Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

The song, The Blair That I Know Is a Toilet by forgotten musician Last Chiyangwa aka Tambaoga was at some point a hit and the musician was the darling of many, among Zanu PF supporters.

By Kennedy Nyavaya

Tambaoga

There was no Zanu PF gathering that Tambaoga would not perform from national galas to rallies and he was a regular feature on national radio and television which then were championing the 75% local content policy.

However, a few years down the line, Tambaoga found himself falling into the abyss because of his widely-perceived political alignment to Zanu PF. He even tried to resuscitate his career in 2009 when he released an album titled Hakata, but there were no takers.

He pleaded with music followers to accept him as an artist, not a politician but no one listened to him and that marked the demise of his transitory music career.

However, it appears local musicians did not learn anything from his experience.

Last month Zimdancehall chanter Soul Jah Love was dressed down by a Zanu PF party official at a rally in Mutare, an incident that attracted an uproar from different social circles with people airing disgust at the way their superstar had been treated.

Social media went ablaze with different memes and comments alluding to the brief incident when Soul Jah Love was addressed like a nonentity.

Indeed the words used by the politician towards the chanter were harsh and unsolicited, but the response from the public appeared more politically-inclined than anything.

Yet, instead of vindicating the politician the new question is whether or not Soul Jah Love and other artists billed to perform on that day should have been at the event in the first place?

Looking at the history of politics in post-colonial Zimbabwe after year 2000 it has always been suicidal to mix music with politics, said a veteran musician who refused to be named fearing reprisals.

As soon as the countrys political landscape changed around year 2000 it became suicidal to do political music, no matter which side you are.

He singled out musicians such as the late Simon Chimbetu, Andy Brown, Marko Sibanda and Tambaoga as some of the artists who became unpopular after dining with Zanu PF.

The musicians penned songs that were pro-Zanu PF and enjoyed a lot of airplay and slots to perform at national events while their fan bases shrank.

According to the veteran musician singing against the Zanu PF government may not be so much of a good idea as well because it damages other aspects of an artists reputation.

Being denied airplay and good media coverage from State media weakens brands as seen by Raymond Majongwe, Paul Madzore and Leonard Zhakata among many others, he said.

During the colonial era singing against the Rhodesian government could get one arrested or their music could be blacklisted and not played on radio but it did not affect ones followership as the majority were the oppressed black people.

With divergent political views the reality has changed and choosing particular political inclination may create hatred from some sections of the music fraternity.

However, as the 2018 elections beacon, the country is slowly getting into the polling mode and politicians are giving it all for political expediency.

One of the effective drawcards political parties are using is free entertainment through music, especially at rallies.

There is no doubt that politics and entertainment are intertwined in Zimbabwe dating back to the colonial era as musicians played an integral part in the liberation war.

But, for musicians direct engagement with modern politics has proven to have negative repercussions.

Even youthful music groups like Born Free Crew are testimony that political alignment compromises ones relevance off politics.

Last year Oliver Mtukudzi found himself in the middle of a political storm after he performed at the ruling partys One million Man March.

Tuku is a musician and ekes a living through singing. If he performed because of that I dont see anything wrong, but he could have performed out of fear, veteran musician Hosiah Chipanga defended him then.

Chipanga, who is also a victim of political seclusion, went on to suggest that the jazz icon could have performed under duress fearing the wrath of the fist had he not agreed.

Being a Zimbabwean, he knows how to deal with Zanu PF. He knew what could have been done to him if he had turned them down. Saka unongotamba iyoyo iri kurira. [You dance according to the tune], he told The Standard Style.

When asked if he would have performed at a Zanu PF event, had he been invited, Chipanga who used to perform at galas said his presence back in the day was influenced by money.

He also explained how he fell out of favour when he started singing politically incorrect lyrics.

The same trend characterised the South African scene earlier this year with the ANC party giving musicians who professed their support time at their events but the local situation has proven special as it has other underlying influencing factors apart from personal conviction.

In a difficult economic situation the arts like any other sector has suffered as a result of diminished funding and reducing buying power among citizens and that has presumably encouraged artistes to jump at all opportunities.

