India Uncut

[I]t could be argued that for the media and public culture in general bouts of self-righteousness are increasingly being used as a substitute for a moral life of discrimination. So long as we can find someone to dump upon, our moral task is complete; we are reassured of our own virtue. Discussions of public morality in India, especially among the middle classes are always amazing in one respect. Every such discussion is about all of us individually feeling superior to others: it is always others who are corrupt, others who are in the grip of the wrong morality, others who have shown bad taste, others who oppress other people. I have never understood how everyone could be so morally sanctimonious and yet society apparently not that moral. The only explanation is that we are interested in morality not for morality's sake but because it is an occasion for the assertion of self righteousness.