Yes, it has been used on HN as a bludgeon but the reality is a little different!
Yes, the ancient caste system still exists in India. But today it is only relevant when it comes to politics and marriage. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/opinion/sunday/caste-is-no...
> All good so far. But then you say that it is a problem, and this is where I am lost.
…Is not referring to a problem that has, at that point in the story, been revealed. It is being evocative in a sort of dog-whistle technique - before jumping into the generalisations that follow.
What the other poster meant is that you'll end up hiring out of the upper castes and they'll display a lot of bias towards other castes.
It's to the point that many from India won't admit to the caste they're in.
But the first ones to fight against this reform would be the "lower caste" strata of the population. Who would give up freebies, Government jobs as well as in education Prestigious Universities where you can guaranteed it based on your birth caste and not on merit? No one would. If I am born in any of the "lower caste" groups I can easily get a Government job, free/subsidized education in any Prestigious University irrespective of my scores/performance. Now there is talk of reservation/quotas in land distribution as well (comments by a politician in a recent speech to his base). Idea is that if you want to purchase land some section of the land is reserved if you belong to a particular caste (and will probably be available for lower than market rate as well). However ridiculous it might sound.
Affirmative Action in US doesn't have a quota system or reservation. It instead focuses on equal opportunity (no denial of opportunity to anyone based on their race/creed/color/sex/religion etc). This is different from India's Caste based reservation system where you are guaranteed of a job/education if you belong to lower caste. Doesn't matter if you are merited or not. Doesn't matter if you are rich or not. Even seats in the Parliament of India have reservations/quotas for lower castes.
It is ridiculous to talk about dismantling caste system while in the same breath prop up structures that actively promotes this same caste system on the Government level. And the Politicians do not want to dismantle said system because it helps with their vote bank.
Just goes to show how bias clouds reason and logic. Propaganda in full swing!
Thank you for speaking facts.
And before you try to claim otherwise, don't bother. The English language has implicature.
Both are not borne out of facts but malicious propaganda.
"It's to the point that many from India won't admit to the caste they're in."
You are implying this in a negative manner. The reason people don't talk about caste is because we have progressed a lot in the past century. No one gives a damn about caste in their day-to-day life. It only props up in political rallies where talking about caste based discrimination is a precursor to lay the stage for either increased reservation or introducing new reservation in the already prevalent discriminatory quota system that exists in India (which should have been done away with in 10 years after our Independence as envisaged by Ambedkar himself but nevertheless continues to exist 70+ years after Independence corroding our society further).
> And before you try to claim otherwise, don't bother
I don't have to. You are a propagandist. I stand by that.
That might have been the first indication you were being unfair.
The poster I responded to thought they were talking about money, the poster was talking about castes.
Leave your religious wars at the door please.
I've both read about it and seen it first hand. You don't typically see it expressed so publicly as the above anecdote, most of the time it comes across as an odd sort of subservience. Almost the way you would expect a mail room worker to act towards the CEO.
No one said all Indian's are like this, but it has to do with the Paradox of Intolerance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
> The paradox of tolerance states that if a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant is eventually seized or destroyed by the intolerant.
All it takes is for 1 or 2 individuals to have this attitude and it will eventually take over.
No one ever said it was everyone, but the issue exists.
He said the problem isn’t with hiring Indians, it is with cheap labor.
Fortunately, this situation is changing rapidly. I don't see any caste discrimination in my line of work (urban IT companies). Nearly none of my coworkers know my caste, they don't care, neither am I.
It does happen in rural villages, specially inter caste marriages are still frowned upon. But it getting less effective over time. Determined people go make money and caste is not a hinder in many cases.
Thank you for your suggestion :-) Can you show where this specific point: "...and those whealty families have been raised to treat people from lower caste poorly" is made in his (we are assuming it's a he, aren't we? how bad of us) comment?
There is something very confusing to me in this paragraph.
You put forth as a premise (at least if I am understanding the logic of the paragraph correctly) that fluency in English is an important skill for doing a job properly. You also say that it is the wealthy part of the population that will have access to resources to train their children in that skill. All good so far. But then you say that it is a problem, and this is where I am lost. Are you suggesting that money should not buy good education? Assuming good education is a scarce commodity, that would go against the principles of markets. Or are you suggesting that English fluency (or other consequences of good education) should not be considered when screening for a job in a tech company? But that goes against your initial premise, and also makes one wonder what purpose a good education has if not getting one prepared for a high-skilled job.