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That’s my grandpappy he’s talk about..

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Razib Khan
Admin
5 years ago

but is it MA who is running his account? i thought the islamist types underemphasized the preislamic period…

Saurav
Saurav
5 years ago

MA has really gone off his rockers after he has lost power

Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
5 years ago
Scorpion Eater
Scorpion Eater
5 years ago

If India is a wounded civilization, Iran must be an “owned” civilization. India still has some fight left in it. What is left of Iran? Iran lies prostate at the feet of an Arab god.

Pre-Islamic Persia was the core of eastern civilization, a bulwark against the west represented by Greek and Roman empires. Empires founded by Persians spread over entire middle east and central asia, and frequently spilled into Europe and Africa.

Post Islamic conquest, Iran is reduced to a rump state confined in the Iranian plateau. Now it measures its prowess against puny Israel and puppet Saudi state.

Iran now has just two roads to back to glory again –

(1) Conquer Arabian peninsula, seize control of Mecca and Madina, convert Arabs to Shia islam, and seize control of leadership of Islamic world. Then re-form Islam itself in its own image.

(2) Throw off the yoke of Islam completely, convert its population to Zoroastrianism and revive the ancient Persian civilization again.

Sorry a bit drunk on Friday night, so offering more than usual extra-radical solutions for world problems today.

Hoju
Hoju
5 years ago

Agreed Iranians don’t have a complex, they eagerly fall at the feet of the Arab god. Culturally opportunistic like South Indians. Subjugated by an alien culture. Brainwashed to promote it willingly and pretend it’s their own.

Saurav
Saurav
5 years ago
Reply to  Hoju

You pre suppose that there was a “culture” on which this alien culture was super imposed. Culture is not some unchanging dormant thing with clear separating lines. Now if you believe in some super egalitarian utopia (like many south Indians do) which preceded this “imposition” than that’s your call.

No one brainwashed anyone. Neither Arabs did to Iranians, nor did C-Asians did to West Punjab, nor did N-Indians Aryans to S-Indians Dravidian. If that would have been the case 90 percent of the world would be what you call “Culturally opportunistic”.

INDTHINGS
INDTHINGS
5 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

Hindus have weird ideas about these things.

Perhaps because Hinduism isn’t a world religion, and has been largely restricted to “brown-Indians”, that they can’t conceive of religions like Islam and Christianity (and to an extent Buddhism), that were adopted by numerous ethnicities. They need an ethnic reference, so Islam becomes “bowing to Arabs”, Christianity, “bowing to Whites”, etc.

By this standard, is Hinduism not “bowing to Aryans”? At least Iran retains its pre-Islamic language, history, cultural identity, and genetic profile (mostly). By contrast, Indians (especially in the North), retained almost nothing after being assimilated by the Aryans.

Hoju
Hoju
5 years ago
Reply to  INDTHINGS

“Hindus have weird ideas about these things.

Perhaps because Hinduism isn’t a world religion, and has been largely restricted to “brown-Indians”, that they can’t conceive of religions like Islam and Christianity (and to an extent Buddhism), that were adopted by numerous ethnicities.”

Balinese Hindus in shambles.

Razib Khan
Admin
5 years ago
Reply to  Hoju

Balinese Hindus in shambles.

yeah, but he’s pretty much right. aside from balinese hindus, small communities in java, and the chams in vietnam, hinduism is until recent conversion an indian thing. it wasn’t always so, as hindu kingdoms existed across southeast asia. but hinduism-as-a-non-indian-civilization was stillborn, like nestorian christianity in central asia.

tho i t hink indthings is wrong on the particulars in this case, the general point is correct in that many indian hindus perceive other religions through the lens of their priors, which is highly ethnic. i get annoyed when my hindu friends call me a “muslim atheist” (a contradiction in terms).

Hoju
Hoju
5 years ago
Reply to  Razib Khan

Tulsi in shambles.

“tho i t hink indthings is wrong on the particulars in this case, the general point is correct in that many indian hindus perceive other religions through the lens of their priors, which is highly ethnic. i get annoyed when my hindu friends call me a “muslim atheist” (a contradiction in terms).”

Doesn’t this exist elsewhere, too?

