Posted on 06/23/2010 10:13:13 PM PDT by Drango
You can't be Indian in the U.S. this week and not have people ask you the million dollar question - "What do you think of Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley changing their names and converting?"
First, the name thing.
Dear Indian parents, with all due respect, have care for your child when you name it in the U.S.
Exhibit A: Piyush, which is just an unfortunate name to give a child in this country. Up there with Shital and Ashit, both of which are perfectly good names in India but terrible here. It would have been one thing if Jindal grew up on, say, the Osho ashram in Oregon. But the man grew up in Louisiana, circa 70s and 80s, where I'm guessing India and all things Indian were very far away, at best. Can you blame him for going with Bobby?
Who the hell wants to go through life with a name that starts with Pee?
As for Ms. Haley, after much back-and-forthing on Facebook, I do finally believe that Nikki is a common Punjabi name for a girl. And it certainly isn't up there with going from Piyush to Bobby.
Now. The Christian bit.
Honestly? I’m not buying.
Before I go any further, I should state unequivocally that I think it's ridiculous for her to prove her bona fides over and over (then again, I didn't care that Mitt Romney was Mormon either, and I don't think how you find God is anyone's beeswax, period - but that's a whole other post). Still, I can't help thinking - lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
People, it's South Carolina, not New York City. Based on everything I've ever read or heard, being Christian is more or less the price of entry to political candidacy in that part of the country and if you want to go for it, that's your choice. But by the same yardstick, if you do that, you don't then get to turn around and wonder why the people who created the system constantly question what may seem to them to be a conversion of convenience. You also don't get to complain if that same mindset suggests that your conversion isn't good enough for them.
It's a terrible analogy, but frankly, it's a bit like the first free black person realizing that no matter what, his money wasn't good enough at some white stores. And that isn't a knock purely on American society. I'd say it's pretty human and universal. In general, systems are created to make it hard for outsiders - however you define "outsider." Not the other way around. And again, it's S.O.U.T.H. C.A.R.O.L.I.N.A! Some of those folks really do take their religion dead serious, and your finding Jesus is something they're going to question if they find it a leap that's also politically expedient.
I don't know when Ms. Haley became a Christian, I don't remember registering that in all the coverage. But perhaps it's hard for serious church-goers not to wonder about the sincerity of someone who professes to being a Christian, but did so late in life when it could potentially be of value for ambitions of public office. Because she wasn't so Christian that she walked away entirely from the Sikhism she grew up with - per the New York Times story on her recently - she did have a Sikh wedding in addition to a church wedding.
And that's the thing - I think perhaps people would be less inclined to question if she just came right out and said she was in an interfaith marriage. In fact, that would be the really new thing in South Carolina, and people might actually respect that. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Give people reason to wonder and they will. Answer people upfront and they stop asking. And I say this because I saw many things said about Bobby Jindal when he was running, but no one seemed to question his conversion to Catholicism for one big reason - he seems to have done it when he was a teenager and much too young to figure it into a political calculus. And it really seems to be an overarching part of his life, complete with being familiar with the cry room on Sundays because he had young kids and they were making noise in church.
I do think it's ridiculous that Haley has to prove who she is over and over. That she has to prove she didn't cheat is beyond ridiculous. Her being called a raghead is utterly disgusting.
But I'm not surprised in the least that Haley and Jindal are more palatable for some voters with less ethnic names and more familiar religious leanings. They're both Southerners, born and raised. But for the people for whom they don't feel or look right, no amount of name or religion changing will make a difference.
Sohini Baliga is an independent writer from Vienna, Virginia
Why doesn’t this author stay in his backyard and ask Lorreta Sanchez if she is white or hispanic this week?
My f***ing tax dollars are paying for this bigotry. Absolutely disgusting.
These filthy vile attacks on Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal are despicable, and the sign of again more desperation, racism, and anti-religion among the Leftists.
Here in NYC where I live, I take cabs all the time, and many cab drivers are from Indians. Many have been here a long time and are citizens.
Every single one of them knows all about Jindal and Haley, and loves and supports them both. They tell me they use them as examples for their own children about what is possible in America. They may be driving cabs, but their kids are going to the best schools, and are succeeding. This is a community that values education and success in business and professional life.
