Deafening silence in the blogosphere

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While trying to deal with the tragedy in Mumbai, I have been wondering what the coverage of the story tells us about ourselves.

I was not surprised by MSM coverage in America: poor in local papers, better in papers with a large desi population or those with an international audience. I was pleased to hear that CNN and CNBC had decent cable news coverage, perhaps because they’re well established in India.

What has baffled me, however, is the relative silence from the world of blogs. The blogosphere is supposed to be the cutting edge, far more advanced than the MSM, yet they’re spending less time on the story.

To be more precise, Technorati’s rankings of popular news stories shows us that average bloggers are paying some attention to the bombings; the fourth, sixth and twentieth most reblogged news stories are the BBC, CNN, and Fox News versions of this story. It’s currently less important than the death of Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett, or coverage of Zidane’s press coverage, but more important than Bob Novak and the big dig.

Where we see a distressing lack of coverage most clearly is amongst political blogs in the top 100 list [Thanks Manish]:

Amongst other major politics blogs, Atrios did a one line link while travelling and WashingtonMonthly covered black hair but not blacker events.

What gives? I emailed the following question to three significant political bloggers:

No opinion on the Mumbai bombings?

I’m surprised. Many more have died than did in London a year ago, and the death toll is currently just a little under the death toll from Madrid. Yet the blogosphere is largely quiet. Why?

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Here are the two responses I received:

The blogosphere tends to be relatively quiet on straight news like this, since it doesn’t provide much of a vehicle for opinion mongering. And in this case, it appears (so far) to be related to India-Pakistan tensions, rather than the broader Islamist movement. I suspect most Americans, at any rate, find that sort of uninteresting. [Kevin Drum]

I can’t speak for anyone else. But in my case often something of great consequence or human tragedy happens, but it’s not really clear that I have anything to add. Sometimes that gets read as lack of interest or concern. But it’s not. [Anonymous political blogger]

While I understand their desire to only repeat a major news story if they have something of value to add, I think it is (in its own way) as myopic as the confused analysis on Captains Quarters:

What motivated AQ to go after India? It’s hardly the first country one associates with the West, and many Muslims live within the majority-Hindu nation… But mostly AQ and other Islamist terrorists have targeted tourists, and India is in the middle of its tourist season. The Srinagar attack left six tourists dead. AQ wants to destroy India’s economy, fragile enough as it is, by keeping tourists away from the country. [Link]

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p>The story has clear implications for America, they’re just not the very simplest ones. So, for bloggers who need an angle, I’ve got three. The first is a big one [Thanks Hukku]:

“Accordingly, the Pakistani government continues to support the insurgents, although more subtly than before. But what the Musharraf regime and its more intransigent Islamist allies fail to recognize is that Indian patience with Pakistani-sponsored violence in Kashmir and elsewhere in India is nearly at an end. Although largely ignored by the U.S. media, bombings during the festival for the Hindu holiday of Diwali in New Delhi last November, in which Pakistani-based groups were implicated, almost precipitated another major crisis, which was averted only by the Indian leadership’s restraint. But it is far from clear whether such forbearance could survive another attack. Furthermore, in contrast to the 2001-2 crisis, when the Indian military lacked viable plans for responding to a Pakistani-based terrorist attack, the Indian army is now well prepared to undertake swift and decisive action by retaliating against targets in Pakistan at times and places of its own choosing. Unfortunately, the Pakistani leadership appears to be oblivious to India’s growing frustration. Consequently, although another Indo-Pakistani war is not likely, it remains possible…” [Link]

1 India and Pakistan are now nuclear armed states. This sort of attack, if it ends up being traced to Pakistan could have very serious consequences. Couple that with the recent resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and British frustrations there, and an argument might be made that Pakistan is engaging in serious destabalization of its neighbors.

Of course, this is all speculation but Indian security sources indicate that they suspect Pakistan had a hand in these events. If that suspicion becomes widespread, won’t there be an outcry for retaliation? If so, will Bush be able (or willing) to protect Pakistan again? Musharaff prepped nukes for use during Kargill (according to Nawaz Sharif), this could get very ugly.

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p>2 On the other hand, if the bombings were actually committed by a new group connected to Al-Qaeda, this marks the opening of a significant new front in the “Global War on Terror”. Al-Qaeda activities are of clear importance to America.

3 These events are pertinent to the domestic fight on anti-terrorism funding. Another mass transit bombing gives credence to Schumer’s argument that DHS is giving too little money to New York. In other words, recent events in India undermine the argument for protecting targets in Indiana.

These recent events are rich in implications for American foreign and domestic policy. I don’t find it too hard to connect the dots, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m brown.

255 thoughts on “Deafening silence in the blogosphere”

  1. These events are pertinent domestic fight on anti-terrorism funding.

    I’m American, and I think can give a rather disgusting but potentially accurate answer to this question

    The vast majority of Americans believe (overtly or covertly) that an event is not terrorism if it happens to non-occidental non-whites.

    Unless it fits within the innane and cartoonish pet topics of the current American political atmosphere, it’s sectarian violence (read: “their problem”), it’s a humanitarian crisis (read: “their/NGO problem”) or it’s regional tension (read: “Oh my, aren’t they primitive?”)

    Honestly, I think a lot of the liberals here know of the event and are concerned, but frankly don’t have the education required to contextualize the event intelligently. Even well-educated people here often know very little about American history, let alone world history and how it shapes current events.

    The international community may not believe it, but I promise that many people here are tearing our hair out about how to change this line of thinking. I do not currently newsblog, but if I did, I would discuss this in light of the way that the Iraq war forced a questionable US pact with Pakistan, and that India should be everyone’s dearest and brightest shining hope for what can happen when technology and money come together in parts of the world that think globally and decrease local tension.

