posted June 25, 2009 08:43 AM         

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I want to go to Brazil and Egypt too. But dude, they pose just as much risk, if not more in some regions, than India. In Egypt you HAVE to travel in huge convoys in certain regions if you a tourist. In parts of the Brazil you best not go to the slums and outskirts of cities. Each country has its pros and cons, but it is naive to say India is totally bad, and than turn around and mention only positives about OTHER 3rd world and developing countries like Brazil and Egypt. Not to mention Cuba. Though Egypt does strike me as mysterious too, just for the pyramids alone.

BRIC as it is known in China. China - Russia - India - Brazil. The four fastest developing countries. They share many similarities with each other (and of course many differences).

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invigorating - denmark / sweeden

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Add Norway.

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And you CAN travel in India alone and be totally safe, just like any country.

I have five or six friends who have done and have nothing but good to say about the experience. I have friends who have been to Columbia solo, Iran, etc. You can go anywhere and be totally safe if you keep a level head and act accordingly. Than again, I had some serious stuff happen to me in western Europe. No, not Asia or Africa, where I have been safe till now in both. Western Europe. **** can go down anywhere, don't act otherwise.

posted June 25, 2009 09:18 AM         

i guess everybody is just different in what part of the world catches thier interest. if we all liked the same things life would be so boring.

there are many dangerous places in the world. we all have to rely on our own intuition. we could be robbed at the gas station.

i think an african safari would be the cats ash....but i am sure the country isn't a safe place off the beaten path. for that matter you don't want to go off the beaten path in detroit, chicago or any metro city in the US.

posted June 25, 2009 09:21 AM         

to choose between china or brazil, i pick brazil.

japan or italy - i choose italy.

posted June 25, 2009 10:44 AM         

Watching the video of the Dalit, Dr. Velu Annamalai talking about Hinduism,karma,dharma,and reincarnation made me wonder if those concepts were originally created by the Aryans to keep the Dravidians down. He says that Hinduism is sanctified racism. That Hinduism is just Brahminism. He said that varna means color. He talked about how the caste system was like levels of colors with the pure white people on top and the pure black people on the bottom. That's similar to how in the Americas...there were whites,octaroons,quadroons,mulattoes,and blacks. Some use words like Creoles.

He talked about India used to be called Eastern Ethiopia, and he even talked about the Ganges River is named after an Ethiopian King.

He talked about how the early people of India were nature worshippers and were not involved with rituals. He said that it was the Brahmins that brought their concept of deities in India. He said that even among the deities, there was a caste system.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4735E232A822C06C&search_query=black+untouchabl es
http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/india.html

it would be interesting for a Dalit on this forum to talk about what India is like too.

It can be very touchy to talk about this stuff...to question how much influence did black people have in certain cultures. If there was a lot, is it being covered up? If you believe it to be so, you can be seen as racist.

There are disagreements about the Egyptians being black or not...the same with even peoples like the Babylonians and Sumerians

Some people in this forum believe that there are people with Reptilian DNA living among us as well as the belief in star system DNA or pastlives as people connected to star systems in a pastlife. As well as talk about Atlantis and Lemuria.

so the idea of Black people having a great influence in civilization doesn't seem that farfetched.
http://www.blackhistoryjohnmoore.bravehost.com/Black_Egyptians.html

there is no doubt that millions of Dalits are oppressed, and so an organization is founded to aid them.

posted June 25, 2009 10:11 PM         

karma is no excuse to treat people like crap

obviously there are a lot of Dalits that do have problems with hinduism and the karma,dharma stuff, and so many are converting to other religions.

I just don't believe that India is about old souls. Just because somebody says it doesn't make it so. There can be various reasons about how the concept of karma came about.

many people have created religious concepts to keep certain people in place.

religion was used for war

religion was used for killing by many

religion was used for slavery by many

religion was used for segregation by many

religion was used for interracial marriage bans

religion is used for gay marriage bans

religion is used to keep females in check/promote sexism

religion has always been used to control others and discriminate against them by many people

religion has been used to violate the human rights of others by many

I don't believe that you can say "It's karma/dharma stuff, and so it's understandable...so who are we to judge"

man if everybody thought like that, there would still be slaves...there will still be segregation laws...there would be interracial bans...as well as other things

hinduism could be used to do the same things
Obviously some Dalits think so, they are the ones that are suffering from the caste system there. Why do you think that they refer to themselves as "Dalits" which means "oppressed" What should they do? They shouldn't resist their treatment, and let themselves treated badly like many other people treated badly in other countries including here in USA when slavery was going on and segregation laws? I don't think so.

There is Dalit Freedom Network that is established to aid them. It wasn't just started by outsiders. Dalits are involved too.

It's Dalits that speak out against the caste system in India.

karma/dharma doesn't excuse the mistreatment of others

I would think that a belief in karma/dharma would be used to treat others like you want to be treated as a fellow human being with a soul.

I just don't believe in the old soul theory about India.

it seems like a cop-out

posted June 25, 2009 10:22 PM         

Yes...I believe it does matter to many people today. History is very important. Knowing how things began is very important. I think that it's important to know what the civiliations consisted of and the things that they did.

