The wet markets of China have unleashed a monster on the world that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of the 21st Century world. In due course of time, the world will recover and normalcy will return. But people who assume that normalcy in the post-Corona world will be just as how it was before are sorely mistaken. Because the virus is not the only determinant factor here. On many fronts, the virus has only vastly accelerated trends that were already in motion prior to its ascendance. And going forward, these trends combined with other measures necessitated by the advent of the pandemic will determine the future of humanity for the next few decades at the very least.
The Wuhan Coronavirus, and the lockdown necessitated by it, has forced individuals, societies and even entire countries to contemplate and confront their existential crisis in order to chart their path forward. There is certain clarity in life that only birth and death circumstances can provide. There is no time for stupid bullshit in these situations. It is for this reason that we no longer hear about the latest episode in the gender wars in the media or which toilet somebody wants to use. Or if the task force is too male or too Brahminical. Because the thirst for survival cuts through the haze of feigned outrage like knife through butter.
Every individual on this Earth experiences these rare moments of clarity, when everything seems more real than ever before. It feels as if a veil has been lifted from our eyes. And more often than not, these moments are precipitated by an immediate threat to one’s life. But it rarely happens that entire societies are forced to confront their demons collectively. The same is even rarer for nations and perhaps it is for the first time since the end of the second world war that the multitude of nations in the entire world are being forced to confront their personal existential crisis simultaneously.
The future is yet uncertain but there are certain truths that have again become self-evident during the course of this crisis. We can pretend to close our eyes to it and pretend it isn’t staring right across our faces but truth has a way of manifesting itself regardless of our affinity towards it. And the times are such that we can afford to shy away from these truths but we can do only at a terrible cost.
Tribal Loyalties Matter
One of the fundamental aspects of human society that countries around the world are having to confront is the reality of tribal loyalties and their significance. For far too long, multiculturalists and social constructionists had deluded themselves under the pretension that modern technology and science could give rise to radically different societies that mark a significant departure from the hundreds and thousands of years of human evolution. For this particular brand of intellectual buffoons, national borders were merely an inconvenience to be resolved, an obstacle to be overcome. Nationalism was poison and the lyrics of John Lennon’s famous composition ‘Imagine’ became the perfect encapsulation of their political ideology.
Religious ties, nationalism, tribal loyalties, as inconvenient as they can be on certain occasions, these are not things that one could wish away. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that humans should even attempt to wish these away. There is sufficient evidence to indicate that traditional religious beliefs lend certain evolutionary advantages to their adherents compared to those that have been consumed by irreligious inclinations. The concept of religion is, of course, vast and therefore it is necessary to differentiate between traditional religions and counter-religions. And it also needs to be remembered that these counter-religions emerged essentially from monotheism itself.
When we speak of traditional religions in the 21st Century, they would be Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism and the sort. The counter-religions would be the political ideologies such as Progressivism, and Marxism and the sort. I shall not elaborate on why these leftist political ideologies are religions in themselves but one can read about an earlier article I had penned on the matter here to gain a better understanding of my reasoning. But suffice it to say that the political ideologies of the Left are religions in their own right but unfortunately, these are morbid religions which do not provide their adherents with any evolutionary benefit. It is these religions that multiculturalists and social constructionists are the adherents of and it is the morbidity of these counter-religions that has become so evident in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. But again, the trends towards the failure of these counter-religions were already prevalent and the virus has only accelerated it manifolds.
The Existential Crisis For Hindus
In the United States of America, the elections of Donald Trump as its President marked a rejection of globalist ideologies by the masses. In the United Kingdom, it was the Brexit and the subsequent Brexit election. In India, Narendra Modi’s stellar victory in 2014, and again in 2019, marked the end of the decadent ideology or Nehruvianism in the country. All over the world, such political trends have been observed. While in colloquial terms, these political victories can be considered the surge of the rightwing across the world, in reality, these victories only marked the rejection of the masses of the morbid political ideologies of the Left.