    Our military presence in the region keeps this pot stirred up, and I apologize most earnestly for the indirect role my country played in this tragedy. Maybe THAT’S what US bloggers don’t want to say?

  2. Lauren, What is the makeup of a typical high school history course in US high schools? In India we endured (;-)) Civics,Geography, and History from age 13 through 16. Part of it was international, though not always great contentwise. But, it did set us up with some kind of base.

    Isn’t Physics optional in US high school?. This would be unthinkable in India.

  3. What is the makeup of a typical high school history course in US high schools?

    Is this an attempt to claim that somehow Indians are more aware of the world than Americans?? Please note that 45% of Indians are illeterate. Another about 20% are semi-literate. (I grew up in India). India’s population overall has anti-sceintific attitude. Atleast an average American can read a map … average Indian doesnt even see the need to have one. So lets get some perspective and get off our high horse of supposedly “smart” Indians.

    Isn’t Physics optional in US high school?. This would be unthinkable in India.

    65% people of India dont even know what the hell physics is. OK.

    Lauren, I think you are being a bit harsh on Americans, IMO. But the Ennis’s point of silence from bloggers is another thing. I think the most important reasons why bloggers should have cared is that this terrorist event is very much relevant to US realities. US can learn the dynamic of this worldwide threat from such incidents.

  4. i am despondent. the political blogs that you’re trying to influence out here – they’re a bunch of pompous loudmouths with axes to grind – they form a conclusion, and then position facts to support their argument.

    They are either deliberately mendacious, or generally ignorant.

    i am depressed. you’d imagine the finest brains in the world would not try to paint by numbers when it came to decision making. they’d review historical precedents and understand the cumulative impact of multiple events over the span of time.

    where am i going with this. i dont know.

    have you studied history. it is important to study history. facts can be hidden but the truth emerges over time, and some things dont change. In the Peloponnesian wars by Thucydides there is a discussion on how democracy functions as a competition of tyrannies. athenians were convinced through a combination of bribes and demagoguery that they had to go liberate sicily. once they liberated scily, athenians would have access to all the resources they need to take on their enemies in the spartans and their allies. the expedition was a disaster. Here’s an extract from wiki on the PP wars.

    Following the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily, it was widely believed that the end of the Athenian Empire was at hand. Her treasury was nearly empty, her docks were depleted, and the flower of her youth was dead or imprisoned in a foreign land. They underestimated the strength of the Athenian Empire, but the beginning of the end was indeed at hand

    what’s the story morning glory?

  5. First, my sympathies to the people of India, especially those in Mumbai, for the losses in this terrible terrorist attack. I only hope that the Indian government is able to bring justice to those who did this terrible deed.

    That said, I have to differ with the host. What his list showed is that conservative American bloogers (mostly) covered the story, while leftist American bloggers (mostly) ignored it. That has nothing to do with India, since you would find much the same pattern for a terrorist attack anywhere else. That’s because those on the left often see George W. Bush as a greater threat than Osama bin Laden. In fact, Jonathan Chait said exactly that in a column in the Los Angeles Times, last Sunday, I think.

    I fit that general rule. I am mostly conservative (cross-county skiing conservative, is how I like to put it), and I wrote a post on the attack that consisted mostly of links to news articles and a blog site in India. I didn’t say much more than that because I don’t know enough to say more. I couldn’t, for instance, even name the organizations most likely behind the attack. (And, if I may say so, I suspect Ennis does not know much about some of the problems I often write about, such as “distributed vote fraud” in American elections.) Not having much to say, I didn’t say it. That seems sensible to me, and I hope, after Ennis thinks about this matter some more, he will come to the same conclusion.

    In the mean time I would be interested in seeing more posts with real information about the attacks — and even posts with informed speculations, so long as they are labeled as such.

  6. I’ve been following this blog for several months now. I saw this post yesterday and I wasn’t surprised. Tonight I did my own survey of the blogsphere and discovered that the “conservative” bloggers posted about this latest terrorist act. It was the “liberal” bloggers who ignored it. And oddly the few liberals who did post about it sounded just as apologetic for Islamists as the posters on this blog. I need to find a good realist/”conservative” Desi blog.

  7. And, if I may say so, I suspect Ennis does not know much about some of the problems I often write about, such as “distributed vote fraud” in American elections.

    Wha-?

    Can we please make this the last time someone shows up on here to say what Ennis does and does not know? Just because you’re ignorant of political details outside American borders does not mean Ennis isn’t seriously conversant with political details within American borders.

    You seriously have no idea how deep the brother runs. Just trust me on this one.

  8. hairy_d,

    i am despondent. the political blogs that you’re trying to influence out here – they’re a bunch of pompous loudmouths with axes to grind – they form a conclusion, and then position facts to support their argument.

    i feel you on this. but step back. we weren’t trying to influence them. ennis made an observation, thought it to be interesting as a sign of the times, and inquired of some of the principal political bloggers for their view.

    then what happened?

    a few picked up our post, and it eventually spread. this has been one of the most linked posts SM has done. conclusion: to get attention from the blogs, blog about blogging. (great!)

    a number of new visitors dropped by and left comments. some are bloggers, some came through them. many were of the “conservative” — frankly, reactionary — segment (as opposed to some of our regular commenters here who are actually conservative) and exactly as you said, were pompous loudmouths who lie up facts to fit their ideology. quite a few were downright unpleasant — either to us, or to whole communities that they lumped together to disparage. the usual, really.

    that’s why they call it an echo chamber. many of these cats are just jingoistic suburban guys who hang out on the computer to avoid their wife and kids. the rhetoric of the times has given them an excuse to blather and grandstand. whatever. again, i’m not talking about thoughtful, analytic right-of-center types.

    it is interesting that there was little from the so-called liberal side. if the democratic party had bothered to actually formulate a consistent critique — of any kind! — of the last five years of Bush foreign policy, it would find supporters online to advance or amend or vibe off those proposals. oh well.

    finally, one thing i found VERY interesting is how many of the bloggers and visitors they sent here interpreted ennis’s post as a complaint, and specifically a demand for sympathy. as if we were asking for condolences, and as if blanket condolences without underlying knowledge do a damn thing.

    clearly a lot of people thought that we — the bloggers and commenters here — are not American. we’re either foreigners overseas, or foreigners in the US. either way, we are other.

    an interesting experiment, withal. props to ennis for starting it.

    peace

  9. RC, Good points! I like how an Indian from IIT, who is on the top 000.1% of his nation will go to a remote MacDonalds in Arkansas and feel smug over his superior basic arithmetic skills as compared to the guy serving on the other side of the counter.