For example, Quebec is the least religious province in Canada as measured by belief in God and church attendance.

However, when you conduct a religious survey, Quebecois are more likely than Canadians of other provinces to identify as Christian (and more specifically, Catholic). They tend to consider Catholicism as an identity juxtaposed to Protestantism, rather than, say, an actual theological commitment to transubstantiation.

Also, this (treating religion as an ethnic identity) can’t be unique to Hindus in the real world. I’ve seen many White people refer to “Muslim” as an identity of sorts rather than a set of theological commitments.

Hoju
Hoju
5 years ago
Reply to  Razib Khan

Also, Buddhism is basically the portable Hinduism.

Razib Khan
Admin
5 years ago
Reply to  INDTHINGS

They need an ethnic reference, so Islam becomes “bowing to Arabs”,

i don’t understand why you project this to hindus only. unless you are sleeping under a rock you know that iranians have been complaining about this issue for 1,000 years, and it’s a huge phenomenon in iranian secular nationalism.

By contrast, Indians (especially in the North), retained almost nothing after being assimilated by the Aryans.

this is total bullshit. are you trolling??? earlier you point to iranian genetic coherence, and now ignore that probably more than 75% of the ancestry of modern indians is non-aryan.

watch your ass, you’re swimming down toward kabir-levels, tho he’s way too dumb to seem disingenuous like you here. it’s like you drink internet-hindu piss and it transforms you into a little troll like them 😉

Scorpion Eater
Scorpion Eater
5 years ago

Whenever I notice Iran’s support for Palestinians and hostility towards Israel, I can’t help but feel that there is an element of “we are bigger Muslims and bigger Arabs than Arabs themselves” in its posture.

Come to think of it, there shouldn’t be any reason for hostility between Iran and Israel. They dont share any border. They have never fought any wars against each other. So isn’t this essentially an attempt to prove its Muslim credentials?

Saurav
Saurav
5 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

Just to add the only non Jew ever be described as a messiah in Jewish lore also happens to be an Iranian too

Hoju
Hoju
5 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

“I can’t help but feel that there is an element of “we are bigger Muslims and bigger Arabs than Arabs themselves” in its posture.”

Exactly. Ultimate and total defeat.

Razib Khan
Admin
5 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

So isn’t this essentially an attempt to prove its Muslim credentials?

yes. they are persian, they are shia. this makes them outsiders, and after iran’s blind-eye to the slaughter in hama in syria in the early 80s sunni fundamentalists saw that the islamic regime wouldn’t support them (iran has been pro-syria for decades). so they go full-tilt supporting groups like islamic jihad and being crazy anti-israel

VijayVan
5 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

Ditto Pakistanis

Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
5 years ago

Cyrus the Great released Jews from the Babylonian captivity to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem. However, when they came to Jerusalem local Jews haven’t accepted them because the city was overpopulated. Many of them went to Asia Minor (Phrygia, Lydia) where local Serbs accepted them. Jews remembered this and recently (2014) premier Netanyahu praised this during his meeting with Serbian president (see the 1st minute only):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhxmLuXYNG4

Razib Khan
Admin
5 years ago

Also, this (treating religion as an ethnic identity) can’t be unique to Hindus in the real world. I’ve seen many White people refer to “Muslim” as an identity of sorts rather than a set of theological commitments.

it’s a spectrum. some religions, like modern judaism and hinduism, have a strong ethnic component. others, like islam, have a moderate one (most sharia says u r muslim if your father is muslim). others, like baptism, seem to have almost no ethnic component.

most hindus seem to see ethnic-like identity as constitutive. a large minority of hindus even deny the possibility of conversion.

Arjun
Arjun
5 years ago

Becoming American involves embracing values – values such as primacy of individual rights, freedom of speech, the rule of law etc.

Becoming Muslim involves embracing what sound (at least to Hindu ears) like dogmas (as opposed to values) – No god but Allah and Muhammad is his (final) prophet.

The Shia/Sunni divide sounds like a division over whether the “rules of the game” (i.e. who deserved to be the Caliph) are more important than simply following the victor.

Hinduism is no doubt a form of tribalism. But even tribalism implies cleaving to tribal values. Hindu myths are full of mortals challenging (and often shaming) the gods.

Brown Pundits