Lee ji
Guru Fateh! You have made interesting statements about making a conscious effort to rise above personal reactions, so it is possible to move in the direction of having genuine responses. IMHO do not believe in banning much of anything because people can choose to watch, read, and ultimately to be affected by something that is alien to their own way of thinking and feeling.
I would like as a thought experiment to take a look at a few aspects of the discussion.
First, the original post dates to May 2005 when the movie in question had been released and caused a furor in some circles of Punjab. That was 4 years ago, and today we are still wondering if it should be banned.
Who has seen the film and was it ever banned? Unanswered questions for me. I can recall the debates, but don't recall that they ever led anywhere.
The initial post was uploaded by Neutral Singh, a forum member who typically likes to get us to look at our assumptions, and question them, and become perhaps aware of our biases. Did any discussants here at SPN or anywhere become more aware of personal biases to the extent that assumptions were challenged and perspectives broadened a bit? I don't know the answer to that either.
It was interesting though to re-read this discussion and take a look at the comments made in the newspaper article itself (linked in Post 1)
'Jo Bole So Nihal' offends Sikhs: SGPC
"says:Nothing is wrong in the film. I am also a sikh. You people are just disturbing the peace of the country when people are not tenced then why are you fools shouting shut up your mouth. if u do not like it then do not watch it and do not kill innocents because of your publicity. Sikhism is pure community with is being disturbed by few foolish sikhs like you
[23 May, 2005 0836hrs IST]
says:This is to cccoolio as u truely said about sikhism that its big and mature then why ur thinking is so narrow.If it doesn't suits to sikhism so do u think that disgrace will suits to hinduism.Thought is really ridiculous and funny.We are fine till the things are not effecting our integrity and life and we dont bother whether it is effecting others or not this is how we people think and that shows how well we understand humanity and our normal religious doctrine.Sorry to say that we all are losing our religions........
[20 May, 2005 1401hrs IST]
says:Bollywood is deliberately offensive to sikhs most of the times. The naming of the film with a religious phrase when the film has nothing to do with religion is deliberate mischief to draw mileage from foreseen controversies. Then showing a sikh smoking cigarette or cutting hair mid-way in the movie is cheap attempt to denigrate the religion. If the movie hero image cannot be sustained with a turbaned hero then why have such a character in the first place? show a Hindu cop for God's sake. And why name the movie with a religious phrase when the hero's character is obviously a shame on the religion to begin with. There are too many things here for the director/producer/sunny deol to feign ignorance. Bollywood only hurts itself with these cheap tricks. Sikhism is too big and mature a religion to get affected anyway. but the taste it leaves is a bad one for common people.
[19 May, 2005 1852hrs IST]"
Now more than 4 years later the same sentiments are active in forum discussion and all kinds of discussions. Sometimes the views of others are like a mirror. We are loosing our religion, we don't like Hindus, we are offended by Bollywood which is full of cheap tricks...
But also... mind the difference between your point of view and the view of another, don't let your biases harm others, the images of the film defame Sikhs, but Sikhism is too strong to be harmed by a few sikhs, and why don't we become offended when another religious group is defamed.
Something magnetic is present in the topic that brings us back to these chants -- 4 years later. But the maybe I shouldn't be amazed.