN on the meaning of the attacks.How the ebullient Dr. Chopra had come to be chosen as an authority on terror remains something of a mystery, though the answer may have something to do with his emergence in the recent presidential campaign as a thinker of advanced political views. Also commending him, perhaps, is his well known capacity to cut through all sorts of complexities to make matters simple. No one can fail to grasp the wisdom of a man who has informed us that "If you have happy thoughts, then you make happy molecules." In his CNN interview, he was no less clear. What happened in Mumbai, he told the interviewer, was a product of the U.S. war on terrorism, that "our policies, our foreign policies" had alienated the Muslim population, that we had "gone after the wrong people" and inflamed moderates. And "that inflammation then gets organized and appears as this disaster in Bombay." All this was a bit too much, evidently, for CNN interviewer Jonathan Mann, who interrupted to note that there were other things going on -- matters like the ongoing bitter Pakistan-India struggle over Kashmir -- which had caused so much terror and so much violence. "That's not Washington's fault," he pointed out. Given an argument, the guest, ever a conciliator, agreed: The Mumbai catastrophe was not Washington's fault, it was everybody's fault. Which didn't prevent Dr. Chopra from returning soon to his central theme -- the grave offense posed to Muslims by the United States' war on terror, a point accompanied by consistent emphatic reminders that Muslims are the world's fastest growing population -- 25% of the globe's inhabitants -- and that the U.S. had better heed that fact. In Dr. Chopra's moral universe, numbers are apparently central. It's tempting to imagine his view of offenses against a much smaller sliver of the world's inhabitants -- not so offensive, perhaps?
Two subsequent interviews with Larry King brought much of the same -- a litany of suggestions about the role the U.S. had played in fueling assaults by Muslim terrorists, reminders of the numbers of Muslims in the world and their grievances. A faithful adherent of the root-causes theory of crime -- mass murder, in the case at hand -- Dr. Chopra pointed out, quite unnecessarily, that most of the terrorism in the world came from Muslims. It was mandatory, then, to address their grievances -- "humiliation," "poverty," "lack of education." The U.S., he recommended, should undertake a Marshall Plan for Muslims. Nowhere in this citation of the root causes of Muslim terrorism was there any mention of Islamic fundamentalism -- the religious fanaticism that has sent fevered mobs rioting, burning and killing over alleged slights to the Quran or the prophet. Not to mention the countless others enlisted to blow themselves and others up in the name of God.
Nor did we hear, in these media meditations, any particular expression of sorrow from the New Delhi-born Dr. Chopra for the anguish of Mumbai's victims: a striking lack, no doubt unintentional, but not surprising, either. For advocates of the root-causes theory of crime, the central story is, ever, the sorrows and grievances of the perpetrators. For those prone to the belief that most eruptions of evil in the world can be traced to American influence and power there is only one subject of consequence.
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>>>>>>>>>>Here is a wonderful except
of something you gave us two days ago
(and I accidentally edited.)
It is
SO NICE!!!
THANK YOU!!!
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How to Prevent Another Mumbai
Deepak Chopra
December 2, 2008
Before the economy eclipsed everything else, the United States was feeling better about Iraq: the war was winding down and the insurgents were being steadily pacified. Then along came Mumbai--the Indian 9/11, as Indians view it--and reignited our own past fears. As the world witnessed the grueling, sickening violence against innocent victims, it was easy to want impulsively to push back as aggressively as possible against the attackers and their like everywhere, to destroy them utterly. But we've learned since the original 9/11, through the sheer number of similar attacks worldwide, that there may well have to emerge an alternative and more constructive response to terrorism, a measured, more long-term, more organic and healing response. One recognizes, wearily but maturely, that eradicating every terrorist we can lay our hands on isn't the same as eradicating the terrorist movement. The jihadists' actions have often been barbaric, violent, and senseless. But violence in response isn't what will wipe out that approach.
