Rajdeep,
While I'm struggling to write my SOP to apply for colleges, all I keep doing is refreshing my twitter feed where I see 'bhakts' and you engaged in a twitter battle mainly about Modi, Democracy, secularism or pseudo-secularism, liberalism. I'm almost sure , after reading this open letter( if you ever read it), you might call me a bhakt.
Yesterday when I saw you debating with Anupam kher, I was quite perturbed. Simply because a lot of the things he was saying might hold a lot of weight. And it got me thinking, so I decided to write this letter, more so to clear my head, so I can move on with my life.
The role of media in a democracy is very important, as I've studied in my 10th standard civics and history class (now I'm not even sure what I studied in my school was the...
Politics
Dear Mr. Harper,
I write this at the request of my mother, who, along with myself represent a branch of the "old stock Canadians" to which you have been referring to during this election.
To give you an idea of our family history: my mother's family literally fled the fires of religious persecution in Switzerland, due to their refusal to conform to the state church, as per their religious beliefs (for more details, look up Anabaptist history). They first fled to the Netherlands, and subsequently, around the year 1700, sailed to Pennsylvania where they became farmers. At the time, the area was ruled by the British, who also controlled what is now our beloved country of Canada.
Following the American revolution one of my ancestors moved to what was than Upper Canada (now...
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Dear Deputy President,
My best friend is gay. She is also Kenyan.
She lives in a country where the majority of people are homophobic, and the other day you proved that the leadership is as well.
You made a rather ignorant statement the other day about how there is no room for homosexuals in Kenya, almost as if you think that being Deputy President gives you licence to speak with authority on what people like in the bedroom.
Tell me sir, do you like whips? Or chains? Or 'strange things' in the bedroom? And then, tell me, do you think it is any of my business? It really isn't.
READ: There is no room for gays, warns Ruto
READ: Church faults court ruling in favour of gays
READ: Gays and lesbians win big court battle
Sexuality is the business of no one but the...
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I have written to you twice before and you have not bothered to reply.
I am a human rights worker for Burma. There has been no transtion to democracy, the cease fire failed, ASSK has failed democracy and human rights in every way, Thein Sein and Wirathu incite discrimination and religious hatred and all the political leaders are guilty of or complicit to genocide.
Thein Sein forbids the use of the name Rohingya. This ethnic group are stigmatized, persecuted, tortured, raped and murdered. The authorities steal from them, burn their houses and prevent both food and medicine getting to them. Mass graves have been found - this all amounts to genocide.
Yet, despite your weak speeches in Geneva - which talked mainly about trade and not human rights (HR took about 3 lines) the UK...
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I have been listening to the same old politicians, espouse the same old arguments for far too long. A collection of bitter, irrelevant dinosaurs, living in a past best left behind. They do not seek genuine solutions to our problems, they create new ways of stirring the pot.
If we had a party genuinely dedicated to the principles of tolerance, it would be swallowed up by loud mouthed bigots, who know that common sense policies, not driven by irrational fear of “the other lot” would be their nemesis, if it were allowed to flourish.
The divisive rhetoric designed to set ordinary decent people against each other, is cynical manipulation of our tragic past. Deflecting political debate away from the things which matter to us most in our daily struggle, keeps the fools on the hill in power,...
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If you put the various parts of a bomb in the center of a room, nothing will happen. If a pound of methamphetamine simply sits on a table, no one will die. Yes, a shotgun on the ground isn't capable of picking itself up and shooting somebody any more than a bike is capable of peddling itself or a wind-up toy of winding itself. No one is arguing that inanimate objects are capable of violent acts without human intervention. The problem lies in the hearts of humans, and the danger arises when access to inanimate objects that ARE capable of inflicting harm if misused by human hands is too freely given.
By this logic bombs don't kill people, meth doesn't kill people, cyanide pills don't kill people, lethal injections don't kill people. Any number of terrible, deadly things you can think of...
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Dr Ben Carson,
As a clergy-trained fellow Seventh-day Adventist, I urge you to stop singling out Islam and Muslims. This upcoming weekend there are anti-Muslim rallies planned across the country—some of them calling for armed protesters—fueled by the anti-Muslim rhetoric you are helping advance in mainstream America. You are profiting in fundraising and in polls off the backs of a marginalized religious minority in our country.
Your singling out of a marginalized faith community is ironic, perhaps hypocritical, on many levels. As a lifelong Seventh-day Adventist, I am well aware (and assume you are, too) of the fears held by many in our community of the possibility of persecution for beliefs that differ from mainstream Christianity, such as a Saturday Sabbath. Holding membership in...
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The following letter has been signed by 587 Canadian academics, condemning the tactics being employed by the Conservative Party of Canada in the current federal election campaign. It will appear in newspapers tomorrow, but there is no room in print to reproduce all of the signatures. So we are making the full list available here:
______________
We are a diverse group of academics with different political views and different political allegiances. We are united by a common interest in the integrity of democratic processes and a concern about the ugly and dangerous turn we have recently witnessed in the election campaign. In democratic electoral politics there is an ethical line that distinguishes spirited partisan strategy from cynical tactics that betray the values of mutual respect...
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”Mr President, it is worthy to note that Saraki in recent times has been treated as an outcast. This is very bad development which if not carefully managed will consume the All Progressives Congress and doom our democracy. What has happened unfortunately does not reflect the change we promised Nigerians.
“Is Senator Saraki the only Former governor in Nigeria? Are there no other former governors especially from the South West and other zones that are not just enjoying their booty but are integral part of the government? Yes, Saraki is not the anointed candidate for the senate presidency, but his colleagues elected him. So, why don’t we allow him some peace to deliver on the promises of change?
“Mr President, the executive needs the legislature; hence, the relationship must be cordial...
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