On Slavery, Mentality and Macaulayism…

If you walk across a person of Indian sub-continent descent, there are two possibilities, either they are not going to make eye contact, or they are going to make eye contact. If you are a person of similar ethnicity, odds are heavily tilted towards getting a stare, which is defined as a severe eye contact. If you are from any other race, odds are heavily tilted towards no eye contact at all.There are two possible explanations, either people from the Indian sub-continent are full of humility or they suffer with low self-esteem. Again, this generalization is based on odds, and there will be exceptions, if you are one of Indian descent and like to stare everyone walking by you, then you are, obviously, an exception.

Slavery is defined as the state of “one” bound in servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household. One referring to a human being of course. Conversely, the use of livestock for production purposes would surmount to slavery as well.While slavery has been used as a means of production by cultures around the world, its safe to say that legal racial segregation has pretty much been eradicated from the face of the earth.

The term Macaulay’s Children is used to refer to people born of Indian ancestry who adopt Western culture as a lifestyle. The term is usually used in a derogatory fashion, and the connotation is one of disloyalty to one’s country and one’s heritage. It derives from Thomas Macaulay, the 19th century British historian and colonial administrator who regarded British culture as inherently superior to the Indian one, and who was the prime mover in replacing Sanskrit and Persian with English as the medium of instruction. This attitude is often referred to as Macaulayism. Macaulayism in the Indian subcontinent is distant akin to perhaps the paper bag test or the blue vein society in the United States. The paper bag test was common way to judge entry into a social place or educational institution if the skin tone was equal or lighter than a paper bag. The blue vein society on the other hand was eligibility to join a club if the arms showed blue veins. Derogatory as these may sound, such practices have been eradicated since the black is beautiful movement. Macaulayism on the other hand, is very much alive and kicking in the sub-continent. English is very much the medium of higher education, the ability to speak English is considered an accolade, able to speak without an Asian dialect a sign of nobility.

So here is the lighter side, the African Americans were transported across an ocean, and screwed in every possible manner for almost five centuries. For the last half a century however, the tables have been turned. The black people have a man in the white house, they get paid disability allowance for being morbidly obese, they live with an attitude that says you screwed us for five centuries, and now you have to pay back.

Macaulay’s children on the other hand, even though over half a century has passed since the English left their lands, still admire and yearn for acceptance. The sub-continent was officially occupied in 1857, and freed in 1947. The effect of these ninety years is still strong after 63 years of freedom. The thing is there never was a Sub-continent is Superior movement. The English screwed the Indians, and then left without even putting any money on the table. Indians woke up the next morning all sore, in every hole imaginable and are still living with the scars. Sure some locals followed the English back, and are doing pretty much the same that black people are doing in America, but that doesn’t add or relinquish the misery of the inhabitants in the sub-continent. The basis of Macaulayism was the inability of the local inhabitants to govern successfully and hence their yearning to adopt a superior culture. So long as that holds true, whenever you walk by someone from the Sub-continent, and they don’t make eye contact, now you know why!