r/thebronzemovement

I’ve been thinking about this whenever I see the comments under anything involving Indians online.

Someone sees an Indian commenting and it’s immediately “pajeet 😂”. Doesn’t even matter what the guy said. Then five other people see it getting likes and join in. Logic doesn’t work as it’s a ragebait tactic

And I think that’s actually part of why this stuff spreads so easily. A lot of these chronically probably aren’t sitting at home reading racial theory or even thinking that deeply about Indians.

They’re joining in because there’s already a meme and everyone else is doing it. It’s an easy way to be part of the joke

Pajeet is probably the best example. At this point it’s basically an NPC response.
Indian detected → pajeet.

Maybe we should actually have a subreddit specifically for this.

Not another subreddit for discussing racism all day or posting screenshots and getting angry about them. Literally just a place for counter-memes, ragebait counters, reaction images and templates.

Someone makes a good one? Post the blank template as well.
Someone finds a format that works against “pajeet” spam? Save it.

Because there are a ridiculous number of Indians online and that number is only going to increase. There just needs to be a few templates and it’ll take off on its own

You just need enough people to have the memes handy.

Someone sees the same lazy “pajeet saar” comment for the hundredth time and instead of getting angry or writing an essay, they remember:
“Wait, I have a meme for this.”
Drop image. Move on.

Then someone else sees it, thinks it’s funny and saves it too.

That’s basically how their memes spread in the first place.

There’s no reason we can’t do the same thing, except make the racist/xenophobic internet character the punchline instead. Or perhaps play to their divisions insteas

If people here are interested, i’ve been making/collecting a few and I’m genuinely be up for starting a subreddit or and building a collection of templates.

One of the biggest obstacles to India’s progress is not something imposed on us from outside anymore. It is the way many of us have learned to see ourselves.

The vast majority of Indians I speak to seem to carry an unspoken assumption that anything Indian is automatically inferior to its foreign counterpart. Foreign is sophisticated; Indian is backward. Imported is premium; local is cheap. English is aspirational; our native languages are somehow lesser. And travelling abroad is treated as an achievement in itself, while exploring our own country is often seen as something secondary.

Take tourism. For many Indians, the passport stamp seems to be the point of the holiday. A foreign destination automatically carries more prestige than a domestic one, even when the experience of travelling within India can be far more culturally transformative. For someone from Kochi, travelling to Sri Lanka may involve less cultural shock than travelling to Rajasthan, yet the former is often considered the more impressive trip simply because it is international.

The same mindset is even more visible in language.

Speaking English is often treated as a marker of intelligence, education and status, while speaking our native languages can be perceived as unsophisticated. People are actively discouraged from using their own languages in professional and academic spaces. Some of the highest levels of academia and public discourse in India still operate almost entirely in English, even when the people participating in them are based in communities with rich native languages of their own. What makes this particularly striking is that languages elsewhere in the world have not been forced into the same dependence. European languages with populations of only a few million speakers routinely develop their own vocabulary for science, technology and other specialised fields. Yet many Indian languages are expected to borrow English terminology whenever a concept becomes more complicated than a 5-year-old's everyday conversation.

We have reached a point where even saying dhanyavada instead of “thank you” can make someone uncomfortable because they worry that the other person might be offended by the assumption that they don't speak English. But when did English become our priority over our own languages?

Even our infamous language wars often miss this larger picture. Arguments over Hindi versus regional languages are legitimate, but English remains the far greater threat to the vitality of all Indian languages. It is entirely possible to spend an entire day in an Indian city without using the language spoken by the people around you.

Look at my own generation, Gen Z. Many young Indians either speak almost exclusively in English or speak what they call an “Indian language” that is often 90% English vocabulary with a few native-language connectors. There is nothing inherently wrong with speaking English when necessary. The problem is when English becomes the default measure of intelligence, sophistication and social status, while our own languages become something to be embarrassed about.

The same hierarchy exists in what we consume.

Imported food and products are routinely assumed to be better simply because they are imported. There are countless examples like this, but we often fail to appreciate them because we have already decided that foreign equals superior.

And this mindset extends even to people.

Foreigners are frequently perceived as more attractive, more capable and more sophisticated. Indians can internalise the idea that being foreign automatically makes someone desirable, while being Indian makes someone ordinary or even undesirable. We see this in everything from beauty standards to professional competence.

