r/ABCDesis • u/KindestBlackTemplar • 2d ago
COMMUNITY Hate this whataboutism, we need to be better and more united as South Asians
I made a post about the failed temple attack on Instagram, and immediately had other South Asians I went to school with(I grew up in an enclave) message me “Oh what about Muslims/Christians in India”, etc.
First of all, we live in America. Aren’t we American. Why are you holding me liable for whats happening in the mainland lol.
Second of all, yeah those aren’t great either. Why must we be subjected to purity tests? Can’t we just call out an attack on Desis(cuz if you think these people will spare non-Hindu Desis, you are sorely mistaken), and just unite? Why does calling out this temple attack mean I co-sign everything that goes on across the world?
Idk, it was very frustrating.
But, every time I mention the bad, I will mention the good too. I had my Eelam Christian friend and my Pakistani friend repost it and support us too. And many more who liked and shared.
But we really need to be better with South Asian unity as a community, whether you’re Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Atheist, Rastafarian, Scientologist, Satanist, or you pray to Cthulhu, idgaf. We are Desis, let’s just stand together and help protect each other lmao. I will never hold a South Asian American liable for what goes on in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. All those country’s could be better in treating their minorities better, yeah, not sure why that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t band together in America or abroad in general lmao.
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u/maddogisnextdoor 2d ago
I would tend to agree with this…granted we have our religious differences but let’s face it, in the eyes of the greater evil, which is this scourge of white thrash populism in this country, we are all the same and equally getting attacked. It makes sense for Hindus and Muslims to put aside our differences and mutually combat this racism.
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u/insomniac8994 Punjabi Canadian 1d ago
I see it to an extent when it comes to ABDs but religious differences always seem to be a sticking point. Most NRIs and mainlanders I’ve interacted with seem to be a lost cause though.
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u/citrablock 1d ago
Will they also handwave away anti-Somali racism by bringing up the fact that minorities (non-Muslims, Bantu clan, Isaaq, marginalized clans etc) are severely persecuted in Somalia, almost to a genocidal level? I think not.
Indians seem to be only group against whom racism is qualified and excused by citing reactionary elements in Indian society.
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u/Cuddlyaxe Indian American 1d ago
Indians seem to be only group against whom racism is qualified and excused by citing reactionary elements in Indian society.
I think Jews and East Asians also fall under this to an extent for the same reason as us
While no one will admit it, I think this mostly stems from the model minority myth conferring some sort of "whiteness" onto us. Because we are a very successful, upper middle class minority, white progressives like to treat us if we have the same amount of "privilege" as a white person
But then they use that as an excuse to attack us in very racist ways for not being perfect. Because we are simultaneously a minority and are under the magnifying glass, it very easy to create extremely generalized, self sustaining racist narratives. That's how you get white progressives who unironically believe that ABCDs are all casteist, racist Trump voters
Meanwhile, Somalis and folks like that are an underprivileged minority. Most progressives will barely interact with them, which will allow them to incorporate that into their white savior complex. Any reactionary sentiment from their parts is considered just the natural consequence of their low privilege
Whether we like to admit it or not, a lot of the cultural narrative gets set by progressives. I think most American Hindu v Muslim stuff is just old imported ethnic conflicts, but because said ethnic conflicts line up with progressive prejudices, people just glob them onto that
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u/StinkyRose89 Pakistani American 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have family in both Pakistan and India. We had Hindu neighbors growing up in Karachi. My (north) Indian Muslim family experience racism, yes, but by and large express that they have great relationships with their friends, neighbors and colleagues who are Sikh, Hindu and Muslim.
When I was at uni I had tons of Hindu Indian and Hindu Pakistani friends.
Now, at 40, I have many Hindu Indian acquaintances and a couple of friends who are wonderful people. We bond over shared experiences (like singing "lakdi ki kaati" from Masoom together 😂).
I have not met many of these NRI's and mainlanders that some of y'all claim are lost causes. Yes, I have unfortunately come across a couple of them but not many. My experiences, by and large, have been very positive.
And I agree 100000%, OP: We should all be united and supporting each other. We are the same people, after all.
Ah yes, here come the nonsensical downvotes. This is why I left this shit ass sub. Fucking cretins 🖕🏼.
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u/KindestBlackTemplar 1d ago
You’re upvoted twin
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u/StinkyRose89 Pakistani American 1d ago
Just woke up and saw this! Thanks, friend.
