Posted by These days it is mesmerizing to view the contradictions gripping society — mostly in the form of liberal thinking and activism. As an Indian, I can relate closely to the contradictions afflicting India and how the ‘Western / ized’ liberals spew nonsense about everything they know nothing of.
I feel angry about all those ‘hole in the butts’ who stand in the way of anything the Modi government does for India’s progress but whose own children and grandchildren will eventually benefit immensely from everything being done now. Some of it I can ascribe to their lack of education (thanks to the Indian schools and colleges that follow archaic curricula and have poorly educated / trained teachers), some to their genes and the bullshit they have been exposed to in their formative years. But what right do such folks and their progeny have, to reap the harvest from all the great changes that this government is implementing in a country that has been pillaged by colonists and then the ‘congress’ party (and the globally discredited communists, a philosophy whose leaders like Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot killed more than 100 million people in their own countries, who still get elected to power in my very own Kerala) and is for the first time in a century, being led by a man who wants only the best for the country? I take it that this is the bane of democracy, and it is indeed the least worst of all types of governance that have been tried, but at what cost to those who are supporting the much needed changes! I wish there was a way to record the publicly expressed opinions of everyone in a democracy in a transparent system that is preserved over the next 100 years so that future generations can clearly see how their own genetic ancestors’ actions led to specific advancements or reversals in the world. As of now, such information and thinking is limited to researchers in applied history in the developed world (in India, subjects like history, politics and economics are taught so archaically by poorly qualified professors that Indians ‘highly educated’ in these areas are as good as youngsters in other parts of the world who have completed their O levels in these topics). Making such information transparently available to future generations might force people to become more ‘responsible’ opinion spewers in the social media, and make those with the least knowledge in specific policy areas refrain from making their dis-informed opinions dis-inform others.
When we look at the erstwhile colonialists from Europe and the colonies they still call their own — the USA, Canada etc. — one thing is clear. When they had their way, they maimed and killed native populations wherever they found riches, hoarded wealth from such regions in their home countries, and made their own people very wealthy. They also created nation states with very strong foundations and great executive / legislative / judiciary systems in place. When they were doing this, none of these colonialist countries were allowing universal suffrage, let alone popular opinions influence policy making. Once they were done with this phase of their ‘economic development’ and ‘nation building’, they made their countries more ‘liberal’ by allowing universal voting (initially if the voters were deficient in melanin only as though the ability to get more skin cancers made them better qualified to vote). Along with this came ‘liberal thinking’ which was good for these colonialist countries since they were done with making their populations good for the next few centuries. The danger started when these liberal thinkers started making judgements over how their old ‘treasuries’ which had become independent countries, started building their economies and national institutions. The liberals affected severe amnesia about how their own nations came to be, and found fault with countries at much earlier stages of nation building in how illiberal they were — when in fact their own countries had been oligarchies or monarchies when their own development happened. Democracy is great once the executive / legislative / judiciary systems are in place with enough checks and balances, but not when in a country like India, there is super inefficient bureaucracy that lacks bureaucratic capacity to implement anything. In an under-developed country, when you have polarised voters, nothing gets done because of opposition to anything that is proposed. That is especially so in a quasi-federalist country like India where the state governments can easily prevent centrally driven policy changes from taking hold locally. Luckily for India, the current central government has been voted into power with a super majority, so that policy changes can be initiated rapidly — though the state governments still stymie progress. In this milieu, the ‘western’ media (NYT, WP, Economist, Guardian etc. etc.) inject poison by spouting liberalisms that make no sense for a country in the process of development. And to think that these ‘western media’ are accusing the Indian government of doing exactly what their ‘western governments’ are overtly implementing — islamophobia, visa restrictions for people from Muslim majority countries, biometric registration for all immigrants — makes a neutral observer laugh no end. Wouldn’t it be a lot better for these ‘media’ to focus where the real trouble is — where a liar / loudmouth / low IQ / criminal / someone who won fewer popular votes than his opponent, is President, and not where a democratically elected Prime Minister who lives like an ascetic, wishes to see his country become habitable for ordinary folk, and works 18 hours a day to steamroll in changes in policies and systems that were totally ignored for the last 70 years by governments of crooks with affected surnames that fooled the majority of the population?
Closely related to the contradiction of liberalist philosophy versus nation building in the developing world, there is something else even more contradictory, that the liberals hold real close to their heart — IMMIGRATION. They want it ‘controlled’ / only for the highly skilled / only for those who got in a queue with so many traps and tricks and hoops to jump through / only for the megarich. Think of when the forefathers of these melanin deficient bros and sis were systematically looting the lands of the melanin rich / technologically poor bros and sis. Wonder what the melanin rich would have done if they had to get their visas! Anyway, now that their forefathers have hoarded the wealth from their erstwhile colonies, they want to hold on to their ‘dear wealth’ as close as they can — no way they are going to let anyone from their old colonies get to their ‘loot enriched’ countries unless they are questioned / harassed / rich enough to pay fees / seem feeble enough to never be able to reclaim the loot and the ‘visa granters’ are convinced of this even when they are addled or half asleep. To be clear, these ‘western folks’ seem to me to be like 3 and 4 year olds clutching on to their precious toys which their dear mama / papa got for them after much hard work, looting the globe.
There is more, but I just don’t have the heart to bore readers anymore now.
