Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site amdcad.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!amdcad!hemanth From: hemanth@amdcad.UUCP (Hemanth Kanekal) Newsgroups: net.nlang.india Subject: Re: India and the Media Message-ID: <799@amdcad.UUCP> Date: Mon, 11-Mar-85 17:27:04 EST Article-I.D.: amdcad.799 Posted: Mon Mar 11 17:27:04 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 12-Mar-85 09:15:23 EST References: <2440@hplabsc.UUCP> <406@crystal.UUCP> Organization: AMDCAD, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 36 > > I don't think the "Jewel in the Crown" can really mean anything to anybody > who is not British. Americans who form impressions of India from the > series will be even farther removed from the India of today than the characters > in the series were from the India of their time. If Americans try to form > impressions of the British, their impressions will be way off; never having > been a colony (I know about George Washington, but they are kidding if they > really say they were ever a "colony"), they have no way of taking into account > the psychology of colonial rule, let alone the peculiarities of the Raj or the > complexities of the relationship between Indians and the British. To Indians, > a detailed account of how the British thought and lived in the forties means > a shrug of the shoulders. To everyone except the British, it is a soap about > confused colonials, and little more. > > I saw the report in Newsweek too. The problem with American journalists is > that they do that to everyone except Americans: They, like the characters > in the "Jewel in the Crown", live in a world they don't really understand. > And like the characters in the series, they don't think they need to take > the trouble to understand. Like British colonials, they make periodic forays > into the alien world, and then return into the only environment they really > comprehend (usually none the wiser for the experience), to bring back with > them strange stuffed creatures and mythology. > > There is an article in the latest Harper's by a Sovietologist who has a similar > complaint about the reporting in this country about Russia. Besides the fact > that the media tends to tow the government line, he says, the real problem is > that journalists in this country are too lazy to read enough to find out the > truth. I think he has point there. Excellent comments on the Jewel in the Crown. Hope We get to see more of this..... -- Ppp[350,240]c[+100,+100]p[450,260]c(a-90c)[-100,-100]p[280,190]t'.'p[420,190]t'.'p[244,254]t'/'p[446,254]t'\'p[240,385]t(s3)'Hello'\