4 ms·

dude (not an indian btw), you can be racist no matter what you are. identifying as an indian does not make what you’re saying less offensive

thtthings 8y ago
Well, There is nothing racist about my observations. I love India and Indians, not fond of Indian bosses.. most of them
- karthikshan 8y ago
  How is making negative generalizations about people from a specific country not racist?
  - objektif 8y ago
    Americans are loud, obnoxious tourists. Is that racist?
    - karthikshan 8y ago
      yes
john_moscow 8y ago
Being racist would be discriminating someone based on their race without actually looking into the circumstances. Pointing out cultural roots of a very real problem and openly taking about it is a totally different thing.
- gotocake 8y ago
  Pretending that “Indian” describes a single culture composed of more than a billion people is the defintion of racism. India is an incredibly diverse place full of people who have less in common in terms of culture (not to mention language) than a Californian does with a New Yorker.
  - objektif 8y ago
    It does not describe every single person in a country. However, if you deny that certain countries have certain cultural identities you are lying to yourself.
    - gotocake 8y ago
      I would argue that reducing more than a billion people who don’t even speak the same language, eat the same food, listen to the same music, worship the same gods... to a single stereotype is the sweaty face of ingorance, no matter how you try to dress it up or defend it. The fact that “arguments” such as yours always seem to be devoid of a grounding in reality and exist as appeals to emotion or common sense speaks for itself too. In short, ignorance and heuristics combine to produce bullshit every time.
      - thtthings 8y ago
        You got to be kidding. Here are the things I can safely say about most Indians, not all, "most": 1. They eat roti and rice. 2. They speak Hindi 3. They wash not wipe their ass. 4. They are Hindu and worship one of the Avtars of shiva and all believe in bharma and bhraman. Some things are common across a culture. The first step is to acknowledge the problem then we can solve it
        gotocake 8y ago
        You got to be kidding. Here are the things I can safely say about most Indians, not all, "most": 1. They eat roti and rice. 2. They speak Hindi 3. They wash not wipe their ass. 4. They are Hindu and worship one of the Avtars of shiva and all believe in bharma and bhraman. Some things are common across a culture. The first step is to acknowledge the problem then we can solve it The first step is actually learning about something to the point that, when you talk about it, you’re doing something other than revealing and revelling in your own ignorance. For example... 1. Rice and flatbread are staples around the world. All of India doesn’t eat roti, feel free to learn about the many varied cuisines of India sometime. For example, some parts of India have a tradition of eating beef, others of eating pork, still others tend to be vegetarian. Some regions have blazingly spicy cuisine, others are mild. 2. No, again, even a cursory search online would show you otherwise. 3. Stop spying on people in the toilet. 4. Only the Hindus, not the Muslims, Sikhs, and other religions. I won’t be replying again, I’m having a hard time assuming that you’re posting in good faith, and if you are that’s worse in a way.
- mirceal 8y ago
  if you reread my comment was that the parent was offensive. saying that you’re from X does not give you a free pass to talk shit about people from X.
SamReidHughes 8y ago
He's talking about a country of birth, not a race. It's better not to go around worrying about whether somebody will call you racist. It would be nice if I could read an HN thread without people bitching about Indians though.
- mirceal 8y ago
  depending on how you define race (if you look at it in the broader trrm of ethnicity) you can definitely talk about racism.
  - SamReidHughes 8y ago
    It's not about ethnicity because these stereotypes completely exclude Indians that grew up in America. Whether you classify it as racist or not, going around classifying stuff as racist is a total non-contribution to the world. Opinions being "racist" per your view does not imply they are incorrect or morally wrong to hold, or express. (There is something ambitious about remotely diagnosing some guy (by association) to be a cookie-cutter Indian manager, but I'm having a hard time figuring out a way it's more than just unfashionable.)
    - mirceal 8y ago
      i did not see the clause that excluded people that did not grew in India. Every time you take one label and you apply it to a large group of people that have something in common you have the potential to be labeled yourself as racist. IMHO that’s the definition of racism: you take a negative attribute and you map it to a class of people. usually you also imply that you/we are better than them. here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism “prejudice against people based on their ethnicity” i may have an idiosyncratic definition of racism or we may have different understandings but this definitely crosses the line. if the claim was made that the guy’s manager is so and so, we would have left it at that. but the claim was targeted at all managers that are indian. that’s fucked up.

