but, regarding tulsi gabbard being a hindu.

i don't know what that means, exactly. if you're from india, you generally define yourself regionally - you're a worshipper of a certain god or group of gods, because that's what the traditions in the area are. westerners can coherently call themselves buddhists, but in a sense that's exactly the point; buddhism is a kind of subset of hinduism that focuses on a specific thing, so we know what that means. without being able to reference a geographic area in india, gabbard's claim to being a hindu are hard to understand. does she worship any specific gods? actively?

does it mean she leaves milk and cookies for shiva on christmas eve?

does it mean she's an atheist and doesn't want to admit it?

does it mean she digs gandhi?

does it just mean she's a vegan, because she believes in reincarnation?

some of this is trivial, some of it is more important. and, i think she owes the public somewhat of a clarification on what it means when she calls herself a hindu if she's going to run for commander in chief, then let people figure out whether they're ok with it or not.

i would expect, however, that she's going to run into the usual accusations of appropriation, and she should push back on that point. i've made references to this repeatedly on this blog: white people have lost their indigenous beliefs almost totally to the influence of semitic religion, but if we were to reconstruct an indigenous european form of belief, it would actually be most similar to hinduism, which is also a syncretism of indo-european religion and indigenous dravidian religion, the difference being that, in india, the european religion took the dominant role. hinduism certainly has a powerful indigenous substrate, yes. but, it is the only active religion that maintains the superstrate of the indigenous european religions, and thus the religion that cultural conservatives ought to be urging white people to flock to.

our ancestors all spoke sanskrit - or something close to it.

so, there's no justification to attack her for appropriation or anything.

but, i'd still like her to clarify the point. if she carries on for a while, i'm sure she will.