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EDIT: Looks like the comment in question was about India being better off under the British. Which probably deserves deletion. Leaving my comment for posterity

EDIT: Looks like the comment in question was about India being better off under the British. Which probably deserves deletion. Leaving my comment for posterity but nothing to worry about here. I'm sorry, but I feel like the comment from OP does have a place in this discussion, given the context of the article. I agree it could have been worded in better ways, but an argument that India's bureaucracy is corrupt is not a groundless insult nor completely irrelevant to the article here. I'm not sure how closely you follow Indian politics but I'd refer you to the last national election and the emergence of the Aam Admi Party, both driven in large part by popular frustration at pervasive bureaucratic corruption (eg how telecom spectrum was awarded by the previous administration). In fact, it'd be hard to argue that India's bureaucracy doesn't have a history of bribery to some degree, especially in cases when it comes to regulators and companies. Again, I think OP could have done a better job phrasing his point, perhaps pointing out how regulation unfavorable to Apple actually might point to less tolerance of corruption at high levels. But I think simply censoring dicscussion of corruption as nationalistic grandstanding is heavy-handed. In other contexts, making comments about political lobbying in the US as corruption would not be considered nationalistic. I don't see why it should be here either.

parennoob 10y ago
I don't think it was the first statement that led to the flagging, but the second one. Anyone who thinks "India was better off under British rule" needs to read about the Bengal Famine that killed 3 million people from Bengal [1] -- a direct result of Churchill's basic idea that Indian lives were worth less than others [2]. This is not to mention the numerous previous atrocities, such as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre [3], in which a garden was blocked off and troops ordered to fire into a massed crowd until their ammunition was exhausted. I am usually not one to dust off the history books, but in my opinion, people who perpetrate this "Things were great under the British" meme (including pmarca) need at least some amount of education, and perhaps a little more empathy. Indians were absolutely considered as an inferior, secondary class by the British, and the lack of a few Apple stores is a small price to pay for avoiding that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2010/10/how_churchill_starved_india.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2010/10... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre
- sudoscript 10y ago
  Ah my mistake. I thought dangs reply was in response to the top level comment. Yeah this is pretty unwarranted. Editing my comment to reflect my mistake. Thanks.

parennoob 10y ago

I don't think it was the first statement that led to the flagging, but the second one. Anyone who thinks "India was better off under British rule" needs to read about the Bengal Famine that killed 3 million people from Bengal [1] -- a direct result of Churchill's basic idea that Indian lives were worth less than others [2]. This is not to mention the numerous previous atrocities, such as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre [3], in which a garden was blocked off and troops ordered to fire into a massed crowd until their ammunition was exhausted. I am usually not one to dust off the history books, but in my opinion, people who perpetrate this "Things were great under the British" meme (including pmarca) need at least some amount of education, and perhaps a little more empathy. Indians were absolutely considered as an inferior, secondary class by the British, and the lack of a few Apple stores is a small price to pay for avoiding that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2010/10/how_churchill_starved_india.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2010/10... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

sudoscript 10y ago
Ah my mistake. I thought dangs reply was in response to the top level comment. Yeah this is pretty unwarranted. Editing my comment to reflect my mistake. Thanks.