I think it's not right if certain people did things, but other people are giving credit for it..

especially when there are people that believe that certain race didn't contribute nearly enough compared to another race...........there are lot of race supremacists that think blacks are inferior and believe that they didn't contribute anything and that it was all white people.

posted June 25, 2009 10:30 PM         

And I am certain there are countless millions who need to pay off some bad karma before time runs out.

posted June 25, 2009 10:41 PM         

quote:

---

Yes...I believe it does matter to many people today. History is very important. Knowing how things began is very important. I think that it's important to know what the civiliations consisted of and the things that they did.

I think it's not right if certain people did things, but other people are giving credit for it..

especially when there are people that believe that certain race didn't contribute nearly enough compared to another race...........there are lot of race supremacists that think blacks are inferior and believe that they didn't contribute anything and that it was all white people.

---

You're missing bthe point though: race has never been as simple as black or white and that's why I think its narrow to try and fit Ancient Civs like Egypt or the Indian Subcontinent into American classifications. Eyptians, especially, have always come in every color from the lightest Medittereanean of Lower Egypt to the Brownest Nubian of Upper Egypt.

posted June 25, 2009 10:53 PM         

I am not talking about american classifications necessarily

classifications are like Caucasoid,Negroid,Mongoloid. those aren't american classifications

even arabs fall into the Caucasoid group
I once checked out and read a book about the human race and racial groups. it wasn't just europeans that were classed under the caucasoid group. certain afroasiatic people are listed under the caucasoid group.

Negro was actually Spanish,Portuguese for Black.

posted June 25, 2009 11:01 PM         

some Europeans go

"let's enslave some Africans"

"you serve us, and you won't go to hell"

people could easily use the reincarnation concept to condone slavery

South Africa had a sorta caste system
Whites,Mixed,Blacks

That Dalit with Ph.D. explained that the caste system in India started off like that. That's why he talks about the black untouchables.

if you are an untouchable,then your kids are,your grandchildren are, your great grandchildren are,and so on

just like if you are a slave,your kids are,your grandchildren are,your great grandchildren are, and so on

I will straight up say that I am glad that we don't have a caste system here in USA. I am glad that segregation is gone. my black ancestors were slaves and my father and stepfather dealt with segregation laws. I am lucky to be born in a time that none of that exists. If they did, I'd know exactly how the Dalits feel like.

posted June 26, 2009 01:11 AM         

To all those who are still scandalised at my self -expression or rather as i look at it my lack of P.C. here's a better way to llok at it.

Read the following slowly...

I am SICKENED to death by YOUR HOME, that horrible place that happens to be IMPERFECT full of IMPERFECT humans who are YOUR FAMILY members, GAWD why cant they NOT be all Christs and love each other to death instead of acting the negative aspects that humans everywhere do..

DAMN your HOME STINKS and I sure as hell wouldnt go there and it is very important for ME that MY feelings be known to you -

never mind i was doing well keeping them to myself -

but it IS ESSENTIAL that YOU KNOW how FREAKIN SICK YOUR HOME AND FAMILY IS TO MY POINT OF VIEW , THAT STINKIN CESSPOOL OF ALL that is imperfect in humanity , ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

.....

Congratulations - NOW you know exactly what i felt when i acted out my human nature and defended my cultural identity and the country that has fed me and raised me.

I owe more to my people and country than to any IGNORANT SCHUMCK who finds it imperative to flash his own INSULATED PREJUDICE about something he knows thru a PC.

[b]Not out of any genuine humanity but out of his own psychological compulsions.

I am talking about you GLAUCUS.

Or someone who thinks that a couple of Indian friends telling them their view about their country gives them the authority to pass their IGNORANT JUDGEMENT about my country .

I am talking about you Lucia.

The two of you find no difficulty in attacking my country when it NO business of yours what imperfections exist anywhere in the world .

But when i retaliated

Lucia and Orange and whatever other moron stood up for them finds no shame in callling it anti - americanism.

Get a life .

If you can stand Glaucus and Lucia being Anti -Indian - when they havent been to India physically to have any notion of the ground reality any the it was IRRELEVANT to the title of the thread in the first place.

Grow the GALL to stand it when i reply in KIND.

P.S.

posted June 26, 2009 02:07 AM         

I think that's probably what was being said here (for the most part anyway)

I'm Egyptian by birth and yes, I love where I am from, but also, I could never live there again. Well, maybe. But not now; I don't like how my country has been turned ugly by certain morons who have just turned it worse. I could visit there, and it will always be part of my soul... but living there is another story altogether. Maybe 20 years ago, yes. But not now.
However, I do know of some very happy Europeans living there.

I really think the bottom line here is that if you're from a young country, an older one will probably be fascinating in some way. History is interesting.

Also, this reminds me of a couple of years ago when I was in a cafe and a woman came up to me and went, You look so exotic, where are you from?
And I said Egypt.
Her response: "Oh wow, Egypt? Wow. I have an Indian friend, and it's so exotic there!"

Wtf?