America needs to deliver an alternative in the form of Marshall Plan to the Arab world--not in the form of money, necessarily, but in the form of ideas and expertise to rebuild violence-shaped hearts and minds. Actually, in the long term, not much else will work. Religious fundamentalism of all types in its more virulent mode will survive almost any aggression mounted against it. In my yard there are stubborn patches of crabgrass, and it is tempting to take a weed whacker and chop the crabgrass down. But the crabgrass comes back twice as strong unless I get at its roots. We learned in Vietnam that Ho Chi Minh's "hearts and minds" approach could withstand burning showers of napalm and carpet-bombing from B-52s.
In seeking to neutralize terrorism, America has an enormous natural advantage over the terrorists, because in the Arab world the moderates vastly outnumber the fanatics. But on their own these moderates haven't been able to marshal the power and influence to bring about the needed changes. The guns on both sides have been too loud. Louder still need to be the voices for moderation, tolerance, and peace, backed up by the institution of improved agricultural techniques, better medical care, and non-radicalizing, more broad-based education to fuel the expansion and diversification of the labor market that will help expand young people's career opportunities beyond a life of terrorist violence and MK-13s.
Islam is considered by many experts to be a peaceful religion. Most Muslims are nonviolent by creed and by personal disposition. If we approach the overall issue of the more radical Islamic elements more calmly and in a more balanced way ourselves, we will build on the already-existing peaceful majority of world Muslims. Much of the widespread Muslim sympathy for al-Qaeda, despite al-Qaeda's radicalism, is simply the response of a people who feel attacked and judged against. The United States should be able to respond to the threat of terrorism without making more than a billion moderate Muslims feel that we are against them.
The root causes of fanaticism aren't a mystery and include early indoctrination and radicalization of youth, most of whom live in situations of political oppression and blighted economic, educational, and cultural opportunity. Arab populations, especially the young, need to be made aware that there is a larger world out there. Given nurturance and space, people's productive and peaceful nature can blossom, gradually supplanting the more aggressive but less fruitful varieties of growth. The real reason the U.S. "surge" worked in Iraq is that it first brought an end to violence in Baghdad neighborhoods. Then American soldiers kept watch while the Iraqis themselves nourished their own peace. And consider this: if you take the opposite approach, refusing to try to eradicate terrorism patiently at its very roots, you are saying in effect that the roots of the jihad movement that affects every Muslim country are not deep, when in fact they are very deep. Let's not make the mistake of believing that eliminating individual terrorists is the same as neutralizing terrorism.
No reasonable mind would disagree with much of what Dr Chopra says in his interview by Michelle Haimoff, more over, we should all congratulate Deepak for his tenacity, conviction and courage to stand up for what he believes is right and true.
Who would not gain new respect for the whole Chopra clan after reading what Deepak and his wife had to go through when Gotham was a war correspondent in the Middle East, including Afghanistan and Pakistan? The Chopra family history shows that if there is one person in title to express an opinion about terrorism in general, and the Indian-Pakistan situation in particular, it is a Chopra.
Dr. Chopra, you seem to be one of those fortunate people able to look at a situation from both sides. You say about Ms. Rabinowitz: “In her snickering and condescending manner, Ms. Rabinowitz is suggesting that ‘I am a snake oil salesman’”. You also say: "If you start to tell the truth or even want to know the truth…”
This is what most people want, the truth. And this is all about the truth.
Before trying to make my point please accept my respect again for your political views and observation. But then permit me to ask you this: Don’t you think sometimes you are asking for it! For heavens sake, Deepak, you are telling your readers, your fans and the world that metal can be bent with one’s mind. Can you imagine what application this would have in science and technology and just about anywhere else in life, if it were true?
Don’t you think this naïve statement, whose validity would suspend the laws of physics, could put a little doubt in what you say and write? Even when you have more right and knowledge about a situation than anybody else statements like this might fuzzy up your opinions a bit?
Why don’t you settle this ridiculous argument with the truth and simply state: “nobody has ever bent a physical object with his mind”. That would take a bit of wind out of your critic’s sails. It would also show some class.
You told IB once that your critics are your friends too and we hope you are willing to read this in that spirit.
