Francis Miville on Orwell’s view of India and Hinduism:
The British Empire, in contrast to the German view of Russia, planned nothing other than perpetual scarcity as the ideal mode of government for India and for most of the planet including the British Isles.
Actually, this was a mode of government which many Indian kingdoms had already mastered perfectly well by the adroit use of divisive multiculturalism. For there is no such thing as humanity in Hinduism. Instead, there are only mafias. In that religion, many animals are entitled to more respect than most humans.
George Orwell was horrified by both Hinduism and Hindustani Islam. The latter bothered him because the most totalitarian form of Islam was not in the Arab World but instead in Northern India as evidenced by the Sahih Bukhari hadiths.
He was utterly disgusted by the fascination the Anglo Protestant elites had for the most “romantic” and alienating forms of Hindu culture. Among other things he loathed the Anglo fascination with yoga and vegetarianism.
He especially disliked it when the self-guilt of the British colonizers was applied back home onto the English working class. The colonizers did this back home by making workers feel guilty for trying to escape their misery which their class brethren also suffered in India.
Orwell foresaw in what was to become “New Age” philosophy the greatest danger that could terminate for good the grand adventure of Western social progress through an extremely seductive and perverted system of philosophy.
Wokeness was already in full swing in space and time.
At the time, his philosophy was structured and designed by the Theosophical Society for the mental management of everybody in the Empire.
Orwell’s misgivings proved to turn out to be damn right. In particular the “doublethink” philosophy which he describes doesn’t caricature any form of totalitarian Marxism however perverted, as it has nothing to do with Soviet diamat.
Instead, “doublethink” is not a caricature of anything. On the contrary, it neatly sums up the Advaita (“twoness-free”, “doubly-rightness”) Philosophy in India. This way of thinking says that everything is dual, including in particular your own existence as a separate being from the economic system you are part of.
This duality of your existence has no right to exist at all. Instead, one is to achieve the state of consciousness that enables one to view the surrounding misery without revolting. This tolerance of squalor is produced by pondering paradoxes such love being the same as hatred and freedom being the same as slavery. The result is a society governed by the Hobbesian imperative of a war of all against all.
Orwell saw this way of thinking as a big mental obstacle that could topple socialism in its progress. He first tried to addressed the issue directly in his articles. But he was censored there with the force of a Medieval Inquisition’s force. This censorship against him resembled the worst sort of racism practiced against the most victimized workers by the very companies who were employing them.
Indian culture, like Catholicism but much fiercer, says in substance that as a simple believer you are not authorized to interpret sacred texts and prayers. That is left to the hereditary priests alone. Instead you are supposed to repeat them and enjoy their rhythm and cadence.
In the same way, you are not allowed even to “read” (analyze and study) Nature itself, as it is the finest book written by the Creator Gods. That must be left to hereditary elites seen as scientists. “Science” here does not mean using empiricism. Instead you are supposed to listen to the conclusions of authorized “scientific” authorities.
Volga Germans are perhaps what German expansionists dreamed of for Russia. It already happened on a small scale. They were productive and the early eastward thrusts seem positive overall.
Yes Catharine the Great brought them over specifically because they were great farmers and they were so hardworking and productive.
The Germans had that reputation in a lot of places. I think Romania imported German farmers for the same reason, and there are now a couple of German groups in Romania in the mountains that speak very weird forms of German that cannot be understood by a German speaker at all! I know a physician who is a member of this ethnic group. His wife is too and I talked to her a bit too. Actually I did counseling with both of them. They were my clients. The man was a client for literally years.
Yes I believe the Volga Germans were patriotic Russians if I am not mistaken. They continued to speak German (Volga German) but they spoke Russian too. I don’t think they were a problem even in WW2, but I could be very mistaken about that.