  10. RC and AMfD: You’ve raised some very valid points. Most of the Indians who come to US hold advanced degrees..be it in engineering, medicine, law or any other field. Its unfair to assume that they’re the benchmark..and them compare them to an average joe in US. It would make more sense to compare apples with apples…say an undergrad who comes from India to an undergrad in US. Rather..no use comparing anyone. Let us all be happy 🙂

  11. RC and AMFD,

    I think you missed Neale’s point. The question is with respect to those who do actually go to school.

    But even otherwise, the I bet the average Indian is more politically than the average American. When it comes to people who are educated, Indians easily outscore Americans on understanding of international issues. This is just my opinion based on my interaction with people.

  12. finally, one thing i found VERY interesting is how many of the bloggers and visitors they sent here interpreted ennis’s post as a complaint, and specifically a demand for sympathy. as if we were asking for condolences, and as if blanket condolences without underlying knowledge do a damn thing. clearly a lot of people thought that we — the bloggers and commenters here — are not American. we’re either foreigners overseas, or foreigners in the US. either way, we are other.

    Very true Siddhartha. I don’t know what’s worse, a ‘Go back home’ or a ‘Oh how nice you’ve poppped by to our home for a visit! We’re soooo sorry about all that bad shit that happened to you guys! I have to say I just LOVE your people, so warm and friendly…’

    Ugh. White guilt is so not pretty at this time of day.

  13. finally, one thing i found VERY interesting is how many of the bloggers and visitors they sent here interpreted ennis’s post as a complaint, and specifically a demand for sympathy. as if we were asking for condolences, and as if blanket condolences without underlying knowledge do a damn thing.

    I got this sense from the brown folk too, so I don’t think it’s fair to raise this as a white/brown issue. This quote doesn’t suggest that but I found the following comment a bit jarring. I think some people are genuinely sympatheic and I see no reason to be scornful of sympathy. In fact, I do appreciate it very much that people from all over the place took the time to share their comments whether I agree with the comments or not.

  14. siddhartha, for someone who prides himself on being open-minded and progressive, the comment about ‘suburban guys at the computers ignoring their wives’ was dismissive and be-littling. You can, and often do, make your points far better than that. Your comment was fine up until then, why go there?

  15. Oh, but I agree entirely with you about ennis thoughtfully bringing up the point, as an intellectual excercise, and not making an accusation, which is what I think a lot of blogs/bloggers thought about the post. It fits into the minority-as-victim meme, doesn’t it, the minority who only needs to be placated and counted up? I sort of loathe that meme.

  16. I don’t know, MD – as a suburban guy with a wife and kid, I thought siddhartha’s comment was somewhat amusing. Add shirking work on coffee break, and you’ve got a truer picture.

    With that said, I want Pakistan on the other side of the “non-integrating gap” line sometime in the next decade: http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/pdf/PNM_Map_low_res.pdf

    I do have family by (common law) marriage over in India, and occasionally do business with Indian companies. I don’t want AQ messing with any of that, either directly or by radicalizing Pakistan.

  17. I don’t know, MD – as a suburban guy with a wife and kid, I thought siddhartha’s comment was somewhat amusing. Add shirking work on coffee break, and you’ve got a truer picture.

    Suburban Brown guys do much the same thing 🙂 Since Siddharta avers that conservatives are clueless, I would offer that at least they are interested. The liberal blogs silence is telling because they could not even offer any personal anecdotes about Indian friends who may have had relatives in India. And what, 70 percent of Indian-Americans vote Democrat? It seems as though their affinity with liberals is in their own minds.

  18. MD, i also have graduate training in the social sciences. my comment wasn’t as off-hand as that… there was underlying hypothesis and analysis. and yeah, a little snark, but A O’Toole took it in good spirit.

    yes to minority-as-victim. that was what struck me, i think.

  19. siddhartha – looks like India is proving that it will not be a willing victim. Solid police work on the ground. Hope she can engage Pakistan fruitfully on getting the border locked down more tightly. Terror seems to thrive in the interzone.

    Have you seen this article, btw? Thought it to be interesting. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=190302534

    And AMfD, to show that I can be a good sport: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4112682 Wasn’t a thrilling performance, but his points were well made.

  20. I don’t want AQ messing with any of that, either directly or by radicalizing Pakistan.

    A O’Toole:

    Pakistan has already housed radicalized elements for quite some time now. Being an American, I can see how people are worried about AQ and what not, but for the most part are unaware of how Jihadi elements have been fighting their war to re-establish the Caliphate for decades now. Most of this was internal to Arab countries, in particular Egypt. The traditional jihadists India have fought for the past decade and half and the AQ guys come from a different mold. The older groups like JKLF that seeked Kashmiri independence have been pushed away by Pakistan based groups that, at first was looking to gain Kashmir for Pakistan. With AQ leadership primarily operating out of Pakistan now, it is worrysome that these networks hae moved closer in ideology. That has been reflected in how the prominent terror groups are not only looking to get Kashmir ‘back’, but looking to re-establish Islamic rule over India.