Wishing you peace & safety 🌹.
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u/Leather-Term7384 1d ago
That south asian term (which i hate ) is a scam when it comes to unity. i suggest temples invest in arm security and indians whether dharnic or abrahamic faiths use the 2nd ammendment
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u/Diligent-Spread-3699 Spanish-Pakistani (Punjabi) 1d ago
South Asian is a geographical term, though.
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u/Leather-Term7384 1d ago
It is a weaponised term. Indian success becomes south asians success but their success is exclusively theres but indian failures become only indian and south asian label
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u/Diligent-Spread-3699 Spanish-Pakistani (Punjabi) 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is pure paranoia. International media literally praises India by name every single day for its economic growth, space program, and tech boom.
Using 'South Asian' for regional or geographic context isn't a weaponized plot to steal your achievements, it's just how global news works. You're fighting a boogeyman.
You just don't know how news works, and you clearly don't know how rhetoric or journalism works.
Journalism uses regional terms to give broader context to an international audience, not to hide a country's identity.
Rhetoric requires looking at the overall narrative, but you are just cherry-picking single words to fit your victim complex. News outlets name India when it's specific, and use South Asia when discussing the region. It's that simple.
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u/Leather-Term7384 1d ago
Really. Then why everytime there is a person of indian descent or an actual indian does something good then international news outlet like the bbc or cnn use south asian but if its bad its indian. Like the train thing which was bangladesh its called indian?
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u/GoochMaster6769 2d ago
"South Asian" (hate that phrase, should be subcontinental if anything) unity is a sham that ended in the Obama/Trump I era. Now it's everybody for themselves. Stick to your community, stand up for each other, and don't trust anybody else.
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u/hfkel 1d ago
Says the guy commenting on r/ABCDesis. If you don't care about South Asian unity, this clearly isn't the sub for you.
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u/Cuddlyaxe Indian American 1d ago
and don't trust anybody else.
Insane mindset to have. There are trustworthy and untrustworthy people of every race and religion. You trust an individual, not someone who shares one characteristic with you
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u/GoochMaster6769 1h ago
Sure. I myself have a very diverse group of friends who've known each other from high school, but the underlying assumption should be that not everyone will be on your side to support you, the way we expected Asian and south Asian unity before. The way these communities have jumped in to stoke anti-Indian racism specifically has left a really bad taste in my mouth.
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u/roXen09 1h ago
One day, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. will have progressed to the point of having open borders like Europe inshAllah. I hope I get to see that in my lifetime. It is disgusting to see Punjab split in two, Kashmir split in two, bengalis split in two, etcetera. People literally have family living on the other side of the border. Colonial rule and now imperial rule by proxy continues to wreck South Asia.
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u/Ok-Cartoonist2835 2d ago
**Why are you holding me liable for whats happening in the mainland lol.** True
however please be aware several boomers and youngsters support the current right wing in mainland
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u/chai-chai-latte 2d ago edited 2d ago
Dawg, did you just respond to a post calling out whataboutism with whataboutism? What are we even doing here?
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u/KindestBlackTemplar 2d ago edited 2d ago
Again that’s true, but do you not see how insensitive and stupid it is to bring it up when we are discussing an attempted mass murder of brown people in America? This very much is like if someone tries to speak up for Palestine and another person is like “but what about the Taliban government in Afghanistan” like huh. Or it’s, in a less severe way because Desis were never systemically oppressed on a large scale, kinda like saying “All Lives Matter” after George Floyd was brutally killed by cops.
I see it only as a tool to reduce, wash away, or even in a fucked up way justify how horrific this attempted massacre was.
So, no, I will not entertain whataboutism about mainland events when people who look like you and me were about to be massacred for looking like us and because the current admin fans the hate.
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u/Ok-Cartoonist2835 2d ago
Agree My point was it cannot be dismissed - Most news channels and local groups are airing stories about it
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u/KindestBlackTemplar 2d ago
Seems like dismissal when you try to bring up some boomers and younger people supporting something across the world when I am discussing an attempted massacre that literally happened in our backyard where the targets were people that look like you and me.
But it is what it is. What you did should serve as a good example of what not to do.
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u/Ok-Cartoonist2835 2d ago
which part of my reply sounded like dismissal to you - if you already imply what i meant so be it --also it aint some Boomers
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u/NewtonsThirdEvilEx Tamil American 2d ago
“what about the mainlanders that do stuff that you don’t do??? what about them???”
