Why I Resigned from the Gates Foundation | Hacker News Reader

Why I Resigned from the Gates Foundation

nytimes.com

21 pointsAndrewBissell36 comments

It's not something I'd expect most non-Indians to notice immediately, but the whole "politicians promise toilets" thing has been a common scam in India for decades. It's a very easy thing to promise, and frequently half-delivered if at all. Getting a toilet built and safely maintained is almost as rare as a cold-email from Nigeria following through with the million dollars they promised.

Why has this been flagged? The article by itself is an interesting nuanced take. Was it flagged due to the extremely poor quality of comments here or due to people down voting the article?

It's a controversial topic. Many of us "westerners" don't "get" some aspects of Muslim culture. It's hard to express the puzzlement in a way that doesn't offend. I do try to ask diplomatically, but my ability to articulate such sticky subject matter in a seamless way is apparently limited. Please have patience.

I don't understand your comment. Are we commenting on the same article? As far as I can tell this article is about Modi and how the Gates foundation is wrong in its decision to award Modi.

The article speaks about how the Clean India Mission is a farce in reality. It speaks about the NRC which ironically, despite its original intent, ended up rendering a majority of Hindus stateless. It speaks about the completely undemocratic lock down of Kashmir.

How is any of this related to Muslim culture? Or do you think any anti Modi article is by some odd definition, decidedly pro Muslim? That's like saying any anti Trump article is definitely anti American. Muslims are referred to almost as many times as Dalit, Christians and Jews. Show we question their culture as well?

Don't dress your bigotry in the garb of pseudo intellectualism.

tl;dr - Butthurt muslim feelings about other people treating Muslims 1% as bad as muslims treat non-muslims.

We've banned this account for repeatedly posting flamebait to HN and ignoring our requests to stop.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I understand that the wording is not very intelligent and even malevolent, and, what is interesting, if you abstract that's how I would imagine an accurate description would sound out of an internet troll's mouth.

Narrative and contexts are extremely important, in this case, Islam has been historically (and still is) of the strictest religions (if not The). With precisely described and followed rules for entering (conversion), and exiting (death is the only exit on papers, but majority are quite moderate and the worst you'll get is a disappointed kick in the butt by your family), and about "universal" way everyone should live their live.

And specifically due to this "strictness" (easy to convert and "impossible" to break out) we see the "popularity" of this religion on the World's Map, and also due to this "strictness" modern views and prejudices have been formed as it is very easy for a small group of extremists to take it over the top.

Also history is fascinating! Just a couple centuries ago the roles were reversed! Middle east is the cradle of the math as we know it! While West and Europe were busy with crusades and inquisitions, they were doing math and science in Alexandria. Wonder how things will play out in a couple hundred years from now.

There are lots of articles about how Americans have become increasingly cynical and dismissive of science. Who knows, maybe another reversal will occur in a hundred or so years, with Americans abandoning science and the Middle East abandoning religion.

This is a softer form of religious flamewar in its own right. Please don't post arguments about to HN which religion is the worst. It can lead nowhere good.

Thanks for expressing the blunt truth.

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