    Attempts on Musharraf’s life have been made for his support of of the US, but if he/leadership actually believe that his own jihadi pawns who’re focused on India won’t take AQ help, they’re sorely mistaken. Pakistan has been playing with fire for a long time and it has erorded the country from inside out. Salafists aren’t just waging a war on the west, they’re waging a war within Islam by using non-muslim targets to display their power in an attempt to co-opt the larger more moderate and productive populations for support of their ultimate goal: Re-establishment of the Caliphate.

    I’m still learning and with all the news clippings and snippets about, well sourced books continue to be the best academic source of information, although the research needed to write said books and get them to print means we’re (general public) laging behind in the information cycle.

    Question to all: During the partition, I read somewhere (cant remember where now) that the muslims with more extreme views were against partition, because it would hamper their efforts in co-mingling with non-muslim populations and prevent them from preaching/coverting people to Islam? Does any information or basis for this exist?

  21. Question to all: During the partition, I read somewhere (cant remember where now) that the muslims with more extreme views were against partition, because it would hamper their efforts in co-mingling with non-muslim populations and prevent them from preaching/coverting people to Islam? Does any information or basis for this exist?

    I’m not sure about this. But I do not that the Pathan leadership under “Frontier Gandhi” Abdul Gaffar Khan was against Partition.

    There are radical Muslims in India today who dream of a further partition of “Mughalistan” in the UP-Bihar corridor.

  22. RC and AMFD, I do not understand why you are reading anything into my comment about high school education.

    All I asked was a question in an attempt to undestand the society around me – USA And i stated what society was in the place i came from – India.

    About Physics being optional ( I know for a fact that some time ago it was in Denver Public Schools), if it is still true , what was wrong about my comment?

    And , please, please do not bring up the illterate masses into the equation. It is not part of this discussion, if you have not inferred that already. We are all talking to people who blog and read blogs.

  23. Question to all: During the partition, I read somewhere (cant remember where now) that the muslims with more extreme views were against partition, because it would hamper their efforts in co-mingling with non-muslim populations and prevent them from preaching/coverting people to Islam? Does any information or basis for this exist?

    That’s an odd way to put it but read this piece by Qalandar (it’s a great introduction to the link between more conservative Muslims and their opposition to Pakistan): On The Historical Relationship Between Muslim Religiosity and Political Separatism

  24. that’s why they call it an echo chamber. many of these cats are just jingoistic suburban guys who hang out on the computer to avoid their wife and kids. the rhetoric of the times has given them an excuse to blather and grandstand. whatever. again, i’m not talking about thoughtful, analytic right-of-center types.

    but oh… my despair is not with the blogsters themselves… i am frustrated with all the noise on the web… then again… i rarely get information from the web, but in the manner of mcluhan, the channel itself is the message … furthermore it is the convergence of multiple points of view that increases the information within sm in the sense of shannon, as opposed to a single-frequency political blog.

  26. finally, one thing i found VERY interesting is how many of the bloggers and visitors they sent here interpreted ennis’s post as a complaint, and specifically a demand for sympathy.

    I agree there was an American guilt response to some of this, but at the same time, the post has a “why aren’t you paying attention to our issues?” vibe from a U.S.-Canadian desi perspective which I find

    a) naive, given that a lot of the people who would have written about this would have written extremely shoddy pieces with all kinds of American bias–what productive response would dkos or Michelle Malkin have about this? It would likely turn into a political football in American political debates that have nothing to do with Mumbai;

    b) diaspora narcissistic – do you know how many issues are going on today that display selection bias? That this attack got mentioned at all in the American media is a symptom of obsession with “terrorism” and India’s rising prominence in American discourse; there are countless tragedies ongoing, some of which are even sexy by news standards, which get no mention EVER; You could say that this could be a starting point for discussing those things, but I don’t read it as such because of:

    c) limited and inconsistent; there was a PIA flight that went down the day before, killing 45 people, including two Pakistani high court justices, but it wasn’t mentioned on SM, Pickled Politics, or any of the other desi blogs I occasionally (okay, frequently 🙂 read, including the one I write for. Despite being a news item on the front page of wikipedia. If THAT doesn’t get mentioned, what chance do events in Trinidad, Guyana, Mauritius, Suriname, or other poor country desi hotspots have, let alone events in Africa?

    Please note: this is not a criticism of Ennis’s personality. This is just a criticism of this post.

  27. To those who believe desis (or Ennis post) are/is looking for attention, simply consider the facts:

    A series of bomb blasts occurred in:

    1. one of the most populous cities in the world.
    2. a country that has one of the fastest econimic growth rates in the world.
    3. a country that supplies America with a large percentage of their graduate students.
    4. a country that recognizes English as a national language
    5. And for crying out loud, THE WORLD’S LARGEST DEMOCRACY

    You would expect more reaction , of any kind, from the rest of the world.

  28. Saurav – I don’t expect them to pay attention to “our” issues, I expect them to pay attention to “their” issues. Such as:

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday in Mumbai that the government has credible information that terror modules exist in the city and are instigated and supported by elements “across the border”. [Link]
    Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the “mastermind” of the blasts that killed about 200 people. [Link]

    These are blogs that are interested in state sponsorship of terrorist groups. What happens when one of those states is a key US ally?

    If you need a domestic angle for it, how about the pending sale of F-16s to Pakistan, one that Tom Lantos wants to stop (not b/c of terrorism but) because of intellectual property concerns:

    A senior Democratic lawmaker has asked the Bush administration to withdraw its offer to sell $5 billion worth of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, saying the deal raises security worries. [Link]

    This story has a strong US foreign policy angle, unlike a plane crash in Pakistan. That’s why I thought they might cover it.

  29. The Wall Street Journal had 4 pieces on Mumbai yesterday (Mumbai’s resilience, stocks up etc), mostly by desi names.

  32. This story has a strong US foreign policy angle, unlike a plane crash in Pakistan. That’s why I thought they might cover it.

