Terrorism & Email forwards – Preface
The title of this piece may surprise some people, who otherwise know my leanings on issues and therefore, my interests. My answer to them is —- don’t be surprised, because after all, a leopard cannot change its spots,. The trigger that has affected this article is the same – politics. But it has manifested itself in a somewhat curious way. An email forward !!
Recently I received a forwarded email on the Israeli actions in Gaza. As is wont of forwards these days, it was high on rhetoric and exaggerations and used some highly inventive ways to make its central point. In some ways it was funny too ( although I am sure many would disagree with me on the funny bit ). Like a faithful netizen I forwarded the email further to a large number of friends, not necessarily because I agreed with whatever was said in the email but more as a ritual. All the recipients of my email were my friends, some of whom happened to be Muslims. And therin lay the pitfall.
A good friend of mine, from college days, incidentally a Muslim, was one of the recipients. And he replied to the forward. A long, well argued and probably a pained reply. I am presuming that he was pained by what was implied in the email forward. He was, although, very deferential in his reply, a throwback to my college days, where he was a year junior to me. And yet, I could not agree with the broad strokes of his reply, as much as I might have disagreed with exaggerations in the original forward. I had no other option but to frame a response.
Produced in the accompanying pieces ( part – I & part – II of the article with same name) is the conversation in full. That is, the original forward, my friends reply to the forward and my response to his reply.
Why do I produce it here? – Because I think the conversation raised some very pertinent points which needed wider dissemination.
Have I taken his permission to reproduce the conversation here? - No I have not. But I believe, there is nothing in conversation which is private. It is a conversation between two individuals in writing, ( as opposed to verbal debates) and therefore well thought out and from deeply held beliefs.
Do I reproduce my friends name here? – This is the question that I had most difficulty in deciding on. Should I let his name out to the whole world, or just reproduce the conversation minus his name. After an agonising few hours, I have decided to let his name out. For the sake of authenticity and and also for the reasons outlined in response to the previous question.
I am aware that some people, not least my friend himself, may feel appalled at what I am doing here. The reason for doing it is simple. Dialogue. A dialogue at this stage, embarrassing as it may be, is better than future acrimony.
Regards,
Akhilesh Mishra
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