There were some disconcerting issues that cropped up during America's elections a few weeks ago. For the first time in recent memory, I watched as people from all walks of life put out tweets, videos, and op-eds on how that country needed to fight for a future that was at stake. There were warnings about the possibility of civil war, and the relentless scrutiny of everything that the men running for the top spot were saying.

On the day of those elections, the people of India were force-fed footage of a TV anchor masquerading as a journalist being arrested on a serious charge. Paid campaigns on social media were rigged to drown all other voices as his supporters spoke of encroaching fascism, asking us all to stand up and be counted. I dismissed those campaigns with the contempt they deserved, but worried about what kind of opinion millions of people watching that melodramatic footage would come away with.