[ETA]
I appreciate just how much Oliver is willing to point out just how much other countries’ matter rather than just assume it’s about the US all the time. I guess it helps that he’s an immigrant?
Referencing the previous discussions on Modi is a nice touch.
I like his careful exploration of why Modi is popular in India in this piece and it’s not just based entirely on Hindu nationalism. Still, the bigotry is central to rallying people to his party. The cartoon he mentions about Muslims as “infiltrators” is right fucked…
Fucking YIKES! Very much like other authoritarians around the world. I wish he’d make that larger connection between Islamophobia and authoritarianism in the west (and in India).
He says that they’re sliding towards authoritarianism, but how far down that road are they already.
He mentions the promises of sanitation infrastructure and handing out food to the poor. But most importantly, the expansion of the Indian economy is considered to be key, but part of that is just mirage, like they just redefined what constitutes poverty. And since people are getting fed by the government, they’re less likely to think critically about whether or not they’re being included the economic expansion of the Indian economy.
A break for Opposite Snakes… 
“they come from eggs, but their eggs are violent…” Note the mention of the opposite snakes website… 
“a nightmare of opposite snakes” is correct… 
And now he gets into the neo-liberal nature of the Modi economy, with the economic expansion being highly unequal and poverty expanding at a rapid rate (including with hunger increasing). “1 million people control 80% of India’s wealth” is a shocking stat. As is the global hunger index, with India being BELOW Sudan and NK!
The media is playing a critical role in keeping these realities from the public. Which… is this the ultimate in society of the spectacle? With the media creating the reality rather than our lyin’ eyes? Poverty is something that people experience, but that’s not reflected on the mass media in India, rather, the narrative of an upward trajectory for the country under Modi’s careful, wise hand? So, you don’t really believe yourself, but the media, because they are telling you “India is doing WELL” and the unstated part is that if “YOU are not, that’s YOUR problem/fault, not Modis”…
Mango break!
State attack on independent media, including international outlets like the BBC… one thing that he could have mentioned here is that one of the ways that they delegitmize the BBC is to invoke British Imperialism…
“Do you have any idea who I am, I’m BILL FUCKING MAHER!!!”
Of course, there HAVE been attacks overseas on political enemies by the Indian state… So, smart of him to deflect to Bill Maher, a guy no one likes…
Press freedom is low in India, and they’ve focused on both national, international, and local outlets. Here’s what strikes me, is that this is a direct state attack on the media (though they mentioned one of his allies buying up an unfriendly outlet earlier), but how the news deserts in the US are very similar. And sometimes, those end up being bought out by right wingers hell-bent on bringing a critical press to heel. But its still the same outcome, right? That media is less critical of the power structure, and more likely to be friendly to the power structure. And that’s bad for democracy. If we think about reporting on the tech industry, and how often it’s just cosy and friendly with tech companies, rather than bringing any sort of critical lens to the industry. That’s not very different from the DC press corps also benefiting from the relationship with those in power to some degree. You see that, you think hard about whether or not you can fully trust what’s being reported, but then social media claims to be a challenge to that, but then you get back to who controls it, and how little they want to rock the status quo really…
And of course, the show’s episodes critcizing modi got pulled in India…
The government is attacking online sources of alternative information for the public. Bad news. And India has been one of the countries seeking to put pressure on social media companies to weed about “negative” stories about Modi or his government…
Political attacks on those seeking to push for greater transparency, such as putting pressure on politicians to join the BJP…
Back to Islamophobia and how he’s using it to stay in power… This has included direct attacks on Muslims and on their property. The whole “bulldozer justice” stuff is enraging (as is the out right murders on Muslims happening). And they’re reveling in it, by employing the bulldozer as a nationalist symbol now, which is utterly fucked.
With regards to the H-pop, that puts me in mind of Turbofolk in Yugoslavia during wars… there were strong ties between the musicians of the genre in Serbia, and the genocidal warlords (one warlord, Arkan, married one of the biggest Turbofolk stars, Ceca). Eric Gordy did a whole chapter on this in his book about the war and Serbian culture during that time. But again, this goes back to the whole society of the spectacle idea about how mass culture can help shape our reality via mediating what is reality between people.
There are 200 million Muslims in India, despite being a minority. But of course, pushing out Muslims is a major goal, which is why this violence is not only tolerated but encouraged, as they say.
What can we do as we’re not voters? Put pressure on our officials to not downplay what’s happening with the rise of authoritarianism there…
And then he offers alternative modes of finding the video… which is of course opposite snakes video and a video about how to eat mangos… then he reiterates he’s Bill Maher!
As always, I’m impressed by just how well-researched these videos tend to be. They really bring the receipts about what’s happening.
But this was the year Cochita Wurst won! 
But how is his analysis about how things work on the internet…I don’t know if I fully agree. I think maybe he dismisses just how much shit will float to the top and how quickly the churn wipes stuff away, or how some online can keep it going. It’s become a weaponized set of tactics to try and control the narrative, not just static stuff existing online… It all hinges on virality, rather than just… being there? I think that narrative around that stuff is maybe a little dated?
Why is the only choice development or equity, or as Zakaria would have it, third world socialism? Oliver does bring it back home, in that the US was moving in the opposite direction over voting access while India is busting ass to expand that. I do wonder about Zakaria’s claim here about no serious violence over elections specifically? While results of elections might be widely accepted, there is plenty of violence in post-Independence history in India connected to political tensions, no? I’ll have to look that up… he also dismisses 1970s socialism in India, too. 
Now he credits British colonialism with the embrace of parliamentary democracy… FFS. How fascinating is it, given the eventually direction?
