How to insult people

You already have some of us shuddering at Obama playing "god" saying that his election would stop the seas from rising. (King Canute did the same and got wet, but few in the US press seemed to think he was being a bit overblown in the speech).

there was even a "Obama messiah" blog, chronicaling some of the more blatent adoration during the campaign.

But now, Christian hating Tina Brown's Newsweek has managed to go overboard.

Obama is not the Messiah, but Shiva, and the Hindus are not amused.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Lord Siva was a highly revered major deity in Hinduism meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used indecorously or thrown around loosely in reimagined versions for dramatic effects.

How a mortal could be depicted as Siva, who is the director of our destinies, Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, asked and added that inappropriate use of Hinduism concepts and symbols for pushing selfish agenda or mercantile greed was not okay....

This Newsweek cover page is headlined as "GOD OF ALL THINGS".

Of course, if Brown had bothered to check the symbolism behind this icon of Shiva, maybe she would not have used it to depict her "god", Obama:

Nataraja (Lord of the dance) is a well known iconic representation of Lord Siva, symbolizing his salvific, destructive, and creative roles; when he dances the world to destruction to create it again as a chapter of the ongoing cosmic cycle.