Why not? If the food is good, I absolutely would. Do Europeans think twice before they buy thongs and slippers with Hindu religious symbols on them? And what's with this whole Hitler thing? There have been equally vile, if not worse personalities in history. Why is the massacre of jews THE holocaust? What about the millions killed during the partition of the Indian subcontinent? What about the millions killed in Rwanda? What about the millions killed in the Balkans? Oh, I forgot, they don't have the propaganda machine of Israel behind them. And before this post is taken to mean belittling Hitler's atrocities, I would like to point out that it's not just about the name of a restuarant. Ours is a free country. Let's put things in perspective. Let's not turn it into Europe where questioning the statistics of the jewish massacre by Hitler can land you in jail. If people like the food and the name, business will flourish, else it will die a natural death. Let people and the market decide. Let's put the idea of banning books and movies and restuarant names behind us.
RE:What's in a name?
by Satya on Aug 24, 2006 01:23 PM Permalink
Subhadeep, There were instances when European and American companies used Hindu Gods and Goddesses on thongs, slippers, toilet covers etc, but in each one of those instances, the products were removed and apology given when there were protests. So it should not be any justification for having Hitler's name for a restaurant in India. Besides, we as Indians, how sensitive are we to our own Gods and Goddesses? What about all those wine shops that have have the names of Gods?
And it is not correct to link, one event in history with another, just to justify something. Then if someone in Europe opens a retaurant with Dyer Diner or O'Dwyer Diner or Tuglaq's we as Indians would be enraged.
Just imagine how an average Jew would feel about it. Almost every Jew has someone in his anscestors who was killed in the holocaust. Its a deeply painful thing for them. Just imagine all those concentration camps where people were stuffed like sardines, starved and gassed mercilessly.
Having said that, I am not saying that the Govt should ban it. As individuals we should be sensitive to feelings of others, I think the owner himself should voluntarily remove it.
RE:What's in a name?
by Subhadeep on Aug 25, 2006 06:31 AM Permalink
Satya, No justification...only dispersing unnecessary stupidity. What has our country got to do with Hitler's atrocities anyway? These are all perceptions built up by people who were affected. Aren't there enough organizations, buildings, roads, non-governmental bodies in the US with Roosevelt's name? How do you think the descendents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims feel about that, after he presided over the worst single massacre in recent world history? Will you object if I open a restuarant called 'Roosevelt's Garden'? Probably not, because you were not affected. Bose tried to collaborate with Hitler to try to fight the British army. So what does that make him? Why don't you object to 'Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport'? Yes, a 'General Dyer restuarant' would probably be offensive to me, but would I expect a tiny restuarant in a Manchester suburb to change its name because of that? Get real! If the omnipresent Jewish organizations of Europe and American can browbeat generations of guilt-ridden anglo-saxons to bow to their every unreasonable tantrum, let them do it there. We never had anything to do with it in the past, and we should not have now either.