    I was unclear. I think that you’re right that people interested in American foreign policy may want to pay attention to this; but then, the American mainstream media and foreign policy establishment has ALWAYS marginalized the Kashmir dispute and India-Pakistan tensions in favor of covering Israel or Northern Ireland. The story here is that they have paid attention to it at all, and one reason, as you point out, is that it fits neatly into an anti-terrorism motif. This is similar to how the American media paid attention to the Bali bombing, but pretty much nothing else about Indonesia ever with the excpetion of the tsunami (and even that seemed to focus inordinately on european tourists in phuket) or to India Shining but not India Starving.

    What coverage I have seen–which is limited by my aversion to television or reading that makes me stupider by consuming it–on the Mumbai bombings in the mainstream American media has been shoddy to the point of absurdity except for the Somini Sengupta and Saritha Rai article in the Times. I think this is a general trend in much mainstream American foreign policy coverage and to ask for more coverage like that (or worse, given that you’re asking widely read American blogs to commment) seems insane to me.

    The reason I brought up the plane crash example was to show that even people like us who have spaces with self-defined areas of interest miss substantial points within those spaces. I picked it because it was chronologically close to the bombings, but I could probably find other examples of lack of attention to non-Indian (i.e. Pakistani, Trini, Guyanese, Mauritian, etc.) issues in the American desi blogosphere were I less lazy.

    If you want, we can talk about the other point I made–whether all significant events outside the U.S. or only the ones of narrow interest to American sensibilities should be covered in the American media if you want, but I assume it’s deemed offtopic.

  33. Yellow Peril (NZ) has also blogged on the subject… http://publicaddress.net/default,3351.sm#post3351, partly with reference to this article

    Yeah 🙂 Which shows that we’re not the only community in berating the lack of mainstream coverage for our own issues.

    What I find really interesting, though, is the alleged clout of Indian-Americans through their status as the per capita blah blah wealthiest income group and how that does not seem to change the lumping of all desi deaths into the non-interesting news pile. If Jews apparently use their wealth to control coverage of Israeli domestic issues, how come we’re so crap at using our influence as the allegedly powerful ‘diaspora’ to help shine some light on our own news?

  34. Look, we as Indians should truly stop looking at the western blogoshpere or MSM media for India related coverage. For them India is a poor, exotic country of tigers, yoga gurus and hindu-muslim riots.

  36. I detect a kind of resigned disdain in Ennis and Siddhartha’s comments in as much as they imply, “we are not trying to influence you, don’t need your sympathy … etc.” I agree with the latter but why the former? Why shouldn’t we want to influence the American mainstream – not for sympathy or a pat on the back, but for educating them about political truths at play in that region?

    Tashie mentions the Jewish lobby and their disproportionate control over US foreign policy because of which we are all paying a price. (BTW, most Americans I know, do not approve of Israeli policies in the region – I wonder when that will translate into votes.) Some of my own Jewish friends, lifelong Democrats, voted for George W. Bush in 2004. They unabashedly explain their choice as “good for Israel.” A Jewish cousin of mine by marriage, is a US marine who undertook two tours of duty in Iraq. The first one was for America and the second one was for Israel, he boasts. Every time there is an incident in Israel / Gaza / West Bank / Lebanon affecting Israel, I am inundated by e-mail links to far right wing stories from sources such as the execrable Front Page Magzine, sent out by one of my Jewish friends. She is well aware of my political leanings and what I think about Israel’s iron fisted, unfair policies. She even reads my blog. But that hasn’t put a damper on her enthusiasm for converting me to her side.

    I don’t recommend that our efforts on behalf of India should consist of mindless, blind, jingoistic support such as I enumerate above. We don’t need the US to fight wars on behalf of India or support India’s wrong headed ventures. We are Americans and we should not withhold criticism of India when and where it deserves. But we must also correct some of the ignorance that pervades the average American psyche about things they don’t know or never cared to find out. I am not put off when I hear statements about India which are riddled with myths or mistakes from well meaning Americans as long as offense is not intended. I correct them. Similarly, I had no problem in contacting some liberal blogs which I read on a regular basis and questioning them about the lack of mention of the Mumbai bombings. Two of them reacted positively (one emailed me saying that they did not carry the story because they were insufficiently informed about India’s tangle with terrorism). See their response here and here. Nothing scintillating but people are reading it. I also posted comments on a legal blog run by mostly Jewish law profs (one of whom I know personally) which carried the story about Israel’s incursion into Lebanon but completely ignored Mumbai.

    Small things but what’s the harm in bringing India into the consciousness of Americans we know? As for Americans inquiring after our well being, I don’t think that all such queries are of the condescending, “oh, you poor people” nature that Tashie describes. Every time there is an earthquake, tsunami, train derailment or other disasters, I get calls and emails from half a dozen friends wanting to know if any one I know was affected. Even though they know that my family is in Delhi and the mishap was somewhere else, they ask if anyone was traveling there. I find this kindness perfectly satisfactory. I return the favor in kind when an occasion demands it. I don’t think that we need to be overly touchy even if someone does it out of “guilt” or tendencies of “goody – goodiness.” After all, a polite enquiry is far preferable to callous disregard. Particularly when one doesn’t have an emotional investment in that relationship.

  37. “ItÂ’s currently less important than the death of Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett, […]”

    As someone who considers Syd Barrett’s death much more significant than a Mumbai bombing, I have to speak up.

    While I am appalled at the severe loss of life in Mumbai, and the despicable act of the bombing, people respond more to things that are universal, and especially if they have been touched personally, or experienced it personally, than an anonymous incident involving people we will never know.

