Comments on: Wesleyan University Posters Banned Holi Celebrants’ From Entering Student Center http://www.chakranews.com/wesleyan-university-posters-banned-holi-celebrants-from-entering-student-center/2691 World Dharma News: Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism News and Insight. Thu, 21 Aug 2014 05:19:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1 By: SB http://www.chakranews.com/wesleyan-university-posters-banned-holi-celebrants-from-entering-student-center/2691/comment-page-1#comment-19786 Wed, 02 May 2012 02:42:17 +0000 http://www.chakranews.com/?p=2691#comment-19786 Shakti: As per the Wesleyan Uni blog, the sign was in fact a joke referring to students playing Holi, as you suggested, and the student who posted it has apologized for being insensitive. But, we both know that signs like this were all over India and the U.S. not so long ago, and they weren’t jokes. Do you seriously think we’ve sufficiently moved past this legacy, and we may now make light of it? More precisely, will it EVER be appropriate to put up a sign like this at a school? Are you aware that TODAY, in the U.S., religious studies scholars are making a living out of denigrating Hinduism using tactics like purposefully mistranslating ancient scriptures, and using wildly inappropriate, sexually-overtoned Freudian analysis to ‘study’ (or rather belittle) Hinduism? (Read ‘Invading the Sacred’ for details) I would argue that as Hindus, there is no pressing need to encourage tolerance of our beliefs. It’s also not incumbent upon us to forgive, forget, and move past institutional racism practiced by colonialists or others, especially given the fact that harmful, Hinduphobic propaganda masquerading as scholarship is being hailed by Western academy TODAY. If Hinduism was studied without agenda by Westerners, many misconceptions would disappear; as Hindus we need to find out why this isn’t happening, and more importantly what is this Western agenda! (Again, please read ‘Invading the Sacred’, ‘Breaking India’, and ‘Being Different’)

]]> By: Shakti http://www.chakranews.com/wesleyan-university-posters-banned-holi-celebrants-from-entering-student-center/2691/comment-page-1#comment-19782 Tue, 01 May 2012 22:37:54 +0000 http://www.chakranews.com/?p=2691#comment-19782 Isn’t it possible that the posters were pertaining to people who had been playing with coloured powders, as many Holi celebrations include coloured powders?

Considering the mess that hundreds of students covered in coloured powders might potentially cause, perhaps the University just chose to poorly word a very sensible poster? As Hindus, if we fly off the handle to react, how are we helping the masses become tolerant and understanding of our practices?

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