4 ms·

I am quite dazzled he didn't mention Burmese Days.

readthenotes1 3y ago
Beauty unshared is lessened
KingMob 3y ago
Well, the article is pretty long already, and the author says he prefers Orwell's nonfiction work. It's not like he ignored Orwell's youth as a Burmese policeman in the article. E.g.: > In the early essay “A Hanging” (1931), perhaps my favorite, Orwell describes a grotesque rite of passage for Burma police cadets that entailed witnessing an execution. The police are ushering a condemned “Hindu” man to the gallows when he steps “slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path.” Why, the reader wonders, would a condemned man bother?
shakil 3y ago
[flagged]
- hackernewds 3y ago
  none of these are reputable publications. and fall flat on the face of accusers that fail to shine the mirror on to their own faces. India coexists and celebrates harmony with all faiths within its borders.
  - littlestymaar 3y ago
    I don't really share the GP's opinion that this ought to be in the article, but his description is nonetheless unfortunately accurate: the rise of Hindu supremacism is indeed very concerning, and saying that “India coexists and celebrates harmony with all faiths within its borders” is oblivious at best. You can find descriptions of the things GP said in pretty much any reputable foreign newspaper with international coverage. See for instance the Guardian about the hindu temple being built on too of the ruins of a destroyed mosque: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/modi-inaugurates-hindu-temple-on-site-of-razed-mosque-in-india https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/modi-inaugurat...
    - unmole 3y ago
      Because decades long legal battles are the hallmarks of Facist regimes?
      - littlestymaar 3y ago
        Fascism is both the totalitarian end state and the motion towards it (Italy in 1920-21, Germany 1931-32). Obviously India isn't a fascist regime but the trend is still very concerning.
        unmole 3y ago
        Fascism is an ideology. While the BJP has strong ethnonationalist tendencies, it is no way facist. Statist authoritarianism and larger than life political personas have been very much the default in India since independence.
        g-b-r 3y ago
        Fascism is not an ideology, strictly speaking it was just Mussolini's political movement. Other authoritarian movements or regimes that came after it either called themselves or were called fascist. Largely speaking it's often used to refer to any authoritarian/totalitarian regime or political movement, especially right-wing ones.
    - subtra3t 3y ago
      India is a big enough country that no one statement can truly apply to all of it, but the media blows such concerns out of proportion. Yes, the rise of Hindu supremacism does exist and is a very real thing we have to grapple with. But in my experience it doesn't apply to most of India. Most people don't partake in or support communal riots, they are perfectly fine being acquainted with members of different faiths. In a country as big as India, some incidents are bound to happen. That is a terribe way to phrase it but I can't think up of anything better. I am not trying to be a BJP apologist, but you simply can't point to such incidents and try to say that India is becoming a fascist country. Sorry, the first sentence of the last paragraph is a truly bad way to describe my feelings on the matter. I was thinking of removing it because it is such a terrible take (if you isolate it from the rest of the comment) but I am trying to illustrate how in a country as massive as India the likelihood of some types of events occuring is much higher. India has many problems, and I believe Hindutva to be one of them. I just don't think it is as big of an issue as the media sometimes makes it out to be, and that it is harmful to focus on it when there are far more pressing issues at hand (some of which relate to members of the ruling party). Note: Upon reading through my comment I realized that some people might come to the conclusion that I happen to live in a region with few interfaith fights (that feels like a crude way to describe them). That is not the case, just a couple days back a mob was responsible for some disturbing events at Mira road in the same city I live in. However, I believe such events to be the exception rather than the norm. I am not trying to justify any such events in any way whatsoever.

Beauty unshared is lessened

Well, the article is pretty long already, and the author says he prefers Orwell's nonfiction work. It's not like he ignored Orwell's youth as a Burmese policeman in the article. E.g.: > In the early essay “A Hanging” (1931), perhaps my favorite, Orwell describes a grotesque rite of passage for Burma police cadets that entailed witnessing an execution. The police are ushering a condemned “Hindu” man to the gallows when he steps “slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path.” Why, the reader wonders, would a condemned man bother?

shakil 3y ago

[flagged]

hackernewds 3y ago
none of these are reputable publications. and fall flat on the face of accusers that fail to shine the mirror on to their own faces. India coexists and celebrates harmony with all faiths within its borders.
- littlestymaar 3y ago
  I don't really share the GP's opinion that this ought to be in the article, but his description is nonetheless unfortunately accurate: the rise of Hindu supremacism is indeed very concerning, and saying that “India coexists and celebrates harmony with all faiths within its borders” is oblivious at best. You can find descriptions of the things GP said in pretty much any reputable foreign newspaper with international coverage. See for instance the Guardian about the hindu temple being built on too of the ruins of a destroyed mosque: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/modi-inaugurates-hindu-temple-on-site-of-razed-mosque-in-india https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/modi-inaugurat...
  - unmole 3y ago
    Because decades long legal battles are the hallmarks of Facist regimes?
    - littlestymaar 3y ago
      Fascism is both the totalitarian end state and the motion towards it (Italy in 1920-21, Germany 1931-32). Obviously India isn't a fascist regime but the trend is still very concerning.
      - unmole 3y ago
        Fascism is an ideology. While the BJP has strong ethnonationalist tendencies, it is no way facist. Statist authoritarianism and larger than life political personas have been very much the default in India since independence.
        g-b-r 3y ago
        Fascism is not an ideology, strictly speaking it was just Mussolini's political movement. Other authoritarian movements or regimes that came after it either called themselves or were called fascist. Largely speaking it's often used to refer to any authoritarian/totalitarian regime or political movement, especially right-wing ones.
  - subtra3t 3y ago
    India is a big enough country that no one statement can truly apply to all of it, but the media blows such concerns out of proportion. Yes, the rise of Hindu supremacism does exist and is a very real thing we have to grapple with. But in my experience it doesn't apply to most of India. Most people don't partake in or support communal riots, they are perfectly fine being acquainted with members of different faiths. In a country as big as India, some incidents are bound to happen. That is a terribe way to phrase it but I can't think up of anything better. I am not trying to be a BJP apologist, but you simply can't point to such incidents and try to say that India is becoming a fascist country. Sorry, the first sentence of the last paragraph is a truly bad way to describe my feelings on the matter. I was thinking of removing it because it is such a terrible take (if you isolate it from the rest of the comment) but I am trying to illustrate how in a country as massive as India the likelihood of some types of events occuring is much higher. India has many problems, and I believe Hindutva to be one of them. I just don't think it is as big of an issue as the media sometimes makes it out to be, and that it is harmful to focus on it when there are far more pressing issues at hand (some of which relate to members of the ruling party). Note: Upon reading through my comment I realized that some people might come to the conclusion that I happen to live in a region with few interfaith fights (that feels like a crude way to describe them). That is not the case, just a couple days back a mob was responsible for some disturbing events at Mira road in the same city I live in. However, I believe such events to be the exception rather than the norm. I am not trying to justify any such events in any way whatsoever.