Kind of amusing that Gandhi was attacked from the establishment, imperialist side by Churchill, and is now under attack from the opposite side. Poor Gandhi can't win.
Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
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Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#12Fairly rubbish article. It didn't go in depth about any such allegations. Yes, Gandhi in his earlier years would have been a racist by today's standards. And he did evolve as his views on humanity evolved.
This is a far better article on his "racism" https://m.telegraphindia.com/opinion/how-gandhi-shed-his-rac...
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#13This recent trend of taking down past figures because they do not meet current criteria for acceptable behavior in society is disturbing. It's like people are trying to erase lessons from the past.
We laude past figures with our current criteria for acceptable behavior. Why not criticize?
That is a very interesting way to look at this, one I hadn’t yet considered.
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#14gandhi is cancelled HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#15This recent trend of taking down past figures because they do not meet current criteria for acceptable behavior in society is disturbing. It's like people are trying to erase lessons from the past.
What's the difference between discussing and 'taking down'? Is there any way to talk about this without disturbing you, or would you rather that this topic not be discussed at all?
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is hardly recent. I remember hearing this exact conversation about Gandhi at least 25 years ago.
For the things he is applauded for he should be applauded for and remembered. His life holds valuable lessons for everyone. For those things that are not applaud worthy, taking those aspects into focus only serves to dismiss the good parts. No one is perfect in all aspects.
> His life holds valuable lessons for everyone.
Completely agree with this. All of his life holds valuable lessons for everyone. The good and the bad.
I don't think it's healthy to treat someone's bad sides as forbidden topics that should not be discussed because the good sides need to be preserved.
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#17This recent trend of taking down past figures because they do not meet current criteria for acceptable behavior in society is disturbing. It's like people are trying to erase lessons from the past.
Gandhi already didn't meet the criteria for acceptable behavior during his lifetime though. It's just that people didn't know.
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#18This recent trend of taking down past figures because they do not meet current criteria for acceptable behavior in society is disturbing. It's like people are trying to erase lessons from the past.
We laude past figures with our current criteria for acceptable behavior. Why not criticize?
There's a difference between giving past figures a pass for horrible things, and invalidating them via nit-picking.
Life is not black and white, so wanting to see saints instead of flawed humans who made the world a bit or a lot better is probably not a great approach. Everybody will have some flaw if you look hard enough. People can also change. Maybe they would have benefited from growing up in a different environment. Breaking out of the way everybody around you thinks is hard enough in one area.
Judging someone as a whole is pretty tricky, too. Generally this is left to deities. Is it possible to celebrate the good things someone has done without it being a full endorsement of everything they ever did and said?
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#19This recent trend of taking down past figures because they do not meet current criteria for acceptable behavior in society is disturbing. It's like people are trying to erase lessons from the past.
I don't see anything disturbing there. In fact, having double standards is far more disturbing to me, a mindset which can allow a lot of self-justifiable amoral behavior.
Historical figures are what they are - part of history, nobody is/should be changing that. But if one wants to look up to somebody these days, have them as some sort of role model, well then they better be up to current (and ideally even future) standards.
This way, life and morals are relatively simple, pure and hard to bend. Which might not serve some types of personalities very well, but that's another topic and frankly their own (self) fight
Re: Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, but His Attitudes on Race and Sex Are Under Scrutiny
#20This recent trend of taking down past figures because they do not meet current criteria for acceptable behavior in society is disturbing. It's like people are trying to erase lessons from the past.
We laude past figures with our current criteria for acceptable behavior. Why not criticize?
Because we laud them for their undeniable achievements.
Criticizing with current criteria of acceptable behavior is just an ad hominem.