An Outside Perspective on the Riots in America

Let me be totally up front with you, I am an Indian living in India. I have never been to the United States but I generally follow World politics. It means that I have no personal stake in this matter.

There are a few things that I want to share – a few lessons that I learned from history and a few observations related to our society. Although the United States and the Republic of India are entirely two different countries, there is still so much common in between them. To be honest, many countries have similar systems despite their differences. Even if any country tried something new, the US and the West will no doubt put sanctions on them and won't let them thrive.

I am no socialist or a communist but I have always wondered why there was a need for heavy sanctions on communist and socialist countries. If they are stupid and bound to fail, then there is no need for sanctions. But the sanctions are imposed on the off-chance that they might not. How do you expect the capitalist system to survive when there is an alternative?

What does capitalism has to do with racism or the riots that are occurring in the US presently? I believe what's happening is only a symptom of a bigger disease.

In the year 1919, India witnessed a massacre in a park where the Imperial British Army opened fire on unarmed civilians who gathered at Jallianwala Bagh park on a festive day to protest against the British. Fearing an uprising, the Acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to shoot the unarmed civilians. According to estimations, a thousand people died that day and thousands more wounded. What boils my blood is that those who followed the general's orders were all Indian.

When I first read about this tragedy in high school, I could not understand why those Indian soldiers followed his orders. Now that I am older, I realized what the problem was. The problem was the entire system which really hasn't changed that much until then.

Conservative thinkers like Jordan Peterson love to attribute the technological advancements to the effectiveness of the western system. But the fact is that those things happened despite this system rather than as a result of it. It is no secret that many scientists and inventors disliked the education system and even dropped out. Although I respect Dr. Jordan Peterson as a psychologist, I still find his defense of the Western systems and values weak.

Schools and colleges love to promote hard work, obedience, and loyalty rather than creativity, truth, and bravery. The education system we have in India and generally in the world are designed to reward the former. They are always talking about bad habits and addictions but many often fail to acknowledge that work, power, and money can be addictive. Those who defend the west love to talk about the dangers of promiscuity and its relation to decadence but they often fail to mention the dangers of power, money, and the constant need to work. It's like they avoid reality by working like that horse from Animal Farm.

Of course, the education system is designed to make you a slave to work. It is not natural for kids to be cooped up in rooms, sit still, and work as their teachers tell them. But they don't really have a choice. Things are even worse in India because kids in India are forced to stay in school for more than 12 hours. My school started at 8 am and ended at 8 pm. The British/ western/ capitalist education system is designed to create workers and not independent thinkers. Which brings me back to the 1919 Massacre, does it not make sense now that those Indian soldiers opened fire on their fellow countrymen who are unarmed?

If you want real change, change the system. De-funding the police or introducing sensitivity training will change nothing. But suggesting that we need a revolution makes me a lunatic, a hater, and an extremist, doesn’t it?

I would like to make a prediction about the future, President Donald Trump will probably introduce new laws to make it seem like there is change but nothing will change fundamentally. There will be more George Floyds. Its what I call the illusion of change.