> To you and me, that might seem like people enjoying themselves, happy
> and free. But that would be because we are exoticising them. In truth,
> these are the faces of people pining (but not for a better outcome in
> terms of health, mortality, literacy, freedom from Western -- IMF, WB,
> etc -- diktats and so on), for better swimwear. ;-)
Health, low mortality, literacy, freedom from outside control - these are Western preferences. If some Indians or Iranians claim to want these things, it's only because they are part of an inauthentic leftist minority.
SA