I’m wondering if someone can comment on the cultural aspect here. It seems like adding the smiles was intended to discredit the protesters, by somehow suggesting the protest was insincere. But I feel like you could interpret this the other way too: even in the face of brutal treatment, they maintain a positive and peaceful attitude and don’t let their opponents break their spirits.
“Turn the other cheek” and “love your enemy” are very old philosophies, after all. So is there something different about this situation or about Indian politics in general that makes this a damaging attack?
> I’m wondering if someone can comment on the cultural aspect here. It seems like adding the smiles was intended to discredit the protesters, by somehow suggesting the protest was insincere.
This was to paint them as insincere and implying that protestors are on the payroll of <insert boogeyman here>.
It's just "they're laughing at you". This is actually interesting to me: possibly the thing that is most annoying to most people, though not all, in most societies is to be suckered. Maybe the next highest is hypocrisy.
I wonder if these are universal or if different societies have different "greatest sin". Like, does Japan, unbeknownst to me, have shamelessness as its?
Obviously not, that’s not what I’m trying to suggest. Only that it seemed to me — as a non-Indian western observer - like an odd way to discredit them.
“Turn the other cheek” and “love your enemy” are very old philosophies, after all. So is there something different about this situation or about Indian politics in general that makes this a damaging attack?