TLDR: I didn’t say I joined the right. I just said I left the left. Because the left is just as crazy as the far-right. Same bigotry, just a different set of holy cows. Now the long version.
The seeds of doubt
The mid-2000s:
I first heard of Donald Trump through his reality show, The Apprentice. He was some kind of billionaire with interests in real estate, casinos and fake wrestling.
Late 2007
I moved from Mysore to Bangalore, thinking: “Man, I’m happy to get out of this stupid conservative hick town and to the big city, where people are educated, open-minded, logical, and do not cling on to irrational beliefs like sheep-brained fanatics.” Feel free to take a couple minutes to laugh at this statement.
2011
Donald Trump and Barrack Obama didn’t seem to be getting along. Obama roasted/humiliated Trump in front of the whole world at the White House Correspondents Dinner. What a cool guy! Delivering his verbal punches with the savagery of a seasoned standup comedian.
2012
Obama got re-elected. Take that, Trump!
2014
Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister of the supposed world’s largest democracy. What was wrong with Indians, how could they do this?
I fantasized about moving out of this terrible country and out to Scandinavia – supposed to be the most highly developed parts of the world, a socialist paradise where no one is hungry or homeless. A beautiful fairytale land, full of snowy landscapes, crystal clear waters and gorgeous Nordic blonde women.
But I was stuck in India! I did the only thing I could – vented my frustration on social media about how we were living under a Fascist government, run by an RSS-affiliated communal dictator. Being a minority, I was a dead man walking!
2015
One year and hundreds of anti-Modi jokes, posts, tweets and memes later… I was alive and well. Liberals loved me for my outspokenness. And bhakts hated me. Intolerance was on the rise!
But now, a new breed of intolerants was on the rise – millennial snowflakes, also know as SJWs – Social Justice Warriors. Spoilt-rich, privileged city-bred kids with single digit IQ, and fragile emotions. They were so stupid, it was hilarious! YouTube was flooded with “SJWs versus logic” videos. Anything and everything was offensive to SJWs, even something as simple and non-controversial as “fat is unhealthy.” SJWs said the Protein World “beach body” ad was sexist and body-shamed women… all this while missing the gigantic irony – they themselves were “body-shaming” Renee Somerfield, the model in the ad.
2016
Brexit happened. And Donald Trump was in the news. A lot. Turns out he was racist, sexist, white-supremacist, misogynist, homophobic … I had no idea he was this kind of scumbag. And guess what… he was running for President!
Meanwhile, SJWs by this point were not funny anymore. No longer just benign jokes, their behaviour was getting increasingly violent and sociopathic. Last year it was Renee Somerfield, this year, Priyanka Chopra was the target of their ire, for wearing a t-shirt which was “offensive to refugees.” This malaise was coming to India too. Soon, we had desi SJWs, and they threw hissy fits about anything and everything.
But one incident disturbed me more than any other. A veteran Model/actress was viciously attacked and smeared by desi SJWs. Her crime? Daring to criticize the mess that modern feminism has become. I read her comments, it was a reasonable argument, not aggressively worded or anything. And by reacting aggressively, SJWs were only proving her point. Like Renee Somerfield, she too was body-shamed.
When I expressed my displeasure on the matter, guess what – even I got a lot of hate! What shocked me most was, these were not some random faraway SJWs, these were people who I knew and interacted with every day, the same people who loved me for my anti-Modi rants, now calling me a sexist and misogynist and what-not.
People, who claim to fight for women’s rights – how could they support such toxic abuse of a woman holding a different opinion? You are either with them 100% or you are a total misogynist – no in-between. This was the beginning of my resentment.
November 9th 2016
“Watching these election results with the same horror as I did Indian elections 2014.” – I tweeted. I was furiously refreshing the Google live results, watching hopelessly as Trump won state after state. And then it happened. I stopped refreshing. The colour drained from my face. It was done.
I was in a shocked, almost catatonic state that day. What was wrong with Americans? How could these inbred, hillbilly rednecks unleash this lunatic… this orange-haired orangutan on the world!? What was going to happen now? The future looked very dark. As if things were not grim enough, that other fascist head of state dropped another gigantic bombshell that day: demonetization
2016 ended and so did my delusion
By year end, I was unemployed, had very little money, but lots of time. I used the free time to educate myself, watched YouTube videos – tech documentaries and SJW vs. Logic videos. I came across Western activists and YouTubers like Stephen Crowder, Paul Joseph Watson, Black Pigeon Speaks, Lauren Southern, Tomi Lahren, Joe Rogan, Mark Dice – I didn’t agree with all they said, but I loved how they ripped into SJWs, destroyed them with logic and reasoning. And these so-called right-wingers were actually quite open-minded, logical, and not religious zealots. In fact, most of them were atheists.