5. Posted by
Non Violence
on
December 4, 2008 07:04 AM
"or heavens sake, Deepak, you are telling your readers, your fans and the world that metal can be bent with one’s mind. Can you imagine what application this would have in science and technology and just about anywhere else in life, if it were true?"
www.swamij.com
In the seventies he conducted scientific experiments where he demonstrated(in US labs!) telekinesis among other interesting "mind over mater" skills(among them, reading things at a distance).
"Don’t you think this naïve statement, whose validity would suspend the laws of physics"
Old law of physics, yes, new, no. Everything is interconnected. Moving objects
at a distance is like having a toy boat at another end of the pool. With enough
vibration on one side, you move the water in a way that makes the boat move over
there. Just substitute water for the "quantum soup" modern physics says we and
mater/energy are made of.
6. Posted by
Rafael
on
December 4, 2008 07:45 AM
Hello Deepak and Everyone,
Deepak you write, "When I first read Ms. Rabinowitz personal attacks on me as the lead article on the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal, I have to confess that my first reaction was that she was an ethnocentric racist and prejudiced bigot. After some reflection, I realized that she was probably more ignorant than bigoted."
I am surprised by this statement because I think Ms. Rabinowitz's remarks about your interview do no seem out of the ordinary in terms of people who see the situation as more a problem of the fanaticals....the extremists...or the just plain opportunist when it comes to terrorism..really, they are not sold on the root cause arguments that you and many others are...and her attempt to dismiss your opinion as that of a man who "sells happy thoughts, so, what can he possibly know" is also not out of the ordinary as a comment from folks who are not familiar with your work, your backgroud, your education...and, who, really isnt' all that interested in finding that out because their or her worldly perspective is already sealed in cement in her/their minds...with folks such as this...there are no questions...they have all the answers......so
ethnocentrist racist, predjudiced bigot....would not be my first reaction....ignorance with a capital I, for sure, especially, since she seems not to know a thing about you, your background or your work....but I have to ask you....is it because her name is Rabinowitz that your first reaction was what it was?...other than that....I think your response is right on, the ignorant should be properly informed as to the exact nature of their ignorance....it is only right.
have a great day ruth...
8. Posted by
ruth
on
December 4, 2008 08:44 AM
Hi Deepak,
I think Rabinowitz' sarcastic remarks about you were silly--not sure why she felt that type of sarcasm would enhance her piece or her credibility.
Anyway, I would not let that bother you too much, b/c I don't think they were very effective "jabs".
I watched your interview on CNN and felt you were very well-spoken.
Personally, I think that, as you yourself have stated, the issue of terrorism is very complex. There are a few thoughts I have: first thought, and it may be ignorant, but the terrorists "agenda" to me seems extremely vague. I find it strange, and yet somehow very relevant, that a terrorist group will claim responsibility for the attack and yet not state "why" they did it. Which leads me to a point I am trying to make: I do not think the "causes" of terrorism are easily pinpointed. One need only look around at people in life in general and realize that it is extremely difficult, at times, to ascertain what leads a person to do what they do. The terrorists' behavior is evil, and as much as people would like to understand what causes evil or explain evil, the reasons for a person or group's evil actions can oftentimes remain elusive. With the terrorists, I do not believe that their evil actions can be explained by environmental influences. This is just my opinion.
9. Posted by
Olivia
on
December 4, 2008 09:19 AM
I thank Deepak for sharing his story and I agree with #1, but I can see that Deepak felt that all this needed to be addressed and brought to light, as there seems to still be color issues (so-to-speak) still alive and well in the world. Therefore, I guess we'll got to work on it and not sweep the dirt under the carpet, but clean it up for good.
Love, Char
10. Posted by
Char
on
December 4, 2008 01:49 PM
i.e., Us vs. Them might have been a better choice of words than color, but being from the Deep South where all of us had to deal with white vs. black as two seperate creations of God, it was my best first attempt. My father was the one who taught his childred to respect all regardless of the color of ones skin. Yes, I realize I might get beat up for even mentioning skin color....oh well. But I do think brown skin is the prettiest color of all.
11. Posted by
Char
on
December 4, 2008 01:55 PM
Dear Deepak,
I think your dignified and robust rebuttal would have removed any doubts that Ms. Rabinowitz would have had about your remarkable credentials -- although i wonder whether she was just being disingenuous to her audience to strengthen her unsuitable response.