While the events present opportunities for a quick buck for musicians, they have assisted in dividing fan bases in some cases and ultimately it is the artiste who faces the sour consequences while the cunning politicians occupy positions of influence.

Original post:
Musicians pay the price for playing politics - The Zimbabwe Standard

June 30, 2017 10:16 AM By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA(CBS) Dave Dougherty, co-author of the book,The Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution, talked with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, saying that though Philadelphia was the first capital of the nation, many people living in the city at the time were not on board with breaking away from England.

Philadelphia was the most populous city in the United States at the time of the revolution. The problem was Pennsylvania was split between the Scots-Irish in the Susquehanna Valley and the Quakers over in Philadelphia. The Quakers, during the Revolutionary War, were neutral. They were not patriots. Very few of them foughtPennsylvania split right down the line and, as a result, Philadelphia was, pretty much, shunned after the war was over. Of course, during the war, the British occupied it and the Quakers traded with the British, but wouldnt trade with the patriots because the patriots couldnt pay.

He stated that even before the Declaration of Independence, the colonies had already adopted the ideals and values celebrated by historians.

We were, at that point, an exceptional country. We had four pillars of American exceptionalism that already existed but didnt exist anywhere else in the world, and they were, essentially, a culture based on Protestant Chrisitianity, we had common law, we had the sanctity of private property, you could get a deed to to a piece of property and then you owned it. Literally, nowhere else in the world could you do that and even today, very few countries have real private property. The last one is free market capitalism. No other country, even today, has those four and thats why were unable to export American democracy anywhere else in the world. They dont have the underpinnings.

Dougherty also rejected the idea that slave owners were the driving force to create a new country in order to derive more profits from their businesses.

Dont tell me about it was all about the rich white guys who were making money because thats simply not true. Thats the leftist narrative. Thats why this is the politically incorrect guide, because the politically correct position on the revolution was it was a trumped up thing by big, rich white guys, slave owners in the main, who wanted to get away from England so they could make more money. That is as untrue as me saying that the sky today is orange and purple.

Weekdays: 5:30 a.m. - 9 a.m. Chris Stigall brings a contemporary brand of opinionated talk and humor to mornings on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. Prior to his arrival in Philadelphia, Chriss radio career began in Kansas City where he worked on-air ...

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Author: Philadelphia 'Shunned' After The Revolution For Not Supporting Independence - CBS Philly

Months ago, a home repairman made a comment so politically incorrect that I am still wrestling with its meaning (details later). However, his remark is why I read with great interest the Immigrant Literacy: Self-Assessment vs. Reality report posted last week by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) a conservative-leaning nonprofit think-tank advocating lower levels of immigration.

The report was attributed to Jason Richwine. His study was linked on the Drudge Report, and its key findings were headlined on numerous conservative media outlets, but ignored by the mainstream media.

Key findings were 41 percent of immigrants score at or below the lowest level of English literacy, a level variously described as below basic or functional illiteracy.

Hispanic immigrants struggle the most with English literacy. Their average score falls at the 8th percentile, and 63 percent are below basic.

Greta Van Susteren fired from MSNBC, and the way it went down was absolutely brutal

But the reports headline-maker was 67 percent of Hispanic immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for 15 or more years are functionally illiterate. Moreover, the children of Hispanic immigrants scored at the 34th percentile of the English literacy test with 22 percent scoring below basic.

One of the reasons the mainstream media ignored the report was because Richwine injected political incorrectness such as:

When the United States accepts low-skill immigration it chooses to accept a multi-generational skills deficit, with all of the socioeconomic challenges that come along with it.

These socioeconomic challenges tend to become magnified when54 million Hispanics comprise 17 percent of our population. This demographic fact, coupled with the reports finding that across generations Hispanics are struggling with English fluency, negatively impacting their potential for higher income must never be discussed openly in polite political circles.

With those thoughts in mind, here are the circumstances surrounding the politically incorrect comment uttered to me by a repairman working at our condo. The man was Caucasian and about 40 years of age. As he looked out the windows, he noticed that our 300 unit high-rise building was undergoing a massive painting and concrete restoration project.Upon seeing the Hispanic workmen painting and patching while standing on a 25-foot aluminum platform dangling about 300 feet above the ground, my repairman lamented compassionately, Those are our new slaves.