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u/Brave-Wave932 1d ago
Many Muslims in India also support Sharia law and Islamist regimes in Middle eastern , does it mean they deserve racism and bigotry ? I don't think so .
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u/ibarmy 2d ago
This is a bit of a leopards ate my face kinda moment. None of the Hindu temples/ groups etc call out when other minorities are attacked by nut cases. We instead will show bulldozers in carnivals and campaign for Maga or Maga-lite candidates. But suddenly when our place of worship is under attack, we are thinking 'oh no we are alone - nobody else is condoning this attack' etc etc.
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u/KindestBlackTemplar 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not sure what type of generalization this is. Our congressman is Muslim, and has the support of our temples, and he attends our festivals and everything, and our temple elders told us to vote for him and not to do Hindu-Muslim shenanigans cuz we are all one.
And my ex-gf’s district had a Hindu congressman and he did the same with the Muslim community, and the Imam said to vote for him because he is a friend of the Muslims.
Massive generalizations and you are demonstrating what is wrong with the Desi community.
Are there temples that have bad management? Yes, just like there are masjids that have bad management. You are generalizing.
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u/Shot_Blueberry2728 1d ago
Nope, the majority of Hindu-Americans vote Democrat.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religion-partisanship-and-ideology/
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u/Additional_Health467 1d ago edited 1d ago
You are absolutely right. Till the time Trump and co. were harassing and attacking latinos, blacks and muslims, hindus seemed fine with that and there was not a whimper of condemnation or solidarity from their end with near-zero participation in protests. Hindus went out of their way to mollycoddle MAGA thinking that a right-wing coalition of hindus, white christian nationalists and zionists would insulate them from racism. This right wing coalition has only one thing in common among themselves - Islamophobia. Hindus bestowed upon themselves the title of "model minority" because being seeing alongside the "lesser" minorities was supposedly not worth it, so let's be white-adjacent and powerful and not oppose white nationalism.
In this group such open introspection is not encouraged. Today Hindus want sympathy for what transpired (and rightly so), but can they site an instance when they showed empathy as a community to other minorities when they were being scapegoated? The behaviour of the hindus in America is elitist to say the least. They take pride in being the "community with the highest income" rather than their outreach to the country and society at large from which they want to stay aloof and live in their own cocoon. That's why you will see the participation of hindus in public life is negligible too. The community in the US has always been about I, me and myself.
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u/Shot_Blueberry2728 1d ago
Nope, the majority of Hindu-Americans vote Democrat.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religion-partisanship-and-ideology/
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u/DiscombobulatedDream 2d ago
These events have been happening to other minorities throughout history. Especially to Muslims since 911. Now that it has happened recently to your people, you guys are claiming it is wake up call and demanding unity.
As if that isn't insulting enough, many of you can't even tell your parents to shut their Islamophobia. But you all are very comfortable lecturing internet strangers about unity and treating your people with nuance.
Start with your aunties and uncles irl first.
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u/KindestBlackTemplar 2d ago
Again, my parents are not even Islamophobic. They don’t associate with anyone who is. You are generalizing. My dad told me 9/11 islamaphobia is wrong and my dad used to leave my mom and I down south and live in NYC to work and faced a bunch of racism.
You are generalizing while complaining about generalizing and discrimination. You are doing the very thing Islamaphobes do but are trying to claim a moral high ground.
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u/jlp_2019 2d ago
Good point. Similarly, I've heard from my Muslim friends some really problematic things their parents say about Jews and Christians behind closed doors. Can we tell them to shut up too?
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u/chai-chai-latte 2d ago
So we're applying parental progressive purity tests to determine if attempted mass shootings are justified now? Would you agree with that being applied to your community and how would you (or any) community fare at that test?
What an inhumane way to respond to a potential tragedy.
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u/OdriscollAgall2006 Canadian Indian 1d ago edited 1d ago
>> These events have been happening to other minorities throughout history.
Do you really want to bring up history? How far back should we go? Lol.
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u/Shot_Blueberry2728 1d ago
Nope, the majority of Hindu-Americans vote Democrat.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religion-partisanship-and-ideology/
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u/greentrillion 2d ago
Anyone who uses a whataboutism means they are okay with it. Its just a way to derail the conversation. In other words, they are no better than vile murderous dick heads who planned the attack.