Open Thread
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Open Thread: From Flattery to Fatigue — What the Iranian Diaspora Can’t Admit
Open thread on the Iranian diaspora: X.T.M links his Ta’arof post to Sharghzadeh’s ‘Iranian Diaspora Fatigue’ video, arguing the diaspora performs flattery toward whiteness, and asks whether it preserves Persian…
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On Moderation, Minoritization, and the Elite
X.T.M reflects on over-curating the threads and says his interest has moved from the India–Pakistan binary to who makes meaning and who sits in the room, setting out nested elite…
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Merit, Class, and the Ossified Dream
Writing from Newark Airport, X.T.M argues that class structures have ossified in the Global North, and suggests that educated upper-middle-class Hindus who followed the IIT and Ivy route face a…
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Denial Isn’t Just a River in Egypt—It’s a Dammed Indus Too
X.T.M rejects a commenter’s claim that caste does not exist in Pakistan, citing biradari, zaat and ashraf–ajlaf hierarchies, and argues that saying Hindus ‘left’ in 1947 erases a violent dislocation.
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Flame Thread Protocols: Honey Kabir
Editor’s note on a flame thread between two commenters: X.T.M says he will favour familiar, accountable voices over anonymous ones, likening moderation to hosting a discussion in a living room.
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Jet Lag: India, Pakistan, and the Theatre of the Air
Open thread on a commenter’s claim that India’s Chief of Defence Staff has acknowledged jet losses in the recent India–Pakistan conflict, with X.T.M asking for civil debate and calling Pakistani…
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Open Thread: Rajiv Gandhi, 34 Years On
Open thread marking 34 years since Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, inviting reflection on his legacy, plus moderation notes asking commenters to update handles.
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Flame Thread Warning
Moderation warning that stricter deletion of comments is coming. X.T.M also notes the killing of Ahmadi physician Dr Sheikh Mahmood Ahmad and argues Pakistan must rethink its treatment of minorities.
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“What You Hate is What You Love” — Reflections on the Indo-Pak Obsession
X.T.M argues that Indian reactions to Pakistan, especially in the Hindi–Hindu belt, show an intimate sibling rivalry rather than indifference, and that the divide of 1947 remains psychic as well…
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Open Thread — On Foundational Clefts and Brown Pundits’ raison d’être
Open thread in which X.T.M says Brown Pundits’ niche is excavating the Two-Nation Theory, the subcontinent’s foundational cleft, and asks whether South Asia is one civilisation or two.