Even in sports and physical activities, the explanation is sometimes reduced to genetics. I climb and I surf, and whenever I do these things in India, I have repeatedly encountered some version of the same reaction: Why are you doing this? Beneath the question is often the assumption that these are things foreigners do. Somehow, an Indian person participating in them is unusual simply because they are Indian.

That is the absurdity of the mindset we have inherited.

We have been taught, consciously or unconsciously, to associate foreignness with excellence and Indianness with inadequacy. Going abroad is treated as the ultimate achievement. Behaving like a foreigner is considered cool. Acting as though you don't belong to this country can be a status symbol. Anything Indian can be dismissed as “cringe” while anything foreign is automatically considered sophisticated.

And this mindset has survived for generations, even though the invaders that shaped so much of it had the last of them kicked out nearly a century ago.

That is why decolonising our minds should be our first priority.

This does not mean rejecting everything foreign, nor does it mean pretending that everything Indian is inherently good. There is plenty we can learn from the rest of the world, and there is nothing wrong with speaking English in an international context, travelling abroad, eating imported food or appreciating foreign cultures.

The problem is the assumption that foreign is better by default.

We need to be able to look at something Indian and evaluate it on its own merits. We should be able to criticise what deserves criticism and celebrate what deserves celebration without automatically assigning higher value to something simply because it came from somewhere else.

Because ultimately, the world will see us only as highly as we see ourselves.

If we constantly tell ourselves that our languages are inferior, our products are inferior, our culture is inferior, our people are inferior and our country is inferior, it should not surprise us when that perception eventually becomes a widely held belief outside India too.

Decolonisation is therefore not about hating the West. It is about removing the hierarchy in our own heads.

We don't need to become less open to the world to stop believing that being Indian makes us less than the world.

I’m almost relieved that India has lost its shine among western “traveller” circles (iykyk). Too many of them don't realise that they only arrive here as guests yet behave as though they are entitled to our landscapes, our culture, and our hospitality. Conversations with them often spiral into obscure criticisms of India that reek of racism and contempt. Of course we face issues with pollution and population. But these challenges are ours to solve, and they are hardly unique to India. Nepal and Sri Lanka face very similar issues, yet western tourists flock there without complaint. Ironically, they choose to visit India’s most polluted hubs, like the Golden Triangle, which have indeed become exploitative toward tourists as it happens to literally every major tourist destination (eg: Venice), but then use that as a blanket indictment of the entire country.

Worse still, they project their imagined fascist, racist, oppressive caricature of India’s government onto all Indians. They are hell-bent on seeing us as a 1.4 billion strong monolith rather than individuals. Our government is far from perfect, but it is nowhere near the dystopia painted by western journalism, which seems intent on vilifying India and its people. And when these tourists do come, they retreat into “white-only” enclaves in Rishikesh, Dharamshala, Hampi, Gokarna, and Varkala, much like the Israeli communities in the Himalayas or Andamans. Goa was once the prime example, though it become too mainstream for them recently. I fear that the Northeast is next on the menu.

The problem isn’t only external; our own tourist infrastructure often discriminates against Indians. I remember going to surf in Goa a few years ago, only to be denied a surfboard rental because the surf school owner assumed I couldn’t swim or handle the mild conditions. Minutes later, a white couple casually returned their rented boards to the same shop. Unfortunately, these tourist hubs are plagued with coconuts.

The same ignorance unfortunately surfaces in my other hobbies too. In a post on r/ mountaineering (that reddit doesn't let me attach), a woman ranted about not being allowed to bring her satellite communications device into India. A little research would have told her it’s banned here for good reason Our strict border security stems from a history of terrorist threats. It frustrates me too when traveling, but I understand the intent. Yet the comments under her post turned this into another excuse to degrade India, its people, and its government. The only sensible nuanced comment on this post is the most downvoted - make of that what you will.

I believe that if you know where to go, India is objectively the best country to travel in the region. Its sheer size and diversity mean it offers everything neighboring countries do, and often more, at similar or greater quality. I only hope that those who come here with racist contempt never get to experience it.

