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Article sounds racist, but this is the economist after all. Here is the thing - If you look at the past 5 Prime Ministers of India and compare them to the past
by sonink 10y ago
Article sounds racist, but this is the economist after all.
Here is the thing - If you look at the past 5 Prime Ministers of India and compare them to the past 5 Presidents of the US, you will find that India more or less throws up much better candidates than the US for the top spot.
If Indian politicians had such a criminal record, this would be unlikely the case.
- lovemenot 10y agoI cannot imagine why you'd think The Economist is generally a racist publication. Have you ever read it? Really? I do not get such an impression from TE at all and I read it often. As to this article, The Economist is reviewing a book by a third-party. If the facts are correctly quoted from the book, the book's sources are correct and the item is newsworthy, I see no problem at all with such a book review. There need be no racial motivation for pointing out institutional failings in any country. India is an important country in so many ways, and the readers of The Economist would surely want to know about politics there.
- sonink 10y agoIt is racist because the institutional failing it is pointing out is born from the publications/authors prejudice rather than any objective assessment of reality.
- lovemenot 10y agoThanks for trying to explain your position. I don't have the facts myself. Perhaps you could give a specific example of which data in the article were incorrect. Also, I would be pleased to know how you were able to discern the motivation behind the supposed mistake(s) made in the article.
- adrianN 10y agoWhat's racist about it?
- zhemao 10y agoReally? The article says something negative about Indian politics therefore it sounds racist? You realize this is a teaser for a book written by an Indian author, right? Indian politicians being more likely to have criminal allegations against them is an easily verifiable claim. And why do you think The Economist is generally racist? Because they don't shy away from criticizing shitty behavior just because the people doing it happen to be non-White? It's not exactly a phenomenon that's unique to India. Endemic political corruption on a local level are endemic to developing democracies around the world. Even the US had it at a certain stage of its development. Ties to organized crime were a defining characteristic of big city politics in the 19th century.
- sonink 10y ago> Indian politicians being more likely to have criminal allegations against them is an easily verifiable claim. Unlike America, India's court are more accessible to each and everyone. Cases are filed liberally in the political process - in some ways this is reminiscent of our freedom struggle where going to jail was considered a right of passage, and rightfully so. If you use this to assert that Indian politicians are criminals, you are basically using means at your disposal to assert your prejudice.
- zhemao 10y agoAgain, it's a review of a book written by an Indian author. Perhaps the book has further evidence that these charges aren't just political posturing.