The Ugly Truth About Gandhi | The Infographics Show | History Teacher Reacts

Gandhi is one of the most revered people in modern history. A beacon of inspiration for using nonviolence to achieve political and social goals. However, there was another side of Gandhi rarely talked about. There are some "ugly" parts of his life as well. The Infographics Show presents the life of Gandhi, both good and bad. Mr. Terry gets to talk about the historical context of Gandhi's life, and the overall idea of putting historical figures on pedestals.

Join my channel to get early-access to new videos!

Links:

[MrTerry]

What are some other beloved people from history that have bad aspects about them?

[MS-iokl]

18:50 Well, the thing I think most people in the West get wrong is, that Gandhi wasn't fighting for Human Rights, he was fighting for Indian Rights.

[justsomeguy]

I remember reading about him and his problematic behaviors a few years back. I agree wholeheartedly that we need to be careful with putting historical figures on a pedestal. Mother Theresa is a great example of this 😅

[xcosmiccrunchx]

Sounds like Ghandi really only cared about Indians. Lol

"Mythologies are rarely interested in nuance."

Neither are ideologies.

[way_of_life]

Much of indian history is manipulated by the indian national congress which chose gandhi as if its ideological head so they made the history books hide his wrongs, his principals became absolute virtue and the indian independence which was gained by the efforts of unknown number of people was overwhelming credited to gandhi . Reading about gandhi you see how he was a stubborn man who didn't try to see right from wrong as long as it aligned with his personal principles .

[sapnamukherjee]

As a Bengali, I have always hated Gandhi. The Indian National Congress is the reason why both Gandhi and Mother Teresa are seen as holy figures. The same goes for Nehru

[michaelelmore]

Hey Mr. Terry;

I just wanted to let you know that you've inspired me to go back to school to be a history teacher. I start Thursday for a Masters of Secondary education in Humanities as I already have a Bachelor's of Science in Criminal Justice.

[Nostripe]

Almost every hero has a shadow. They have a dark side that people like to ignore to build a happy good vs evil narrative. The opposite is also true where we try to ignore everything human about villains in history so as to make them monsters

[肉骨粉]

It's so useless to think of historical figures in terms of their supposed virtues and failings. Gandhi was a large driving force in a very consequential movement, and that's a million times more important than any personal traits he may have had. We don't need to idolize him, and at the same time we don't need to dethrone him or whatever.

[hakonsgaming]

On the Aryan brotherhood thing, Ghandi wasn't a hindu nationalist in the modern sense. Modern Hindu nationalism is a completely different movement than Ghandi's Indian nationalism, though it can be said to have somewhat grown out of it, it's completely divorced from any element of reality that doesn't fit into its preferred political narrative, it happily revises history whenever convenient and doesn't really care about things like facts unless it's the one that decided what the facts are.

[yugimotobutjacked]

I've played the Civ Games, guy is a warmonger

[davidb]

20:33 The British had banned sati long before Gandhi... it's simple to oppose something that's already history!

[arklaw]

They didn't really explain what the experiments were or how he molested girls.
IIRC he slept naked in the same bed as young women while trying not to touch them or feel aroused. Doesn't really count as molestation but definitely would have made them uncomfortable even if they consented to the experiment.

[DAG]

We need to be able to talk about the bad stuff such respected figures have done. You should look at the horrible stuff Winston Churchill has done as well.

[TheWhiteBruceLee]

Quick tip, you can put “props” in your background and use them as tax write offs

[ThamosLoupes]

You can not judge historical figures by current moral stances

[SilverKarma]

Just a little bit of more information but recently there has been an attempt to discredit Gandhi for his achievements and focus on his bad parts. Not because people suddenly realized we shouldn't overcredit historical figures but rather due to political reasons in India.

[thablackguy]

0:36 "People are human". MLK jr. was my first exposure to informing about his... "transgressions"...

"You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain." -Harvey Dent

[asapmimic]

There is no shame in deterrence. Having a weapon is very different from actually using it.

[legogirl]

As an Indian, everyone has their faults. That’s why they are human. The important thing is to learn from the good aspects about him instead of talking about the bad things. But it’s important to know this as well