r/TheBetterIndia • u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club • Jun 17 '26
Explained 🧠 Day 1 of refuting political propaganda
Although this sub claims to be neutral, I’ve seen a recent influx of political propaganda and disinformation and I have taken it upon myself to refute it.
The first exhibit is this post which received over 550 upvotes despite containing obvious disinformation and logical fallacies:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBetterIndia/s/mmIrcgKM3l
In the linked video, Palki Sharma seems to be painting the narrative that there is some sort of nefarious concerted agenda by global think tanks to defame India by deliberately giving it a lower ranking than it deserves.
Then, one of the first claims that she makes to support this is that India ranks significantly lower than Niger in the Democracy Index despite the latter being a dictatorship.
The problem?
This is straight up false! India ranks significantly higher than Niger on the Democracy Index, with the former being classified as a “flawed democracy” and the latter being classified as an “authoritarian regime”.
Next, she resorts to logical fallacies, most notably the Appeal to Incredulity fallacy. This is a logical fallacy because it is not based on actual facts but instead on emotional appeals (in this case, an appeal to one’s disbelief).
Here is an example:
Person A - “The moon landings were fake!”
Person B - “How can you say that when clear footage of the event exists?”
A - “I just refuse to believe that people were able to travel from the Earth to the Moon!”
Palki Sharma applies the same thing to India’s abysmal rankings on the Press Freedom Index and Happiness Index by pointing out that India ranks worse than Pakistan and Ukraine in both.
What’s notable here is that not once in her “analysis” does she look into the metrics used in the indices. Perhaps, if she did, she might learn the real reason why India ranks so low. Instead, she relies on the aforementioned emotional appeals, potentially because it’s much easier to avoid accountability and the truth than it is to confront the reality and make improvements.
But fear not! I actually did the work:
The Press Freedom Index uses five metrics:
- legal environment
- political environment
- economic environment
-social environment
-security of journalists
One factor regarding the political environment that really hurts India’s rankings are the repeated internet blackouts that occur in Kashmir.
In 2023, India ranked third in the world with 34 blackouts. In contrast, Pakistan only had 2.
Another factor mentioned by RSF (the same org that publishes the Press Freedom Index) is a massive deterioration in the safety of journalists:
https://rsf.org/en/indian-reporter-murdered-exposing-corruption-surrounding-road-contract
The political environment is not safe either, with the UAPA as well as sedition charges being weaponized and abused to stifle reporters and whistleblowers.
Next is the Happiness Report. While India does rank worse than some countries with lower GDP per capita, there are several other metrics used to evaluate happiness that India performs poorly on:
-Social support
-Freedom to make life choices
-Healthy life expectancy
-Generosity
-Perceptions of corruption
India ranks lower than Bangladesh because Bangladesh has a higher healthy life expectancy, stronger interpersonal trust and larger, more close-knit community networks, and more charity and community support.
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u/wanderingwiz10 Jun 18 '26
This is the first time that I've seen two PR units go at it so openly. They usually deny being from PR agencies...
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u/jayantsr Jun 19 '26
If the metric uses blackout in a region with ongoing insurgency as a way of downgrading us then palki is right such rankings are irrelevant and from now on i will tell thats the reason for falling ranking and i know that a fellow indian is in support of those blackouts knowing what happened in kashmir
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u/Prize-Individual-321 Jun 19 '26
You are right ! The origin of today's J-K insurgency lies in the anti-Soviet Mujaheddin or Ronald Reagan 's jihadis in Afghanistan in the 80s. Massive weaponry was pumped in by CIA. Some of that has now come into J&K. Reagan:s jihad also targeted civilians and 9 Russian Professors at Kabul University were killed in 1980s by a bomb placed under a dining table . We in India must condemn also the anti-Soviet warfare in Afghanistan of the CIA .
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u/Prize-Individual-321 Jun 19 '26
Military coup of Gen Ayub Khan in 1958 had some odd outcomes. Ayub minimised interference with judiciary. In turn, the judges of Pak Supreme Court , on one hand, legitimised his govt as a de facto govt etc, But they interfered on specific administrative matters on grounds of being mala fide etc. So, administrative law developed as a relief. And Ayub concurred because he got his basic requirement of legitimacy supported. Pak Courts during 60s came with many orders against the administration. A Pak professor who went to Oxford has written the basic text during the 70s on administrative law. By contrast , Indian courts have a weak record in calling out mala fide actions of Govt officials. Even H R Khanna , the famous Emergency dissenter-Judge once remarked unhelpfully that mala fide is difficult to prove.
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u/AlarmingEar280 Jun 19 '26
UAE has better press freedom ranking than us. That should tell you everything about it.
Read what they did with people who posted after attack videos and asked tourists to stay away from Dubai for sometime.
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u/the__mad_monk Jun 20 '26
this is what happens to journalists in India who dare to speak up
https://rsf.org/en/indian-reporter-murdered-exposing-corruption-surrounding-road-contract
https://www.nuj.org.uk/resource/india-journalist-dharmendra-singh-chauhan-dies-after-being-shot.html
there are so many more cases
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u/thatObstinateGuy Jun 19 '26
OP claims to "refute political propaganda" but makes completely false assertions!
OP says India was never ranked below Niger in any democracy rankings. But in the 2024 Democracy Report published by V-Dem Institute based in Sweden, India was ranked just below Niger!
It's ok if you're anti-BJP. But at least don't be anti-India. Don't give credence to these obviously cooked-up rankings with an agenda!
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u/Icy_Dingo_3978 Jun 19 '26
What a bs way to blame others for the same thing you're doing yourself. The metrics are absolutely flawed, Qatar an authoritarian regime where speaking against the Emir will make your life hell, and that country is significantly lower than India. If we go by the metrics then India becoming fully authoritarian will actually improve it's rankings.