That all said, i have to say having read your original interview on CNN, i found it all bit 'surprising', in fact, a little 'potty!'. I think blaming the Mumbai attacks on the US War on Terror is in my opinion a fairly length stretch which would challenge most peoples imagination.
If you were to apply that same logic, then you may as well blame the Mumbai attacks on the British partition of Bharat (India), since that created Pakistan and Kashmir!
Your Logic: Russia --> Afghanistan --> (US sponsored) --> Bin Laden --> Taliban --> (fast forward 20-years) --> Pakistan Army --> ISI --> LeT --> Mumbai
Yes $US dollars were used to fund, train and fight a proxy war with the Soviets. Yes, $US petro-dollars have been used to fund Madrasah's across Pakistan. And yes, that legacy is still in Pakistan and has been exported to Iraq.
Pakistan is in the midst of a civil war with military tension on both its East and West borders. It could not meet its debt liabilities and had to send its begging bowl to borrow $7Bn from the IMF. In short its a failed state closer to Somalia.
We are led to believe that the smooth talking, western suit wearing Pakistani politicians ever quick to be see on CNN/Larry King spouting out "lets join hands in fighting terror" are the friendly face of Pakistan. Lets be clear here this a psychological play of "good cop, bad cop" which is now slowly being exposed for everyone across the world to see.
Behind the public Pakistan state, is a governance infrastructure made up of religious leaders, ISI and Pakistani army that have always turned a blind eye to the extremist elements running the tribal regions because its suits their outdated political doctrines that defined the country when it was formed. Many parts of Pakistan have never mentally or politically "gotten over losing India".
As such for the last 60-years the country has been politically defined on a Pro-Islam, Anti-Hindu, Anti-India ideology that has proven to be destructive and held the country back. Today the powerful forces of Globalization/Modernity are creating a tension fault point against Religious medieval conservatism that is most starkly seen in Pakistan but is faced in many Muslim countries across the World.
The solution to this problem, is indeed engaging with the Muslim populations, but it also require leadership from the Middle-East to invest their petro-dollars in programmes of Wealth, Health and Education across the Muslim world.
Where does that leave Pakistan and India? I think we will know much sooner rather than later on this matter. This Pakistani civil government is likely to be exposed of its ability to govern depending on how it responds to India for a handover of its 20 know terror suspects.
So is Pakistan a failed state, because of US intervention back in the 1980's or is it failed state because of how Pakistan was formed?
So i think the problems are more regionalized and closer to our own doorstep -- which is why i think you had problems trying to stretch the cause/effect time frame too far -- it becomes too far connected to make any real sense, especially when Deepak you are reduced to sound-bites on a tv channel interview.
I know what you meant but there is a huge audience that looks at the world less sophisticatedly than what you had meant or even what i have written.
12. Posted by
suresh
on
December 4, 2008 02:02 PM
I'm looking forward to the Radio show this weekend, I hopr Ms. RABINOWITZ weighs in for all to understand her mind-thinking.
Hugs, Lily
13. Posted by
Lily S.
on
December 4, 2008 02:03 PM
To Deepak:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYb83KM4at4&feature=related
14. Posted by
heartphone
on
December 4, 2008 03:26 PM
Intentblog could be quite unique.
There are a many religious and spiritual blogs out there as well as many about science and reality, but few that take on both realms in a meaningful way. Why not be tolerant and supportive of an honest dialog about why so many of us can have faith without evidence, while for others evidence is paramount. Maybe in the absence of evidence we should not be so sure about what we pretend to know but admit that doubt and skepticism are needed in today’s world.
It seems that in the past posters were banned for simply questioning certain blogs that claim to know the apparent ‘unknowable’. Or when a poster asked Deepak to produce some evidence for his assertions.
Again, “Shouldn’t believers, agnostics, atheists, scientists, gurus and priests etc. be able to explain why they think there is a God and what this God looks like and what he does? Whether he listens to prayers and monitors all our actions or why he may not exist at all?
What would be wrong with a sincere and calm discussion about faith, belief and yes, even science and evidence”.