    Syd Barrett was a touchstone in my young life, both as a founding member of Pink Floyd and in his own brittle, barmy-yet-whimsical solo work. His music touched the lives of thousands (if not millions) of people around the world – go to Pink Floyd band member David Gilmour’s Web site and click on the “blog” link and you will find nearly a thousand tributes to the fallen leader alone.

    The fact is, when the founder of one of the world’s most well-known Rock bands dies, it’s Big News. And when it’s a story as profoundly tragic and personal – and profoundly human – as Syd’s was, it touches a lot of people. (It has even spawned meta-commentary by people wondering why there’s all this hub-bub over an “Acid casualty” who, for all intents and purposes, “died” a certain type of death 35 years ago.)

    I don’t know if the author of this blog post meant the mentions of Syd Barrett and Zidane to be derogatory; if, however, in fact s/he did. If so, however, I feel compelled in this post to present an opposing perspective.

    And to the victims of the bombings, may they rest in peace.

  38. I don’t know if the author of this blog post meant the mentions of Syd Barrett and Zidane to be derogatory; if, however, in fact s/he did. If so, however, I feel compelled in this post to present an opposing perspective.

    I used it descriptively. However, your comments I find very revealing.

    As someone who considers Syd Barrett’s death much more significant than a Mumbai bombing, I have to speak up.

    Much more significant? Would you have felt the same way if Barrett had died on the same day as the Madrid bombings? The London bombings? The attack on the World Trade Center? For crying out loud – I had no idea that Barrett was still alive!

    His music touched the lives of thousands (if not millions) of people around the world – go to Pink Floyd band member David Gilmour’s Web site and click on the “blog” link and you will find nearly a thousand tributes to the fallen leader alone.

    And Mumbai is one of the world’s largest cities (in the top 5, depending on who is counting). Close to 20 million residents. It’s also the home of the largest film industry in the world, the financial capital of the world’s largest democracy, a major tourist destination, and a huge outsourcing hub.

    I’ll bet that more tourists have gone to Bombay than have seen Floyd live. And far far more people have seen Bollywood than heard a Floyd album. And these days, more people probably have to deal with outsourcing to Bombay than even remember what Syd Barrett looked like!

    people wondering why there’s all this hub-bub over an “Acid casualty” who, for all intents and purposes, “died” a certain type of death 35 years ago

    And why a little remembered acid-casualty who died a natural death is remembered more than 200 people who were killed by terrorist bombs in trains, yes.

    people respond more to things that are universal, and especially if they have been touched personally, or experienced it personally, than an anonymous incident involving people we will never know.

    Aaaaaaaah. Here’s your kicker. Barrett is somehow universal, whereas the bombings are somehow … distant? And yet, terrorism is universal for those of us in the west, the fear of bombs going off in a train is something we can relate to very well.

    So yeah, I expected more from the mass of bloggers out there than this.

  39. Syd Barrett was a touchstone in my young life, both as a founding member of Pink Floyd and in his own brittle, barmy-yet-whimsical solo work. His music touched the lives of thousands (if not millions) of people around the world – go to Pink Floyd band member David Gilmour’s Web site and click on the “blog” link and you will find nearly a thousand tributes to the fallen leader alone.

    Just jumping in to back up Ennis here and say that this (above) is one of the dumber justifications for pop culture’s dominance over geopolitics in the news that I’ve read. And I write about pop culture for a living. Your argument doesn’t even make sense musicologically!

    I agree that Syd Barrett is a significant founding father of a long-lasting strain of rock. He’s important in the way Brian Jones or to a lesser extent Keith Moon is important: influential in classic rock, self-destructed too soon (even if Barrett’s actual death followed his spiritual death by decades, unlike the other two). There’s no question that Barrett’s death merits some kind of serious attention from the rock press and solid, if not huge, obituaries from the mainstream press. But “thousand tributes to the fallen leader” (snort) aside, the idea that Barrett’s profile in rock history is so significant it should knock a massive bombing in Mumbai off the front page is laughable on its face.

    We’re not talking about John Lennon here. Hell, in terms of raw pop-culture impact, we’re not even talking Freddie Mercury. Do us a favor, for just a half-hour, log off the Internet – with its thousands of Barrett fans who impress you so – walk outside, and ask a few folks on the street if they knew who Syd Barrett was. And I don’t mean your mother; ask a few classic-rock listeners, people both above and below age 40. I guarantee a few will know him, and many more will not. (No fair asking if they’ve heard of Pink Floyd; grandmothers have heard of Floyd.) I could see an instance where the death of a rock star of Lennon’s or George Harrison’s stature might merit equal treatment as a medium-size global catastrophe, but Mumbai and Barrett aren’t even in the same ballpark, same league, same sport. In Hollywood terms, it would be like a newscast blowing off the Oklahoma City bombings a decade ago to report about Phil Hartman’s death. (And I loved Phil Hartman.)

    I will confess that as a rock fan, Pink Floyd don’t do much for me. (Actually, I find the Barrett period generally more interesting than the Waters period and especially the Gilmour period.) Among tragic gone-too-soon British troubadours of Barrett’s era, I’ll take Nick Drake over Barrett any day. But I don’t think this is just my musical bias talking. I think you seriously need to get some perspective, Riot Nrrrd.

  40. Ennis:

    I don’t think it’s necessarily a case of “Distant”, although I’m sure that plays a role (maybe the blogosphere demographic is skewed a bit towards the Western Hemisphere; I dunno). Personally I most identified with your unnamed correspondent who said “I canÂ’t speak for anyone else. But in my case often something of great consequence or human tragedy happens, but itÂ’s not really clear that I have anything to add. Sometimes that gets read as lack of interest or concern. But itÂ’s not.”. I have this sneaking suspicion that most Western readers have viewed it from, as this person said, the perspective of a Great Human Tragedy, rather than the rumblings of something potentially more ominous – the notion of a seed cell with Al-Qaeda connections operating on a “new front”. Put it this way – on today’s Technorati Top 30, there’s no mention of Typhoon Bilis killing nearly as many people in China as the Mumbai blasts did. If lots of people are roughly equating the two (in terms of being Great Human Tragedies), maybe that’s why there isn’t a lot of commentary.