No, I wasn’t brainwashed, I listened to all sides.
I educated myself about social/political topics. I learned that communism and socialism are not only unviable but outright deadly, catastrophic and genocidal. I learnt that my beloved Scandinavia was, in fact, hell on earth. I learned about cultural Marxism, permanent victimhood, identity politics, intersectionality, problems with open borders, a welfare state and big government.
Leftists believe in all these naïve, unviable, unrealistic and destructive ideas, and anyone disagreeing with them is called a racist or sexist or some -ist or -phobe. Basically, this is what “liberalism” means today. And they all had one more thing in common – they all supported Hillary Clinton.
I could see why people had resentment towards AAP.
“Free water for everyone!” No. It wasn’t. It was coming out of the taxpayer’s pocket. Nothing is free.
Then one day, I found this video of Donald Trump’s television interview where he said something like, “We are spending millions of dollars to arm the rebels. Who are these people, do we know them? If we had not gone to war, if we had not interfered, if our politicians had just gone and sat on the beach by the sun, the Middle-East wouldn’t be the mess it is today.”
Interesting. That didn’t sound at all like the war-mongering madman he was said to be.
I learned more and more as I came across intellectuals like Stefan Molyneux, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro. But they all seemed to support Donald Trump. How could they? Aren’t these supposed to be the good guys?
Meryl Streep made an emotional speech about how Trump made fun of a journalist’s disability. I listened to “other side” and their arguments. Apparently, Trump didn’t really make fun of a disabled journalist. Turns out it’s a hand gesture he’s been using for years. I did further research and I noticed a pattern:
“Trump calls Mexicans rapists!”
Truth: He said “they” – referring not to all Mexicans, but just violent illegal migrants. The video was deceptively edited.
“Trump banned abortions!”
Truth: He merely stopped government funding for a program that funded abortions in third-world countries. Why would American taxpayers want to fund that?
“Trumps talks about grabbing women by the p***y”
Truth: Well, okay, that one was real. He’s a bit crude in his language.
“Trump fired Comey out of spite!”
Truth: Comey was corrupt and a universally unpopular figure. Even Democrats thought so.
“Trump banned Muslims!”
Truth: He merely issued a temporary travel suspension against seven countries whose security procedures were deemed flimsy. The Executive Order is available for download, not a word in there about “banning Muslims.” Interestingly, Obama did the same thing – and for a longer period of time – no one said anything then.
“Trump is a racist who bans migrants!”
Truth: People saying this were asking for open borders – anyone can enter any country, at any time. What nonsense? Shouldn’t there be some sort of screening/vetting procedure? Again, Obama and Bill Clinton did the same thing, no one said anything back then.
Something was seriously wrong here – a glitch in the Matrix.
Red Pilled
-If Trump is a Fascist/Nazi, then how come nothing happens to people who criticize him?
-If Trump restricts freedom of speech, how come Jimmy Kimmel can directly send him mocking tweets on Oscar night and is not packed off to a gulag?
-If Trump is an Islamophobe, how come comedian Hasan Minhaj roasted Trump and suffered ZERO consequences?
-If Trump’s America is such a terrible place, how come thousands of the third world illegal immigrants are dying to enter it?
I took the trouble of watching the first Presidential debate between Trump and Hillary, and by the end of it, I was convinced: this whole “Trump is evil” thing is an elaborate hoax, mass hysteria. And the media was totally complicit. I mean, I wasn’t born yesterday, I know all news is biased, but the deception of such a colossal scale? This level of open brazen lying?
I showed my findings to my liberal friends.
“Um… guys. I think we have all been misinformed.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think the whole Trump thing is a lie. Look at what I found here…”
And people listened to me.
“Wow! You are right. I can’t believe we were so blind. Thank you, Ahmed. for opening our eyes…
*record scratching sound effect*
No, wait… that’s not what happened. “Racist! Sexist! Homophobe! Islamophobe!” People lost it, I got a lot of hate – from the people who call themselves “rational” and “tolerant.” I mean… the evidence is right there, in front of their eyes, why do they refuse to acknowledge it? Why are they still clinging on to their original belief in the face of overwhelming evidence that says otherwise? Why are they so blind, why are they screaming hysterically, why are people behaving so irrationally?
“Trump derangement syndrome” was real and it was scary. Madness. It was madness. And why did bhakts hate me? I checked some of my old posts and tweets – I must admit, some of them were outright obnoxious and offensive, not to mention totally stupid and uninformed, sounding all preachy and sanctimonious with half-baked knowledge.
Soon, I had to ask – if “Evil Donald Trump” was just a boogeyman created by the media, could it be possible it’s the same thing with Narendra Modi? No, I’m not a Modi fanboy, but I can definitely see anti-Trump type biased reporting, fake news lies of omission and just plain lies.