15. Posted by
Non Violence
on
December 5, 2008 07:56 AM
Aloha Everyone
You can podcast the Deepaks whole uncensored interview with Michelle Hamioff:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-haimoff/my-uncensored-interview-w_b_147960.html
love patty
16. Posted by
patty
on
December 5, 2008 11:19 AM
I came home from visiting my favoured Snow Geese observation spot close to the world’s most beautiful city (I might be a little biased). I turned on the Radio and there was a familiar voice saying: “I just feel like saying what I feel is the truth”. You guessed it; it was Dr. Chopra being interviewed on a local radio station.
I don’t know what was said before that truth feeling overcame Deepak but what followed was inspiring, enlightening and at times brutally honest. Congrats Deepak, again you were using logic, reason and compassion to formulate your opinions, from Jesus to the Iraqi war, and many things in between. If you could only use the same thought process in other areas. There must be some way to help you do that.
How about it Gotham, you seem to be the no nonsense straight shooter in the family. Why not try something like this on your dad:
“You know dad, I got curious about that mind bending metal stuff and you know what, in all these occurrences the object being bent with one’s mind is always held by someone’s hand. So in that respect maybe your skeptics have a bit of a point”.
“You know history shows that once someone is accepted as a healer and helper, people won’t think badly of that person because of an admittance of maybe too rigid a judgment. So if you could find a way to let your critics know that RCB may not be so trivial after all, it would increase your credibility exponentially, and may do the same with the readership. It would get us a little closer to that critical mass we are hoping for.”
“So why not give these guys an early Christmas present and find a way to make them happy?”
Thanks Gotham
17. Posted by
Non Violence
on
December 5, 2008 06:59 PM
Ms. Rabinowitz's article represents precisely the reason that the former owners of the WSJ wanted to hold out from Rupert Murdoch. They stated exactly the fear that the editorial content would be diluted from the WSJ's past of insightful, concise editorializing into more FOX-style rants and raves, pockmocked with FOX's trademark subliminial and not-so-subliminal racism, pro-violent philosophy, and cheap shock-jock slanders.
But buy it Murdoch eventually did, and now we are seeing the former owner's fears realized as the WSJ blows its cred by having junk-talk heads such as Ms Rabinowitz carry on with their O'reilly/Coulter trademark stupid racist blathering.
And the demographic they are appealing to - over-50 racist, fundamentalist homophobes who believe that bombing is the ready made solution for any international issue - is on the wane.
We just had an election that was a major referendum on whether people in this country wanted more sane, balanced approaches to problem solving, or another 4-8 years of race-baiting fundamentalist ideology.
Obviously, the race-baiting ideologues lost.
So they just have to deal with it.
Like dinosaurs sensing their extinction, they are just bleating more loudly before their demise as a force in public policy. That's how I see it.
18. Posted by
yogi-one
on
December 6, 2008 12:14 PM
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.http://www.senorcafe.com/archives/la%20brea%20mammoth.jpg
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http://images.chron.com/blogs/sciguy/archives/lbtp_tragedy.jpg
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Deepak,
Please read this:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/05mumterror-muslims-have-gained-nothing-from-terrorism.htm
20. Posted by
suresh
on
December 8, 2008 09:06 AM
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suresh commented on A fuller and more personal response to Ms. Dorothy Rabinowitz’s attack in the Wall Street Journal
Deepak,
Please read this:
http:
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Jane commented on A fuller and more personal response to Ms. Dorothy Rabinowitz’s attack in the Wall Street Journal
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yogi-one commented on A fuller and more personal response to Ms. Dorothy Rabinowitz’s attack in the Wall Street Journal
Ms. Rabinowitz's article represents precisely t
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Non Violence commented on A fuller and more personal response to Ms. Dorothy Rabinowitz’s attack in the Wall Street Journal
I came home from visiting my favoured Snow Gees
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patty commented on A fuller and more personal response to Ms. Dorothy Rabinowitz’s attack in the Wall Street Journal
Aloha Everyone
You can podcast the Deep
You are giving too much time and attention to Dorothy Robinowitz.