westerners and symbolism- blog by Rajiv malhotra

[Guest guest]

Kishore: Where is this blog? What is this about? We need context and background. Thanks, Deosaran Kishore patnaik <kishorepatnaik09 wrote: This is interesting . The reply by Elst follows- kishore patnaik]MY REJECTED POST IS BELOW. PLEASE JUDGE FOR YOURSELF:Koenraad Elst: "Indians and some other Orientals (like some dwindlinggroups in the West) take symbols very very seriously, and we

don't."This is not true of westerners, but a major blindness of scholars today.Ronald Reagan's funeral and week-long ceremonies were a larger thanlife display of the American Grand Narrative. Americans do take theirsymbols, narratives, history (much of it falsely and chauvinisticallytaught) very, very seriously. This notion that westerners don't taketheir Grand Narratives seriously is what I call postmodern blindness.It pretends that western myths are universal, and hence claims thereis no "western" myth as such (having elevated western myths touniversal truths, ethics, human rights...)Secular westerners circumcise, bury their dead (as opposed tocremation that is cleaner, cheaper and better ecologically), havechurch weddings, have laws based on Biblical notions like"retribution" and so forth, give their kids Biblical names...Kennedy's assassination was a terrible blow to the American

GrandNarrative. Thereafter, Jacqueline Kennedy filled the symbolic role ofAmerican Camelot, until she married a "foreigner" Onassis which wasvery hurtful to Americans' sense of national symbolism. Despite thisdevaluation of her symbolic value, she remained symbolically specialas the honors upon her death demonstrated.The Brits have their royals as pride of national identity or else theywould not support their extravagances. Princess Diana's wedding wasthe zenith of English symbolism, and her death was the Britishequivalent of America's September 11 – a blow to the Grand Narrativeof the nation.The French have their pride of Cannes, wines, cosmetics, fashions,Paris, etc. – btw, French cultural exports create more jobs than anyother industry, so symbolism is serious economic stuff.Symbolic capital is a well understood asset category in westernsociety, hence much is done to protect it; in the political

realm itis called soft power (J, Nye of Harvard coined the term).When I used to work in Brussels, I asked many times why Belgium needsto exist as a separate nation. Why not merge half of it with Franceand the other half with Holland? When you answer this you willautomatically understand that symbolism is very, very important tothose highly rational and progressive Europeans.Bottom line: Different societies have different kinds of symbols, butthey do have them and value them. It's a classical western blind spotto say that Orientalists are very, very stuck on symbols but that thewesterners being rational have evolved on beyond this nonsense. Infact, Westerners spend more on their "nonsensical" symbolism, projectthem worldwide more assertively (as any trademark attorney willconfirm), and value their identity as "Westerners" which is basedlargely on symbolism.END

QUOTE Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah "Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions"- RIG VEDA

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[Guest guest]

, Deosaran Bisnath <deobisnath

wrote:

>

> Kishore:

> Where is this blog? What is this about? We need context and

background.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Deosaran

 

 

Dear Deosaran,

 

You will find the original context at sulkha blogs

 

http://tinyurl.com/6yn3rk

 

I have permission of RM to reproduce this here.

 

regards,

 

kishore patnaik