Indian villagers worship newly built toilets

[USS Monitor]

and now having no car, and cycling to work is this amazing progressive idea in western cities now..

It's actually great for saving money even if you aren't doing it for environmental reasons.

About the OP... I think the villagers understand what the toilet is for and the author of the article is just misinterpreting their actions. Blessing things before you use them is not unique to India, even if this is the first time I've seen anyone put on such a colorful display to bless a toilet.

[TURTLESHROOM II]

I don't know why people are butt hurt that we're laughing at primitive, rural Indian citizens for not using toilets and prefering to poop in the streets.

I'm not laughing because they are worshipping toilets. I've been relieved to see a toilet enough to know how much of a plesure and joy it is to make it and finally sit down and do my business. Even today, people call using (and vomiting in) toilets "worshipping the porcelain god". Their religion is polytheistic, so I am sure there's some sort of toilet god in their pantheon.

No, I am laughing because they are too stupid to use them. I am laughing because they WANT to crap in the streets. If they're going to worship the toilet as a god, shouldn't they gratify said god by allowing it to fulfill its purpose? In other words, wouldn't a toilet god WANT to be crapped into? I mean, isn't that an offering after the initial "welcoming ceremony" with the ribbons and the flowers? They are ignorant. just like topless women in Africa or Bacha Bazi in Afghanistan: harmless ignorance for the former two, in need of extermination for the latter.

If their religion forbids using toilets inside one's house, then there can easily be an outhouse nearby. I mean, my ancestors used outhouses liberally and they didn't get electrified until the late 1950s AD. Let's just give them outhouses instead of affixed bathrooms and maybe they'll stop wanting to crap in the streets like idiots.

If the English had held onto Britain until today, I feel that a shift in politics in the eighties would have led to a more compassionate Empire. Maybe the colonizers would have ultimately became tolerant enough to do what Modi is doing.

[TURTLESHROOM II]

I think the villagers understand what the toilet is for and the author of the article is just misinterpreting their actions. Blessing things before you use them is not unique to India, even if this is the first time I've seen anyone put on such a colorful display to bless a toilet.

If that was the case, I wouldn't be laughing, but the article goes on to say that many of them are dumb enough to prefer crapping in the streets.

I honestly sympathize with them: a toilet is a real blessing and we don't put the gravity of its importance on our minds except when Willie Makitt is ten miles from the outhouse. I'd praise my God for a toilet, too, and believe me, I have done it.

[Salus Maior]

...Well, there are worse things.

[USS Monitor]

I don't know why people are butt hurt that we're laughing at primitive, rural Indian citizens for not using toilets and prefering to poop in the streets.

I'm not laughing because they are worshipping toilets. I've been relieved to see a toilet enough to know how much of a plesure and joy it is to make it and finally sit down and do my business. Even today, people call using (and vomiting in) toilets "worshipping the porcelain god". Their religion is polytheistic, so I am sure there's some sort of toilet god in their pantheon.

No, I am laughing because they are too stupid to use them. I am laughing because they WANT to crap in the streets. If they're going to worship the toilet as a god, shouldn't they gratify said god by allowing it to fulfill its purpose? In other words, wouldn't a toilet god WANT to be crapped into? I mean, isn't that an offering after the initial "welcoming ceremony" with the ribbons and the flowers? They are ignorant. just like topless women in Africa or Bacha Bazi in Afghanistan: harmless ignorance for the former two, in need of extermination for the latter.

If their religion forbids using toilets inside one's house, then there can easily be an outhouse nearby. I mean, my ancestors used outhouses liberally and they didn't get electrified until the late 1950s AD. Let's just give them outhouses instead of affixed bathrooms and maybe they'll stop wanting to crap in the streets like idiots.

If the English had held onto Britain until today, I feel that a shift in politics in the eighties would have led to a more compassionate Empire. Maybe the colonizers would have ultimately became tolerant enough to do what Modi is doing.

Why do you think they aren't going to use them? Just because they put flowers on it doesn't mean they aren't planning to use it when they're done with their rituals.

[The Wolven League]

...Well, there are worse things.

I hear that you worship a dead squirrel on the side of the street.

Squirrel vult!

[TURTLESHROOM II]

Why do you think they aren't going to use them? Just because they put flowers on it doesn't mean they aren't planning to use it when they're done with their rituals.

The article also says that many Indians given toilets are stupid enough to prefer crapping in the streets.

I agree with them worshipping the toilet: it's a blessing they should be thankful for. I myself would never want to go without a toilet and I have actually given thanks to my God for making it to one. That's not the problem.

[Geilinor]

Why do you think they aren't going to use them? Just because they put flowers on it doesn't mean they aren't planning to use it when they're done with their rituals.

There are in fact many people who aren't using them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-is-building-millions-of-toilets-but-toilet-training-could-be-a-bigger-task/2015/06/03/09d1aa9e-095a-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html

[The Serbian Empire]

Why do you think they aren't going to use them? Just because they put flowers on it doesn't mean they aren't planning to use it when they're done with their rituals.

The article also says that many Indians given toilets are stupid enough to prefer crapping in the streets.

I agree with them worshipping the toilet: it's a blessing they should be thankful for. I myself would never want to go without a toilet and I have actually given thanks to my God for making it to one. That's not the problem.

The problem of sewage removal and the untouchables are.

[The United Kingdoms of Zackalantis]

When I was in Goa I noticed that the locals defacated through a hole in their floor which emptied under the house. They also never fed their pigs, claiming the animals would always be provided for.

You can guess what happened. While ingenious from a business perspective when the pigs were sold, I have sworn to never eat pork from India again.

Its called an Indian Style toilet.

[The Hobbesian Metaphysician]

...Well, there are worse things.

Like being subjugated for hundreds of years to the point your descendants prefer expelling waste in the ground to accommodate the caste forced upon them.

Of course this is also the same caste that was used to clean the waste of cities back some time ago. I don't necessarily view it as primitive, but rather something hard to get rid of.

[Aryavartha]

and now having no car, and cycling to work is this amazing progressive idea in western cities now..

It's actually great for saving money even if you aren't doing it for environmental reasons.

there are many reasons, but primary reason to me is it is just unsustainable. if it was, humans would always keep pushing it to the point of it becoming unsustainable. we try to keep finding ways to make it sustainable and only when we reach the absolute max, we pause and turn back.

the other problem is, when resources are becoming less, humans don't pause by nature, in a perverse way, we compete to consume faster before it ends.

[Aryavartha]

When I was in Goa I noticed that the locals defacated through a hole in their floor which emptied under the house. They also never fed their pigs, claiming the animals would always be provided for.

You can guess what happened. While ingenious from a business perspective when the pigs were sold, I have sworn to never eat pork from India again.

Its called an Indian Style toilet.

yes. it is a squat type.

in a way, it was a good design. you actually had to squat and get up. that's a dozen squats a day. couple with not having dining table or chairs and that's another dozen squats - a very natural way of keeping healthy instead of going to a gym in a car and walking on a treadmill...