Saturday, July 28, 2007
Shambo Saga Underlines British Tensions
Washington Post July 28, 2007: Hindus, Muslims and Christians have seized on the Shambo case to complain that the government is interfering in their spiritual lives.
The monks argued that Shambo could be effectively isolated and claimed the death sentence trampled on their religious rights. It seems correct that the monks have a very correct case for a number of reasons. e.g. they offered to send the bull to a safe animal sanctuary in Mumbai for any necessary healing, and a reading of the Press suggests that overall there was the usual official bumbling and error at best. Doubtless the monks have a record of all this; recent newspaper reports seem to have removed some details such as incorrectly prepared warrants etc., typical of UK police. Anyway the authorities appear to plan further slaughter.
The Guardian newspaper commented Friday that the Shambo case was "utterly disastrous" for the government's image. It also seems that the Police damaged temple property, e.g. with bolt cutters. Vanloads of Police were used to attempt to intimidate nonviolent protesters who (mainly) seemed to be perfectly happy to settle the matter in ways leading to no loss or financial damage.
Marxists and other protesters will have seen the same Government tactics, strangely reminiscent of Norman Tebbitt telling sacked workers, who had often trained for years and were with no further prospects to "get on yer bike". Mr. Tebbitt himself had had privileged employment and plenty of money.
Naturally it all pleases some secularists, but they are usually victims of their own antireligious bias, which is plain wrong and indeed unscientific. Dawkins is an extreme case in point, who appears to have genuine misunderstandings in culture and science.
IMO: I'll make just one point, out of many which could be made, this one being not necessarily the best point or even a good one. Most people nowadays consider that intelligent life may occur outside the solar system. It seems fairly unlikely that this will be exactly of human origin. Insensate and insensitive destruction of life on this planet for nugatory and short term gains, more apparent than real, poses real problems in dealing diplomatically with such people, as if they are bad, such ruthlessness can leave them with additional good reasons to destroy or enslave humanity, or if good, it may make them less likely to be considerate and helpful, particularly if their closest genetic relatives on this planet are cows - quite likely.
The monks argued that Shambo could be effectively isolated and claimed the death sentence trampled on their religious rights. It seems correct that the monks have a very correct case for a number of reasons. e.g. they offered to send the bull to a safe animal sanctuary in Mumbai for any necessary healing, and a reading of the Press suggests that overall there was the usual official bumbling and error at best. Doubtless the monks have a record of all this; recent newspaper reports seem to have removed some details such as incorrectly prepared warrants etc., typical of UK police. Anyway the authorities appear to plan further slaughter.
The Guardian newspaper commented Friday that the Shambo case was "utterly disastrous" for the government's image. It also seems that the Police damaged temple property, e.g. with bolt cutters. Vanloads of Police were used to attempt to intimidate nonviolent protesters who (mainly) seemed to be perfectly happy to settle the matter in ways leading to no loss or financial damage.
Marxists and other protesters will have seen the same Government tactics, strangely reminiscent of Norman Tebbitt telling sacked workers, who had often trained for years and were with no further prospects to "get on yer bike". Mr. Tebbitt himself had had privileged employment and plenty of money.
Naturally it all pleases some secularists, but they are usually victims of their own antireligious bias, which is plain wrong and indeed unscientific. Dawkins is an extreme case in point, who appears to have genuine misunderstandings in culture and science.
IMO: I'll make just one point, out of many which could be made, this one being not necessarily the best point or even a good one. Most people nowadays consider that intelligent life may occur outside the solar system. It seems fairly unlikely that this will be exactly of human origin. Insensate and insensitive destruction of life on this planet for nugatory and short term gains, more apparent than real, poses real problems in dealing diplomatically with such people, as if they are bad, such ruthlessness can leave them with additional good reasons to destroy or enslave humanity, or if good, it may make them less likely to be considerate and helpful, particularly if their closest genetic relatives on this planet are cows - quite likely.
# posted by uv : 4:11 AM
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