Hindus have a special existential question to address here. As the only major civilization in the world without a country of its own, it is under threat from a multitude of forces, from traditional religions as well as counter-religions. It is important to understand that these religions reflect tribal loyalties and tribal loyalties run far deeper than mere political posturing. They are engraved in our blood, our bones, our genes and indeed, our very soul. For a great many years, even after a partition following a civil war as late as 1947 and another genocide in 1971 and another in 1989, Hindus had been convinced by the Leftist establishment that there was nothing to fear and that they were, in fact, the oppressors even as the throats of their coreligionists were being slit by Radical Islamic Terrorists. Simultaneously, rapid demographic invasion of certain regions of the country was underway.
There is good reason why the Left acted in the manner they did because although they may carry Hindu names and follow certain aspects of Hindu culture, they aren’t really Hindus. Because the Left represents an entirely different set of polymorphous religious beliefs. And naturally, its adherents are only concerned with protecting its own tribal interests. Similarly, followers of Islam prioritize their primary tribal interests above all else and at times, even at the expense of the country. What Hindus need to understand is that there is nothing wrong about coreligionists working together to prioritize the self-interests of the in-group over the out-group.
The Left has demonized Hindus for too long for prioritizing the interests of the Hindu Community even as they actively encouraged the ‘minority communities’ of India to do the same by consolidating their political power behind one single political entity. If nothing else, the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated amply that there are no boundaries the Left will not invade in order to defend the most radical and perverse elements within the Muslim community. This is not due to some allegiance to some higher ideal or some other fancy virtue. It is primarily due to the fact that Leftists are a different tribe than Hindus and tactical alliances are often necessary in order to annihilate your perceived enemy.
Tactical Alliances
Readers will note that such an alliance between the Left and Islam is not observed in China, where the Communist regime has locked up large number so Uighurs in ‘reeducation camps’ and is forcibly making Uighur women sleep with Chinese government officials. Similarly, while Christian organizations in India are often seen in an alliance with Islamic organizations to further their own interests, the same is not observed elsewhere in the world where they are at war with each or too busy persecuting each other. Even within India, in Kerala, Christian institutions are up in arms because Radical Muslims are apparently engaging in concerted attempt to convert Christian girls, otherwise known as Love Jihad. The point is, all things considered, tactical alliances are formed all the time by various tribes competing for dominance and interests. The alliance between the Left, the Church and Radical Muslims in India is one such opportunistic alliance.
There are a few aspects of this that Hindus need to understand regarding such alliances. In India, the Left will always side with Islam and Christianity and against Hinduism. It is simply because Hinduism is the overbearing force in our country. It is the very fabric holding this country together. Furthermore, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism closely associated with Hinduism and cumulatively, they are an overwhelming force. And so, the Left, which is much closer ideologically to Islam and Christianity due to its origins from the Abrahamic memeplex, naturally aligns itself with them in order to counter the mammoth strength of Hinduism in the country. Hindus need to understand that there will never come a contentious issue on which they will receive unequivocal support from the Left. It is simply because the Left represents an entirely different tribe and they are in alliance with the ideological nemesis of Hinduism.
There is another significant development that has occurred during the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic that Hindus need to take note of. A section of Indian Muslims and the Left organized a targeted campaign against Hindus living in the Middle East, obviously frustrated with the series of setbacks they have suffered in recent times on important policy matters. Article 370 is gone, the CAA is in effect and Ram Janmabhoomi has been reclaimed by Hindus after centuries of effort. These are pretty good times to be living in if you are a Hindu, not so much for Radical Muslims. Thus, the frustration is being taken out against Hindus in Gulf countries. In their efforts, they have been aided by certain malcontents in Arab countries and numerous Hindus have suffered immensely as a consequence.
This recent development, most of all, should make Hindus painfully aware of the necessity to have a state of their own. There are no Hindu states in the world currently. It puts Hindus at a great disadvantage when the Ummah manifests itself as it has recently. Until and unless Hindus have a state of their own, they will not be able to combat effectively enough such an alliance between Radical Muslims and the Left in India and their counterparts abroad. Of course, having a Hindutva government at the Center instead of a Nehruvian Secular government has its benefits but the potential of a billion Hindus can only be fully actualized when they have a state of their own.
