On Monday, the Washington Post published a heart-rending dispatch about Hindu wrath against Christian converts in eastern India by Emily Wax. One passage stuck out to me as proof of the utter elasticity of the “right wing” label favored by the media elite:

A six-hour drive from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, into the isolated and winding jungle-lined roads showed remnants of fatal attacks and arson directed at Indian Christians in recent weeks: razed churches, scorched orphanages and homes, and roads blocked by downed trees, boulders and stick-waving mobs. Saffron flags (saffron is the color several Hindu right-wing organizations use for self-representation) flew over Hindu-owned tea shops and homes to protect them from attack.

In America, the “right wing” is often used against the Christians. In India, the “right wing” defines the Hindus oppressing the Christians. Clearly, what the Post is suggesting is each movement is similar in its nationalism and its insistence on the culture of each country’s dominant religion. But when you consider how “right wing” has been also used to describe Soviet bitter-enders in Russia and opponents of capitalist reforms in China, it’s often a little disorienting for any reader who might describe himself or herself as “right-wing.”