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While anti-war does not equate to being anti-American, a significant portion of the anti-war crowd, or at least the visual portion of it do seem to hate America. While correlation does not equal causation, there does seem to be confluence.

I agree that there are definitely some behind-the-scenes players, who have an anti-American agenda.

As someone who loves to argue things logically, the poor debating skills of these letter writers (not to mention their poor grammar) makes me laugh. You read stuff like this:


You worte like “I am a physician of Indian origin, settled down in USA after working for 10 years in rural Africa”. this is not the way to tell your self. What you have done in Rural africa. why are you staying in america. is this is for money or to buy lot of properties.

why dont you come back to india and serve the people. and you are criticizing chirnajeevi and talking about his work. he is doing lot of things like CCT..


Any good debater knows that making ad hominem attacks doesn’t help your argument at all. Who Chiranjeevi is doesn’t matter unless the issue being discussed is movies. Asking this doctor to come back and work in India is idiotic. But alas, I’m not surprised.

Exactly, madman - I love to hear people discuss things logically, even when their view points are opposed to mine. These letter-writers make me cringe because they think not only should no one dare question Chiranjeevi, but that anybody who does so is not an Indian.

Another point I have seen them try to make is - why are so many nations against the war if it is so just - as if a majority vote makes a wrong thing right. Again, this has nothing to do with being pro- or anti-war, it is how you express your opinions and why.

Heh. I see things are the same the world over. This Chiranjeevi fellow, like his counterparts in Hollywood, has only one responsibility - pleasing his fans. He doesn’t need to think things through any farther than sticking his finger in the wind and seeing which way it’s blowing requires.

Ironically, that’s why Chiranjeevi is an “actor” and George Bush is a “President” and has to…”act” - not just right trite letters for his fans’ consumption.

As for the replies, hey, what do you expect from a bunch of folks who come to a movie web site for their political discourse. :) Good on this Dr. Sunkara fellow, maybe he’ll reach someone without knowing it.

You are right, Solomon.

Whoops, except when I said “right”…that shoulda been “write.” :)

Hmm..

The part about South-Indian movie fans is absolutely right. It is almost mandatory for mega-stars in the South: Rajanikanth and Chiranjeevi, especially, to live up to their screen image—all-powerful, the evil-vanquishing superman and the go(o)d samaritan, the ideal son, the doting husband and the adoring brother. The crazed fans go to ridiculous lengths like building temples, and even immolating themselves! A prominent example is the death of MGR: thousands of people from Bangalore, travelled to Chennai even on the rooftops of trains! Tens of people immolated themselves because their “Thalaivar” had died!

This being the case, Madman, don’t even bother about making the “ad hominem” statement! The responders care a hoot! They were stung to the quick by the doctor’s letter, and they needed to vent their ire as quickly, logic or no logic, argument or no argument.

Alas! If only these fans cared a fraction of this for their own betterment! That’s another story!

Regards,
Sandeep

True, Sandeep - that was something I had never liked or understood - the part about building temples for the stars and other such. It is really sad to see promising young men get taken into this dream world and lose their capacity to think and function normally.

If these people cannot discern between fantasy and reality, their responses to the good doctor’s letter is completely suspect, if not devoid of any common sense.

Sandeep, if this had been Rajnikant, I’d be willing to bet money that there would be enough fanatics, er, lunatics, who would find out where that doctor lived and probably beat him up. :)

If he were in India, he would have to fear for his life. Rajnikant is GOD, didn’t you know?

It reminds me of an incident while walking down Brigade Road in Bangalore. There was this poster of Rajnikant in some newly released movie stuck on the wall, and there was this person folding her hands before it and praying to it. I kid you not.

I suppose you’ve already been to the logical fallacies page?

If any of you are looking for a good book, I strongly recommend What’s So Great About America? by Dinesh D’Souza, now a Rishwain Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.

It’s well written and very enjoyable to read—told from the perspective of a Mumbaiker, now a naturalized US citizen. It’s targeted toward a western audience, but we NRIs/American citizens can identify with the anecdotes he relates to in supporting his points.

Thanks for that, Gokul.

MadMan, I once met Rajnikanth when I was in Madras and got his autograph. I told a friend of mine here in USA about that, and he literally wanted to touch my feet, since I sopke to the Great Rajni! I was so confused - I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry :)

I have a slightly off-topic question: what is the state of cinema in southern India? Hindi films are not faring well, a probable sign of its waning popularity, and the growing influence of television.

Are films in Southern India still popular among the masses?

At least the telugu film industry seems to be doing well - I don’t know much about the other languages - any one else?

madman: I strongly believe that debating skills (as the anglosphere understands it) are not widely taught in India, and neither are logical fallacies. (I’d be very interested in hearing what those who’ve attended school in India (I have) feel about this.)

India’s traditional `adda’, `gupshup’ etc is largely gossip and hearsay, rather than well-reasoned debate. Add to that the traditional Indian fondness for quoting authority.

By the way, if you want many more examples of luminous argument (not! :-p) go to http://no-war.indiatimes.com — or indeed, check out readers’ comments that appear from time on time on Times of India news pages.

About the poor grammar — well, that’s slightly more defensible: a lot of them know English, but have possibly learnt it as a ‘second language’, it wouldn’t be something they use outside work.

Of course, the capacity for well-reasoned debate isn’t related to grammar: one of the finest debaters I know attended a Hindi medium state school and went on to join Bangalore’s National Law School, and I know plenty of people who `speak English’ at home (and wear Levis, and listen to Britney Spears, you get the idea…) who can’t present a well-thought-out argument if their lives were on the line.

But one cannot deny the fact that Chiranjeevi is responsible for a considerable blood donation across the state of AndhraPradesh. I myself have witnessed a lot of people from Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust (fans of Chiranjeevi) donate blood to the needy and poor at times of emergency. Lot of people who don’t even know whether it would be safe enough to donate blood have donated blood just because the megastar Chiranjeevi had asked them to do so. Chiranjeevi is not a god but a better person that the selfish and foolish people who have criticized him.

Srinivas, it is great he is doing good stuff - that doesn’t put him beyond criticism. Just because someone lacks the influence and money to be like him doesn’t mean they can’t criticize him?

That means you cannot criticize the politicians in the country either…how about that?