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Both the things you are talking about were perpetrated by the Congress party. The current crisis is also their gift. Why are you generalizing the country based

Both the things you are talking about were perpetrated by the Congress party. The current crisis is also their gift. Why are you generalizing the country based on that? It seems you just witnessed these things but never understood why they happened and who were the perpetrators.

aparsons 6y ago
I posted it expecting downvotes. On the surface, yes I am generalizing the country. But really - and perhaps I should have made it more clear - the reason for my disillusionment were structural/cultural issues: - Willingness to oppress people, and keep the oppressed down when you’re supposed to be helping them. Current events are very relevant to the past events. - Party-over-people politics and crippling corruption - regardless of party - Hindu extremism (brahmanism to be specific) - current government is very much guilty of this - Rape and weaponization of rape - cultural issue across India. Will not be fixed for a long time - it is engrained in the fabric of their society.
- boring_baduku 6y ago
  Since you are replying with more generalizations that are widely propagated, I will also generalize and say that these are systemic issues introduced by a thousand year Muslim rule and then British colonization followed by Congress rule. It seems to be a concerted effort of various Western media led by the British ones to push the above propaganda to justify their colonization of India. What surprises me the most is when somebody talks about say the US, they don't usually talk about things like oppression of African Americans but when it's about India you are guaranteed to hear about caste or pollution or any of the assorted Indian stereotypes. As if no other country has any problem. Why not have some nuance when it comes to Indian issues? Combine that with a large Muslim population that wants to go back to the glorious Mughal days. That brings a whole lot of other problems. Two to three generations have already been brainwashed by history textbooks that concerned more with political correctness than truth. Not just political correctness, Indian history books blatantly lie to their readers. Most of the narratives about Indians are from non-Indians. Look at the Indologists of most western universities. Majority of them are non-Indians. India's story is told by people who have not lived in India, don't know our languages, have no skin in the game here. I am tired of hearing the false narratives of Hindu (especially brahminical) extremism. This is dangerous especially because brahmins are a microminority who have already been genocided in states like Kashmir. But nobody wants to mention this because it doesn't fit the agenda of the newsmakers. And what kind of oppression are you talking about in current scenario? The Sikhs are not oppressed. The 1984 Sikh genocide was committed solely by Indira's congress and was not a Hindu vs Sikh issue. The current government will definitely not keep quiet if they demand for Khalistan if that is what you are talking about. If India goes on giving up regions for minorities, there will be no country left anymore. Most issues in India are because of weak leaders and their twisted definition of secularism to favor minorities. Indian leaders never created an environment to unite the people. They just continued the British divide and rule policy. I blame the foreign (especially Abrahamic religions) powers for completely destroying India's culture. The destruction has been so complete that nobody knows what the original culture was anymore. Of course, conditions have improved since the state got rid some of it's socialist tendencies. But, the rest of the world refuses to get rid of India's previous image. The current Indian generation is aspirational, ambitious and has finally opened it's eyes to how previous governments manipulated the people. It doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks of us anymore. If you still want to stick to what you understood by staying in a limited space for a limited time by interacting with a limited number of people, it is your problem and not Indians'. But, unlike the yesteryears we now have access to platforms and will counter anybody who paints us with a broadstroke.
  - srean 6y ago
    This comment needs to be flagged.
    - vakataka 6y ago
      You need to be flagged. From your other comments it seems you are the biggest propagandist here.
      - dang 6y ago
        Flamewar comments will get you banned here. Please don't post like this to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - dang 6y ago
      We've banned that account. Unfortunately, you also perpetuated the flamewar in this thread quite badly. Please don't do that on HN again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - aparsons 6y ago
    Question: Is there a pre-colonization “Indian” culture? I’m thinking not. The British unified disparate cultures, kingdoms, and races for ease of administration/exploitation. The country is so large - but more importantly- so different, that I don’t see how these tensions will disappear anytime soon.
    - vakataka 6y ago
      Really? Then how did Hinduism develop over the entire subcontinent? Isn't that the Indian culture? The British did the opposite of uniting. They just ruled over the entire country.
      - aparsons 6y ago
        Religion vs culture is a subtle but important difference. Religiously, India is not very diverse, but culturally- that is, along ethic, language and racial lines - it is probably the most diverse country in the world. I never claimed the Brits united India culturally (except perhaps over a shared hatred of the colonizer?), but rather administratively (which continues today)
- srean 6y ago
  The IT cell head of the current ruling party -- BJP, openly divulged the identity of a teenager rape victim. This is against the law. No charges have been brought against him. Not that this is in any way surprising because the accused belong to BJP's vote bank.