Taken aback by his blunt remark, I replied, They are getting paid, and no one is forcing them to work. End of discussion. I paid him, he left, but his words stayed with me.

Subsequently, month after month, from the window of my home office, I casually observed these hard working men literally hanging off our building. As condo owners, my husband and I were assessed $2,800 for the extensive project, so I was increasingly interested in its progress.

Then one day the aluminum platform was hanging directly in front of my window, and I saw the crew close-up as they stepped onto our balcony. The men looked between 20 and 35 years of age and were chatting away in Spanish. I asked them if they needed anything, but they ignored me since I assume they did not speak English. Still, I thought about them constantly after my repairmans inartful remark. I wondered about their journey to America, their future economic prospects as they aged, and was especially curious about their wages for such dangerous high-platform work.

After close to a year, the restoration is finished and our building looks good as new. But daily, upon seeing groups of Hispanic workmen engaged in such necessary tasks as landscaping, painting, restoring and building high-rises, or doing roadwork in the hot Florida sun, I cant shake that extreme new slaves remark. I ask myself, why are all the workers Hispanic? This is not just a function of living in Florida because when we lived in Alexandria, Virginia, it was the same.

Furthermore, when groups of young Hispanic women arrive in our building to clean condos I think of that repairmans remark. Ditto for when I stay in a hotel and see what is usually a Hispanic housekeeping staff. Unfair and untrue as it is, his remark is seared into my brain. And, because of that comment, I pay my Hispanic housecleaner more than the going rate. Do I have white guilt? Maybe.

Now lets circle back to Richwines study. Specifically, socioeconomic/political concerns over whether millions of Hispanic immigrants and their children will ever become upwardly mobile unless they learn to speak English fluently as did previous generations of immigrants.

Therefore, is it time for a bold new national initiative that would motivate and inspire all non-English speakers to learn English? An investment in such a program would pay big dividends since the alternative is a permanent and massive underclass largely subsidized by the federal government.

After all, Richwine in his study wrote:

The importance of English literacy cannot be overstated. Without language proficiency, immigrant families will find it difficult to succeed in the mainstream of American society, and high rates of English illiteracy may be a sign of poor immigrant assimilation. Policymakers should take note.

Meanwhile, these days, connecting English proficiency to successful assimilation is politically incorrect and culturally insensitive. Conversely, failing to learn the mother tongue could be thought of as aform of bondage that suppresses wages and decreases economic prospects for millions of immigrants slaving away at menial back-breaking jobs.

If you didnt see Maria Bartiromo completely unnerve Podesta over Russia ties, youre missing out

Finally, for reasons similar to why Richwines CIS study was ignored by the mainstream media, a national speak English initiative to empower immigrants is likely to never gain traction. Why? Because elected leaders of both parties fear political blowback, especially from the Hispanic community which, ironically, due to its growing size and influence has the most to gain.

Op-ed views and opinions expressed aresolely those of the authorand do not necessarily represent the views of BizPac Review.

Writing credits include National Review, World Net Daily, Washington Examiner, PJ Media, Daily Beast, RedState, Daily Caller, and Liberty Unyielding

Contact Myra at [emailprotected] On Twitter @MyraKAdams

The rest is here:
To Hell with political correctness time for a national 'speak English' initiative? - BizPac Review

One of the most memorable scenes on one of Disneys most iconic rides is getting a major makeover.

The company announced on Thursday that Pirates of the Caribbean will replace the auction scene in which women are sold off as brides with an auction for plundered goods.

Artwork released by Disney showed that the sign which read AUCTION and Take a wench for a bride will soon feature the words: AUCTION and SURRENDER YER LOOT.

Disney

Thats not the only change.

The character known as the redhead the object of affection as the pirates shout we wants the redhead will enjoy a role reversal.Instead of being auctioned off, she will become one of the plunderers.

Our team thought long and hard about how best to update this scene,Kathy Mangum, a senior vice president with Disney Imagineering, said in a news release. Given the redhead has long been a fan favorite, we wanted to keep her as a pivotal part of the story, so we made her a plundering pirate!