thtthings 8y ago

Well, There is nothing racist about my observations. I love India and Indians, not fond of Indian bosses.. most of them

karthikshan 8y ago
How is making negative generalizations about people from a specific country not racist?
- objektif 8y ago
  Americans are loud, obnoxious tourists. Is that racist?
  - karthikshan 8y ago
    yes

john_moscow 8y ago

Being racist would be discriminating someone based on their race without actually looking into the circumstances. Pointing out cultural roots of a very real problem and openly taking about it is a totally different thing.

gotocake 8y ago
Pretending that “Indian” describes a single culture composed of more than a billion people is the defintion of racism. India is an incredibly diverse place full of people who have less in common in terms of culture (not to mention language) than a Californian does with a New Yorker.
- objektif 8y ago
  It does not describe every single person in a country. However, if you deny that certain countries have certain cultural identities you are lying to yourself.
  - gotocake 8y ago
    I would argue that reducing more than a billion people who don’t even speak the same language, eat the same food, listen to the same music, worship the same gods... to a single stereotype is the sweaty face of ingorance, no matter how you try to dress it up or defend it. The fact that “arguments” such as yours always seem to be devoid of a grounding in reality and exist as appeals to emotion or common sense speaks for itself too. In short, ignorance and heuristics combine to produce bullshit every time.
    - thtthings 8y ago
      You got to be kidding. Here are the things I can safely say about most Indians, not all, "most": 1. They eat roti and rice. 2. They speak Hindi 3. They wash not wipe their ass. 4. They are Hindu and worship one of the Avtars of shiva and all believe in bharma and bhraman. Some things are common across a culture. The first step is to acknowledge the problem then we can solve it
      - gotocake 8y ago
        You got to be kidding. Here are the things I can safely say about most Indians, not all, "most": 1. They eat roti and rice. 2. They speak Hindi 3. They wash not wipe their ass. 4. They are Hindu and worship one of the Avtars of shiva and all believe in bharma and bhraman. Some things are common across a culture. The first step is to acknowledge the problem then we can solve it The first step is actually learning about something to the point that, when you talk about it, you’re doing something other than revealing and revelling in your own ignorance. For example... 1. Rice and flatbread are staples around the world. All of India doesn’t eat roti, feel free to learn about the many varied cuisines of India sometime. For example, some parts of India have a tradition of eating beef, others of eating pork, still others tend to be vegetarian. Some regions have blazingly spicy cuisine, others are mild. 2. No, again, even a cursory search online would show you otherwise. 3. Stop spying on people in the toilet. 4. Only the Hindus, not the Muslims, Sikhs, and other religions. I won’t be replying again, I’m having a hard time assuming that you’re posting in good faith, and if you are that’s worse in a way.
mirceal 8y ago
if you reread my comment was that the parent was offensive. saying that you’re from X does not give you a free pass to talk shit about people from X.

SamReidHughes 8y ago

He's talking about a country of birth, not a race. It's better not to go around worrying about whether somebody will call you racist. It would be nice if I could read an HN thread without people bitching about Indians though.

mirceal 8y ago
depending on how you define race (if you look at it in the broader trrm of ethnicity) you can definitely talk about racism.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  It's not about ethnicity because these stereotypes completely exclude Indians that grew up in America. Whether you classify it as racist or not, going around classifying stuff as racist is a total non-contribution to the world. Opinions being "racist" per your view does not imply they are incorrect or morally wrong to hold, or express. (There is something ambitious about remotely diagnosing some guy (by association) to be a cookie-cutter Indian manager, but I'm having a hard time figuring out a way it's more than just unfashionable.)
  - mirceal 8y ago
    i did not see the clause that excluded people that did not grew in India. Every time you take one label and you apply it to a large group of people that have something in common you have the potential to be labeled yourself as racist. IMHO that’s the definition of racism: you take a negative attribute and you map it to a class of people. usually you also imply that you/we are better than them. here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism “prejudice against people based on their ethnicity” i may have an idiosyncratic definition of racism or we may have different understandings but this definitely crosses the line. if the claim was made that the guy’s manager is so and so, we would have left it at that. but the claim was targeted at all managers that are indian. that’s fucked up.