aparsons 6y ago

I posted it expecting downvotes. On the surface, yes I am generalizing the country. But really - and perhaps I should have made it more clear - the reason for my disillusionment were structural/cultural issues: - Willingness to oppress people, and keep the oppressed down when you’re supposed to be helping them. Current events are very relevant to the past events. - Party-over-people politics and crippling corruption - regardless of party - Hindu extremism (brahmanism to be specific) - current government is very much guilty of this - Rape and weaponization of rape - cultural issue across India. Will not be fixed for a long time - it is engrained in the fabric of their society.

boring_baduku 6y ago
Since you are replying with more generalizations that are widely propagated, I will also generalize and say that these are systemic issues introduced by a thousand year Muslim rule and then British colonization followed by Congress rule. It seems to be a concerted effort of various Western media led by the British ones to push the above propaganda to justify their colonization of India. What surprises me the most is when somebody talks about say the US, they don't usually talk about things like oppression of African Americans but when it's about India you are guaranteed to hear about caste or pollution or any of the assorted Indian stereotypes. As if no other country has any problem. Why not have some nuance when it comes to Indian issues? Combine that with a large Muslim population that wants to go back to the glorious Mughal days. That brings a whole lot of other problems. Two to three generations have already been brainwashed by history textbooks that concerned more with political correctness than truth. Not just political correctness, Indian history books blatantly lie to their readers. Most of the narratives about Indians are from non-Indians. Look at the Indologists of most western universities. Majority of them are non-Indians. India's story is told by people who have not lived in India, don't know our languages, have no skin in the game here. I am tired of hearing the false narratives of Hindu (especially brahminical) extremism. This is dangerous especially because brahmins are a microminority who have already been genocided in states like Kashmir. But nobody wants to mention this because it doesn't fit the agenda of the newsmakers. And what kind of oppression are you talking about in current scenario? The Sikhs are not oppressed. The 1984 Sikh genocide was committed solely by Indira's congress and was not a Hindu vs Sikh issue. The current government will definitely not keep quiet if they demand for Khalistan if that is what you are talking about. If India goes on giving up regions for minorities, there will be no country left anymore. Most issues in India are because of weak leaders and their twisted definition of secularism to favor minorities. Indian leaders never created an environment to unite the people. They just continued the British divide and rule policy. I blame the foreign (especially Abrahamic religions) powers for completely destroying India's culture. The destruction has been so complete that nobody knows what the original culture was anymore. Of course, conditions have improved since the state got rid some of it's socialist tendencies. But, the rest of the world refuses to get rid of India's previous image. The current Indian generation is aspirational, ambitious and has finally opened it's eyes to how previous governments manipulated the people. It doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks of us anymore. If you still want to stick to what you understood by staying in a limited space for a limited time by interacting with a limited number of people, it is your problem and not Indians'. But, unlike the yesteryears we now have access to platforms and will counter anybody who paints us with a broadstroke.
- srean 6y ago
  This comment needs to be flagged.
  - vakataka 6y ago
    You need to be flagged. From your other comments it seems you are the biggest propagandist here.
    - dang 6y ago
      Flamewar comments will get you banned here. Please don't post like this to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - dang 6y ago
    We've banned that account. Unfortunately, you also perpetuated the flamewar in this thread quite badly. Please don't do that on HN again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- aparsons 6y ago
  Question: Is there a pre-colonization “Indian” culture? I’m thinking not. The British unified disparate cultures, kingdoms, and races for ease of administration/exploitation. The country is so large - but more importantly- so different, that I don’t see how these tensions will disappear anytime soon.
  - vakataka 6y ago
    Really? Then how did Hinduism develop over the entire subcontinent? Isn't that the Indian culture? The British did the opposite of uniting. They just ruled over the entire country.
    - aparsons 6y ago
      Religion vs culture is a subtle but important difference. Religiously, India is not very diverse, but culturally- that is, along ethic, language and racial lines - it is probably the most diverse country in the world. I never claimed the Brits united India culturally (except perhaps over a shared hatred of the colonizer?), but rather administratively (which continues today)
srean 6y ago
The IT cell head of the current ruling party -- BJP, openly divulged the identity of a teenager rape victim. This is against the law. No charges have been brought against him. Not that this is in any way surprising because the accused belong to BJP's vote bank.