5 ms·

There are various caste markers that casteist people use to identify the caste of the other person. Some of them include food preferences, accents (yes Indian l

There are various caste markers that casteist people use to identify the caste of the other person. Some of them include food preferences, accents (yes Indian languages also have different accents). I have seen that people can be casteist on both ends of a spectrum and it’s really hard to tell what marker of yours will be noted by the other party. I’ve seen that most people these days don’t try to pretend about hiding their caste, especially due to the mainstream anti-casteism movements. I personally don’t give a damn about people guessing my caste based on my rural accent and dietary habits. Edit: I must add that while I’ve seen discussions around caste privileges, but I’ve never been discriminated against based on my caste. The only discrimination I’ve faced is the standard discrimination against non-white peoples.

paiute 4y ago
White americans do this too. Think ozarks. I know plenty of ridiculously smart people from this region, who if they talked about the food they ate or didn't work hard to extinguish their accents would probably not have jobs w/ coastal tech companies.
- shapefrog 4y ago
  - onion2k 4y ago
    In my experience that's not true at all. People from all strata of society wore those red hats. It's not a signal of class or 'caste' or anything similar. I've never met anyone who'd open carry an assault rifle, but again, I doubt you can really tell much about their background like whether they're rich, poor, working class, elite, or whatever else from it.
    - AnimalMuppet 4y ago
      I've also never seen a work environment where you could open carry anything. (Though I have been to a church that had a small sign in the parking lot, asking that people not open carry in church. And no, that was not what you would consider to be a "redneck" church.)
  - dymk 4y ago
    The first is political affiliation, and the second is simply being an idiot, neither of which are markers of caste nor protected classes.
  - slaymaker1907 4y ago
    That's not really caste because it's not based upon any immutable characteristic. Political affiliation is not caste.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - washbrain 4y ago
    Caste is the wrong word for what you describe. Yes, those are cultural markers that clearly identify a person belongs to a certain group, but it's not nearly the same thing as caste.
  - seti0Cha 4y ago
    Are you trying to imply that discrimination against rural/southern people is ok because they have unacceptable political views? I don't know how else to read your reply. If so, you've done a great job of illustrating GP's point.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- dgs_sgd 4y ago
  The discrimination based on accent is obvious to me but the food surprises me.. what kind of food from that region is looked down upon on the coasts?
  - 3qz 4y ago
    It isn’t necessarily the food itself, it’s just that the food marks somebody as lower class. For example, not knowing how to order sushi or use chopsticks. Maybe a better example is not knowing anything about wine. People will think you’re stupid or have bad taste. What would you think of a coworker bringing bologna and ketchup sandwiches to the office?
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - vitaflo 4y ago
      I would assume they were frugal and trying to pay off a massive student loan debt. But I’m also from the Midwest and don’t know how to order sushi.
      - 3qz 4y ago
        > I’m also from the Midwest and don’t know how to order sushi. So was I, and everyone thought I was a barbarian.
    - asveikau 4y ago
      I grew up and got a CS degree in the northeast. Then worked in tech in Seattle and the Bay Area I can tell you that a lot of coastal techies have stereotypically unrefined tastes in food and wine and they're still successful. Ours is also a trade in which many are stereotyped as lacking various social skills.
    - survirtual 4y ago
