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**ranndomderr** · 11-13-2006, 07:52 PM

Originally posted by Arrian

Be wary of mythical golden ages of the distant past. I'm not saying that is necessarily the case here, but I'm definitely getting that vibe.
There were roughly three golden ages in India's history: the Indus valley period, the Maurya era, and the Gupta era.

These were not mythical times, they were actual periods when the common man was content. Not great, not fantastic, merely content. These were the times when patronage was given to the arts, when there was in general a flowering of culture. Of course, the seeds of the causes of the ends of these ages were present, and probably will always be present in any Golden Age of Man, but it was in general a nice time to be alive in - isn't that, after all, the maximum that a civilisation can aspire to - that the common man is content?

Originally posted by Arrian

And trust me, if you do not intend to incite hate vs. foreignors/Muslims, then you really do need to change the tone of that essay (or speech), because lots of people will focus on the part about how the nasty furriners destroyed/stole/etc the ancient (Hindu) institutions of India and then take the simple step of blaming their descendants for any ill they're mad about.

-Arrian I don't take that simple step, because it is patently ridiculous, foolish in the extreme, and displays a complete lack of understanding of the situation as it is and as it was. How can you blame people living today for crimes committed hundreds of years ago? Is that not the worst injustice, akin to Mohammed calling all kafirs unclean and worthy of slaughter, or the ManuSmriti calling for differential punishments for the same crime for different castes?

As I've said, the best way to deal with the Muslim issue is to simply leave them alone and watch the tamasha as reforms are finally made.

And the problem is, how precisely do I bring out the fact that this destruction did, in fact, happen? It happened, and I have to state it happened, because its consequences are central to my analysis, and I tried to do that in the way in which I would not be pointing fingers at any living community, by using the code which is standard around here. I've already tried to be as circumspect as possible. But the facts have to be stated, and they're not pleasant to state. How do I get around this difficulty (of pleasantly stating unpleasant facts)?

11-13-2006, 07:52 PM	#29
ranndomderr Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 460 Senior Member	Originally posted by Arrian Be wary of mythical golden ages of the distant past. I'm not saying that is necessarily the case here, but I'm definitely getting that vibe. There were roughly three golden ages in India's history: the Indus valley period, the Maurya era, and the Gupta era. These were not mythical times, they were actual periods when the common man was content. Not great, not fantastic, merely content. These were the times when patronage was given to the arts, when there was in general a flowering of culture. Of course, the seeds of the causes of the ends of these ages were present, and probably will always be present in any Golden Age of Man, but it was in general a nice time to be alive in - isn't that, after all, the maximum that a civilisation can aspire to - that the common man is content? Originally posted by Arrian And trust me, if you do not intend to incite hate vs. foreignors/Muslims, then you really do need to change the tone of that essay (or speech), because lots of people will focus on the part about how the nasty furriners destroyed/stole/etc the ancient (Hindu) institutions of India and then take the simple step of blaming their descendants for any ill they're mad about. -Arrian I don't take that simple step, because it is patently ridiculous, foolish in the extreme, and displays a complete lack of understanding of the situation as it is and as it was. How can you blame people living today for crimes committed hundreds of years ago? Is that not the worst injustice, akin to Mohammed calling all kafirs unclean and worthy of slaughter, or the ManuSmriti calling for differential punishments for the same crime for different castes? As I've said, the best way to deal with the Muslim issue is to simply leave them alone and watch the tamasha as reforms are finally made. And the problem is, how precisely do I bring out the fact that this destruction did, in fact, happen? It happened, and I have to state it happened, because its consequences are central to my analysis, and I tried to do that in the way in which I would not be pointing fingers at any living community, by using the code which is standard around here. I've already tried to be as circumspect as possible. But the facts have to be stated, and they're not pleasant to state. How do I get around this difficulty (of pleasantly stating unpleasant facts)?
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