Anil
2004-07-14 17:05:52 UTC
http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13521827
One of the reasons India and Indians command little respect is our
tendency to get shrill and emotional before collecting facts and
understanding them. Lately we have been going ballistic over "strip
searches" of Geroge Fernandes, then India's defense minister, while
passing through US airports. We have been demanding apology, and
apparently just to smooth things over, US embassy and Richard Armitage
have even extended it while denying the story:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200407142029.htm .
http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=071404013535
What really happened? At most US airport security points all travelers
are asked to place their coats and shoes on the conveyer belt; if
keys/coins/watch etc trip the alarm, they run a wand around you. That's
what happened to GF, not "strip search". So here is how the story
appears to be:
(1) Indian VIP's are used to getting around rules. Fernandes appears to
have been offended because he was treated like other passengers in the
line.
(2) I don't know if he should never have been in that line, should have
been taken through a special channel, and if there was some slip in
coordination among the two countries' officals. If so, it should have
been looked into at that level.
(3) Instead, he decided "never to travel to US again" and, out of
ignorance or our usual talent for emotional exaggeration, used the term
"strip search" in describing this experience to a US delegation led by
Strobe Talbot.
http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13519361
[This careless approach to language appears to be a serious national
disease. Recall how our media keeps calling any terrorist not a
"terrorist" but an "ultra" and then we are offended that nobody in the
world understands what we are talking about.]
(4) Talbot mentioned this conversation in his book.
(5) At this point Indian political parties, media, and several thousand
of their readers picked up the story and went ballistic.
General theme: America's imperial arrogance. A grand conspiracy to
humiliate India. The (then ruling party) BJP and (then prime minister)
Vajpayee's shameful lack of guts. India should start strip-searching
every American too. Americans must apologize (which they did, even
while denying the story, apparently just to cool things). In fact,
everything but "let's find the facts". Some reported the incident as
having been narrated in a new book by GF. Major media couldn't agree on
the airports where anything took place.
As the dust settles, who came out looking bad in all this? George
Fernandes, Strobe Talbot, India's Congress and Communist parties,
Indian media, and thousands of educated Indian professionals. Who came
out looking good? The BJP, then prime minister Vajpayee, US embassy in
India, Richard Armitage.
One of the reasons India and Indians command little respect is our
tendency to get shrill and emotional before collecting facts and
understanding them. Lately we have been going ballistic over "strip
searches" of Geroge Fernandes, then India's defense minister, while
passing through US airports. We have been demanding apology, and
apparently just to smooth things over, US embassy and Richard Armitage
have even extended it while denying the story:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200407142029.htm .
http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=071404013535
What really happened? At most US airport security points all travelers
are asked to place their coats and shoes on the conveyer belt; if
keys/coins/watch etc trip the alarm, they run a wand around you. That's
what happened to GF, not "strip search". So here is how the story
appears to be:
(1) Indian VIP's are used to getting around rules. Fernandes appears to
have been offended because he was treated like other passengers in the
line.
(2) I don't know if he should never have been in that line, should have
been taken through a special channel, and if there was some slip in
coordination among the two countries' officals. If so, it should have
been looked into at that level.
(3) Instead, he decided "never to travel to US again" and, out of
ignorance or our usual talent for emotional exaggeration, used the term
"strip search" in describing this experience to a US delegation led by
Strobe Talbot.
http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13519361
[This careless approach to language appears to be a serious national
disease. Recall how our media keeps calling any terrorist not a
"terrorist" but an "ultra" and then we are offended that nobody in the
world understands what we are talking about.]
(4) Talbot mentioned this conversation in his book.
(5) At this point Indian political parties, media, and several thousand
of their readers picked up the story and went ballistic.
General theme: America's imperial arrogance. A grand conspiracy to
humiliate India. The (then ruling party) BJP and (then prime minister)
Vajpayee's shameful lack of guts. India should start strip-searching
every American too. Americans must apologize (which they did, even
while denying the story, apparently just to cool things). In fact,
everything but "let's find the facts". Some reported the incident as
having been narrated in a new book by GF. Major media couldn't agree on
the airports where anything took place.
As the dust settles, who came out looking bad in all this? George
Fernandes, Strobe Talbot, India's Congress and Communist parties,
Indian media, and thousands of educated Indian professionals. Who came
out looking good? The BJP, then prime minister Vajpayee, US embassy in
India, Richard Armitage.