India

Quite a few people are talking about India electing someone who is "genocidal".

Whatever the reasons, at the end of the day, I happen to disagree with you. I am not a crazy hindu fundamentalist. My difference in opinion with you on this one issue does not mean that I have suddenly lost all respect for you. If you feel otherwise - if you feel that you can no longer tolerate someone who holds a different opinion from yours, then I have nothing more to say.

I know what your opinions are. I have followed the evidence, the courts, and the news, and reached my own conclusions, which happen to differ from yours. I have spoken to many of you about this stuff, and have found many of you as stuck in your beliefs as any religious fundamentalist. It is clear that (a large portion of) you think that you know best, that your opinions are correct, and that the people of India are misguided morons.

Maybe you are right. Bad people have been elected before. In this case, I happen to trust the courts, the statistics, and the evidence that I have seen. I do not trust opinions. I do not trust immensely well written, moving essays. No doubt you have "counter-statistics" and well thought out arguments - I have probably heard most of them. I have spent hours upon hours reading every pro and anti Modi article I could get my hands on.

Please don't send me any of them. Just.. stop. My facebook feed is filled with this stuff. I am not an ignorant moron who knows nothing about the world - if you do not have that modicum of respect for me, then, again, I have nothing more to say.

It's funny how I keep writing after saying "I have nothing more to say" - perhaps it's because I do have something left to say: let's be friends and know that we are all trying to make the world a better place.
 
Have a nice day.