NDTV aired a show yesterday that can cause considerable harm to India and Indians in countries around the world.
It involved a "hidden camera" recording a set of actors in public places loudly airing primitive views of dark skin color.
A "father" rejected the "suitor" his "daughter" wanted to marry because his skin was too dark.
A woman in a Bangalore bar loudly ran down another for the same reason.
A "corporate executive" dismissed the job application of a well qualified candidate because he was "too black."
According to Prannoy Roy's typically oily explanation, this was all in the service of making public the anguish of dark people in India.
I have never seen such blatant racism anywhere in India, private or public -- or in fact anywhere in the world.
As there was no indication on-screen that the situations were not real -- that was revealed at the end -- the most damning footage will certainly find selective use by anti-Indian propagandists within and outside the country.
Far from helping change social attitudes, NDTV's fake racism might promote harshly European attitudes in Indian society.
As a society we have certainly had skin color preferences but nothing remotely similar to the dark oppression of Africans and Asians in Europe and America.
In fact, dark skin is not a universally negative quality in Indian tradition.
The name "Krishna" means "black." So does "Kali."
We are the only society that worships God as a black man and woman.
If Prannoy Roy wants to attack Indian skin color preferences he should send reporters into the real world and not try to create sensationally misleading footage with paid actors.
It would be interesting to find out who first had the idea for the show; it fits rather too nicely into the current BBC India-blackening campaign.
The show is yet another sickening indication of the complete lack of professionalism in our "elite media."
It involved a "hidden camera" recording a set of actors in public places loudly airing primitive views of dark skin color.
A "father" rejected the "suitor" his "daughter" wanted to marry because his skin was too dark.
A woman in a Bangalore bar loudly ran down another for the same reason.
A "corporate executive" dismissed the job application of a well qualified candidate because he was "too black."
According to Prannoy Roy's typically oily explanation, this was all in the service of making public the anguish of dark people in India.
I have never seen such blatant racism anywhere in India, private or public -- or in fact anywhere in the world.
As there was no indication on-screen that the situations were not real -- that was revealed at the end -- the most damning footage will certainly find selective use by anti-Indian propagandists within and outside the country.
Far from helping change social attitudes, NDTV's fake racism might promote harshly European attitudes in Indian society.
As a society we have certainly had skin color preferences but nothing remotely similar to the dark oppression of Africans and Asians in Europe and America.
In fact, dark skin is not a universally negative quality in Indian tradition.
The name "Krishna" means "black." So does "Kali."
We are the only society that worships God as a black man and woman.
If Prannoy Roy wants to attack Indian skin color preferences he should send reporters into the real world and not try to create sensationally misleading footage with paid actors.
It would be interesting to find out who first had the idea for the show; it fits rather too nicely into the current BBC India-blackening campaign.
The show is yet another sickening indication of the complete lack of professionalism in our "elite media."
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