    Dennis:

    Perhaps you need to get some perspective yourself (note that I, on the other hand, unlike you did not have to resort to ad-hominems):

    The only reason Syd Barrett surpassed the Mumbai bombings – or any other story – in the blogosphere was undoubtedly because of his Pink Floyd connection. We both know that if he’d been the leader of, oh, the Steaming Smelly Armpits it might’ve resulted in a scattered few mentions on Rock-oriented blogs/sites and that’s it. But because he used to be in what became one of the indisputably biggest Rock bands in the world, it’s been treated as Big News. That’s all. Whether you care for Pink Floyd or not. It’s got nothing to do with whether the news of Syd’s death is comparable to John Lennon or even Freddie Mercury, and I think you know that. Personally, I don’t give a rat’s arse about Zidane or socc… , erm, football (I’m from America, after all 😉 ) – but I do recognize that it’s going to be considered Big News around the world, in the blogosphere or otherwise. Perhaps you should realize that just because you could care less doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant to others.

    Here’s another perspective. Technorati claims to monitor “48.5 million Web sites and 2.7 billion links”, but if you took at, say, today’s Top 30 list, the #1 entry is listed as “58 new links” and the #30 is “19 new links”. I don’t know about you, but where I come from, 19 links out of 2.7 billion isn’t what I’d call statistically relevant. If there were thousands of new links for Syd Barrett – or Zidane, for that matter – vs. far less for the Mumbai bombings, maybe it would be. But to me, this statistic simply isn’t useful. I don’t know how many new links were added when Ennis originally looked at the rankings – but maybe all 20 or 30 or however many links there were that got the Barrett story in its place were put there by Pink Floyd fans. Who knows.

    I think Ennis is perfectly justified in wonderment over the lack of discussion (maybe that will change now that this “Lashker-e-Qahar” outfit has claimed responsibility) in the blogosphere in general; but all that I’m trying to say is that if these rankings are based on such low numbers of new links, that “quantum effects” take over – people will add links based on what they’re interested in, and if a few dozen Pink Floyd fans decide to link to Syd’s death (or, to spread the blame, football fans linking to the latest on Zidane’s denials), that to me is not sufficient justification for you two to rail against their placement in the Top 30 vs. the Mumbai story. How a story like Barrett/Floyd (or the ongoing Zidane saga, to football-loving bloggers) impacts people on a personal level will influence what they link to; and in a “quantum effects” case such as this appears to be, all it takes is a few dozen people of the same ilk to effectively “stuff the ballot box”. When the total number of new links that make up the entire Technorati Top 30 is only 800 or so, it’s hard to consider the relative placement of any story in that heirarchy as being of any real significance whatsoever. I treat it with the same respect – i.e., very little – I would looking at a Poll result on a news Web site with a few hundred respondents.

    To me, the real statistic – admittedly not related to the blogosphere – that is more useful is hits in Google News: Mumbai 13,800, Syd Barrett 919. That’s your “What’s more important?” barometer right there.

    (On the other hand, the hit count in Google News for Zidane is 20,600. Rather than rail against poor ol’ Syd, maybe your focus should be on how people kicking a ball around a bunch of grass is somehow considered more important that 200+ people dying in a terrorist attack.)

  41. Riot Nrrrd™: I believe that morally, your statements put you firmly in the “comfortably numb” category.

  42. Tashie mentions the Jewish lobby and their disproportionate control over US foreign policy because of which we are all paying a price. (BTW, most Americans I know, do not approve of Israeli policies in the region – I wonder when that will translate into votes.) Some of my own Jewish friends, lifelong Democrats, voted for George W. Bush in 2004. They unabashedly explain their choice as “good for Israel.” A Jewish cousin of mine by marriage, is a US marine who undertook two tours of duty in Iraq. The first one was for America and the second one was for Israel, he boasts. Every time there is an incident in Israel / Gaza / West Bank / Lebanon affecting Israel, I am inundated by e-mail links to far right wing stories from sources such as the execrable Front Page Magzine, sent out by one of my Jewish friends. She is well aware of my political leanings and what I think about Israel’s iron fisted, unfair policies. She even reads my blog. But that hasn’t put a damper on her enthusiasm for converting me to her side.

    Ruchira, I think a fairer description than “Jewish” here would be “Zionist.” Many of the Jewish people in my circles don’t support a lot of the Israeli policies that you’re referencing and draw distinctions between culture, poilitics, faith, etc. Similar to how we would, I hope, not blindly support any of the governments in South Asia, India included.

    By the way, your friends are idiots if they were lifelong Democrats and decided to vote for Bush for the Israel issue. I don’t think it’s reaching too much to say that in the aftermath of September 11, Bush has singlehandledly done more to raise tensions among Muslims and non-Muslims than any other non-Muslim in the world.

    -s

  43. I am an Indian and I have grown up in India and I have got stoned multiple times listening to pinkus floydus.But as I have grown up and stepped outside India I have realised Hilton Girls rules and many fans of pink floyds are very snobish when they are sober and they look down on brown people just like others. Brown in the new black. And dont forget the pagan angle to everything…knowledge and realization are seperate things.

    Witness the man who raves at the wall Making the shape of his question to heaven Whether the sun will fall in the evening Will he remember the lesson of giving Set the controls for the heart of the sun The heart of the sun..

