India: School texts heil Hitler, slam Gandhi

Gawd. So 6 million dead Jews and millions of other Gypsies, Communists, homosexuals and other "undesirables" isn't as bad as boycotting government functions?

It boggles the mind. Is some guy named Goebbels in charge of writing these text books?

Mmm, this is really interesting. I just finished my senior year in high school, some of my classes being with a student from India. He is, in fact, from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. We had a loose friendship for some time until the end of the year -- he just became too arrogant in AP Calculus-- but more on topic, I recall an incident that occurred perhaps a month after I met him.

In a discussion about history, the Indian boy -- I'll call him Dishant, because that's his name -- began to talk about the Third Reich and Hitler's views on the ridiculous and mythical Aryan. Dishant told me how India stresses that they are Aryans, and then, gesturing towards me, declared, "We are Aryans... just like you."

It was funny. Really. Because I'm Jewish. Granted, I don't believe in the "Aryan race" to begin with, but to imagine that a proponent of it is including a characteristically excluded group amused me. I told Dishant of my proclivity, and it confused him. He told me that it made no difference and that I am still an "Aryan".

So, frustrated and embarrassed, I showed Dishant the Indo-European language tree and told him that Aryan is simply a linguistic grouping. The racial theory has been disproved. No links have been found between modern Europeans and the ancient people known as Aryans. He didn't really buy it -- I think they really pound this Aryan drivel into their heads, judging by his reaction. Not in a superiority sense, like the Nazis, but just linking Indians to the ancient people.

Anyway, bottom line, he didn't even know WHY Hitler's false theories isolated Jews, despite believing them. Today, he has a swastika on his bumper. I **** you not. I saw it when a large group of my friends drove to the movies when school was getting ready to let out for summer. I think he understands now that "Semitic" has different roots than "Indo-European", he just doesn't understand that it's linguistically based and not racial. Ethnically speaking, Semitic is a sub-group of Caucasian.

Anyway, my proud Aryan friend was, for the most part, friendly to me. He's misguided, but not dangerously so.

Well actually, your friend is right about him being "Aryan" but not about Europeans being Aryan. The Aryan race is not a myth but an extremely misunderstood race thanks to the Nazis. Aryans weren't a "master race", and didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes like the Nazis lead us to believe, they were far from it. "Aryan" is in fact what the ancient Indo-Iranian race used to call themselves, which is clearly evident in ancient Sanskrit and Avestan texts. Iranians (Persians) and North Indians (Indo-Aryans) are descendants of the Aryan race. The Iranians are the closest to what the Aryans would have looked like (the word "Iranian" was derived from "Aryan" in the ancient times).

It wasn't until the 19th Century, when people began discovering the Indo-European language links, that people started coming up with the theory of there being a master race that all Europeans, Indians and Iranians originate from. This theory has never been proven (yet?)

Hitler and his Nazis, despite being racist against all things Jew and non-white, borrowed from Indian and Iranian culture. Under false propaganda, they declared Germans to be the only true Aryans, totally ignoring the Indians and Iranians. The "swastika" was a holy symbol used in Hinduism, and throughout Asia to represent love & peace until the Nazis tarnished the image of what it means by using it for their regime. There's nothing wrong with your friend having a swastika symbol on his bumper since its always been part of Hinduism.