Heres a closer look at her new role:

Disney

In a blog post, the company said the changes would be put into place next yearat both Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Orlando.A version of the ride at Disneyland Paris will reopen later this summer after a larger makeover.

Disney has altered Pirates before to remove some of its more politically incorrect elements. In 1997,a scene in which pirates were chasing women was changed to the women holding pies (thus to indicate the buccaneers were pursuing food rather than the ladies).

There is very little that is politically correct about Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Pressler, then president of the Disneyland resort, told the Los Angeles Times in an interview at the time. In fact, in order to be politically correct, we would probably have to close down the whole ride.

One of the rides original designers later admitted he wasnt crazy about some of those changes.

Nobody asked me but my reaction was this is Pirates of the Caribbean not Boy Scouts of the Caribbean! Disney Legend X Atencio, who also wrote the rides iconic Yo Ho song, said last year in an interview with D23, the companys official fan club.

The latest changes received mixed reviews from the Disney fan community. Many werent thrilled to see alterations to a scene that had been part of the ride since the first version opened at Disneyland 50 years ago:

Others were more supportive of the change:

Read more from the original source:
Disney To Remove 'Wench Auction' From Pirates Of The Caribbean Ride - HuffPost

In Chicago, where there were more homicides last year than in Los Angeles and New York City combined, expressing any support whatsoever for the police is now considered an outrage. Should you point out that, say, a play seems to suggest cops are evil crackers, you may find yourself denounced as a racist and targeted for abuse and ostracization.

A theater writer has just found that out. In what the website American Theatre dubbed the review that shook Chicago, adding in a subhead that Local theatre artists rise in revolt, veteran theater critic Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized a new play called Pass Over, which I havent seen but is being described as a kind of update of Waiting for Godot filtered through the sensibility of Black Lives Matter. The play, by Antoinette Nwandu, was mounted by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, perhaps the most celebrated outfit of its kind outside of New York City. Weiss found its racial politics to be a bit reductionist, and offered these thoughts in her review:

No one can argue with the fact that this city (and many others throughout the country) has a problem with the use of deadly police force against African-Americans. But, for all the many and varied causes we know so well, much of the lions share of the violence is perpetrated within the community itself. Nwandus simplistic, wholly generic characterization of a racist white cop (clearly meant to indict all white cops) is wrong-headed and self-defeating. Just look at news reports about recent shootings (on the lakefront, on the new River Walk, in Woodlawn) and you will see the look of relief when the police arrive on the scene.

Cue unbridled rage. Steppenwolf charged her with deep-seated bigotry. An actor named Bear Bellinger announced that he would not perform if Weiss showed up at a workshop production he was appearing in. An ad-hoc coalition that might as well have dubbed itself the Blackball Hedy Movement (but is actually called the Chicago Theater Accountability Coalition, or CTAC) launched a petition via change.org to organize the theater world of Chicago against Weiss by denying her invitations to its plays. Several theater organizations have publicly agreed to join the blackballing effort, and dozens have offered noncommittal statements of support. The groups broadside against Weiss reads, Over the last few years especially, we have joined together to make it clear that inappropriate language or behavior does not have a place within our community, and that prejudice of any kind will not stand.

Wait a minute inappropriate behavior? Inappropriate language? Weiss cannot reasonably be accused of either of these things. She isnt disrupting plays. She isnt using curse words and slurs in her reviews. She isnt, as far as I know, belching loudly during shows nor unwrapping candies during quiet moments. CTAC should be honest with itself and admit that its charge against Weiss is that she is thinking inappropriate thoughts. It was less than two years ago that Steppenwolf mounted a stage adaptation of George Orwells 1984. Do these people not recognize their kinship with the thought police? Do they not see that Shut upis not an argument?

To join the Hedy Weiss Resistance seems self-defeating on the one hand and pointless on the other she could, after all, simply buy tickets to the plays, and pass along the cost to her employers (the Sun-Times pledged such support in its editorial defending her). Moreover, if she actually were successfully kept away from plays in Chicago, those plays would lose the publicity fillip of being written about in a widely read newspaper.

