Letters to the Editor
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Puke
Gag. Wretch. You're sooooooo self-absorbed and precious.
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What the previous guy said
Puke
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Puke
I'm referring to Sandip and Kaavya, not the previous letter writer.
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Fascinating
Kaavya's story is so telling of the ridiculous expectations that parents and society puts on kids to achieve at an unnatural level. But I want to add that it's not just Kaavya's parents who are to blame-- without them, Kaavya wouldn't be in the sitch she's in. Those publishers, in their quest to showcase and exploit talented youth, thought they had a good deal on their hands. They make some dough off Kaavya, Kaavya gets another stamp of approval. Adults can handle being used this way (or at least they should be), but kids don't know when they're being used. We have to stop abusing kids this way to make ourselves feel better about all the shitty things we're doing to the world.
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Opal Article
This article was ridiculous. I suggest that you rethink publishing articles by authors that are still trying to figure out their own issues. It is a bit too much to expect us to delve into the substantive issue--not really addressed here--and then try to figure out the "bigger" picture issues--I'm not sure that is what we were presented by this auther--seemed like a "smaller" vision of things. Perhaps if this author could have plagerized a bit as well to make the point clearer, we could have followed it and have been given some substance for argument.
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My Puke was also for Sandip and the Plagiarizer girl
So we are on the same page Dobber
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So a gay Indian Salon writer, a Harvard chick, and a duck walk into a bar....
ANyone got a punch line?
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Dear Sandip Roy
Sandip, I know America is outsourcing terrific jobs to India and I see Indian Groceries popping up in the university town near where I live, but don't you think you are missing the point on India and America?
What has become of spirituality and India?
Certainly the "beings" that Baba Muktananda tells about in his book Play of Consciousness were no conformists. Your letter makes it sound like Henry David Thorough is more important than the Self. And your belief that Indians are doing so good certainly mentions nothing about the days when Paramahamsa Yogananda came to this country and was forced to wear shoes.
India has a divine tradition. America is more delighted in what its own handiwork has done there than what exists there as Eternal and Divine.
They talk about Bollywood! I never heard of such a thing or place until last year when Morley Shafer mentioned it. He also brought on the great actress whom I suppose is Miss Rai. But the yoga that people like Ram Dass found in India that is of no point to 60 Minutes. The supreme consciousness just doesn't matter, just as such states do not matter when they encounter the Dalai Lama. It's politics, as usual, or business, or culture, but never the experience of our inner light!
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PS
Arundhati Roy's book wouldn't exist without Salman Rushdie - and it totally sucked.
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Hello? Editors? Anybody home?
Some of the letters on this thread are overtly racist, not to mention ignorant. References to "wogs"? An "Indian mafia" in the schools that specializes in plagiarism? Either there needs to be some editorial vigilance that might keep this trash out of the magazine, or the letters section should be restricted to registered members of Salon - and to people who have names. Most of the racist bilge seems to come from non-members who sign themselves "anonymous" or don't give any name at all. That would not be acceptable in a print journal, and there is no reason why it should fly online.
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who's plagiarizing?
Ever since this story broke, I've wondered who actually lifted those passages from other authors' works. Kaavya worked with a "book packaging" outfit, and while she and they claim that she did all the writing and they only helped her "conceptualize" the story, with half a million dollars invested in the girl, who is to say that some book packaging flunkie didn't "help her out" by suggesting what to write, and how to write it, using passages from other books?
This takes no blame away from Kaavya; she dissembles mightily and has brought shame on her culture and her college. I say this as a former professor (whose students knew from plagiarism, trust me, though they still tried to sneak stuff past me), and current Harvard employee who is getting a bit tired of being asked, "So what do you think of that Harvard student who copied all those other people?" even though I've never met her and don't even work anywhere near where she studies!
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other parents are pushy too
I fundamentally disagree with the author's premise that pressuring your kids to do their best is bad.
Yes, Kaavya shouldn't have plagiarized, and the pressure she felt from her parents to do well probably contributed to her shortcuts. But, really, if she just had thought a little bit, she would have realized that an accusation of plagiarism would sink her parents and her future six feet underground. Kaavya didn't choose, iconoclastically, to "fail" according to the standards of her community. She and her parents just failed.
I know something about overweening parents. My mom is an immigrant from Taiwan, and the Chinese community where I grew up was equally focused on getting children into good universities. It went from, "Why did you only get a 99? Where did the other point go?" when I was five to "No! You WILL take the SAT over again! You only got a 1570!" when I was 15. My mom is still convinced that I'm making a terrible mistake now by studying for a PhD. I really ought to be getting an MD instead.
My mom means well. The parents of my friends who applied a similar pressure- Chinese, Korean, Persian, Indian- all do. American culture values short-term happiness over long-term gain. American schools refuse to teach children up to their full potential- schoolwork gets covered so much faster in East Asian countries, and it can't be because Taiwanese kids are all smarter than American ones. The "pressure" that immigrant parents have to apply just to make their children swim against these currents is enormous. But, they're right- educational attainment and a degree from a good university gives anyone a boost. Yes, this pressure molds their children towards conformity. But the guilt you feel after turning down the career your parents led you towards is a small price to pay for the opportunity to make that choice in the first place.