Odd, perhaps, that today I read news about two lawsuits that settled, and both concern, well, sex.<\/p>\n
One of those cases \u2014 against Bob Filner<\/a>, the ex-mayor of San Diego \u2014 is satisfactory to me (I’ve written<\/a> previously about the mess Filner made and especially refer you back to the brilliant Gail Collins column<\/a> about this case).<\/p>\n This is only one of the lawsuits against Filner; I’d guess we’ll have news of further settlements later on. Can’t imagine San Diego is going to trial to defend Filner any time soon. I’ll bet the city’s legal department is saying, “Pay ’em, pay ’em, pay ’em!”<\/p>\n But the second lawsuit settlement is deeply disturbing. And since the lawsuit against a book by a (woman) Hindu scholar originated in India, it’s yet another confirmation of my expanding suspicion that most of the rest of this planet is occupied by anti-female primitives.<\/p>\n Here’s what it’s about: sex. Oh, and hurting a religious group’s feelings. (Here’s a hanky, let’s wipe those tears.)<\/p>\n Penguin Withdraws Book by American Scholar of Hinduism to Settle Lawsuit – NYTimes.com<\/a>.\u00a0 The article begins:<\/p>\n BANGALORE \u2014 Penguin Books India, a unit of Penguin Random House, has agreed to withdraw and destroy all copies of a 2009 book on Hinduism by an American scholar to settle a lawsuit by a Hindu nationalist group that had objected to the book\u2019s portrayal of the religion.<\/em><\/p>\n In a copy of the out-of-court settlement dated Feb. 4, which has been widely circulating online<\/a>, Penguin Books India said it would complete the withdrawal of \u201cThe Hindus: An Alternative History,\u201d by Wendy Doniger, a University of Chicago religion professor, within six months.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The lawsuit had been filed by Dina Nath Batra, the head of Shiksha Bacho Andolan, a Hindu educational organization in New Delhi, in 2011. Prior to the lawsuit, he filed a notice<\/a> to Ms. Doniger and Penguin Group USA, then the parent of Penguin Books India, in 2010, saying that Ms. Doniger\u2019s book \u201chas hurt the religious feelings of millions of Hindus\u201d and therefore breached \u00a0section 295A of the Indian Penal Code.<\/em><\/p>\n The book, which was released in the United States and India in 2009, offended Hindus because of its \u201ctendency to over-eroticize\u201d the religion, said Ashok Malik, a journalist who reviewed \u201cThe Hindus\u201d when it first came out. \u201cI thought it was overdone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n However, he did not support Penguin Books India\u2019s decision to withdraw the book. \u201cWhy did Penguin go for an out-of-court settlement? They could have waited for a judgment,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is part of a larger trend where publishers keep away from controversial topics.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In a New York Times book review<\/a>, the author Pankaj Mishra called the book \u201ca salutary antidote to the fanatics who perceive \u2014 correctly \u2014 the fluid existential identities and commodious metaphysic of practiced Indian religions as a threat to their project of a culturally homogenous and militant nation-state.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Apparently India does not grasp the liberating concept of separation of church and state. Apparently. Can you imagine what would happen in this country if a book “hurt the religious feelings of millions of [fill in the blank]”? Can you imagine a similar U.S. penal code law (this isn’t a civil law, you understand; it’s penal, i.e., criminal)?<\/p>\n I can, because recent lawsuits for religious exemptions from the Affordable Care Act are leaning heavily in that direction \u2014 especially the “hurt feelings” direction.<\/p>\n In the meantime, I’m really pissed at Penguin and join Ms. Doniger in being angry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Odd, perhaps, that today I read news about two lawsuits that settled, and both concern, well, sex. One of those cases \u2014 against Bob Filner, the ex-mayor of San Diego \u2014 is satisfactory to me (I’ve written previously about the … Continue reading