And what part of Weisss review is indefensible? Is not most of the violence perpetrated against blacks in Chicago, and elsewhere, carried out by other blacks? Of course it is. I wont bother to cite statistics because everyone knows this. Do not ordinary law-abiding black citizens respond with relief when mayhem is answered by the arrival of police? To say otherwise would be to charge black communities with valuing bloodshed more than order. As for whether the portrayal of the cop in the play is meant to indict all police officers, or whether that portrayal is simplistic and generic, I couldnt say, not having seen the play. But expressing opinions on the depth and subtlety of a play is what all theater critics do.

Weiss, we are told gravely, has done this before, meaning she has said politically incorrect things. Thirteen years ago she called Tony Kushner a self-loathing Jew in a review of his play Caroline, or Change. Kushner once called the state of Israel a moral, political catastrophe for the Jewish people and wrote the movie Munich, which was a moral-equivalence piece evincing at least as much disgust with the Mossadfor tracking down and assassinating the Palestinian terrorists who carried out the 1972 Olympics massacreas it did with the PLOmurderers themselves. Nonsensically, Weiss also stands charged with body-shaming for praising the costumes in a production of Mamma Mia, saying they make the most of the many real women figures on stage, referring euphemistically to plump performers, but contrasting them with backup dancers who had perfect bodies. An aggrieved cast member replied in a huff that all womens bodies are perfect.

The theater world is a place where being subversive and transgressive are considered the highest of all virtues. But whats going on in Chicago is a reminder is that greasepaint revolutionaries can barely handle even mild intellectual opposition. They picture themselves riding bravely into the battlefield of ideas. But if anyone shows up to fight for the other side, they cry meekly, Excuse me, I dont think youre allowed here.

READ MORE: Lefty Actors Are Beginning to Fear Donald Trump A Trump-ified Julius Caesar In the Heat of the Night: The Birth of Hollywood Virtue Signaling

Kyle Smith is National Review Onlines critic-at-large.

Read more:
In Chicago, Thought-Police Brutality - National Review

Fort Worth Star Telegram

'Reason You're Alive' is a feel-good experience Fort Worth Star Telegram The author of The Silver Linings Playbook introduces readers to David Granger, a politically incorrect Vietnam veteran who takes pride in the fact that he's basically too ornery to die. By book's end, everyone will wind up loving the camouflage ...

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'Reason You're Alive' is a feel-good experience - Fort Worth Star Telegram

Sandwiched between a dense Tennessee Williams play and an ultra-spooky Halloween thriller comes a laugh-a-minute summer musical.

Bolingbrook's Theatre-on-the-Hill is staging "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" July 7-23 at the Bolingbrook Performing Art Center's outdoor stage. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays.

The troupe staged "A Streetcar Named Desire" in the spring and this fall plans to do an immersive stage adaptation of "Night of the Living Dead."

Theatre-on-the-Hill President Michael Fudala is directing the musical, which features a score by score by Frank Loesser of "Guys and Dolls" fame. Loesser is a hero of Fudala's, he said.

"It is a wonderfully biting satire of big business that is based on a book of the same name that came out in 1952," he said. "It is all over the top, tongue-in-cheek, politically incorrect. This came out in '61 as a stage play, won seven Tony awards, won a Grammy for best album and won the Pulitzer for drama one of only eight musicals ever to win a Pulitzer. And it happens to be, in my humble opinion, probably the funniest musical ever."

It plays off all the stereotypes we "know and love to hate" in the business world, he said.

"It charts the rise of J. Pierrepont Finch, who starts as a window washer and with the help of this handy little book, 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,' and rises to become the chairman of the board in a very short period of time," he said.

As Chairman of the Board at the World-Wide Wicket Company, Finch's morally-questionable business practices jeopardize not only his career but also his romance with secretary Rosemary Pilkington (Rachel Banda of Bolingbrook and Claire Diamond of Lockport).

Characters include company boss J. B. Biggley (Andrew Philippides of Bolingbrook), Biggley's nephew Bud Frump (Chris Tinoco of Bolingbrook and Kush Soni of Naperville) and Biggley's mistress Hedy LaRue (Melaura Rice of Bolingbrook and Abby Williams of Aurora). Famous songs include "I Believe in You," "Been a Long Day," and "Brotherhood of Man."