      Nothing. I would think nothing of it, because I am not a low-classed, stone-aged, rocked-brained imbecile judging people by superficial nonsense instead of the content of their character & quality of their work. You can have all the money, power, and authority, but it doesn’t change the contents of your character. This type of judgement is indicative of low-class at a soul level — if such an impoverished soul makes judgement, it means absolutely nothing in the cosmic scheme of things.
- dogman144 4y ago
  True enough. Remote workers moving to non-Asheville Appalachia and some related tech companies could have interesting outcomes for the region. I worry about whatever you call Ozarks gentrification though. There’s a lot of cheap land away from the mining/coal environmental issues that the locals have a lock on right now but decent RSU grants more than pay for.
mcv 4y ago
Food preferences? What if you happen to prefer food from a different caste?
- thematrixturtle 4y ago
  They're referring to being vegetarian, which is a Brahmin marker. To be more precise, while a vegetarian is not necessarily Brahmin, a meat eater is unlikely to be a (practising) Brahmin, similar to pork and Islam/Judaism.
  - FlyingSnake 4y ago
    > a meat eater is unlikely to be a (practising) Brahmin. It’s not always the case though. The Bengali Brahmins or the Sarasvat Brahmins of Konkan are predominately meat eaters. It’s all mixed up.
- xeromal 4y ago
  Your accent will probably give you away. Or your last name. Or your physical features. Or they'll just guess you're a different caste and treat you differently anyways.
8ytecoder 4y ago
Name is the biggest marker of all. Last name can give away the case pretty accurately. There are certain parts of India that don't use the traditional family name but even in that case, certain first names are more common among certain groups. (I'm pretty sure I have received mild positive discrimination - more like favorable pre-judgement - based on my name.)
- eatbitseveryday 4y ago
  In the USA you can, however, change your legal name for any reason to almost anything whenever you want to. I was a colleague of an eastern Asian immigrant who did exactly this, changed their family name to "King".
  - 8ytecoder 4y ago
    Not until you have a US passport and that takes a really long time for Indians.
cmonnow 4y ago
- istjohn 4y ago
  So you justify a discriminatory social order that ossifies your place at the top by pointing to your religious belief in reincarnation. Surely you can see that that is not a compelling argument to anyone who doesn't share your religious beliefs. Religion is constantly used to justify bigotry. For kicks, I'd like to take on your argument for reincarnation. You argue that there must be a reason some people are born into fortune and others misfortune, otherwise the world would be unjust. And if the world were unjust, then I would be unable to complain when the government is unjust. But I counter that yes, the world is unjust. Good things happen to bad people, bad things to good people, and we all are born into circumstances that we had no part in shaping. That is the state of nature. But regardless, we can and should create a society and government that seeks to be just. Your argument assumes that the reader must believe the universe is just to demand that the government is just. But that assumption is unwarranted. Why should I believe in cosmic justice before I demand my government administer justly? And then it requires a marvelous measure of optimism to hope that this game of semantics will create such a logical quandry for the reader that they will find no other means to resolve the paradox than to imagine first, that there must be a soul or spirit, and second, that that soul is reincarnated after death. What optimism to imagine that an entire metaphysics will be accepted as the solution to this paradox before the reader reconsiders the premises and chain of reasoning that led to this point. I would sooner conclude that the premise that not all humans are born equal is false than accerpt the conclusion of reincarnation. It's a far smaller leap.
  - cmonnow 4y ago
    [flagged]
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

