Everyone wants to play the role of Mom and Dad in India. Why should the judiciary be left behind!! Let every single aspect of our life be over governed. Anyways life is hell, let us add some more torture.
We don't value our freedoms. Most people don't get it conceptually and keep ceding their freedoms away voluntarily. The kind of top down authoritarianism that goes on in India in mind boggling. And every single branch from the legislature to the judiciary does it.
Freedom is sacrosanct. It is a non negotiable IMO. But in our nation it isn't. Because we are so feudal and tribalistic in our mindset that to get to the perceived "other" we keep demanding more authoritarian laws. Eventually laws are applicable to everyone. Most don't get it 🤷🏾♂️
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He says he will share the references from Periyar to make his case. So let me share one quote from Periyar in a meeting on August 31, 1959:
"Who do you hate? The Brahmin or Brahminism? What is Brahminism?’ – for questions such as these, my reply is Brahminism came from Brahmins and hence it is the Brahmins who should be annihilated. It is like asking whether you hate thievery or the thief. It is because one is a thief, one indulges in thievery. When someone says he hates thievery, it means he hates the thief, too, doesn’t it? Thus, [my stand is] Brahminism grew out of the Brahmin and I am striving to annihilate the root."
Now will Udhay say the Wire is fake news?
Periyar also hated democracy for the record. Let me share one more quote from the same essay.
His words: “India should never go anywhere near democratic principles. The reason is 90% of our population are fools and 97% of them are persons of low birth. How will their rule set right our country?” (Periyar’s writings compiled by Pasu. Gowthaman, vol. 4, 2017, p. 432)
Listen to his views on Brahmin women. Don't worry I'll share the references.
"In an editorial written in Viduthalai on March 4, 1969, he says the Brahmin priests act as pimps for their wives in a few religious places. In another piece written on June 21, 1956, he makes this startling assertion:
Had the British continued for another ten years, more than half of the Brahmin women would have been ours and Tamils would have been their husbands and the dominating caste would have been destroyed [by] more than half. Only after Brahmin women had started chasing our boys did the Brahmin men become very angry with the British."
Source:
A journalist is supposed to report, not be a spokesperson for the people. This is when journalists start thinking that they are activists. I have never been able to understand this line of reasoning that so many journalists use. I need to know what is happening. I will collate… https://t.co/F1edFjLxoPtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The reality is that most journalists in India were used to a cushy life thanks to the old Congress party establishment. They had perks and placements. And everyone who has followed Indian media for a while knows that. It is just that the current BJP-led establishment is not… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Nothing irks me more than journalists in India pretending to be anti-establishment. Human beings are full of biases and flaws, and Indian journalists are no exception. The sooner Indian journalists shed this veneer of neutrality (because it does not exist) the better off they… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
SB 403 will be a reality soon. A moment of silence for Hindus who invested so much money in the democratic party for decades only to be gifted with a bill that literally targets them. The bill does not call out casteism in general. It says people from South Asia are unique.
The bill is deeply problematic. It is not ethnicity neutral. Because discrimination is already covered under American law. This bill creates a unique situation. It claims only people from the sub continent are capable of caste discrimination. It assumes things like:
1. Caste is unique to the subject continent (not really as all places have discrimination based on systems of hierarchies). 2. It assumes caste is the core of sub continent religions (especially Hinduism). That also is not true because Hindus of many sects reject this system.
This is a terrible argument. When cinema is used to depict British India we show white people doing bad things. No one complaints and says cinema is being used to vilify a community at large. This argument is wrong and stands no ground when tested using 1st principles.
Cinema is also used to depict saffron wearing Hindus doing terrible things. It is used to depict sadhus doing terrible things. Cinema offends everyone in India. But, what Vir is saying is that you do it for everyone but Islamists. The problem is with Vir' arguments not the movie
And then Indian lefties wonder why the Hindu community is fed up. Because Islamism broke the back of Indian Liberalism.
In my podcast yesterday with @Iyervval on "Pakistan's Identity Crisis" I could not make a lot of points because of time constraints. Yes, I had a lot more to say but just could not. So I will try to clarify some things in this thread.
There is a reason why I chose the clips of Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy on The Pakistan Experience. Because I wanted to use the most charitable Pakistani version rather than Laal Topi to make my point.
You should watch the whole podcast but my interest was from 1. minute 47 to an hour 2. An hour and 34 minutes to an hour and 36 minutes.
My biggest problem with Pakistani intellectuals is that they never steelman Hindutva arguments properly. The classic case is Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy in this podcast around minute 49. I have no issues with him critiquing Hindutva. But it should be accurate.
I enjoy listening to Pakistani speakers as I tend to consume opposing views more. But I am a stickler for steelmanning everyone. That is not done by Dr. Hoodhboy here. But it is what it is.
Around minute 54 Dr. Hoodhboy uses the lowest common denominator argument that no serious Hindutva intellectual makes to dismiss it. This is so intellectually dishonest. Then at minute 56 some weird ass version of AIT is peddled. Again no serious Hindutva intellectual says this.