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Are Indians Hobbesian.(culture of self interest)

Windjammer

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Religion is a very touchy subject, hence I seldom indulge in it's discussion, but the following article was written by an Indian Hindu, perhaps some Indian members would like to shed some light on the disclosures made by the author.

Indians are Hobbesian.(culture of self interest)

Corruption in India is a cultural aspect.
Indians seem to think nothing peculiar about corruption .
It is everywhere.
Indians tolerate corrupt individuals rather than correct them.
No race can be congenitally corrupt.
But can a race be corrupted by its culture?
To know why Indians are corrupt ,
look at their patterns and practices .
First:
Religion is transactional in India .
Indians give God cash and anticipate an out-of-turn reward.
Such a plea acknowledges that favours are needed for the undeserving.
In the world outside the temple walls,
such a transaction is named- “bribe”.
A wealthy Indian gives not cash to temples,
but gold crowns and such baubles.
His gifts can not feed the poor. His pay-off is for God.
He thinks it will be wasted if it goes to a needy man.
In June 2009, The Hindu published a report of Karnataka minister
G. Janardhan Reddy gifting a crown of gold and diamonds worth
Rs 45 crore to Tirupati.
India’s temples collect so much that
they don't know what to do with it.
Billions are gathering dust in temple vaults.
When Europeans came to India they built schools.
When Indians go to Europe & USA, they build temples.
Indians believe that if God accepts money for his favours,
then nothing is wrong in doing the same thing.
This is why Indians are so easily corruptible.
Indian culture accommodates such transactions morally.
There is no real stigma. An utterly corrupt Jaya Lalita can
make a comeback, just unthinkable in the West.
Second -
Indian moral ambiguity towards corruption is visible in its history.
Indian history tells of the capture of cities and kingdoms after guards
were paid off to open the gates, and commanders paid off to surrender.
This is unique to India .
Indians' corrupt nature has meant limited warfare on the subcontinent.
It is striking how little Indians have actually fought compared to
ancient Greece and modern Europe .
The Turks’ battles with Nadir Shah were vicious and fought to the finish.
In India fighting wasn't needed, bribing was enough to see off armies.
Any invader willing to spend cash could brush aside India ’s kings,
no matter how many tens of thousands soldiers were in their infantry.
Little resistance was given by the Indians at the “ Battle ” of Plassey.
Clive paid off Mir Jaffar and all of Bengal folded to an army of 3,000.
There was always a financial exchange to taking Indian forts.
Golconda was captured in 1687 after the secret back door was left open.
Mughals vanquished Marathas and Rajputs with nothing but bribes.
The Raja of Srinagar gave up Dara Shikoh’s son Sulaiman to
Aurangzeb after receiving a bribe.
There are many cases where Indians participated
on a large scale in treason due to bribery.
Question is: Why Indians have a transactional culture while
other 'civilized' nations don't?
Third -
Indians do not believe in the theory that they all can rise
if each of them behaves morally, because that is not
the message of their faith.
Their caste system separates them.
They don't believe that all men are equal.
This resulted in their division and migration to other religions .
Many Hindus started their own faith like Sikh, Jain, Buddha
and many converted to Christianity and Islam.
The result is that Indians don't trust one another .
There are no Indians in India ,there are
Hindus ,Christians, Muslims and what not.

Indians forget that 400 years ago they all belonged to one faith.
This division evolved an unhealthy culture.
The inequality has resulted in a corrupt society,
In India every one is thus against everyone else,
except God * and even he must be bribed.

Scientist-At-Work: Indians are Hobbesian.(culture of self interest)
 
. . .
well corruption is in every country...
Blaming culture is not the problem
 
. . .
i think indians are the most self critical people in the world.

the most number of anti india articles, i think, are written by indians
 
. .
Hindus outside India behave the same way the people of the host country behaves, while still remaining practicing hindu. Specifically in UK and USA which has sizable hindu population, there is no such data that suggest hindus to be more corrupt than others.

We are at a particular phase in the evolution of our nation(economic/political/social) and most countries who are at our stage are equally corrupt of not more (even though they are christian/muslim/buddist/non religious).
 
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i don't know what author was thinking when he wrote the article but surely he was frustrated at that time. The author & the OP want to show that india is the only place in whole world which has corruption issues. if someone is donating money to a temple than what has this to do with corruption. whole world spend money on religious things, what is so diff abt india??? & it was not Europeans who introduced education & schools in india. when those Europeans used to hunt in jungles semi naked at that time india was way ahead in education, medicine, arts etc etc.
 
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The comparison is stupid.

Stop mixing religion into everything.
 
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