This and that: pragmatism and a ray of hope?

I see a ray hope...a light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully NOT an oncoming train.

Among the ebbing value system and growing intolerance, both inimical to a healthy democracy, there is an encouraging development.  A group of scholars who are also members of the powerful All India Muslim personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has invited Salaman Rushdie to debate on Islam in the wake of his book “satanic Verses” and imminent release of a movie based on his book “Midnight’s Children”. The author’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses created a storm in the 1980s.

What a refreshing idea...this debate....I only hope Salman Rushdie is up to the challenge and accepts the proposed healthy confrontation. We need open debates where every opinion is expressed. Debates are generally inconclusive and (should) avoid decisions. Democracy is strangled if debates are precluded. Stifled voices spread rumors. Open debates are places where expressions find a way out which allows for easier breathing and healthier living. Just debate the positions and let the listener decide what is right and wrong for her. Let us NOT presuppose events and feelings based on ignorance and blind faith.

Open debates exclude possibilities of complexes, which herald insecurities. This is a situation rife with raw sensibilities and pregnant with disastrous possibilities.  All this nonsense of communal feuds and caste fights ares only due to insecurities caused by ignorance.  It is very simple. I do not become a bastard overnight only because somebody decides to proclaim me thus. Conversely if I am a bastard, I am one even if none says so!!!

Now, you tell me is it a straw (the offer for a debate) we can clutch at...and hope?