"As usual, we have just a phenomenal cast," Fudala said. "I'm always impressed with the level of talent that we have come out, even for the lesser known (musical) I mean, it was really popular in its day, but it's been 50 years. It was re-done in the '90s with Matthew Broderick and there was a revival in 2011 with Daniel Radcliffe as the main character."

He was inspired to do this show by those revivals, particularly by Rob Ashford's choreography and direction, he said.

"I've loved this show forever. I've done it once in the '90s and (while) I don't like to repeat myself, this one is so good," he said. "It has brilliant singing and brilliant dancing. It's really an ensemble piece."

J. Pierrepont Finch is played by Bolingbrook High School sophomore Spencer Avery of Bolingbrook.

"He came to us a few years back when we did 'Spamalot' and he was still in grade school and his level of maturity and understanding of British humor knocked my socks off," Fudala said. "And in the intervening years, he has really matured vocally as well. I can't say enough about the kid. He is destined to go on to bigger things."

Fudala is anxious for audiences to see the musical. It's the perfect cure for any lingering summertime blues, he said.

"I really thought everyone could use a few laughs and this is funny from beginning to end," he said. "Something lighthearted, something you don't have to think too hard about. It's the funniest musical of all time."

Annie Alleman is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.

When: July 7-23

Where: Bolingbrook Performing Arts Center 375 W. Briarcliff, Bolingbrook

Tickets: $17

Information: 630-908-2538; facebook.com/Theatre-on-the-Hill-117023365025544/

Read this article:
'50s musical lightens up Bolingbrook summer stage - Chicago Tribune

Dear Dog Lady,

I love dogs. In fact, I love dogs so much that I don't own one. I have a house with a small yard, and I refuse to get a dog until I have a yard with space for him to enjoy his life. Unfortunately, you and many of your readers seem intent on having a dog whether it's good for the dog or not.

In a recent column, you responded to a woman whose dog was chewing everything in the house. Your advice to her was to keep the dog confined in a crate, in a room or behind a gate.

Consider the quality of life for this dog that nature designed to run and roam free. He will be severely confined inside a crate, or at best in a room, for the vast majority of his day, with at best an hour of exercise walking on a leash. This is a lifestyle we reserve for our worst criminals in solitary confinement.

A: Your well-reasoned letter makes perfect sense for you and your non-existent dog. However, for other people and their real and beloved pets, your prison scenario isnt the case. Many dogs are quite happy to be contained in crates or cages (the politically incorrect term for dog enclosures). These are the animals safe houses for peaceful, solitary confinement. Crates are also effective house-training tools.

In my response to the woman whose dog chewed everything, you might have also seen the sharp finger wag at the woman who had not properly trained her dog. We humans are responsible for our dogs success. We train them to live with us. We are the dunces if they flunk. Through their domesticated natures, dogs want to please us by fitting in. We should not fail them.

You are to be complimented for deciding your lifestyle cannot support a dog. You have thought it all out and you have made a good decision for you. Others would naturally disagree.

Dear Dog Lady,

All but one of my/our six dogs had been lucky happenings. I found one without having had to search. The latest, a rescue, was a dear but had health problems and the veterinarian couldnt help. I wonder where to begin looking for another? Now that I am old, I hope to find a small animal I will be able to lift without pain, and one that is more couch potato than border collie. Do you advise local shelters? National searches via the web? Newspaper ads? Theres luck, of course.

A: Local shelters are a good place to start, especially if you visit first and tell the staff about the sort of dog you seek. I love your description of more couch potato than border collie, which describes your ideal pet succinctly. If you make a connection with a shelter, perhaps make a donation, they will keep your request in mind. Naturally, theres always luck. Dogs come into peoples lives in the strangest and most wonderful ways. Keep your eyes open. Your heart sounds ready.

Monica Collins offers advice on pets, life and love. Ask a question or make a comment at askdoglady@gmail.com.

