That's what it started out as, but these days it's used as a cheap status display. Effectively, the so called empowerment of under-priviliged groups is what hol

That's what it started out as, but these days it's used as a cheap status display. Effectively, the so called empowerment of under-priviliged groups is what holds them down and that's deliberate. Otherwise there would be no groups to protect and hence no cheap status display.