First Twitter… now India!?

[FultzNationRISE]

Just saw a headline that the Indian government has started trial-ballooning referring to the country as “Bharat.”

Which will invariably be called “Borat” in western internet circles, that is until such jokes are deemed a crime, which they probably will be very quickly.

But it’s interesting how all these links to the past are being rapidly removed. Statues coming down, mascots being removed. Facebook and twitter have already become “meta” and “x” and now India is changing the name of its whole country.

Not saying any of it is right or wrong. Just observing.

We’re moving quickly toward a Brave New World!

[MrFonzworth]

I wonder what JSTERN has to say about this

[jstern]

I wonder what JSTERN has to say about this

I have nothing to add about India getting a name change. But I do like how FultzNationRISE, aka Akrazotile, so eloquently talked about the dynamics of this changing world. It reminded me a little of Walk on Water, because it was thought provoking. "We're moving quickly toward a Brave New World!" It really makes you think.

[Patrick Chewing]

Wokeness has reached the Punjabi shores.

[rawimpact]

Wokeness has reached the Punjabi shores.

pretty sure the state of punjab is landlocked

hence why most punjabi food does not have fish.

[Im Still Ballin]

Remember when Iran was Persia? And the Middle East was called the Near East? And Turkiye was Turkey? And Istanbul was Constantinople?

I remember.

[Bill Gates]

India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is pushing for this, is right-wing. He wants to be called "President of Bharat" which has sparked rumors that he wants to change the name of the country. Twitter has also been erased by someone with more conservative views, although Musk is not entirely conservative.

I don't think that the OP was trying to make this a right-left debate, but I can see that others might want to take it there.

[2qr3]

The ongoing debate in India regarding a potential name change only means that such a change is indeed inevitable. Even if only a fraction, say 5%, of the population supports the idea of a name change, it merely takes one person in a position of power to advance the process, for good. Which per statistics means it's only a matter of time.

In a way it's sad, as time progresses, society, culture, and technology changes. Like the OP mentioned, Facebook is now Meta, and Twitter is just the letter X. The world is changing faster today than at any other period in my lifetime. Up is down, down is up. Red is blue, blue is white, many statues are crumbling, mascots retired. Even the Cleveland Indians changed. So much of it doesn't even make sense anymore.

And now, even the name of such a highly populated country as India is changing. And I always liked the name Turkey. But it's best not to feel sad about it. Like the OP said, there's nothing right or wrong about.

I guess it's sad because as we forge ahead, we leave behind what was once familiar and comforting, and like the OP mentioned, we can only bravely move forward.