Yikes. This thread went from Kumbh mela to colonization, to racism, to white supremacy, and to God knows where.
Kumb Mela
Having Kumbh mela was a ridiculously bad idea. There should be no large political campaign gatherings either. The central government in India has botched up the COVID response big time.
Colonization
I will admit that perhaps there were some positives that came out of colonization. But in the grand scheme of things colonization stripped colonies of their resources and ran them to the ground. Everyone emerged worse off as a result of colonization. I cannot wrap my head around how some people would rather still be a colony. Feels nuts.
USA
I was born and brought up in India, but have now lived in the USA for over twenty years. In my opinion, both India and the USA have their good and bad qualities. They both could learn from each other, both adapting the positives and understanding the risk of negatives.
When it comes to institutional inequities both nations have rampant inequity being ignored by the privileged. In the United States, the inequity comes in terms of race and class. In India, it comes in terms of caste and religion.
I do find it ironic that the USA, where the original thirteen colonies consisted of immigrants and then built itself up by slaughtering natives and stealing native lands, built on the backs of immigrant labor, is hostile to immigrants. [I personally find the notions of nation and nationalism to be absurd, but that's another topic altogether.]
White Supremacy vs. Culture
Obviously, white supremacy is an evil threat. Militant white supremacists are nothing but terrorists. That being said I do think the notion that white people have no culture is a problematic one. It might be said jokingly or even in the heat of an argument. But white communities do have their own culture. They too have their own traditions, customs, rituals, and beliefs. It is not fair to strip them of it. That being said, most modern culture as it is today comes from centuries of cultural exchange. Unless one belongs to an isolated tribe no one can really claim to have an original culture.
Side note:
Counting Greek and Roman civilizations as white culture or civilization is erroneous. Europe is not monolithic. White Europe consists of the Germanic, Nordic, and Anglo-Saxon peoples. Gallic and Latin people (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy) and Greco-Byzantine (Greece, Turkey, Balkans) were not considered "white". Even Slavic people though white were considered inferior. If you came to USA in the 20s you would see anti-Italian racism. This is a real good article of how Italians adopted whiteness. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/12/opinion/columbus-day-italian-american-racism.html
Fan Fictions
