Hi Sps sorry about it. we had a round like this earlier and madam seethalakshmi put an end to it. I guess we have to stop these personal details especially if sensitive issues though they seem juicy.
Venkatesh and all, I completely agree we should not discuss personal matters and even more so if any of the concerned people are alive. I admit to be guilty of bringing up such subjects once in a while, although it has been related to clarifying certain misnomers and beliefs.
I believe that this group has a collection of individuals which is quite rare to encounter in other groups. I do believe that the people here are mature enough to discuss anything in the proper spirit. As Voltaire is supposed to have said words to the effect: " I do not agree with what you say but I shall defend to the death your right to say it".. I believe that we ought to follow that principle.. Self censorship never did appeal to me... that is the problem with us Indians.. we prefer to sweep "unpalatable" and "sensitive" topics under the carpet rather than having free and frank discussions about it :)
Arun ,yes I see your two cents, thank you. Regardless I think it is important to respect decorum of the group and also to realize there may be people who are still alive and related to matters we are discussing, not that celebrities are not used to these matters but we don't want to contribute to that.
MSS and Kalki are gems in our world. Any topic that kindles their personal lives is definitely sensitive, many may not like that either. In my opinion, I suggest we keep off discussing personal lives of people, living or dead.
As far as rumors are concerned, any famous personality is bound to have rumors, we should be mature enough to ignore them and move on.
> never did appeal to me... that is the problem with us Indians.. we prefer to > sweep "unpalatable" and "sensitive" topics under the carpet rather than > having free and frank discussions about it :) >
hi arun
Tamizhil kurangu pun enbaargal - dont want to add more.
TWo more cents, we have to respect forum decorum. So it is wise not to discuss those matters since most people do not seem to prefer.
Second, regarding what Arun said, there is difference between cheap sensational gossip and talking about things that happened between people who are no longer alive, to clarify certain false impressions we have or may have had. I am not sure for example if anything bad was said about either Kalki or MSS here.
But we want to keep certain things we know may not have been true because we are scared to think otherwise it is better not to go there at all, also if it offends people.
It is acceptable if the unpalatable bit is relevant to the topic under discussion. Unfortunately, the thread does not stay on course, and virtually branches out like cancer into a free for all. Our mature group has managed not to fall into this trap as the members voluntarily hold the reins and close the thread or correct the course.
In its present form, I don't see any danger to our group.
... that is the problem with > > us Indians.. we prefer to > > sweep "unpalatable" and "sensitive" topics under the > > carpet rather than > > having free and frank discussions about it :)
arun
Hi i happened to shall I say co-ordinate when muruganandam of our group wrote a biography of FEROZE GANDHI the book was released in the book fair and has been immidietly noticed by a wide section of the press. the hindu, mangayar malar, tukluk and dinamalar wrote about it in the previous weeks.
when muruganandam had pooled his research on feroze from different sources we were sort of surprised that such an interesting charecter had been ignored by biographers. things about feroze could be divided as two
really good things which were in contrast to the rulers attitudes after him really bad things that were embarrasing to the same rulers who were related to him.
but muruganandam did a real good balancing act . but then a biography or a biographical discussion of a person should be entire- good bad or ugly not only to be intereting but also truthfull. otherwise wont it seem like a 5th class history book. akbar kulam vettinaar, akbar maram nattaar etc,
yes arun you are right.but our group tends to steer clear of contreversial topics because it paves the way for more discussions and more info spread. venketesh
I agree with Arun that discussions within the group should not be self-censored without a strong reason (and maybe when posting them in the archives we can do some pruning).
> > but the issue is, who decides which topics are > controversial? > > Arul.
yes arul. the moderators decide based on the temparature thats risen and could be detrimental. beleive me, we have had very contreversial topics discussed here with no interference from the moderators if you see in the archives. a discussion based on madans opinion expressed on lack of sources for indian history was by far the most widely debated. i can assure you that the argument fizzled out on its own. on the other hand the aryan dravidian, or the plusses and minuses of british rule are topics that come up frequently and have to be put out with a stern word from sps. venketesh
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Malathi, My 2 paise (way lower than 2 cents you see :)) was not about "sensational news" or about "Gossip". Rather it was about expressing views on any and all issues.. say such as the caste "crap" etc. People have opinions. We may disagree with the opinions but just because someone has opinions contrary to ours does not mean that we ought not to talk about it. If we stop talking about things because "someone" might be sensitive to them, we probably have to avoid a whole bunch of topics. Someone or the other is always going to get annoyed by something..
However, I do agree with Venketesh that, on the whole, this group seems to be able to debate things quite dispassionately.
Arun, I agree with you, am really young to this group so not sure what the past has been.
In my personal experience *most* friends I know are like what you describe, they have some opinions of people particulary and feel offended if others bring up something else, even though it may be true. In other words it is rather commonplace to say certain things are 'sensitve' and avoid discussing them. Just to give you an example, I introduced Sivagamiyin Sabatham to my western educated 17 year old niece, she can read Tamil reasonably well. Once while we were among some older people and discussing the novel, my niece wanted to know if Sivakaami and Narasimhan had an affair or were they only planning to get married. What is wrong with that question? In my opinion nothing at all. But most people got offended and asked her not to talk about 'sensitive matters' like that, one person told her it is not in our culture to make things black and white (ok maybe i can give some credit to that).
But sensitivities are often like that. Sivakami and Narasimhan are fictional. We don't even want to discuss their personal matters. Forget about real people - and I don't mean talking like yellow journalism who had an affair with who and why and on and on. Sometimes what I believe may not be right about someone's character, real or fictional. Am I willing to accept that or just say I want to keep my opinion? Most people in our culture are sorry to say, the latter.