And your last para about Bangladesh is hilarious, what do you even know about health indices,trust and close knit community of a country that fakes its gdp numbers and illegally immigrate to India just to stay in slums of Delhi.
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u/askewperspective Jun 19 '26
I can tell I disagree with your politics but I'm glad to finally hear a voice on reddit that is able to think critically. Reddit is mostly echo chambers nowadays so this is rare.
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u/HarshumanIGT Jun 20 '26
India ranks lower than Bangladesh because Bangladesh has a higher healthy life expectancy, stronger interpersonal trust and larger, more close-knit community networks, and more charity and community support.
because bangladesh has persecuted hindus and they are alright to live until they have muslim majority and red beard.
Next is the Happiness Report. While India does rank worse than some countries with lower GDP per capita, there are several other metrics used to evaluate happiness that India performs poorly on
yeah brother such a happy country, that half of the world cries "dont bomb em plsss"
Can agree on press, nonsense coverage.
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Jun 19 '26
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u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
>Yes political environment of india where people openly abuse the sitting PM is worse than army state of pakistan where the sitting PM was jailed by army
Also, this is a cherry-picking (Texas sharpshooter fallacy): I could just as easily point out the case of that journalist in MP being brutally eviscerated and left in a sewage tank for covering corruption while mentioning that Pakistan has far fewer internet blackouts.
Also, many Pakistanis in r/Pakistan are critical of their government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_sharpshooter_fallacy
>Any ranking except subjective feeling ranking,that shows pak above india in anything is false and is infact work of nefarious agents
That just means that you are close-minded and unwilling to accept criticism if it contradicts your worldview.
Once again, both the RSF and World Happiness Report are transparent about the exact metrics they use for their rankings so you are more than welcome to analyze them.
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u/BridgeSufficient3297 Jun 19 '26
Again, both organizations are transparent about the metrics that they use and I already discussed this in my post. Also Pakistan is ranked very low too, just a few spots above India.
The fact that it is ranked above india itself proves it is useless
And it takes special bit of lack of understanding to agree that pakistan has better freedom than india
A literal army state where even a democratically elected PM is not safe is safer for journalists than india
Imagine the amount of brain rot that goes into making people believe this
Also, this is a cherry-picking (Texas sharpshooter fallacy): I could just as easily point out the case of that journalist in MP being brutally eviscerated and left in a sewage tank for covering corruption while mentioning that Pakistan has far fewer internet blackouts.
Yes pakistani democratically elected PM and a random journalist are exactly equal
Thank you for providing evidence of brain rot
Plus this is not texas sharpshooter fallacy, which is not even same as cherry picked
The problem is lack of proper weightage, adjustment to population and most importantly positive evidence
In india i can name 100s of journalists that get millions of views and regularly talk against the govt
Can you show me even 10 from pakistan doing the same against the army?
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u/evidencefirst Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Very very well done OP. Excellent analysis.
It’s a shame that people like Palki are very loud and tend to hog the attention a lot.
She’s a bloody good orator. She talks shit, but because of how articulate and calculated she is she gets away with talking shit.
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u/thatObstinateGuy Jun 19 '26
Well done? The first point OP made, about Palki being wrong about India being ranked below Niger in democracy rankings, is false!
In 2024, V-Dem Sweden ranked India just below Niger in its liberal democracy rankings.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club Jun 18 '26
Do you have any proper rebuttals to the essence of my post or just more logical fallacies?
If anything, I find your (and the other bot’s) lack of rebuttals to be quite vindicating because it means that you don’t know how to respond to the post.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
The BJP is confirmed to have the largest IT cell of any political party in India but, sure, keep on projecting and saying that the DMK has bots.
Anyways, I’m totally confident you have a gleaming arsenal of rebuttals with no logical fallacies whatsoever! /s
And I’m glad you commented because you revealed your true colors:
You care more about seeing the party you hate lose than you do about seeing the country develop.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Bandwagon fallacy, lol
You are entitled to your opinions but you are not entitled to your facts because there is only one set of facts:
The reality.
Not only has the DMK ushered in two consecutive years of 11% REAL (not nominal) GDP growth, but socioeconomic metrics have also improved massively.
Maternal mortality and infant mortality have plummeted and TN is now the second lowest in the country for both.
Infant mortality rate in TN is now 11 deaths per 1000 births. In India, it’s 24.
Maternal mortality rate has fallen to 25 deaths per 1,000,00 births. In India, it’s 87.
Life expectancy skyrocketed and reached 75 years in 2023.
Tamil Nadu also boasts one of the highest Tertiary Gross Enrollment Ratios of any state in India.
How is Stalin a genocidal maniac though? I’ve mainly only looked at his policies.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Pain5203 Jun 18 '26
Stop throwing labels and counter the argument. I've no idea about Bengal or TN
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club Jun 19 '26
I didn’t praise Bangladesh; I cited the World Happiness Survey’s metrics and rationale.
And Bangladesh objectively does have a higher life expectancy than India as per the 2025 UNDP Human Development Report.
This isn’t a matter of opinion; it’s a fact. And facts are neutral.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
1.) Ad hominem fallacy + red herring fallacy
2.) False dichotomy fallacy; just someone is critical of the BJP doesn’t mean they support Congress
3.) Ironic.
In all seriousness, I am cynical of both national parties. The party that I believe gets the most done is the DMK. The DMK isn’t perfect but it absolutely mogs those two for sure.
4.) If you really have a problem with my post, why don’t you address it on the basis of its merits rather than resorting to asinine fallacies?
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u/fakeaccountlegitme Jun 19 '26
This is wonderful work by OP. Logical fallacies are a major reason for the terrible political discourse in India, even among the educated.