The best way to strengthen India’s democracy? Leave it to the Indians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/20/india-democracy-indians-strengthen/
There are many reasons for this. The brutality of the British Empire birthed a reflexive anti-imperial instinct. Indians do not like being reprimanded by the West. Hypocrisy is another trigger. On the very day the State Department spokesman commented on Gandhi’s expulsion, the United States was grappling with a school shooting in Nashville in which seven people, three of them 9-year old children, were killed — including the perpetrator. A viral photo of a congressman from the area and his family posing with rifles in front of their Christmas tree made it even harder for Indians to see the United States as the global arbiter of democratic and civic values.
Since then, there has been a shooting in Louisville and the attack on Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager. Yet 146 mass shootings this year (as of April 10) have not generated gratuitous opprobrium from the Indian government. Indian editorials on the United States are not all about gun violence, entrenched racism and the denial of reproductive autonomy to millions of American women. And if they were, they would hardly create a stir in Washington.
So Indians wonder why we are expected to accept preaching or judgment in reverse.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/20/india-democracy-indians-strengthen/
There are many reasons for this. The brutality of the British Empire birthed a reflexive anti-imperial instinct. Indians do not like being reprimanded by the West. Hypocrisy is another trigger. On the very day the State Department spokesman commented on Gandhi’s expulsion, the United States was grappling with a school shooting in Nashville in which seven people, three of them 9-year old children, were killed — including the perpetrator. A viral photo of a congressman from the area and his family posing with rifles in front of their Christmas tree made it even harder for Indians to see the United States as the global arbiter of democratic and civic values.
Since then, there has been a shooting in Louisville and the attack on Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager. Yet 146 mass shootings this year (as of April 10) have not generated gratuitous opprobrium from the Indian government. Indian editorials on the United States are not all about gun violence, entrenched racism and the denial of reproductive autonomy to millions of American women. And if they were, they would hardly create a stir in Washington.
So Indians wonder why we are expected to accept preaching or judgment in reverse.
Related:
Gun absolutists don’t trust democracy because they
know they’re losing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/16/nra-convention-republicans-guns-democracy/
Why are Americans being shot for knocking on the
wrong door?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/19/why-are-americans-being-shot-for-knocking-on-the-wrong-door
Conservatives love judicial activism – as long as
the law is moved in their favor
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/17/conservatives-judicial-activism-abortion-mifepristone
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/16/nra-convention-republicans-guns-democracy/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/19/why-are-americans-being-shot-for-knocking-on-the-wrong-door
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/17/conservatives-judicial-activism-abortion-mifepristone