Here’s an analogy to describe how Hinduism and India is taught to students in Western schools and colleges. Mind you, in most cases, this is the first time the students are encountering Hinduism in any serious manner.
The analogy is of teenagers in a driving school.
In the first lecture at a driving school, while the students still have the option of opt-ing out (with full refund!), the school will likely show videos of some one driving a car through scenic landscapes, or of a race car zooming past the background, and other enticing videos. And they will talk about the freedom which comes from driving. If not romantically positive, at the very least, it will be utilitarian – you will have greater job opportunities if you know how to drive. Then, once the student is in, they will get to the technical aspects of steering control, gears, etc and hands-on training. This will go on for a few months till the student is a confident driver. Then in the last lecture, they will talk about the potential risks. They may show videos of crashing or burning cars. But they will also tell you that all the hazards can be avoided if certain precautions are followed. They will be very clear that driving per se is not the problem, the real problem is not following proper traffic rules and safety precautions.
At the end of the course, the student will be confident and eager to drive and encourage his friends to do the same.
Now contrast that with how Hinduism and India is taught –
The course typically begins with multiple lectures full of gruesome videos of crashing and burning cars, statistics of the number of people injured or killed, and so on [read – caste oppression, primitive, archaic, regressive, rigid, ..]. Then in the middle technical part of the course, it will be all about how the machine and the humans can go wrong [read – mechanics of how the evils manifest in the form of weird Gods, esoteric mantras, Brahmin supremacy, ..]. How one cannot count on other drivers on the road following traffic rules. They will point out that the there are continuous explosions in the internal combustion engine and how easy it is for the explosions to go out of control! [read – the whole system is fundamentally broken] Of course, there is no room for the romantically positive or even the utilitarian aspects.
At the end of the course, forget driving himself, the student will be scared just by watching a car on the TV!
Which one do you think is the right way of teaching a civilization?
This is Not Right Wing! 