Free Basics, rude manners: Andreessen's tweet made my blood boil

Hey guys, didn’t realise being under the yoke of someone else for several hundred years would make you so touchy. My bad. You really are good people. Your companies are doing some amazing stuff, not like really, really amazing things like providing free internet (some strings attached) to everyone, but good stuff. You all make mean curry as well. That vindaloo, it really hits the spot especially after a drunken night of drinking and tweeting. So really sorry that I may have caused offense with that tweet. My bad. I really don’t know anything about Indian economics, I just don’t.  

That’s a paraphrase of how Marc Andreessen apologised for his now infamous tweet. The tweet, in case you haven’t read it: "Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades, why stop now?" The tweet was Andreessen’s retort to TRAI banning Facebook’s "Free Basics" internet plan for India. Reading that tweet makes the blood boil.

F**k you Marc, and f**k your non-apology. It doesn’t take a Silicon Valley visionary to know that colonialism and slavery are bad, evil, the most abhorrent forms of governance known to humans. To say otherwise is hate speech, pure and simple.

First, it’s factually incorrect. Over and over, it’s been shown that colonialism devastated economics around the world. India’s share of the global economy was 20 per cent in the 1700’s, pre-colonialism and it stood at two per cent when the British left in 1947. The British devastated India and every country they went. To plead ignorance to this is incomprehensible. Andreessen retweeted a link to Shashi Tharoor’s epic retort on colonialism. Not sure he watched it, but he did retweet it.

But more than being factually incorrect, it’s the attitude deeply ingrained in the text that offended not just a billion Indians, or the two billion plus that lived under some vestige of colonialism. It’s a belief that we know better, and by "we," it’s white men. The tweet can’t hide that fact. It lays it bare.

And so does his apology. It’s not really an apology, his tweets of the last 24 hours show someone trying to make light of a situation: retweeting a picture of a kid trying to pull himself through a web of strings with the caption "@pmarca trying not to offend people on twitter," or a retweet of "If @pmarca needed more details on colonization could it be called a colonoscopy?" and so and so forth. It’s a Trump like performance of a non-apology. "I am sorry, sorry that you people are offended by a simple tweet. I’ll be better so as not to offend you hordes."

@pmarca trying to not offend people on Twitter in 2016 pic.twitter.com/woUbX8y9St

— ಠ_ಠ (@Michael_McLean) February 10, 2016

If @pmarca needed more details on colonisation could it be called a colonoscopy? #FreeBasics

— Debabrat/Debu Mishra (@D_Brat) February 10, 2016

And then there is the old adage, I am not a bigot, I have lots of colored friends (this is also a famous Trump like line, after every Trump insult comes the line, "I have lots of (insert the group he offended, Latinos, Muslims etc..) friends and they tell me the same thing." Andreessen doubles down by retweeting Indians that think he is an okay guy, a friend of India and Indians.

Andreessen then ends by saying unequivocally "And for the record, I am opposed to colonialism, in any country."

Phew. The fact that he needed to say this, says it all.

Reading Andreessen’s tweets its clear that he wants to have a voice in the larger world. Good for him. Given his wealth, his role in Silicon Valley, his voice has a large megaphone than most. It’s why his non-apology matters. Andreessen needs to do more than what he has done.

First learn, He wants to engage with the larger world, then stop pleading ignorance and learn. Ask an Indian historian or political scientist for a list of books to read, Pratap Bhanu Mehta (@pbmehta) or Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) can provide fine lists. I would suggest using the interweb, but it looks like you need some personalised help.

And second, if he cares about India’s poor or the poor, donate. Show contrition. Real contrition. There are dozens of fine Indian charities that are working with to improve the lives of Indians, offline and online. Ask Nandan Nilekani (@NandanNilekani) for a list. Make the donation meaningful, $1million. There is no Al Sharpton beating down your door, but do the right thing and show you care. Be it sports, business or entertainment, there is a penalty for being a bigot in the United States. The leagues fine you or civil rights leaders protest, such as Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, protest you till you do. Nothing says sorry like Benjamins.  

We shouldn’t be discussing the merits of colonialism in 2016. We shouldn’t have discussed in 1916, 1816 or 1716 either. But we did and it cost millions their lives and livelihood. The cost of colonialism is still felt today in the poverty of millions who face a daily struggle for food, shelter, clothing and yes, the internet. Show you understand this now Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) and give back.