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Historically peoples names included their village name, son of x and their caste/jaati - which indicated their profession or specialization. That meant getting

Historically peoples names included their village name, son of x and their caste/jaati - which indicated their profession or specialization. That meant getting new business when introducing themselves in the neighboring village. This is true with European names too (masson, taylor, carpenter, miller ....), and has the exact same origin. However, today due to the politicization first by the colonialists and the church, and now mostly by a leftist-church nexus it has become politically incorrect if it feels like they have an agenda behind it. Strangely at least among the current generation, I have experienced probing questions about my diet as well as probing hands (pretending to be a friendly shove or pat) not from Hindus but from Christians. In my understanding it is a way for them to ensure that I am not an "evil Brahmin" and can be trusted enough to part take in what every gossip they have and an assumption I would have to submissively accept their "righteousness".

random314 5y ago
This has to the most contrived and ridiculous comment I have seen. Virtually all Brahmins proudly advertise their caste and their caste is also obvious from their last name. There is literally no need to pat their backs.
- diebeforei485 5y ago
  > Virtually all Brahmins proudly advertise their caste Nonsense. > and their caste is also obvious from their last name What exactly do you suggest be done about this?
  - random314 5y ago
    I am calling you out for your fake story of Christians trying to figure out who is a brahmin by patting their backs. It is completely unnecessary as you can tell who is a brahmin from the last name. You just made up a fake story to play victim and transfer blame to Christians here and in several other comments. It is a well known fact that the primary form of caste discrimination occurs against lower castes by upper castes. Your attempts at subterfuge are futile.
    - saagarjha 5y ago
      Hacker News is not a place for you to call people out for their "fake" stories, it's a place where you do your best to take comments in good faith. People have different experiences than you do, and yes, sometimes people will lie online. But that's no reason to immediately jump to accusations, and especially not here.
      - random314 5y ago
        The fact that you responded to me and not to any of mama123 comments - a textbook case of what urban casteism looks like - tells me a lot about what an upper caste person's definition of good faith and bad faith is.
        saagarjha 5y ago
        I picked the bottom of the thread as I skimmed by, which was capped by a clearly egregious comment. That doesn’t mean there weren’t others that were also bad. No idea why you think caste comes into the picture at all?
        random314 5y ago
        The caste comes into the picture because no one from a lower caste would find my comment out of line. There are a considerable amount of lies being peddled about Indian Christians by 2 commentors in multiple comments with minor doses of Islamophobia thrown in. Of all the things you found out of line is my comment calling out one of these lies. If you are engaging in good faith, you would be replying to any of the several lies being trotted out in this thread, such as "caste system was created by British and Indian Christians via colonialism" instead of expressing hostility to somebody who is countering the lies - by trying to make some irrelevant meta point to distract from the core issue.
    - diebeforei485 5y ago
      I think you are directing your moral outrage at the wrong person.
- mama123 5y ago
  Not everyone has to be a David or John or a Mohamed or Abdulla. India is a diverse country with many subcultures, each with their own unique traditions dating back many thousands of years. Why should everyone loose their unique identity? Why should people not be proud of their identity or uniqueness? A lot of privileges that the "Brahmins" have can be mostly attributed to the fact that they were not competing with the colonial interests like business and were used as native informants and peons & clerks. This gave them a head start compared to the rest of the population who were reduced to penury and in many case ended up as substitutes for black slavery in the form of bonded labourers. So in using the caste card people are covering up the devastating effects of colonisation. The privileges held by the colonising classes and collaborators, esp. Christians as they gobbled up enormous amounts of state resources, temple lands in the form colonial grants and 99 year lease to the church. Yet it is politically incorrect to point out these privileges.

random314 5y ago

This has to the most contrived and ridiculous comment I have seen. Virtually all Brahmins proudly advertise their caste and their caste is also obvious from their last name. There is literally no need to pat their backs.

diebeforei485 5y ago
> Virtually all Brahmins proudly advertise their caste Nonsense. > and their caste is also obvious from their last name What exactly do you suggest be done about this?
- random314 5y ago
  I am calling you out for your fake story of Christians trying to figure out who is a brahmin by patting their backs. It is completely unnecessary as you can tell who is a brahmin from the last name. You just made up a fake story to play victim and transfer blame to Christians here and in several other comments. It is a well known fact that the primary form of caste discrimination occurs against lower castes by upper castes. Your attempts at subterfuge are futile.
  - saagarjha 5y ago
    Hacker News is not a place for you to call people out for their "fake" stories, it's a place where you do your best to take comments in good faith. People have different experiences than you do, and yes, sometimes people will lie online. But that's no reason to immediately jump to accusations, and especially not here.
    - random314 5y ago
      The fact that you responded to me and not to any of mama123 comments - a textbook case of what urban casteism looks like - tells me a lot about what an upper caste person's definition of good faith and bad faith is.
      - saagarjha 5y ago
        I picked the bottom of the thread as I skimmed by, which was capped by a clearly egregious comment. That doesn’t mean there weren’t others that were also bad. No idea why you think caste comes into the picture at all?
        random314 5y ago
        The caste comes into the picture because no one from a lower caste would find my comment out of line. There are a considerable amount of lies being peddled about Indian Christians by 2 commentors in multiple comments with minor doses of Islamophobia thrown in. Of all the things you found out of line is my comment calling out one of these lies. If you are engaging in good faith, you would be replying to any of the several lies being trotted out in this thread, such as "caste system was created by British and Indian Christians via colonialism" instead of expressing hostility to somebody who is countering the lies - by trying to make some irrelevant meta point to distract from the core issue.
  - diebeforei485 5y ago
    I think you are directing your moral outrage at the wrong person.
mama123 5y ago
Not everyone has to be a David or John or a Mohamed or Abdulla. India is a diverse country with many subcultures, each with their own unique traditions dating back many thousands of years. Why should everyone loose their unique identity? Why should people not be proud of their identity or uniqueness? A lot of privileges that the "Brahmins" have can be mostly attributed to the fact that they were not competing with the colonial interests like business and were used as native informants and peons & clerks. This gave them a head start compared to the rest of the population who were reduced to penury and in many case ended up as substitutes for black slavery in the form of bonded labourers. So in using the caste card people are covering up the devastating effects of colonisation. The privileges held by the colonising classes and collaborators, esp. Christians as they gobbled up enormous amounts of state resources, temple lands in the form colonial grants and 99 year lease to the church. Yet it is politically incorrect to point out these privileges.