(I used AI to rephrase some paragraphs)

Around 7 pm today in the City center, I saw a bunch a 4-5 teenagers attack an Indian guy for no reason. I'm not sure if it was racially motivated since they seem to harm everyone. What can one do to protect themselves in this situation? Apparently, you're not even allowed to throw eggs at them as a passerby since that's classified as assault. Pepper spray and tazers aren't legal either. How does one defend themselves or someone else?

It is without a doubt that what Churchill did in Bengal. A complete famine with families starving and people looting food ,it was complete horror for Bengal and after this he had audacity to blame Indians for all this.

Personally , I do not see any significant differences in actions of Hitler and Churchill. Yeah, method of killing is different . But both were racist and committed horrors.

One is celebrated even today in Western politics but one is condemned in large.

So, why do you think is Churchill shown in positive light in Western history?

His crimes are not just limited to Bengal but Indian subcontinent ,Africa and elsewhere too.

Is it because even Western academia even downplay on crimes committed on non -Europeans v/s crime committed on Europeans like Poles ,Slavs etc.

What do you think is the reason?

I remember during the 2010s, people there would talk about how indian-americans were a privileged group and could never complain about racism because other groups supposedly had it worse (which is false, other groups did not have it worse and especially not today).

in modern times i hope they realize how wrong all of them who held that opinion were back then. Because racism against us was just as real back then, it was just more hidden because we as a group were not as visible so people didnt feel the need to talk about it, they could ignore us for the most part but they cant do that today.

I also remember how people there used to justify the racist and false stereotypes about indian/desi men. like the stereotype about indian men being creepy and India being the rape capital.

All of that was BS as well, in modern times we have Epstein and P Diddy among others that show that SA is a bigger problem in the west than it is in India. Statistics also prove without a doubt that rape per capita is alot more common in western countries like the USA, and in most African countries, and the middle eastern countries compared to India.

Even without that evidence, Indians in the west should not be associated with what happens in the motherland, but obviously that is still a thing.

Anything good we do is censored and anything bad is intentionally promoted to the widest audiences as possible, because of western propaganda, but also propaganda from muslim countries and China. its all because India is growing so powerful that they feel threatened by all south asians.

I clocked very early that both the left and right hate us, but people were in denial about the left being anti-indian in the 2010s, but now even there it is acknowledged to some extent. Its because we are the most successful ethnicity in basically all western countries we migrate to, in spite of not having any privilege compared to other minorities. The reason we succeed is because of inherent talent, strong culture and a lack of victim mindset.

Today the discourse there is mostly about racism, but I hope they realize that the only thing that changed from then and now, is that we are now a real threat, and the negative image we had was always based on lies. Have some pride in yourself because this wave of hate we recieve is a sign that we are winning and will soon be on top in the near future.

The pathetic moderators at that sub wouldnt let me post this over there as expected so I will post it here. its the truth.

Why are some of the most popular comments under a video of a racist far right commentator claiming for the deportation of Indians also racist? And why do most people claim/think that it is anti-racist?

I have noticed that wherever there is a white racist claiming that Indians are dirty and that Indian men are obsessed with white women and further dehumanizing us because of said reasons he believes, there is always a popular comment under that video that says something like "Oh, his wife probably cheated on him with an Indian dude". And it often has so many upvotes. The comment is usually posted by a white man who claims/thinks of himself as anti racist but sometimes even by a brown Indian man.

Now my question is, is the comment actually anti racist or is it just flipping the insult using the same racist narrative, further reinforcing it? Isn't it using the same script that Indian men are obsessed with white women to insult the racist? It also implies that white women are some kind of a prize to be stolen and also implies that white women and their supposed "purity" is tainted by a brown man.

I understand that the comment is mocking the racist and his insecurities but what's the point if it uses the same script that is used to dehumanise us? It still accepts the core racist stereotype. It's just another form of stereotype endorsement via derogation. I have seen many brown people supporting these type of comments and I think we should reject the entire racist premise instead of just using the same premise to insult the racist.

Sure rejecting the entire premise seems a lot more boring but I think it's an effective way to address the issue.

Also what is up with white racist men who are obsessed with making it seem as though we are obsessed with white women? Lol

I just wanted to ask you guys to not play into their narrative and to reject it completely.

"DO NOT REDEEM" came from one of his videos and every post that talk about Indian have atleast one comment that makes this joke.

Has he ever acknowledged or talked about how his videos have led to dehumanisation and racism against Indians?