Rewarding the Violent,Penalizing the Tolerant

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cartoons to avoid 'upsetting' Islamic students. Curiously, as educational

institutions bend over backwards and violate the principles of free speech to

curry favor with Muslims (or perhaps to avoid jihadist violence), the

educational system in California is taking a bigoted stance with respect to the

peaceful Hindu minority. California school textbooks, while treating other

religions including Islam with respect, have for years been describing Hinduism

in inaccurate and demeaning terms which border on hate literature. The

well-known inequality between the genders within Islam are described as

'different roles for men and women', while Hinduism is projected as a faith

where 'women were less important than men'. The 'caste system', which has

effectively disappeared from modern India, is dwelled on in excessive length;

with the implication that it is a common feature even today (nothing could be

further from the truth). Hindu beliefs are described as 'myths' while stories

from other religions are presented as facts. Additionally, the discredited

'Aryan invasion' theory is presented as the definitive truth about India's

history. In the 1800s, German thinker Max Muller, whose teachings were

forerunners of Nazi ideology, created this supremacist theory, which suggested

that the Hindu faith was imposed on India by light-skinned Aryan invaders. It

thus implied that Hindus were foreigners who had no right to inhabit India.

British colonialists eagerly seized on this racist fantasy to justify their

imperial rule. Invaders ruled India by creating hatred and divisions within

various Hindu castes by exaggerating caste discrimination among Hindus. The

goal was to justify British and other foreign rule by portraying Hinduism as

unjust. Enemies of Hinduism and democracy employ this tactic very successfully

today. Despite the fact that democratic India has abolished the caste system and

provided enormous benefits to lower

castes, various Stalinist and Islamist groups with backing from foreign sources

have recruited low caste Hindus and tribes to form virulent terrorist groups

who slaughter thousands of people every year. All of these groups wield

tremendous influence in the West and operate through numerous front

organizations. University campuses, which are often breeding grounds for all

leftist and Islamist causes, are infested with 'scholars' and 'professors' who

support this virulent bigotry against Hindus. California school texts have

drawn their teachings from this deep reservoir of hate. Despite the fact that

other religions also discriminated based on class, race and gender, Hinduism

was singled out in these books as being particularly complicit. When Islamic

terrorists commit genocide, they are described in school texts as a misguided

minority who do not represent the religion as a whole. Hindus apparently do not

merit any such consideration: every age-old practice is re-hashed

and misrepresented as evidence of the heinous nature of the religion itself.

The issue came to light when young Hindu children disclosed to their parents

merciless harassment and physical assaults by classmates. Apparently, it had

never occurred to the California school board that systematic demonization of a

vulnerable minority would lead to oppression and cruelty. Or perhaps the

knowledge that this peaceful minority would not respond by burning embassies or

slaughtering civilians marked Hindus as legitimate targets. Hindu parents and

advocacy groups swung into action and proposed edits to the school texts.

Organizations such as the Hindu American Foundation and Vedic Foundation backed

the edits. The California Board appointed renowned history professor Shiv Bajpai

to make recommendations; Dr Bajpai approved most of the changes. By this time

the content of the offending texts had been advertised in India and elsewhere,

but embassy burnings, killings, and

violent protests did not materialize: the Hindu community followed the rules and

proceeded by legal means. Their decent conduct did not yield much benefit. A

Germanic Harvard University professor of Sanskrit, Mike Witzel, who has

aggressively promoted Aryan invasion theory, jumped into the fray. Mr. Witzel

and a coalition of Communists and leftists, supposedly representing lower

castes and 'disadvantaged groups', voiced their opposition to the edits. This

motley crew included 'Friends of South Asia', whose website promotes an

activist named 'Stalin K' and features leftist marches against American policy

in Iraq. These groups immediately began attacking the concerned Hindu parents

and supporting organizations by accusing them of whitewashing Hindu history and

downplaying caste and gender discrimination. Mr. Witzel made bizarre

accusations, implying that these American Hindus were somehow connected to

'Hindu supremacist' political organizations in India.

These accusations swayed the California Board: the decision was made to reject a

very large number of proposed edits and leave much of the hate literature

intact. The outraged Hindu American Foundation retained a law firm and is

committed to fighting the California School Board in court. It is a testament

to Hindus that although their children are subjected daily to racially abusive

teachings against their faith, and their protests are silenced by non Hindu

promoters of hatred and division, this community still does not resort to

violence. On the other hand, Western society is betraying its own values

through its hateful treatment of Hindus, and meek submission to violent

adherents of other faiths. In addition to bowing our heads with shame, we ought

to consider what type of message we are sending to fanatical opponents of our

values who seek to destroy civil society. Ron Banerjee is the director of the

Hindu Conference of Canada. He can be reached at letters (AT) canadafreepress (DOT) com.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/banerjee032206.htm

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