Mussolini and Gandhi (2)

I reply to Kenneth Zammit Tabona and Mark Delicata who replied to my previous letter Glorifying Gandhi or rather to a selective part of it conveniently discarding substantial points made.

Mr Zammit Tabona's disconcernment with the usage of Italian is disconcerting. Is it an engraved unhealthy attitude for some to limit themselves to English literature and sources perhaps? I dismiss such attitude, in fact I quoted Gandhi from http://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini.

The "latter-day saint" Gandhi praising the demonised Mussolini provided a stark contrast, a controversy; "chalk and cheese" indeed. This should lead to questioning our modern and Western conception of Gandhi, a conception that belongs to current Western political ideology and not to history. Gandhi as provided by our liberals contrasts with Gandhi the nationalist of Indian history, nationalism if not the nation itself being something Western liberals disdain.

Mr Delicata failed to grasp the whole context of my letter and thus the reason why I quoted mentioned praise. That would highlight how quoting Gandhi's praise of Mussolini was meant to expose Gandhi's thought and our potential misconceptions about him, rather than subscribing to Gandhi's praise itself.

Mr Delicata's calling the dead (as normally would be by now the "thousands of Maltese" he mentioned) to his favour is a conveniently disgusting hit below the belt unworthy of a serious discussion and the only true insult involved, to intellect. In the link I provided, one also finds Churchill "singing the praises of Mussolini" but Mr Delicata would feel dismayed at this and perhaps provide us a blindfold. Or, he could directly provide us with his diktat for us to repeat unquestioningly.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't think such attitudes fit with the enjoyment of the fruits of freedom or those of intellectual pursuits, therefore I'll shun them lest I fall victim to someone's implied diktat from Glasgow.