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ASK DOG LADY: A crated dog may be a happy dog - The Salem News

Let us be clear that lynch narratives in India are never secular they are impassioned and lopsided either one way or the other. This is why the discussion on Jantar Mantar protests cannot be done in isolation as a purely people's movement - for it may have begun as one but it is not anymore.

The problem with the world we inhabit today is polarisation. The issue is either pro or anti. Black or white. National or anti national. Secular or Communal.

You cannot talk logic and debate in a sustained fashion today, for the fear of uttering or writing something which is 'politically incorrect' - a term ideologically defined and defended by a group of elites in this country. Unfortunately, it has become imperative to wear an ideological cloak even while discussing moral questions, either because you have to defend selective secularism or because you have to expose the selective ideological amnesia and dementia. In the process, one may want to be as balanced as a weighing scale projecting two sides of the arguments, but one has to often choose 'touchy', 'politically incorrect', 'untouchable' issues for articulation. Balance can come only when there is equal and equitable, responsible and balanced articulation of reasons for and condemnation of all cases of human rights' violation, violence, rapes and riots.

There is of course no doubt that lynchings are inhuman, unfit as a marker of any human civilisation. And because all lynchings are wrong, the reportage of Muslims being killed by Hindus and Hindus being killed by 'some' people, in case the killers are Muslims, is as communal and targeted as lynchings themselves. For far too long narratives of organised hatred against the majority by the elite intellectuals and English media editors' guild in India have been defining a skewed and dangerous idea of secularism in this country.

Not everyone in this nation has the luxury of such incisive and piercing verbal articulation against violence or selective outrage. But their inability to capacitate the building of a verbose written or spoken narrative cannot be an impediment in a socialist democracy to dismiss their actions by a group of an entitled and intellectually elite mob.

A reaction can be and must be pulled out and called out for its socially debilitating ramifications. But a silence to even address the action which facilitated the reaction is as much a part of the lynch mob herd mentality. Unless we accept this reality, the facade of looking for solutions is optimistic hypocrisy.

I was expecting the 'organic' outburst of 'collective' anger at Jantar Mantar to protest against the recent humiliation of a Meghalayan woman by a part of this same English speaking colonial and feudal elite that has no qualms in calling a PM candidate unfit for his tea selling background.

I was expecting a protest against the murder of two males in the household of Kerala CM's home village and the pattern of lynch mob in Kerala. I was expecting a strong protest against Muslim lynch mobs who have brutally raped and murdered women in Hojai and Marghareita in Assam.

But I was expecting too much from the media perhaps who focused on Jantar Mantar and gave prime time slots to articulate what some elite groups comprising of some same faces who have made protests their way of overstaying their interests in Delhi.

Having said what I have said, I reiterate, all lynchings are wrong, abhorrent, a blot on humanity. And similarly cringe worthy is selective outrage. More pathetic is Congress-Communists clandestine combine that spills over its jugalbandi in such opportunistic free loading in protests like these.

(The author is assistant editor, India Foundation Journal, and project head, northeast operations. Views expressed are personal)

See more here:
Lynchings Wrong, Selective Outrage Equally Cringe Worthy - News18

State-run Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) is evaluating proposals to take over majority stake in the imported coal-based power plants of Tata Power, Adani Power and Essar Power.

The three companies running imported coal-based plants in Mundra and Salaya were suffering losses due to disallowance of compensatory tariff to insulate these firms from higher coal prices in Indonesia due to change in regulation.

In a desperate measure, these companies had even offered GUVNL to take over majority stake in these power plants at a token consideration of Re 1 only.

There was a buzz that the Gujarat government had shown disinterest to take over these plants for a token consideration as it would be politically incorrect step in view of forthcoming assembly election in the state this year.

"These proposals are still under evaluation," a source in the GUVNL said.

Earlier on the issue, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here was a lot of discussions about "what would happen to these plants and to the availability of low-cost power to some other states. Nothing has come out as yet".

"I had suggested that these imported coal-based plants may also look at technical solutions to try to use more domestic coal because under SHAKTI scheme we would soon come out with a policy which will allow imported coal-based plant to bid for domestic coal," he added.

Link:
GUVNL vets proposals to take over imported-coal power plants - Moneycontrol.com