{"id":41,"date":"2010-01-07T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2010-01-07T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omsweetom\/2010\/01\/beck-bath-and-bizarre.html"},"modified":"2010-01-07T15:00:21","modified_gmt":"2010-01-07T15:00:21","slug":"beck-bath-and-bizarre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/2010\/01\/beck-bath-and-bizarre.html","title":{"rendered":"Beck, Bath, and Bizarre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"glenn-beck-crying.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Oops, he did it again. Conservative mega-mouth Glenn Beck went on a xenophobic rant against those who choose to journey to India for health-care. He analogized Indian doctors to counterfeit Gucci purses, and mocked India for (what he perceived to be) lack of indoor plumbing.<\/p>\n

But it was his jab at the Ganges (Ganga), one of Hinduism’s most sacred rivers, that seemed to really cross the line:<\/p>\n

Hindu groups are still seething over Glenn Beck’s disparaging
\nremarks about India’s River Ganges. Although the political commentator
\nhas already apologized, upset Hindus are still pursuing their complaint
\nto the Federal Communications Commissions.<\/p>\n

Last week, on his Fox News opinion show, the commentator said that the South Asian nation’s sacred river sounds like a disease.<\/i>He
\nsaid, “One big river they have there, that sounds like a disease. Come
\non it does. I mean if somebody said, ‘I am sorry, you have a really bad
\ncase of Ganges…'”<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

He also took aim at India’s healthcare system,
\nsaying healthcare there costs a lot cheaper than in the U.S. because
\nthe money from medical fees go to doctors who studied at Harvard rather
\nthan “Gajra Raja medical school.”<\/i><\/p>\n

He offered a passing apology
\nthis week, saying, “By the way, the name of the river in India, Ganges,
\nI said last week that it sounded like a disease, did not mean to offend
\nanybody.”<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(Source: http:\/\/www.allheadlinenews.com\/articles\/7017307014#ixzz0brVEQ0R8<\/a>)  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\nMany Hindus venerate the Ganges (also called Ganga) as sacred, flowing from a divine source. Hindus of all different lineages or sampradyas <\/i>will often come together to dip in the river, considering her waters purifying and holy. Water from the Ganges is also bottled and used in Hindu rites and rituals, to ritually cleanse places, or placed on the lips of the dying as a sacrament. Some literally worship the Ganges, either by offering ritual worship to the river herself or to an icon of her personified form Ganga Devi.  <\/p>\n

\"Boat_Ganges_Varanasi.JPG\"<\/a><\/span>Beck’s insensitivity — in making the offending statement to begin
\nwith, and then in his flippant “By the way, I didn’t mean to offend
\nanyone” apology — has infuriated Hindus (and others) across the board.
\nThe usual suspects condemned the comments, of course: the
\nalways-ready-to-protest Bhavna Shinde of the Forum for Hindu Awakening<\/a>
\ndemanded FCC action, and self-designated Hindu “statesman” Rajan Zed
\nsent out yet another press release (purporting to speak on behalf of
\nall Hindus) blasting Beck. But joining in the chorus are some other
\nfolks, including the American Association of Physicians of Indian
\nOrigin (AAPI)<\/a> and the  US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC). <\/p>\n

Glenn Beck is entitled to his point of view about India’s healthcare,
\njust as I am entitled to point out that I think that point of view is
\nsimplistic, short-sighted, arrogant, prejudiced, and sophomoric. And if
\nhe needs to sink to the level of a third-grader on the playground
\n(“ewww, your river sounds like a disease!”) than engage in meaningful
\ndiscourse, well, I think that communicates something about his point
\nright there.<\/p>\n

I was disappointed by Beck’s denigration of India, but not shocked by
\nit. To be sure, I know of Beck’s tendency to offend, belittle, and
\ndenigrate others in furthering his skewed and xenophobic definition of
\nbeing a patriot. <\/p>\n

But I was a bit surprised that Beck would use the opportunity to hit
\nbelow the religious belt and put down Hinduism. The truth is that I
\ndo<\/i> expect more from him when it comes to religion.<\/p>\n

Why? Because Beck is a Mormon<\/a>, a relatively recent convert to a
\nreligious group that has had to field its own fair share of pot-shots
\nand put-downs. From being branded a “cult” to being mocked for its
\npurported support of polytheism, Mormons (members of the Church of
\nJesus Christ of Latter Day Saints<\/a>) are no strangers to being punchlines.<\/p>\n

Just as Beck finds Hinduism’s veneration of the Ganges fodder for
\ninsulting humor, there are those who would label much of what Mormons
\nhold sacred — from “holy underwear” to baptizing the dead to a 19th century prophet
\nwho uncovered tablets with the aid of divine goggles — patently
\nbizarre.<\/p>\n

Indeed, many did precisely this only a few years ago. During
\nMitt Romney’s quest for the GOP presidential nomination in 2007, some
\nchose to zero in on the oddest or most exotic aspects of Mormonism to
\nevaluate his candidacy. And as Time magazine’s Michael Kinsely pointed out<\/a>, focusing in on the bizarre to dismiss Romney’s faith, was unfair and dangerous:<\/p>\n

Proceed with caution here, of course. Every religion is full of
\ndoctrines and beliefs that may seem nutty to outsiders. Jesus could be
\nseen as a snake-oil salesman if you don’t buy the snake oil. [Slate.com editor Jacob] Weisberg
\nsays Mormonism is different because it is so “recent,” involving
\nmiraculous events in the 19th century in upstate New York. Well, I
\ndunno. The patina of age may explain why Jesus’ walking on water is
\neasier to believe than Smith’s golden plates and magic glasses. But it
\ndoesn’t go far in justifying the distinction.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I couldn’t agree more. I just wish that Beck could extend my faith the same courtesy that Kinsely extended his. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oops, he did it again. Conservative mega-mouth Glenn Beck went on a xenophobic rant against those who choose to journey to India for health-care. He analogized Indian doctors to counterfeit Gucci purses, and mocked India for (what he perceived to be) lack of indoor plumbing. 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He is a Hindu Chaplain and the Coordinator for Hindu Life at Princeton University, and serves as the North American Director of Communications for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a worldwide organization representing the Vaishnava Hindu tradition. In previous incarnations, Vineet has been a New York City prosecutor, a cable TV show host, and a hospital chaplain. In his free time, he enjoys relaxing with his wife and his new baby, attending classes at The Bhakti Center, and teaching himself photography. As a second-generation, Indian-American, Vaishnava-Hindu, Vineet ponders new ways of further hyphenating his identity.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/author\/vchander"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}