paiute 4y ago

White americans do this too. Think ozarks. I know plenty of ridiculously smart people from this region, who if they talked about the food they ate or didn't work hard to extinguish their accents would probably not have jobs w/ coastal tech companies.

shapefrog 4y ago
- onion2k 4y ago
  In my experience that's not true at all. People from all strata of society wore those red hats. It's not a signal of class or 'caste' or anything similar. I've never met anyone who'd open carry an assault rifle, but again, I doubt you can really tell much about their background like whether they're rich, poor, working class, elite, or whatever else from it.
  - AnimalMuppet 4y ago
    I've also never seen a work environment where you could open carry anything. (Though I have been to a church that had a small sign in the parking lot, asking that people not open carry in church. And no, that was not what you would consider to be a "redneck" church.)
- dymk 4y ago
  The first is political affiliation, and the second is simply being an idiot, neither of which are markers of caste nor protected classes.
- slaymaker1907 4y ago
  That's not really caste because it's not based upon any immutable characteristic. Political affiliation is not caste.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- washbrain 4y ago
  Caste is the wrong word for what you describe. Yes, those are cultural markers that clearly identify a person belongs to a certain group, but it's not nearly the same thing as caste.
- seti0Cha 4y ago
  Are you trying to imply that discrimination against rural/southern people is ok because they have unacceptable political views? I don't know how else to read your reply. If so, you've done a great job of illustrating GP's point.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
dgs_sgd 4y ago
The discrimination based on accent is obvious to me but the food surprises me.. what kind of food from that region is looked down upon on the coasts?
- 3qz 4y ago
  It isn’t necessarily the food itself, it’s just that the food marks somebody as lower class. For example, not knowing how to order sushi or use chopsticks. Maybe a better example is not knowing anything about wine. People will think you’re stupid or have bad taste. What would you think of a coworker bringing bologna and ketchup sandwiches to the office?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - vitaflo 4y ago
    I would assume they were frugal and trying to pay off a massive student loan debt. But I’m also from the Midwest and don’t know how to order sushi.
    - 3qz 4y ago
      > I’m also from the Midwest and don’t know how to order sushi. So was I, and everyone thought I was a barbarian.
  - asveikau 4y ago
    I grew up and got a CS degree in the northeast. Then worked in tech in Seattle and the Bay Area I can tell you that a lot of coastal techies have stereotypically unrefined tastes in food and wine and they're still successful. Ours is also a trade in which many are stereotyped as lacking various social skills.
  - survirtual 4y ago
    Nothing. I would think nothing of it, because I am not a low-classed, stone-aged, rocked-brained imbecile judging people by superficial nonsense instead of the content of their character & quality of their work. You can have all the money, power, and authority, but it doesn’t change the contents of your character. This type of judgement is indicative of low-class at a soul level — if such an impoverished soul makes judgement, it means absolutely nothing in the cosmic scheme of things.
dogman144 4y ago
True enough. Remote workers moving to non-Asheville Appalachia and some related tech companies could have interesting outcomes for the region. I worry about whatever you call Ozarks gentrification though. There’s a lot of cheap land away from the mining/coal environmental issues that the locals have a lock on right now but decent RSU grants more than pay for.

mcv 4y ago

Food preferences? What if you happen to prefer food from a different caste?

thematrixturtle 4y ago
They're referring to being vegetarian, which is a Brahmin marker. To be more precise, while a vegetarian is not necessarily Brahmin, a meat eater is unlikely to be a (practising) Brahmin, similar to pork and Islam/Judaism.
- FlyingSnake 4y ago
  > a meat eater is unlikely to be a (practising) Brahmin. It’s not always the case though. The Bengali Brahmins or the Sarasvat Brahmins of Konkan are predominately meat eaters. It’s all mixed up.
xeromal 4y ago
Your accent will probably give you away. Or your last name. Or your physical features. Or they'll just guess you're a different caste and treat you differently anyways.

8ytecoder 4y ago

Name is the biggest marker of all. Last name can give away the case pretty accurately. There are certain parts of India that don't use the traditional family name but even in that case, certain first names are more common among certain groups. (I'm pretty sure I have received mild positive discrimination - more like favorable pre-judgement - based on my name.)

eatbitseveryday 4y ago
In the USA you can, however, change your legal name for any reason to almost anything whenever you want to. I was a colleague of an eastern Asian immigrant who did exactly this, changed their family name to "King".
- 8ytecoder 4y ago
  Not until you have a US passport and that takes a really long time for Indians.

cmonnow 4y ago

istjohn 4y ago
So you justify a discriminatory social order that ossifies your place at the top by pointing to your religious belief in reincarnation. Surely you can see that that is not a compelling argument to anyone who doesn't share your religious beliefs. Religion is constantly used to justify bigotry. For kicks, I'd like to take on your argument for reincarnation. You argue that there must be a reason some people are born into fortune and others misfortune, otherwise the world would be unjust. And if the world were unjust, then I would be unable to complain when the government is unjust. But I counter that yes, the world is unjust. Good things happen to bad people, bad things to good people, and we all are born into circumstances that we had no part in shaping. That is the state of nature. But regardless, we can and should create a society and government that seeks to be just. Your argument assumes that the reader must believe the universe is just to demand that the government is just. But that assumption is unwarranted. Why should I believe in cosmic justice before I demand my government administer justly? And then it requires a marvelous measure of optimism to hope that this game of semantics will create such a logical quandry for the reader that they will find no other means to resolve the paradox than to imagine first, that there must be a soul or spirit, and second, that that soul is reincarnated after death. What optimism to imagine that an entire metaphysics will be accepted as the solution to this paradox before the reader reconsiders the premises and chain of reasoning that led to this point. I would sooner conclude that the premise that not all humans are born equal is false than accerpt the conclusion of reincarnation. It's a far smaller leap.
- cmonnow 4y ago
  [flagged]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]