In this information war a different kind of warrior is necessary
and a different strategy is required. This is not an entirely new
issue because there has always been something of an information war
in the clash of cultures, nations and religions that has occurred
throughout history. But today it has much more importance in the
information age and has become the central issue.
Each culture has its intellectual defenders. These are its great
thinkers who articulate its cultural values. These intellectual
defenders serve to challenge negative views. They also serve to
present a favorable image of the culture and define its future.
Hindus traditionally had their Kshatriya or warrior class to defend
them. There has always been an intellectual Kshatriya as well, those
who defend the culture from attack in the realm of ideas, which
usually precedes or accompanies physical attack.
However,
Hindus today have failed perhaps more than any other group to create
a defense for their culture in the media world. Hindus are routinely
portrayed through stereotypes of caste, dowry deaths, widow burning,
strange cults, poverty and superstition. The worship of Shiva
appears in the New York times as the phallic cult of the Hindu God
of destruction. Krishna is portrayed in Western universities as an
erotic God with questionable morals.