A REPLY TO THISARANEE GUNASEKERA, ON ASIAN TRIBUNE
I generally do not wanto get into it with other Sri Lankan writers, purely based on the fact that everyone has a right to an opinon. however, given the precarious situation facing Sri Lanka, it now becomes imperative to talk back to those who, driven by malice, attempt to deliberately mis-present facts to the larger world community.
This is a response to the article published in the online Asian Tribune on July 21, 2008, linked here; http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/12311#comment-19451
To take the Army Commander's expression of how democracy works in any nation as an expression of a Sinhala supremacist ideology in action, is a stretch of imagination reaching levels of feverish paranoia. Democracy is the will of the majority and majority will, when they are challenged with annihilation on a regular basis, strike back. It is the way of the universe.
In the absence of substance to make a convincing argument, the writer lowers her guard to clearly show the contempt she harbors not only for the present government, the nation's right to defend it self and quite absurdly, her assumption that the general readership is incapable of independent thought.
It is understandble that political hatreds can be expressed freely and often veiled as something else, the most popular slogans being human rights violations and corruption. But the primary mistake anyone in a public forum must avoid making at all costs is to assume that the audience lacks the ability to think deeper and probe beyond than what is being uttered in thier space. This is where even the spin doctor Iqbal Athas made grotesque miscalculations and made a complete fool of himself.
The following expressions are deliberate mis-interpretations of fact, driven obviously by a virulent and disturbed thinking that lacks basis;
"...In fact, as the regime’s belief in the imminence of the final triumph grows, the need to wrap the nature of its Sinhala supremacist state building project in pluralist linen would diminish..." and "...The Sri Lanka that will emerge will be a Sinhala country in which the minorities can survive only on sufferance, only as second class citizens..."- Are insults to the Sinhalese who have voted minorities into local and state govt positions for decades. Even today, Capital City Colombo's grass roots level power lies in the hands of minorities.
"...In this Sinhala Sri Lanka the non-Sinhalese would be safe only so long as they behave; the parameters of acceptable and unacceptable conduct would be decided unilaterally by the Sinhala state and Sinhala society..." - Where does such incendiary hatred stems from, can only be speculated upon. Only a person driven by intense self-loathing would be given to thought that finds satisfaction in denigerating his/her own identity.
The kind of mind-set this author exhibits makes her writings amusing to read, but the deep rooted hatred that bubbles to the surface in all of it defines her as poor journalistic and intellectual material. The hatred and self-loathing evident in this person would of course be qualify her for employment of a different kind though...
The LTTE is said to be running short of suicide bombers...
I generally do not wanto get into it with other Sri Lankan writers, purely based on the fact that everyone has a right to an opinon. however, given the precarious situation facing Sri Lanka, it now becomes imperative to talk back to those who, driven by malice, attempt to deliberately mis-present facts to the larger world community.
This is a response to the article published in the online Asian Tribune on July 21, 2008, linked here; http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/12311#comment-19451
To take the Army Commander's expression of how democracy works in any nation as an expression of a Sinhala supremacist ideology in action, is a stretch of imagination reaching levels of feverish paranoia. Democracy is the will of the majority and majority will, when they are challenged with annihilation on a regular basis, strike back. It is the way of the universe.
In the absence of substance to make a convincing argument, the writer lowers her guard to clearly show the contempt she harbors not only for the present government, the nation's right to defend it self and quite absurdly, her assumption that the general readership is incapable of independent thought.
It is understandble that political hatreds can be expressed freely and often veiled as something else, the most popular slogans being human rights violations and corruption. But the primary mistake anyone in a public forum must avoid making at all costs is to assume that the audience lacks the ability to think deeper and probe beyond than what is being uttered in thier space. This is where even the spin doctor Iqbal Athas made grotesque miscalculations and made a complete fool of himself.
The following expressions are deliberate mis-interpretations of fact, driven obviously by a virulent and disturbed thinking that lacks basis;
"...In fact, as the regime’s belief in the imminence of the final triumph grows, the need to wrap the nature of its Sinhala supremacist state building project in pluralist linen would diminish..." and "...The Sri Lanka that will emerge will be a Sinhala country in which the minorities can survive only on sufferance, only as second class citizens..."- Are insults to the Sinhalese who have voted minorities into local and state govt positions for decades. Even today, Capital City Colombo's grass roots level power lies in the hands of minorities.
"...In this Sinhala Sri Lanka the non-Sinhalese would be safe only so long as they behave; the parameters of acceptable and unacceptable conduct would be decided unilaterally by the Sinhala state and Sinhala society..." - Where does such incendiary hatred stems from, can only be speculated upon. Only a person driven by intense self-loathing would be given to thought that finds satisfaction in denigerating his/her own identity.
The kind of mind-set this author exhibits makes her writings amusing to read, but the deep rooted hatred that bubbles to the surface in all of it defines her as poor journalistic and intellectual material. The hatred and self-loathing evident in this person would of course be qualify her for employment of a different kind though...
The LTTE is said to be running short of suicide bombers...
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