Tamil Diaspora Is Not All The Same


There is room for differences


The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora is huge and the ones waving the LTTE flag don’t represent everyone. Just as the LTTE didn’t represent Tamils here. Those people may be the loudest but they are not the Tamil diaspora. That is a whole range of people with different ideas and many of them I interact with are eminently reasonable. I don’t agree with all of them, but there are not nihilistic towards Sri Lanka but rather justly concerned. A Virile Nagalingam for example, who I believe comments as Nayagan here. Also this Heart On A Sleeve character wrote something complaining about the same. As much fun as it is bashing the nonsense that comes out of the diaspora, that shouldn’t be at the expense of the people that talk sense. Of which there are many.

So sorry. I’m still going to bash nonsense that comes out of the Tamil diaspora, but I’ll try to qualify it from now on. There is no sole representative of the Tamil people or anyone really. I suppose we’re all capable of speaking and thinking for ourselves.

RSS feed | Trackback URI

9 Comments »

2009-06-20 12:06:09

Wow. An epiphany?

TYFR

 
2009-06-20 17:10:13

yessir, that be oi.

and Archangel, we can all be charitable. Even when we don’t have enough of whatever the resource concerned, there is generally no reason to poke when a nudge will do. I’ve certainly been a multiple offender with regards to the former strategy than the latter.

i don’t think it’s an epiphany on his part but rather a conscious modulation of the discourse that Indi generates. I don’t think the defence.net folks are going to grant his premise that diaspora tamils aren’t 100% something (unless it is to say that a vast majority are something…which for me would be “fond of a proper chicken cuzhambu, iddiappam and sini sambol”)

Temporarily granting the premise of a seemingly oppositional argument is the foundation of western democracies and the liberal compromise which makes possible the fairly smooth governing of much of Western Europe and the US. What i’m interested in seeing is how many will not do what Indi has done here.

 
2009-06-22 09:40:09

Sorry folks, not all niggers are gangsters, not all Chinese women are hookers, not all Tamils from the diaspora talk nonsense.

NO, it is a mere redefinition of the parameters. “People that talk sense” are no longer to be considered part of the typical diaspora. Because if you are part of the typical diaspora you’d be talking nonsense…worth bashing.

TYFR

 
2009-06-22 13:25:11

Wow! I’ve made it onto Mr Indi’s blog! I guess I should feel privilaged. But (and I quote!)
“So sorry. I’m still going to bash nonsense the nonsense that comes out of the Tamil diaspora,”

You’re labelling all members of the Tamil Diaspora the same. If you had even said that “the LTTE sympathisers amongst the Tamil Diaspora” or “, then maybe just maybe the tile of the post would be relevant but to write the title and then write the above sentence – what was the point in the post?!

(my humble opinion)

 
2009-06-22 13:25:59

Oh – strike the “or ” ” but from the above comment – sorry!

 
2009-06-25 10:34:36

@Scrumpy… Are you an idjut, or an idjut? What is it that you don’t understand about that sentence that makes it clear that the rest (other than the “nonsense”) wouldn’t be bashed. He goes on to say that “he’ll try and qualify it from now on.”

I suspect that Indi, like others of his ilk, is slowly coming to the realization that paradise is yet to be regained.

 
2009-06-26 01:29:25

I think not all Sinhalese are racists.

TYFR

 
2009-07-01 08:05:59

All gods are also not the same. Any more epiphanies you care to share?

 
Ruki
2010-08-20 16:23:13

Most of the Tamil diaspora seem to be stuck in a mindset of war. Even the ones who have never even stepped foot in Sri Lanka.

 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment.

email indi AT indi.ca.


Recent Comments


You’re Nobody Till (45)

Regewaypere2: Asortyment uzupe?nia Outcast przestrzenna uciecha przygodowa i klisza Setnie Speedway. Nu?e na godzin? poprzednio wschodem s?o?ca nieruchomosci odby? wspomnian? z wykorzystaniem Benwolia przechadzk? w gaju sykomorowym mamy w...

Sarath Fonseka And Minority Politics (9)

tastyjujubes: Being more “Tamil 221; is not going to help the Sri Lankan Tamils to be honest. Being even more insular, introverted and ethnocentric is not going to help the Tamil people. The Tamils of Sri Lanka live on an island with a...

Ramesh: Tamils,particul arly those in the norh consider themselves a distinct entity separate from sinhalese people.So if they vote for sinhala political parties, there unique identity gets diluted.When they vote for a tamil party in numbers,they...

New New Kottu (4)

Saj: This looks cool. Without knowing about the upgrade i was accessing kottu from my phone.. Yea it looks like an app. Why dont u think about creating an app? :)

tastyjujubes: Have to say the pink colour used on the dark grey background on the top is a bit of an eyesore. Everything else looks great.

tastyjujubes: I remember the days when Sinhala was basically nonexistent and the blogosphere was dominated by a few folks with narrow minds – look at it now… It’s great.

General Sarath Fonseka Out Soon? (11)

tastyjujubes: I just wrote the above and then went to google news about Lanka and was met with this: Sri Lanka ‘must face war probes’ Sri Lanka must co-operate with any international investigation into alleged war crimes, ex-army chief...

tastyjujubes: Sarath Fonseka is a symbol of division. Even his release has divided society in general (well, at least Sinhalese society in general) and not united it going by the reaction of various people.

Lankan Thinker: I have a suspicion the government will restore SFs right to engage in political activity since his participation will effectively split the opposition votes – and is unlikely to attract any more support from the government&...

Buying Appliances Online (Singer) (5)

indi: Dude, she comes once a week and I pay Rs. 750. It’s a great deal I think.

Why Does India Suck At The Olympics?

Today on the morning show we talked about the Olympics, namely China’s emerging dominance. For me the bigger question is India. Why does India suck so much? In 2008 the US won 110 medals, China won 100 and India won… 3. India has over a billion people, some economic clout and is by all counts an emerging superpower, but they suck at the Olympics. Why?

New New Kottu

Janith has updated Kottu with rims and shit. Seriously, it looks pretty good. You could say the desktop look is cosmetic, but check out the mobile. Kottu now looks like an app with settings and menus and such. The biggest problem with K2 is me, ie, it now takes me up to a month to respond to emails. OMG I’m scared of my email. But Janith’s done this code and design update all by himself and it looks pretty good. Check it out. There was one bug with the previous page link. Lettuce know if there’s any more.

Miss Travel. Alternately, Mistravel

This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like seekingarrangement.com connects women to ‘sugar daddies’ already. I guess Miss Travel is just taking that trend international. Wait, I checked, it’s the same guy doing both.

Buying Appliances Online (Singer)

Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from Singer, ONLINE. I put the online in all caps because it’s pretty awesome. I ordered the thing in like 15 minutes on Saturday and they just delivered it today. It’s pretty awesome, this brave new world.