Random Thoughts
The Banality of Evil
Chomsky has often stated that nations are not moral agents, thereby perhaps implying that individuals are. This may be confusing is for ought, as very few individuals really consistently behave in such manner and those who do are not infrequently killed or assassinated like Christ or Gandhi. Kipling, Wells, McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt are examples of racist men, who indirectly misled nations or peoples to commit or justify atrocities of unimaginable proportions and yet are admired by large segments of the population. History is written by the victors to whitewash and legitimize their vicious and barbaric acts and literature is the route of sublimation of the follies of the vanquished.
When Nehru sent the Indian armed forces to take Goa, which the Portuguese had colonized, he was criticized as violating the Gandhian doctrine of nonviolence. This is one helluva twist to give to the legally and morally correct response of liberating one's own remnant of ignominious colonization by an alien plundering power. The most amazing thing is even America which has a history of endless and persistent usurpation and interference the world over, pontificated from a pulpit, falsely christened as a forum of civilized international conduct.
The time has come to teach rogue Pakistan a lesson, but not necessarily make all out war. If it, in its perpetually self-destructive behavior, opts to up the ante and take the region to the brink of nuclear disaster, it would be extremely tragic and unfortunate, but this relentless terrorism and massacres of innocent civilian deserves harsh action because all reasonable appeals have brought us nothing but grief and humiliation. There is no reason for us to be kept on a leash even though President Bush has a pet cat called India. The American response in Afghanistan was massive and unrestricted to the offending parties, as Chomsky has repeatedly pointed out. India on the other hand has given proof and asked for extradition of terrorists, but Pakistan has ignored the request and continues to be a rogue and failed state, sponsoring terrorism.
It is not only just to inflict punishment on it but also serves the strategic interest of India to once and for all make it a vassal nonentity, to put an end to its fomenting fissiparous mischief in India. The Israeli policy towards the Palestinian state of keeping it weak and economically and ecologically dependent is not moral, but may be one should consider that it also has a large minority of citizens whose loyalties lie with an antagonistic neighboring political entity.
There are political parties in France, Britain, Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany which have an anti-Islamic bias and more and more people are realizing that the rigidity, stupidity and orthodoxy of Islam does not permit assimilation or modernization and the resultant lack of education in the immigrant Moslem community is a fertile medium to breed terrorist and antisocial elements.
Thus regrettable as the killing of Shishupala or the battle of Kurukshetra was, the time has come to fight and inflict just punishment on the demon of Pakistan, who repeatedly violates the Lakshmanrekha. It is rare for there to be justification for a fight or war and even if there is, it does not make the consequences less dire or more pleasant but the nature of evil is not amenable to reason and the practice of aggressive terrorist Islam is the new banality of evil.
26-May-2002
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Gaurang Bhatt, MD
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