Mizoram: The White Man’s Burden

I follow Mizo Facebook pages to keep up with what Mizo netizens say. Some people will swear by Instagram reels but I prefer for IG algorithm to focus on my various little niches and conspiracy theories. The true story behind who replaced dragons with dinosaurs, and all that; you get the picture.

I often discuss over-correction with people. We swing hard, us Mizo folks. We are either flying high or sinking fast. We don’t do sweet mids. It has to be end of the spectrum for us – stark black and white. High contrasts. Always. Nevers. The greys where we actually really operate IRL is supremely ignored in the face of what we want to convince ourselves is true.

This is endlessly entertaining when whatever the Hot Topic is does not concern me personally. The Mizo Facebook world has a lot of “Us Mizo people always…” or “We Mizo never…” – absolute statements and highly generalized. Like we are operating as a hive with one Queen Bee and no detractors. Sometimes, it is even as the occasion fits. Or the mood, whichever. They sometimes even clash magnificently. We Mizo always drink too much; we then always stir up trouble. We Mizo used to never drink too much; public drunks never existed. Neither is wholly true. Neither is wholly false. We just make mountains out of molehills is all.

To prove our points, we like to exaggerate. And that exaggeration becomes a humongous exaggeration when we don’t even fear repercussions because we are anonymous behind the screen. Triau Trackx recently released a song called Kutzungpui Michael Jackson, a new moniker for keyboard warriors. I was very amused to see these KMJs prove Triau Trackx’s points in Facebook comment sections. I will allow that this is a very Taylor Swift move, art with in-built design for haters for when they come for you – your “haters gonna hate, I’m just gonna shake it off,” or a “all the effort you’ve put in (to hate me) it’s actually romantic”. Makes the critics seem petty, yk.

Anyhoo.

Back in college and Uni, we talk about the white man’s burden quite often. That the white man is selfless and moral and it is his burden to drag the uncivilized world and its barbarians into civilisation. Never mind how it achieves that. Never mind how much culture it suffocates. Never mind that there are entire civilisations and history it doesn't even understand because they are different. Never mind that it is white-washing history at its best, pardon the pun, for having pillaged empires and kingdoms in the guise of morality.

Doesn't matter after some point. History has happened. It is what it is.

I mention this because I see this reflected in Facebook comments. When we joke about our women, for example. It irks me when even from such a venerated place as the church pulpit, our own men would diss their own women for their small eyes, their short legs, their flat noses, their long torso, their dark skin, etc. And the crowd would laugh. Why do we laugh at our features? Who decided that those features were “ugly” and to be laughed at when compared with perhaps Caucasian women? Why do we follow their ideals? Do we really think we are ugly? From whose point of view?

People who forever see themselves only through the eyes of the white man colonizer will never be free of this attitude. We can never succeed as a Mizo, only succeed despite being Mizo. There is such intense self-hatred because the gaze is that of a Colonizer’s. It sees the white man and the white woman as The Standard. So many years of India being “free” has not changed that. 

And I think it is rather sad.

Many Mizo people would still feel better about themselves if they were not seen as “too” Mizo. Or rather, “Zo”. Literally, the word itself just means Hill. But it has a connotation of being backwards in our heads that seventy-plus years of not having white people ruling this place has not yet erased. Or even diluted much. We may not accept it of ourselves – self-awareness is a rare attribute – but it will often be humble-brag more than anything to ‘dismissively’ recount a story of when we were mistaken as “foreigners” or “Korean” or “Japanese” maybe, or “not Mizo” at any rate. A lot of times, it is not even humble brag; it’s just brag. We are often happy to not be Mizo.

And so, unintentionally, no matter how much we profess to be proud to be Mizo, we continue to see ourselves not as we are in true self-acceptance, but as we are through the eyes of the white man. We will support white ideologies and nod our heads wisely and say, ‘yes the POC are a bit much’ when white supremacists rear their heads and strike the POC even unfairly. Because as much as we hate to admit it, we yearn to be white and continue to see the world as we think white people do. And sadly, see ourselves continuously through the lens of the white man colonizer. Unable to accept that we are not the white man colonizer.

Facebook comment sections, man! Endlessly fascinating. Either entertaining, or amusing, or horrifying, or just sad. And somehow, very white man colonizer gaze. And if that the gaze continues to be our standard, I fear we will never measure up. (Look at me using never!)