Mangus Ortus Novem
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One thing that is often overlooked about the political aspect of extreme poverty is the numbness it creates in the masses. Strange as it may seem but extreme poverty sedates large sections of the population creating false sense of stability.
Consider Britiah rule in India. It was more stable then modern India is by far wider margin. That does not make sense on the face of it. A few British ruled 100s millions of Indian's and there was far more stability then. The reason is extreme poverty traps people within a predatory social order. Only when large numbes of people are freed from grinding poverty and the predatory social order that kept them trapped for centuries begins to break down do you get huge forces unleashed which can easily be harnessed by all sort of radical movements. This is exactly what is happening in Pakistan now. Clearly if your tied to rickshaw pulling people so you can have food to eat in the evening prevents that person to go and agitate or pick up the gun against the state.
For example if you compare the Maost rebels in India to the TTP yopu can easily tell TTP is far better financed whereas lot of the Maost are walking around barefooted. As more of the untouchables in India end up with full stomachs expect increased trouble.
The idea of human pyramid is neither new nor absent from any society. It is all part of global human condition.
I, sadly, agree with your observations that hunger creates a certain docility, which the elite in india can exploit...
As an old Dutch saying goes...state keeps you poor and Church keeps you dumb.
Luckily the Church part is out of the equation not and state has done a lot to improve our lot here. We must be grateful for what we have.
So, in other words, do we agree that there is a cynical exploitation in action here...it being rooted in religious ethos of caste and untouchability. If that is the case then it become tragically clear why would the indians will fail to see their fellow citizen on the same human scale as themselves.
Perhaps it is so deep rooted that seeing those hungry and miserable is not possible for superpower advocates...perhaps they have become blind through century of caste based culture.
Sad.