Thread by @gauravsabnis

The most exhausting thing about my India trip was meeting people of whom 95% saw nothing wrong with the government imposing curfews, cutting off communications, arresting people without charges, perpetual military presence. Not a shred of empathy for Kashmiris or introspection.

Even the people I'd previously count as nice kind people justified all that using rationale like "let's just get it over with" or "it is all precautionary, for security" or "you can't make an omelet without breaking an egg". Very casual embrace of creeping fascism.

The hottest of hot takes was "every nation we consider great - US, Russia, UK, Germany, China, Japan - has at some point annexed territory, subjugated populations, ignored human rights. They still rule the world. It's a rite of passage. This is India's turn." 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

And I know I keep tweeting about this book but do read In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. A story of the American ambassador and his social butterfly daughter in elite circles of Berlin 1933-34. You will find chilling parallels to normalization of stuff in today's india.

We can facepalm and shake our heads all we want, but that is quite literally the general "weltanschauung" among Indian elites now. Very much like 1930s germany. That
- it's our turn
- others do it why not us
- we'd win if not for this community and also liberals, so crush them

And that's why I keep bringing up 1930s Germany. It's not like these people have decided, I'm evil I'm Darth Vader I'm the Joker I'm Mogambo. Neither did Nazi Germany. Most people in Nazi Germany were outwardly as nice and benign as your grandma. They were just... Nazis.

That's how fascism gets into your system. Insidiously. Casually. Until it's the norm. And anyone questioning or rejecting the decisions of the state it is considered a traitor. And of course, the traitor must be punished to save the good people. And so it perpetuates.