Judging by Modi’s electoral success there are a lot of rightwing Indians in India as well. Just goes to show that conservatism can take many forms and doesn’t have to adhere to any (specific) racial bounds.
That’s because racism, religion, etc. are tools conservatives use to get rubes to vote against their economic interests. For the people in power, it’s only about power and money. They couldn’t give two fucks about culture wars, abortion, immigration, or anything else outside of riling up and distracting poor people so they fight each other and not them. Some tools work best in the US and different tools are needed in India. You just need the right tool for the job.
At its core, conservatism is all about preserving hierarchies. When you think about that and India’s history of its caste system, it’s understandable they’d be particularly susceptible to the ideology.
I live in Seattle and met a few Indian dudes at a networking event the other month who were both enthusiastically discussing a move to Texas where housing and taxes were really low. I’m white and from the south originally, I did my damnedest to warn them but they looked at me like was crazy.
Mmm it may play a role but based off of the people I know personally caste isn’t the factor. It is more to do with the demonizing of communism/socialism by Indira Gandhi (as well as outright purging during “the Emergency”). Then poorly implemented policies such as the creation of OBCs/SBEC, basically an affirmative action quota was very messily implemented.
My dad is now pretty liberal (though I feel he used to be more R before Bush) but Bernie calling himself a socialist took some effort to get him past.
You’d see similar in much of the world, socialism/ communism has often failed for one reason or another (usually corruption and/or outside interference). Failures cause a lot of suffering and as a result socialism/communism is a bigger boogeyman to an average immigrant than unchecked capitalism. Here in America their lives are still better relative to what they were. Especially if they came in the 80s-90s many of them succeeded in the American dream succeeding with capitalism while running away from socialist failures.
There’s a number of rightwing indian Americans in the US and it honestly gives me secondhand embarrassment as a fellow brown person.
Judging by Modi’s electoral success there are a lot of rightwing Indians in India as well. Just goes to show that conservatism can take many forms and doesn’t have to adhere to any (specific) racial bounds.
Either way, I feel for you.
That’s because racism, religion, etc. are tools conservatives use to get rubes to vote against their economic interests. For the people in power, it’s only about power and money. They couldn’t give two fucks about culture wars, abortion, immigration, or anything else outside of riling up and distracting poor people so they fight each other and not them. Some tools work best in the US and different tools are needed in India. You just need the right tool for the job.
Preach on. It’s all about messing up the class consciousness of the working class, using whatever tool is right for the job.
At its core, conservatism is all about preserving hierarchies. When you think about that and India’s history of its caste system, it’s understandable they’d be particularly susceptible to the ideology.
I live in Seattle and met a few Indian dudes at a networking event the other month who were both enthusiastically discussing a move to Texas where housing and taxes were really low. I’m white and from the south originally, I did my damnedest to warn them but they looked at me like was crazy.
I could be wrong, but I think it’s because Indians who’ve immigrated to the US are disproportionately upper-caste ones.
Mmm it may play a role but based off of the people I know personally caste isn’t the factor. It is more to do with the demonizing of communism/socialism by Indira Gandhi (as well as outright purging during “the Emergency”). Then poorly implemented policies such as the creation of OBCs/SBEC, basically an affirmative action quota was very messily implemented.
My dad is now pretty liberal (though I feel he used to be more R before Bush) but Bernie calling himself a socialist took some effort to get him past.
You’d see similar in much of the world, socialism/ communism has often failed for one reason or another (usually corruption and/or outside interference). Failures cause a lot of suffering and as a result socialism/communism is a bigger boogeyman to an average immigrant than unchecked capitalism. Here in America their lives are still better relative to what they were. Especially if they came in the 80s-90s many of them succeeded in the American dream succeeding with capitalism while running away from socialist failures.