On the Loose: The Wheels of Self-Interest

People hold strong opinions online but won’t change a lifestyle for them.

patriot act with hasan minhaj indian elections — In Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj’s latest episode on Indian elections, the host tries to sum up all things political in just 30 minutes.

Comedian Hasan Minhaj’s latest episode on his Netflix show Patriot Act takes some clever swipes at politicians while analysing the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It starts off with interviews with Indian Americans recoiling with horror at Minhaj’s foolhardy idea of venturing into the murky zone of politics. After comparing democracy in India to a jalebi that has no end or beginning, one of them asks him with a hint of kindly contempt whether Minhaj has considered the full implications of his name ‘Hasan’. It means ‘nice’ in Arabic, replied Minhaj hopefully, only to be told gently, ‘No, in India your name means terrorist’. Patriot Act is well researched and brutally unsubtle, so of course Minhaj was trolled by netizens who called him biased and anti-Hindu. For a brief while #boycottnetflix was trending on Twitter.