  44. Saurav: Thanks. I regretted the use of the word “Jewish” immediately after posting the comment. “Zionist” is definitely the preferred word since there are also many non-Jewish Zionist supporters of Israel (for different self serving reasons.) However, all those I refer to here, happen to be Jewish and quite liberal in all matters except foreign policy. And I know several Jewish Americans who are ashamed of the US/Israeli stance relating to Palestinians and they too are among my friends. But there is no doubt in my mind that our war & peace decisions in the global theater is very disproportionately driven by a zionist agenda especially since Bush came to power. The US’s characteristically reckless reaction to the latest bombing in Lebanon is an example.

    I am wholly with you about Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld’s mischief in ratcheting up the world tension with their misguided, misplaced and corrupt policies. And that in fact, was my concern when seemingly intelligent people voted for this team on the basis of a perceived narrow gain to a cause that is emotionally dear to their heart. BTW, there are also some Indian Americans who voted for Bush for a similar reason – namely, they saw Bush as a handy ally in solving India’s “Muslim problem.”

    You will note that I do not recommend this kind of knee-jerk devotion to one’s ancestral/ emotional homeland without casting a critical, fair and objective eye on its national philosophy and modus operandi. I am in fact, very relieved that facing almost identical provocations, India has reacted with conscious restraint as opposed to Israel’s iron fisted response to threats within its borders. (I don’t claim to know which one is the right response, since neither country has been able to solve its intractable problems with its neighbors.) However, my real point was that we should not be remiss in lining up factual, historic and political realities in east Asia for the benefit of educating our fellow US citizens whenever the opportunity arises. I don’t advocate being an uncritical cheerleader for India or south Asia. I don’t want to dismiss and scoff at others ignorance either without taking the trouble to correct it. That is what I am advocating.

  45. Miss Paul

    Do you know why the two soldiers were kidnapped by the Hamas or whoever?

    Do you know why multiple bombs ripped apart the trains in mumbai?

    Do you know how difficult it is to make muslims accept the fact that other faiths have a right to live?

    Do you know why you (presuming you are an women) will be taken to court and whipped for not covering yourself in public in Iran?

    Do you know why even in 2006A.D there are masses of people who would be willing to stone you for saying “Mohammed is a fool” ?

    If you dont know the exact answers to these then dont feel bad. Because these are done by people who dont see logic. And when you treat a insane person sometimes you have to shock the hell out of them.

  46. I totally agree with the blog.. Its not the though that bloggers of the West are consiously ignoring these.. but it is the way they always looked or made/taught/shown to look at incidents in India. It is unfortunate that people still or not recogonising that terrorism is the same no matter where it strikes, be it in US/UK or India and it has to be whole heartedly opposed and ousted, and any act that leads to loss of human lives with out any consideration of its value is terrorism no matter what the cause is and who does that.

  47. Hey GujuDude-

    Is another reason that Pakistan’s ISI (if recent news reports are believable) pulled the strings on this bombing be to wage economic warfare against India? Frighten off foreign investment, disrupt the financial center, etc?

    I understand that there are Salafists (a.k.a. Wahhabists) who wish to reestablish the Caliphate by non-violent means, as well as those that espouse violence. Are the ISI made up of true believers of the second school of thought who seek to create a rift between muslims and non-muslims in India, or to create a divide within India’s muslim community, or are they manipulating the global jihadis to achieve more terrestrial ends?

    BTW, with regards to high school diploma requirements – they differ from state to state, but from what I’ve seen for New York State at http://www.nysed.gov/, students can still graduate with a college entrance diploma without taking Physics. The following may be helpful to those trying to figure out the US primary/seconday educational system: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/cores.htm

    As for Syd Barrett, given the fact that he suffered from schizophrenia and diabetes, it’s a tribute to medical science that he made it to 60 years. While I respect his creativity and genius, he only died once. Celebrate his life and accomplishments, but please keep your perspective.

  48. I have a new blog which for personal reasons refers to 7-11 and also mentions your blog. I see that the Indian Government have presumably taken the advice of the villains and banned many blogs. URL and possible recourse for this given below but caution is advised as they may only want to stop typical internet cat-calling.

    Still, India is supposed to be a free country, though concerning another ‘Singh’ note “Private Eye” No 1162, 7th July,’Letter from New Delhi’. That Singh is said to be “a weak leader who does what Madam tells him to do”. I just hope for the best.

    http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/17/report_indian_gov_bl.html

  49. Ruchira Paul –

    “I regretted the use of the word “Jewish” immediately after posting the comment. “Zionist” is definitely the preferred word since there are also many non-Jewish Zionist supporters of Israel (for different self serving reasons.)”

    Pray tell, Ruchira – How did you arrive at this mind numbing conclusion, that the non-jewish zionist support Israel for self serving reasons. Such disgusting generalisation…tch, tch. Imagine, If one were to turn the tables and attribute anti semitism labels to you and your ilk?

  50. Vik:

    I guess anti-Semitism is such a handy tool when it comes to talking about Israel and its support that very little can be discussed objectively in polite company. You are free to assign whatever epithet you wish to me and my ilk. But anti-Semitic is not one of them. I was not talking about support for Israel’s security which overwhelming number of Americans, including me, understandably and rightly support. But rather at issue here is whether a fair and equitable solution is also possible for Palestinians within the same framework.

    The non-Jewish zionists I refer to here are mostly Christian evangelicals who see Jewish occupation of present day Israel, the West Bank and Gaza as God’s land to be occupied only by Jews and Palestinians to be ousted at any cost. This scheme apparently is a necessary precursor to the Second Coming of Jesus and the destruction of the Jews who don’t convert to Christianity. How much more self serving can it get than to use Israel cynically for hastening your much awaited Rapture? A bit like fattening a lamb for slaughter, don’t you agree?

    Don’t take my word for it. See here and here. And read carefully.

    As for assessing my anti-Semitism, you can read my own blog post (my name links there) from today as to what I suggest as a possible solution to the mid-east problem. The title is “Think Outside the Biblical Box” – it was written half in jest and half in despair. And let me know if you have a better solution.