Felt glad to read something sensible AND logical after long. Your views on media and its take on current core issues, is truly very enriching. In my opinion, media filters and in the process gets glorified. While this whole process glamourises the ones weilding power, the poor, ignorant and simple are the ones who are at the receiving end – for no crime of their own.

The possible solution… media awareness and wide reading… open attitude!

I opened last Sunday’s Express Magazine and the front page had some story about Hindu terrorists or some such. Instinctively I flipped to the second page. Then, I remembered this post and went back to the first page to see why I had done what I had. There was a good reason — while showing Hindus in poor light is one thing, most of such write-ups in India are authored by left wing nuts who don’t know how to write an analysis. Instead they state opinions for facts and have rants for logic. I realized, I had conditioned myself to read the blurb-like-thing and decide whether the write-up was worth the time. Sometimes, very very very rarely, the left wing nut turns out to be right because that’s how pathetic reality is. Not because he/she became a good analyst. Or, one can wait for really fantastic writers who rarely write — N Ram comes to mind, but he also spewed left wing propaganda which is such a pity given what a gifted writer of prose and an excellent analyst he is — to wake up and write.

The right wing BS on ToI is anyway not taken seriously by anyone. So, I guess, there is something you can teach your students from this. I don’t know what that is though.

re: Iran, I believe common people did resist (or tried to) but were repressed, and the repression against anyone who dares to speak up still happens.