US leadership's "ignorant arrogance"

[Guest guest]

Look for America Francois Gautierhttp://www.dailypioneer.com/secon3.asp?cat=\opd1&d;=oped 

Boston, US - Stars and Stripes are fluttering nowadays on the front porch of

nearly all houses in the US: "I am proud to be an American and I stand by my

country." This is a great feeling and one wishes that Indians had the same

attachment and pride in their great country that is India. For it is sometimes

good to have an ego: It gives you a collective identity to rally around in

times of trouble and strife. And this is exactly what happened to Americans

after September 11, 2001.America's ego, though, has only been slightly dented

by the WTC attacks and the Americans have rebounded as never before. Thus,

behind the courteous "howdy" smile, you can still feel this ego: "We know

better, we know everything..." This "ignorant arrogance" is the most striking

when it comes to questions regarding India. During our one-month stay in the

US, we only came across hostile articles on India in most American mainstream

newspapers. Not only ignorant, but also intensely biased - and unfortunately

written by correspondents sitting in India, who do not have the excuse of

ignorance, as they have ample time and documentation to balance heir articles.

Are they the deliberately misleading their ignorant - but innocent - American

readers?The problem is that when you are in India, you are given the impression

that the US Government is slowly coming closer to the Indian point of view

because of clever ego massaging by US diplomats, who pat India when they come

to Delhi and in the same breath congratulate General Musharraf the next day in

Islamabad. This raises another question: Is this hostile tone of American

newspapers a reflection of the present US policy towards India? "Influenced and

supported by noisy self-appointed Indian 'secularists'," writes Graydon

Chiappetta, many Western scholars and Government officials are now taking an

exceedingly negative position on what they like to call 'Hindu revivalism'. On

July 16 this year, for instance, the State Department held a conference, "Hindu

Revivalism in India: Position, Prospects and Implications for the US". Many

highly placed individuals were present including former Congressman Stephen

Solarz, Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia John Malott, Deputy Assistant

Secretary for Regional Analysis Phyllis Oakley and a wide range of US officials.

Scholars were invited to make presentations on Hindu revivalism. On the whole,

there was a lot of finger pointing at Hindu revivalism as the source of India's

current problems and of potential conflict with the US. Ms Lisa McKean of the

University of Sydney described VHP-sponsored groups in America as "front

organisations" for a larger fascist cause. She also referred to the VHP's

activities, including Diwali celebrations and Swami Chinmayananda's spiritual

camps, as "covert operations" and to active members as "militant activists". Ms

McKean called the late Shri Chinmayananda a "master manipulator" and alleged

that he initiated unwanted physical contact with women, including herself. Not

content with merely bashing the VHP, she labeled the monthly magazine, Hinduism

Today, as a front paper supporting militant activities and Global Vision 2000 as

a fascist assembly. She described Hindus moving into professional positions as

"infiltrators" working for the cause of Hindu fundamentalism. She was given an

ovation at the end of her presentation. The irony is that the US prefers to

rely in Asia on China and Pakistan, two undemocratic nations who both hate

America, while sidelining India, a democratic, pro-Western, liberal bastion of

freedom in Asia. But is the US itself democratic? Because of the September 11

tragedy, Americans have become very edgy. Security at airports is a nightmare

and airlines are using the security excuse to clamp down on passengers.

Travelling by Continental Airline, for instance, can be an traumatic: Our cell

phone was detained by their staff because it was not charged and is now lost

without compensation. All our luggage was lost in Newark, when Continental

cancelled its flights due to bad weather (which would not have deterred Indian

Airlines). It refused to give us hotel accommodation, no expenses to buy

toiletry and clothes, although our baggage had not been found. There are now

video cameras everywhere in the US: At airports, in the streets, at traffic

lights, in shopping malls. Everything is known about you through

computerisation and there is actually very little freedom: "You may go to jail

for something you say as a joke," we once heard on the Atlanta airport PA

system. Americans may have a big ego, but they have very little guts. Today,

even at the least threat of trouble, airports shut down, airplanes go into

steep dives and people panic - big drama. But India has lived with terrorism

for decades and has dealt with it with greater character and resilience.

Indians, when they go outside their homes in Delhi, are never sure when a bomb

will explode in their faces in some market or when their planes be hijacked.

Yet, America's ego is bound to get further battering: It's stock market is in

the process of collapsing; the economy is into recession; and there are likely

to be more terrorist attacks on US targets throughout the world. For the truth

is that not only the Muslims, but also much of the world hates the US for its

arrogance and propping of dictators like Messrs Musharraf or Jiang Zeming. This

battering of America's ego is good for two reasons. First because it will teach

the US some humility and perhaps help Americans to recognise that countries

like India are their friends; and the second that whatever its faults, the US

is still the sole superpower in the world, one which has always shown that it

rises to exceptional occasions - whether during the Second World War when it

helped humanity to get rid of Nazism, or today in this very important war

against terrorism, which is actually a war between the West and India on one

side, and Islam and China (which, let us not forget, has given Pakistan the

nuclear weapon) on the other - as Samuel Huntington has rightly predicted. But

first the battlelines have to be drawn and friends and enemies have to

recognise each other. Discover your Indian Roots at -

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