"You damn reactionary, uncivilized, uncouth, primitive, dehati, Hindus". "Grow Up". "And btw, yes I'm an anti-national. Deal with it".
Liberals have a shocking record of railing at Hindus and all those who they consider to be beneath them. There's a subtle class warfare at work here. If you werent born into or educated at the right institution you're instantly considered an outcast.
There're ways to break into this 'elite' club of liberals. Abuse all things Hindu and now (post NaMo taking over as PM) all things Indian.
A similar dynamic is at play in the West with Christianity and America the 'great satan'.
Bill Maher the American satirist has, over the past 4-5 years, taken his fellow liberals to task on one glaring liberal hypocrisy: The singular absence of even a rudimentary critique of Islam or Islamism.
This peculiar combination of hatred for all things Hindu and love for all things Muslim is particularly amplified in India.
Media coverage is saturated with calls for Hindus to be tolerant and reformist and 'modern' but not a word is mentioned asking for reform in Islam which is increasingly slipping toward a sharia controlled 7th century existence.
Most commentators are well aware of this contradiction. But what explains it?
Fear induced Impotence.
Abusing Hindus generates little or no real backlash. Outrage on social media or trolls being trolls is hardly the monster it is made out to be.
The real monster is when a mention in an exam paper can get your arm chopped off or a cartoon generates a terror attack.
So how do you appear 'rebellious' without risking life and limb? How do you thump your chest and claim you're fighting for liberal principles? How do you feign outrage at the shrinking liberal space at your next black tie affair?
You attack ideologies whose followers will tolerate your nonsense.
But the real monsters? You leave them alone. Infact you go a step further and claim that said monster doesnt exist.
Every liberal from Rajdeep to Mrs. Akshay Kumar have written about the great tolerant India without mentioning Kamlesh Tiwari. The same Kamlesh Tiwari who triggered a series of demonstrations and riots across India by suggesting that Prophet Mohd. was gay.
Given their long standing support for gay rights and atheism, defending Kamlesh Tiwari should have been a natural, almost instinctive liberal response. But his incarceration has elicited no such chest thumping. No cries in defense of his 'freedom of expression'.
But why pile on liberals alone, some may argue few right wing Hindus are willing to grab this bull by the horns.
There's a difference and it is this: Hindu Right wingers dont go around calling themselves 'anti-national', or tolerating calls for destruction of India just so they can claim to be courageous or progressive or....secular.
Liberals have a shocking record of railing at Hindus and all those who they consider to be beneath them. There's a subtle class warfare at work here. If you werent born into or educated at the right institution you're instantly considered an outcast.
There're ways to break into this 'elite' club of liberals. Abuse all things Hindu and now (post NaMo taking over as PM) all things Indian.
A similar dynamic is at play in the West with Christianity and America the 'great satan'.
Bill Maher the American satirist has, over the past 4-5 years, taken his fellow liberals to task on one glaring liberal hypocrisy: The singular absence of even a rudimentary critique of Islam or Islamism.
This peculiar combination of hatred for all things Hindu and love for all things Muslim is particularly amplified in India.
Media coverage is saturated with calls for Hindus to be tolerant and reformist and 'modern' but not a word is mentioned asking for reform in Islam which is increasingly slipping toward a sharia controlled 7th century existence.
Most commentators are well aware of this contradiction. But what explains it?
Fear induced Impotence.
Abusing Hindus generates little or no real backlash. Outrage on social media or trolls being trolls is hardly the monster it is made out to be.
The real monster is when a mention in an exam paper can get your arm chopped off or a cartoon generates a terror attack.
So how do you appear 'rebellious' without risking life and limb? How do you thump your chest and claim you're fighting for liberal principles? How do you feign outrage at the shrinking liberal space at your next black tie affair?
You attack ideologies whose followers will tolerate your nonsense.
But the real monsters? You leave them alone. Infact you go a step further and claim that said monster doesnt exist.
Every liberal from Rajdeep to Mrs. Akshay Kumar have written about the great tolerant India without mentioning Kamlesh Tiwari. The same Kamlesh Tiwari who triggered a series of demonstrations and riots across India by suggesting that Prophet Mohd. was gay.
Given their long standing support for gay rights and atheism, defending Kamlesh Tiwari should have been a natural, almost instinctive liberal response. But his incarceration has elicited no such chest thumping. No cries in defense of his 'freedom of expression'.
But why pile on liberals alone, some may argue few right wing Hindus are willing to grab this bull by the horns.
There's a difference and it is this: Hindu Right wingers dont go around calling themselves 'anti-national', or tolerating calls for destruction of India just so they can claim to be courageous or progressive or....secular.
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