Indians and racism

Cricinfo has a rather simplistic take on the issue. Soumya Bhattacharya:

1. discusses insults with a friend and concludes that, across the world, "a racist slur would be the most unacceptable one of all".
2. thinks that India is a racist country and that Indians are in denial of the fact.
   
3. concludes that cultural differences are no excuse and that we need to grow up and realise that "abusive language is less of an offence internationally than a racist taunt".

Yes. Your average sportsperson needs to learn, not that insults are unsporting and immature in the first place, but that there is a scale. Some are worse than others in some countries. Pick and choose, Soumya seems to say. Don't say anything that will offend the Western world. You can, however, stoop to what they consider acceptable?
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But point #2 is what I really want to discuss. Are Indians racist?

If they are, you'd need more evidence than the fair skin issue. The fair skin preference is a problematic example because it has many roots, the most common of which is an idea of beauty--not dissimilar to those in other cultures.

No, if Indians come across as racist, the evidence lies firstly in our cultural superiority complex. The Pew Global Attitudes survey found that 93 percent of Indians believe their culture to be superior to others' (see here). However, make no mistake, this is always coupled with our admiration of financial and political power.

We look down upon Caucasian culture but, since Caucasians hold so much power, we can't always express it clearly. It's easier for us to feel superior to, say, poor Asian countries or struggling African ones, and express these thoughts with no compunctions. If you are an Indian living abroad, you might have come across this constant putting down of other minorities, this constant looking down upon others.

It's a scorecard weighted by culture and power. And a lazy mind will subconsciously use race as an indicator of power. Which is why I think the Indian crowds singled out Symonds. They saw him as the weak link in a team that's otherwise hard to bring down through sledging. They saw themselves as being inferior to the others in the team, and superior to him.

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So are Indians racist? I, for one, certainly think so. I think we only partly understand our own attitudes towards others.

For a long time, we have seen racism as something done to us. The average Indian is indignant when accused of racism because there have been none of the hard lessons that the West has had. There has been little controversy in India when it comes to race. We have no baggage, and therefore, appalingly, no guilt for our actions.

If nothing else, this incident will help us understand more about ourselves.