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My Caste

cs.toronto.edu

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Re: My Caste

#371

Post by fouc »

nojvek wrote: post #294
quadrifoliate wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I think your mother's attitude is shared by the vast majority of Indian-Americans, and even first-generation Indian immigrants like me. In India, there are egregious things reminding you about it, i.e. literally every government form ever -- but in the US it's reasonably easy to ignore and forget about completely unless you go out initiating conversations about it, or are unlucky enough to run in…

As an American Indian I found the whole asking of race in government forms to be a bit crazy. I usually end up putting “N/A” or equivalent.

As far as I know, the race question on government forms is for census reasons.

But this thread raises an interesting point.. asking about race or about caste on government forms could be potentially creating extra divisiveness, by making people identify themselves one way or the other and making them conscious of their differences.

Re: My Caste

#372

Post by dang »

grad_ml wrote: post #349
dang wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't cross into personal attack. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

If I've not crossed into personal attack, why my comments are not visible? If Mr Meel chooses to contest any of the facts stated here, he can do it publicly, here at Ycombinator.

You did cross into personal attack. That's why I asked you not to do that.

Re: My Caste

#373

Post by Ar-Curunir »

unmole wrote: post #336
Ar-Curunir wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely is. Brahmin names might be more Sanskritic, for example.

First names are defined more by fashion than anything else.

Perhaps, but definitely people from different communities and castes are influenced by different fashion trends.

Re: My Caste

#374

Post by screye »

soligern wrote: post #219
mikrl wrote: post #209

How do foreigners / non-Hindus fit into the caste system? Are there caste equivalent attitudes towards Arabs, Euros, East Asians and so on? Or from a different angle, Muslims, Christians, irreligious, etc. Or does the framework not apply to those outside of the Hindu community?

It mostly doesn’t. Historically there have been lots of mass conversions to other religions the first one being Buddhism in 600BC. Buddhism came about primarily as a response to Hindu orthodoxy and the caste system.

> Buddhism came about primarily as a response to Hindu orthodoxy and the caste system.

This is a modern myth, that has been proven to be grossly untrue, time and again.

Buddhism was a mostly upper caste phenomenon.

Re: My Caste

#375

Post by [deleted] »

soligern wrote: post #370
lotsofpulp wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Race is an ambiguous delineation of a tribe someone might belong to. Sex, age, etc are more defined delineations. Who is to say the 1.3B population of Indians does not have multiple races? They might all be the same tribe in the eyes of a person with ancestors from Europe, born and raised in the US. But for someone in India, they very well could view the other 1.29B Indians as being in tribes as different as “white”…

Race in the US is not a “socioeconomic tribe”. You said it yourself, it’s based on physical features. That’s not what a caste is.

[deleted]

Re: My Caste

#376

Post by selimthegrim »

bilalq wrote: post #322
amriksohata wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caste exists in christian and muslims demoninations in India too, just google muslim caste system (ashrafs at the top). it exists in pakistan and most of south asia. nothing really to do with hindus as per say.

I've heard people mention this, but as someone born in Karachi who moved to US as a toddler, I can confidently say I've only ever seen Muslim caste systems mentioned on places like Reddit and HN discussions about caste. It's never come up in visits to Pakistan or when hanging out with Pakistani friends in CA, TX, NJ, NY, or WA. That's not to say this interfaith caste constructs don't exist, but I've never heard an in…

You wouldn’t have seen it because that kind of behavior in Pakistan is reserved for Ahmedis.

Re: My Caste

#377

Post by hnxx »

I work with some Indian colleagues, and when I heard something about the caste system, I decided to look up some of my colleagues' names. I found that most of them come from higher-ranked castes, while a few are from lower-ranked ones. However, I can confidently say that all of them excel in their jobs.

I hope that both the Indian people and the government can take more steps to promote equality. The current situation is unfair to those from lower-ranked castes and a huge waste of human potential.

Re: My Caste

#378

Post by selimthegrim »

rhuru wrote: post #332
911e wrote: post #42

This caste problems continue in the US, instead of leaving behind such ridiculous biases it becomes a part of an US company… https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/googles-caste-bias-pr...

Since I worked at Google I can clarify. There are far too many caste grifters in USA pushing an "agenda". Equality Labs for example is an Islamic Organization with a Christian Thenmouzi as its face who talks about "caste" but in reality is she is born to very rich doctor parents in central California. Most of these claims and propaganda is not just bogus but outright harmful for the very people they pretend to fight…

How is it Islamic?

Re: My Caste

#379

Post by Xelynega »

wtmt wrote: post #45

The caste system in India is layered like onions. The author says he was born as OBC (Other Backward Classes), but that's not the lowest in the overall scheme. SC (Scheduled Castes) are considered lower in the hierarchy. ST (Scheduled Tribes) are considered even lower (there are variations across states and regions, so please take this with a pinch of salt). While the atrocities and punishments by "upper" caste peopl…

Why is this relevant other than as an attempt to misdirect blame from the "caste system" to "the writer of the article"?

I read the article as a critique of India's caste system evidenced by the lack of representation for a class that represents almost half the population. What does the actions of individuals in this group(that makes up half the population of India) have to do with that point?

Re: My Caste

#380

Post by ridiculous_leke »

KorematsuFredt wrote: post #365

I would like to point out that author is a liar and dishonest. He claims he is "OBC" which is not really a caste but rather a legal classification for affirmative action. Author's name is Meel, which indicates he is actually from the upper caste named Jats who historically have been landlords, kings and such. No one considered Jats as OBC until very recently in 2016 where this dominant caste members caused massive ri…

Caste classification is a big sh*t show. For example, Rajput is supposedly an upper caste, but by just changing it to "Rajput Bhamta" and bribing some officials one can get classified as "Vimukta Jati" in Maharashtra (which has tons of benefits at). I wouldn't be surprised if such lapses in the regulations have been abused in the past.
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