Brown Sepoys Defending Racism in the Name of “Truth” Miss the Point Completely
A thing I keep noticing whenever racist mocking of India gets called out is the number of brown sepoys rushing in to defend it by saying things like:
“They’re just showing the truth.”
“If we don’t change, people will keep mocking us.”
I think this completely misses the point. Yes, racists often take real examples poverty, poor sanitation, overcrowding, etc. My question is what exactly is the practical solution people expect here? India still has 200–300 million people living in extreme or near extreme poverty. You cannot magically lift hundreds of millions of people into middle class living standards overnight. Economic development is a slow historical process. Even with strong growth, large countries improve gradually over decades not in a few years. There is no magic solution here.
Economic growth is already happening at a decent pace by historical standards. Infrastructure, literacy, sanitation, and income levels have improved significantly compared to previous generations. But expecting India to suddenly become a developed country is detached from economic reality.
Sepoys completely ignore the progress being made and refuse to accept the reality that economic growth takes time. Whether you like it or hate it growth is only going to happen gradually. So no matter how much you "show truth" or mock poverty it ain't gonna go away any sooner.