Thread:A painful love story: my ex, the first man/boy I ever loved, is a Sikh. The kind of Sikh who does seva, magnanimous, generous, all good things. We used to be friends until recently. He spent a considerable amount of time last year trying to convince me that modi is not bad
He had tried to explain away the whole tablighi jamat thing, tried to explain the silliness behind banging plates... almost everything. Told me I should not be concerned about politics, cause it made sound hateful and angry.
And then he said, he did not like that vocal angry part of me, and we stopped talking. He texted me yesterday and all I wanted to ask my Sikh ex,- what do you think of modi now? Now that 100’s of Sikh farmers have been sacrificed, what are your thoughts now?
But I did not. And he’s not on Twitter. But I know he was not the only one. And I wonder how my Sikh friends who tried to explain away Modi’s treatment of other minorities feel now? It is sad that until the fire reaches our doorsteps, barely anyone speaks.
To those who do, India is really counting on you. I say india as in an abstract idea that is this beautiful diverse mix of different cultures, and religion, and festivals, and mythology, and yoga, and spirituality. We will probably never get back to that, but how I wish for that.
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Short thread: Being a liberal, a true liberal, is about embracing a whole value system. A value system which is based on the premise of equality and dignity, for all humans. A value system where your race, gender, ethnicity, caste, sex, income, and your station in life
Don’t decide what rights you should get, or limit your progress. It’s not an A La Carte menu, where you get to choose your side of bigotry, racism or xenophobia. You are not a liberal just because you said something against islamophobia, but then turn around and other someone.
You are not a liberal then. All you are is a very selfish human, who wants an acceptance only of their way of life. You are also not a liberal if you cannot listen to a viewpoint different than yours. If you want to call yourself a liberal, you don’t exclude anyone.
Short thread:
Twitter for me has been a boon. Specially during these covid times, and given my mental health issues, I don’t know how I could have made it without the love and support and distraction, I got from here. My experience has been overwhelming positive.
There is one thing though that I hate, absolutely abhor on here: it’s people’s tendency to be super rigid. This platform doesn’t allow for people to make mistakes, to learn or grow for them. We want to put people in boxes of good and bad and then pile on.
Like a person cannot misspeak, cannot have a different opinion, can’t be wrong or ignorant, they have to be absolute villains. Their whole character has to be maligned and they have to be attacked until they are forced to defend themselves and dig in their heels.