This article is the most poisonously racist, bigoted, hypocrtitical screed I’ve read in a long time from the Left.
Not only don’t Democrats hide their evil anymore, they brag about it, and liberals imitate it openly.
The fat lady is definitely starting to sing.
Those good old boys, they can be so... predictable.
Does anybody but me think this story merits a “barf alert?”
I was about to post the exact same thing. Why aren't they questioning the conversion of one Barry Soetoro? He referred to his muslim faith in one interview only to be corrected by the interviewer helping him keep his story straight.
And I can guarantee you, there isn't a Christian in the world that would say the most beautiful sound is the muslim call to prayer.
And then you have that Saudi official saying that Obama told him he's really a muslim. Far more evidence against the conversion of Barry than there is against Haley. But, of course, liberals are the quintessential hypocrites, so I'm sure that hasn't even occurred to them.
Not only don’t Democrats hide their evil anymore, they brag about it, and liberals imitate it openly.
The fat lady is definitely starting to sing.
This article is appalling on so many levels. Check out how your tax dollars are being spent, FRiends... NPR is the source of this article.
I always get a kick out of some yankees when they let it rip...i know what they really think about me as a southerner...it’s very hard for them to hide how much they truly despise us...i’ve experienced it...i was amazed when i was stationed in Connecticut..i went to a few clubs and was absolutely ridiculed for being from Alabama and having an accent...truly eye opening...but that was years ago...i’m sure it’s changed by now... ;) heh
And a bigot which she probably inadvertently disclosed throughout her essay.
If someone confesses to be a Christian, I believe them, unless their words or actions show otherwise.
Professions of faith were accepted as recorded in Scripture without anybody doing a private investigator routine.
“”No. She’s an American.” “
I saw that too. God bless him.
NPR is about everything but Christian
many secular Jews (no Levins or Lapins) and now Hindus and Muzzies etc...I’m not aware of any Christian other than kumbaya good works sorts
Christians are about as welcome there as slatterns at a pagan sacrifice
just like their Socialist “Marketplace” business hour each afternoon
unfortunately outdoors where I exercise it’s about all i can get but crappy music
Terry Gross, Linda Wertheimer, Robert Siegel, Diane Rehm (still alive), Daniel Schorr..last place that will take him, and so forth
then they bring on David Brooks...barf like he’s some conservative to spar with EJ Dionne and he actually makes Dionne seem less lefty since Brooks is so weak as a conservative
it’s like Politico with more homosexuals
these identity threads sure bring out the ignorance of conservatives
if we’re this bad then God help us because we already know how the left is
Since the US is ostensibly around 80% Christian and 75% "white" there is no way the majority of Christians are not Caucasian mathematically
do some of you just type all your wishful thinking muses?
Hah! Thanks for confirming my impression of the NPR gang...
I avoid them like the plague; but every so often I stumble across them on the dial, and they come across as a sanctimonious lot who think they know much - by focusing on minutiae and 'feel-good' platitudes - and miss the big picture of life.
“This is absolutely vile.”
But are you at all surprised? The strong probability is that a Dem wrote the article.
What else might you expect from a group who, by their very actions, have been and still are a racist organization?
Nothing new here.
Bigots believe Catholics aren’t REALLY Christian and Jews, well, they killed Jesus Christ. And Hindus...need I go on?
There are lots of people like that above here in the U.S.A. and not just in the southland.
This fits in perfectly with the leftist, liberal mindset.
When people of tribal or other religions are ministered to with the gospel, they often respond and totally change their lives. Pocahontas, etc. Often they become the strongest of Christians.
Truth, Joy, Love, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness - no other religion approaches these like Jesus Christ did.
Leftists don’t believe any religion superior over another, so they simply don’t get conversion to Christianity. If a person gives up a tribal or spiritist or restrictive religion, their point of view is that they must have been tricked or forced into it somehow.
Or perhaps they are lying about it because we all know white Christians control everything and they are SO racist.
I’ll never forget the walk Hannity took through NYC with a picture of Cheney, and asked people who he was. He had people in expensive suits from the financial district and not one knew him.
Finally he got an Indian taxi driver and the driver knew right away.
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