Yesterday, a client was on the verge of giving me a big assignment when he asked, "are you a fan of Salman Rushdie?", and I enthusiastically said, "yes!"
"Then we cannot work together," he replied.
"But shouldn’t ideologies and business be kept apart unless something really sinister is happening?" I asked.
"No, I cannot work with you if you endorse his views and protest against the fatwa against him," he said.
After that we exchanged a few messages and then stopped talking (we were using Skype). He was interested in knowing how I was building backlinks and somehow discovered my posts where I had lamented the ban on "Satanic Verses", the fatwa and praised Salman Rushdie.
It happens many times that I don’t get a project due to various incompatibilities but it is the first time that it has happened due to something that I had written on my blog. I know there have been many people who lost their jobs or even got subjected to persecution (mainly in Arab/Muslim and communist countries) due to their blogs so I wasn’t really taken aback, but it was quite fascinating actually talking to a person who supports the beheading of a writer simply because that writer holds a different view on a religious book.
I wanted to talk to that client more about religion and religious beliefs but I thought maybe he won’t understand so I refrained myself. Somewhere he said that religions that don’t protect themselves and don’t eliminate their enemies vanish easily. I wanted to tell him that only scared and unsure religions react in such a manner. Take for instance Hinduism. It is not an extremist religion and there is lots of scope for analysis, argumentation and counter argumentation. Nobody comes for your head if you question fundamental Hindu beliefs. It is one of the major religions of the world and there are still thousands of people converting to this religion every year. Okay, this is an ancient religion, so let us talk about Sikhism. Sikhism is just 300 years old and it is getting stronger every passing day without fanaticism and extremism. Sikhs don’t raise a hue and cry at the drop of a hat. They never feel targeted, marginalized and victimized and their religion is never endangered, and they are practically all over the world. There is a funny saying that crows and Sikhs are everywhere. There are some random acts of extremism here and there but then they are present in every religion, even among the Buddhists, perhaps the most peaceful and embracing religion in the world.
Anyway, I also remember telling him that I am not going to be apologetic about what I had written on my blog because I firmly believed in that. Is it the right way to do? Should I have downplayed my blog post and tried to convince him that I didn’t mean what I had written on my blog? I don’t think so. Just as his belief stopped him from working with me my belief stopped me from working with him; again, why would I work with a person who supports the call for the beheading of another person simply because he has different views? Wouldn’t I be then working for a psychopath? Fine, even someone among my past and existing clients could turn out to be a psychopath (clients, please accept my apology, I’m just saying this to put a point across) but there is a saying in Hindi — I’m not sure whether it exists in English or not — that you cannot swallow a fly knowingly.
Hi Amrit,
Yet another reminder of how easy it is to let rigid ideas separate us from each other. True religion emphasizes compassion, forbearance, and love – whether the person wearing the label identifies as Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist , Sikh or Jew.
In times of trouble and change, a certain percentage of people embrace unbending right and wrong, us vs. them thinking. Doing what your tribe leader says is best and focusing on irrelevancies (like calling for the murder of an author most people have never even read) is much easier than the hard work of being a force for good in your world.
Amrit, it sounds as if you kept your head with this lost client. Good work.
Can’t help but feel sad for our world when thinking like this still holds sway.
Alec
Hello Alec.
This world would be such a beautiful place if we accepted people just the way they are. Being religious doesn’t mean you have to hate other religions and ideologies. Being religious also doesn’t mean that you have to protect your religion like a fanatic. Religion is not a thing, it is a way of life and you don’t have to protect a way of life because people embrace it anyway if you like it. Thanks for visiting my blog and sharing your thoughts here.
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Hello Alec.
This world would be such a beautiful place if we accepted people just the way they are. Being religious doesn't mean you have to hate other religions and ideologies. Being religious also doesn't mean that you have to protect your religion like a fanatic. Religion is not a thing, it is a way of life and you don't have to protect a way of life because people embrace it anyway if you like it. Thanks for visiting my blog and sharing your thoughts here.