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You realize it's like a white person saying they've never witnessed a case of anti-black racism. It is the people on the receiving end who notice, and indeed ca
by fmajid 4y ago
You realize it's like a white person saying they've never witnessed a case of anti-black racism. It is the people on the receiving end who notice, and indeed cannot help but notice.
- bobosha 4y agoYou do realize, that I am calling for scrutiny and banishing the scourge of casteism. It might very well exist, but our communities should be introspective and self-aware on how widespread this phenomenon is, instead of getting defensive.
- fmajid 4y agoLiterally the first thing you wrote in your comment is dismissive of the existence of the problem.
- beepbooptheory 4y agoBut then your supposed to finish reading it, and have some charity in your interpretation. The gp implicitly recognizes their epistemic bias by affirming they should be open to scrutiny.
- hellojesus 4y agoThis is extremely important. One should take a good faith approach during a discussion. I see the opposite happening far too frequently these days, and it makes having productive conversations neigh impossible.
- adql 4y agoSometimes, when you read a sentence to the end, the meaning changes. You should try that sometimes
- ridiculous_leke 4y agoThat's the reason why things should not be taken out of context. It's not like every Indian on the planet is a witness to casteism.
- drewcoo 4y agoContext then. > I am Indian-American (born into a brahmin family if that matters) and personally haven't noticed casteism, barring the occasional idiot in our communities. Translation: I don't see a problem. > Having said that, we (Indian-Americans) should be open to criticism and scrutiny. Translation: even though I'm open to criticism, I don't see a problem. > We are a very successful lot - arguably the richest immigrant group in America - surely we can be secure enough to confront some of these bad things. We need to stop being defensive and touchy about such charges. Translation: blah, blah, blah . . . me, me, me. Nothing about the problem.
- fumeux_fume 4y agoThis doesn't change the fact that your first sentence is very poorly worded and undermines the point you're trying to make in the second sentence.
- short_throw 4y agoHe left a factual statement of his own experience. It's not poorly worded. It's entirely fair to point out that different castes would see and experience casteism very differently...but sheesh, it's tiresome to see a bunch of (probably white) keyboard warriors show up and argue with in Indian American about what it's like to be Indian in America.
- fmajid 4y agoI'm an Indian-American as well. Don't make assumptions. In any case, there are some deeply problematic aspects to Indian culture, including that of my own community, and criticism of them is warranted, no matter the demographics of the critic.
- rhaway84773 4y agoIt might be poorly worded, and the OP appears to be unaware of the fact that their being a member of the upper caste means they’re unlikely to witness casteism. But they have shown an openness to learning. Instead of responding, like some commenters have, by getting mad at their potentially ignorant sentence, it’s a far better approach to, like some other commenters have, educate them about the fact that the very nature of privilege means that as part of the privileged class you get to live life being oblivious about the class distinctions. That is indeed the privilege of the privileged. And the burden of the unprivileged is that they do not have the luxury to live their lives while being oblivious to their lack of privilege.
- xracy 4y agoThey are providing scrutiny and criticism of your position. Specifically that you might be in a privileged position where you are unlikely to see the negative effects of casteism. While it is meaningful to say that you don't see it, it's not meaningful in the way you intend it. It's demonstrating the problem that this is trying to solve. I'm a White person from Utah. Saying that I don't see Racism is missing the point. Of course I don't see Racism, it's well hidden from me as a part of my culture. And above and beyond that the Racism I do see is actually the hiding of clear discrimination such that it is invisible to me. The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem. Unfortunately, criticism/scrutiny on the internet is not always nicely couched. So people will be direct like this commenter was.
- wernercd 4y agoOr it's like a "POC" saying that you can't be racist against white people despite it being clearly evident that racism against all people - including white - is happening every day. Everyone is receiving racism but it's the truly privileged that can do so and claim they aren't guilty of it themselves.
- fmajid 4y agoIt would be just as not OK for a lower-caste person to discriminate against a Brahmin. The law works both ways.
- manigandham 4y agoWhat is a lower-caste person? Your other comments argue that people are being dismissive yet you're using the very language that furthers caste segregation.
- jakelazaroff 4y agoThis is exactly how discrimination persists. They’re not “using the very language that furthers caste segregation”, they’re describing reality. Caste exists. It didn’t need to, but people invented it. Pretending it isn’t real and doesn’t affect people’s lives is not how to fix this.
- manigandham 4y agoIt isn't real. That's the point. It's made up arbitrary classification. Continuing to use it by calling people "lower-caste" is how it persists. You're not describing reality since there is no such thing as a "lower-caste person". Stop thinking, talking, and acting as if there is. You can't legislate your way out of it, you just stop doing it, including the language.
- jakelazaroff 4y agoRace is made up, yet racial discrimination happens all the time. Money is made up, yet we all use it every day. Just because something is “made up” doesn’t mean it isn’t real. We made it real.