What I read: Modi flies all over the world on our tax money, gives unsolicited hugs to world leaders and industry captains, wears funny hats and plays musical instruments. LOL!
What I did NOT read: What serious talks went on after these formalities, the goodwill and partnerships he built with these countries, the business he’s brought back to the country.
What else has the media lied about? I had a lot of “unlearning” to do.
I started noticing surprising parallels between Western and Indian media:
-I have been trolling “Fascist” Modi for years, with my posts going viral and everything, and yet nothing happened to me (except a few mean comments on the internet).
-If Modi government restricts freedom of speech, how come speeches berating him are broadcast on national television?
-As a minority, I am getting “more than equal” treatment here, I have privileges like reservations.
-If India is so unsafe for Muslims, how come thousands of Bangladeshis are dying to enter here?
The parallels didn’t stop there. I noticed striking similarities between sentence structures used by Western SJWs and desi SJWs. They were just copy-pasting the same rhetoric, just replacing –
“white” with “Brahmin/Savarna”,
“Christian” with “Hindu”
“race/ colour” with “caste”
“Nazi/Fascist” with “Sanghi/right-winger”
Marxists and identitarians give people labels and make generalized assumptions based on their identity. They use the victim-card (even if they are very well-off) to arm-twist people (mostly guilt-ridden beta males) into giving them opportunities they are not qualified for, and would never win in a fair, transparent meritocratic system. They believe in “collective guilt.”
If a horrifying rape/sexual assault happens – “All men are rapists!”
Caste-based violence – “All Brahmins are evil!”
Islamist terror attack in Europe – “All Mus…”
No, wait, then they go “Let’s not spoil the name of an entire group just because of a few bad eggs. Peace and love for all. XOXO”
And why do I, Ahmed Shariff, have a problem with this? Because I know they’re faking it. These people have no moral base, the sheep-brained left goes by whatever is fashionable at the moment.
If tomorrow, hating Muslims becomes the “woke” thing to do, trust me, these semi-literate pseudo-intellectuals will be the first ones to turn around and stab me in the back! So all Brahmins are oppressors and all Muslims are victims – regardless of individual circumstances. But hey, these same people have also made me an “oppressor” when it suited them because you see, I’m “male.” They make me a hero or villain in their story, depending on whatever is convenient for them. You see, it was never about the “oppressed” to begin with, their veneer of virtue is just a ruse to advance their own careers.
Besides, these English-speaking hoity-toity snobs know nothing about Islam (or anything else for that matter.) They are too busy going on Europe vacations, partying in posh places with their fancy “woke” friends. Rich over-fed kids who haven’t seen a day of struggle in their lives, claim to speak on behalf of the common man, read a couple of clickbait articles and think they know everything. They don’t understand – most Indian Muslims are not very orthodox.
If true Arab-style Shariah were to come here, the perfumed elite would be second-class citizens paying jiziya and their “strong independent feminist women” covered from head to toe in burqas.
Yes, I know, the right is not too fond of Islam, but at least they are straightforward about it and we’ve found a way to work around it and co-exist in (a fragile) peace that we must all act responsibly to maintain. We disagree on a lot of things, but I found them to be surprisingly open-minded and polite and welcoming. Can’t say the same about leftists – some of the most stuck-up, close-minded intolerant people I’ve met.
I feel so uncomfortable around them, it is not a question of whether you will offend them, it’s just a question of when.
Because every day some new thing is declared offensive or sexist or racist or transphobe or this-ist or that-phobe. They keep making stuff up on a daily basis, it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep track of this.
Like, one day, you could just casually utter something and dozens of self-righteous lefties will descend on you, seething with fury, frothing at the mouth, calling you -ists and -phobes and you are left bewildered, thinking “What.. What did I say wrong? How… when did this become offensive? I didn’t get the memo!”
Their beliefs are not “bordering on insanity,” they have crossed the border, got an Aadhar card and settled down. They get weirder and weirder by the day.
Sample this: “There are 76 different genders, not just male and female.”
I’m supposed to believe this garbage, otherwise, I’m ignorant and intolerant. You thought only “right-wingers” make ridiculous unscientific statements?
People are being brainwashed en masse by propagandists, manipulated and turned into zombies incapable of independent thought. The story of The Matrix is truer than you think, we really are being controlled by machines. It is happening right here, right now, and it’s scary. Do not waste time arguing with these people, it’s pointless – their brains are immune to logic and reasoning. Give your answer where it matters – in the polling booth.
The far-left is just as intolerant as the far-right – a phenomenon called “horseshoe theory.”
In the end, I want to say – I’m not a right-winger, I’m not a Sanghi, I’m not one of your many -ists and -phobes. I’m just the kid who’s pointing out that the emperor is not wearing any clothes.