The Crisis Of Nation States
For a very long time, ‘intellectuals’ of the world have prophesied that in the wake of a grave crisis, humanity will unite as a whole to combat it. For sometime, Climate Change was supposed to be the issue that galvanized the world into uniting its resources in order to fend off the impending threat. That is clearly not happening. While every country offers sermons on the severity of the issue, most do absolutely nothing to combat it and prioritize their own interests over the whole of humanity.
To be clear, I personally do not endorse the Climate Change Doomsday Theories and can very well understand why countries are so reluctant to take concrete steps in accordance with the proclaimed severity of the matter. But the larger point still stands. Climate Change was long regarded as an issue that could unite the world but it did not. Truth be told, only fools believed it was ever possible.
In the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, which is proving to be a far graver threat than Climate Change, in the present and the immediate near future at least, it has become abundantly clear that humanity may never be able to unite themselves as a whole. Let alone uniting the whole world, the pandemic has not even inspired nation states and their citizens to present a united front against it. It has exposed beyond measure the fragility of nation states itself, especially in democracies, and prominent cracks have started to appear.
In the United States, for example, the Republicans and Democrats are still at war with each other over the best possible course of action. Each is blaming the other and in the midst of it all, inspired by tribal loyalties, citizens are on the streets protesting against perceived misguided policy decisions and the lockdown enforced to combat the crisis. Again, each tribe, red or blue, is prioritizing its own interests against that of the nation as a whole. In Brazil as well, President Bolsonaro joined anti-lockdown protesters against the decision of state governors to impose the lockdown.
Countries in South Asia such as Taiwan and Japan and even India have fared much better in this regard and although surveillance measures have been adopted to assist the fight against the Wuhan Coronavirus, the citizenry by and large have cooperated with the governments in their efforts. But even within India, we have repeatedly witnessed significant sections of the country refuse to adhere to government guidelines and unfortunately, the sections are indicative of the tribal loyalties of the individuals concerns.
Even in the wake of the pandemic, members of tribes have prioritized furthering their own interests at the expense of others and accused either the virus or the efforts to curb it to be a conspiracy hatched against their particular tribe. All of this only further elucidates the fact that even within nation states, tribal loyalties do matter and when the interests of diverse tribes diverge too greatly, giant fissures emerge within nation states which could even threaten its territorial integrity. Thus, there’s no good reason why Hindus should not prioritize the interests of their own community above all else.
A New Age
One thing is for certain. In due course of time, the pandemic will recede and the world will return to normalcy. But the normalcy of the future will not be anything like what it was until the advent of the pandemic. The morbidity of counter-religions has been exposed far too much for things to return as they were. It will be difficult for anyone to forget that when the virus loomed large over the horizon, liberals in Italy initiated a ‘Hug a Chinese’ campaign to combat racism which only served to exacerbate the crisis and cost a huge loss of life in the country. People will remember that when US President Donald Trump suspended travel from China, he was called racist for it and any effort to put the blame at China’s feet, as it thoroughly deserved, was construed as racism.
At this critical juncture of history, Hindus should recognize the significance of the circumstances and must rise to the occasion to combat the existential crisis that the great Hindu Civilization faces. The Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic has provided great clarity into the reality of human society and, indeed, human nature itself. Tribal loyalties matter, identities matter, religion matters and not having a state of one’s own places a civilization at a great disadvantage. The tactical alliances arranged against the Hindu Civilization ought to be recognized and consequently, dedicated efforts will have to be made in order to rectify the wrongs of the past.
A certain character in Michael Dibdin’s novel Dead Lagoon opined, “There can be no true friends without true enemies. Unless we hate what we are not, we cannot love what we are. These are the old truths we are painfully rediscovering after a century and more of sentimental cant. Those who deny them deny their family, their heritage, their culture, their birthright, their very selves! They will not lightly be forgiven.” As we stand in the precipice of history, these words assume even greater significance.
