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India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

newint.org

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Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#91

Post by moens »

davidroberts wrote: post #74

This does not just apply in India. A long time ago, I had a job soliciting donations door to door in the US. We did all we could to avoid the rich neighborhoods and actively sought out the poor minority neighborhoods. People in those neighborhoods with only two dollars would give one to help others. In the rich neighborhoods, they would call the police the moment they saw you. If I ever had to have a heart attack in…

Agreed, "All elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement"

[fixed]

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#93

Post by capex »

The poor man whose cart was tipped, can't sue the rich guy. Neither would this be covered in the news. The police would simply refuse to register a case of loss against the rich (and probably powerful) guy. There is no insurance of the cart, of course.

When the poor know that every cog in the society is biased against the poor, people are quick to dismiss them and their misery. If it was another car instead of the cart, the SUV guy won't have hit the car, for the person riding the car would certainly be able to sue/ report to police, and might even have insurance.

This is about the lack of entitlement of the poor, rather than the ferocious sense of entitlement of the rich. The rich are just exploiting the absence of any entitlement to poor.

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#94

Post by lobotryas »

javert wrote: post #82
not_that_noob wrote: post #71

Humans are apes. It happens right here in Silicon Valley too. Atherton has nice little yellow signs that say 'No Through Traffic'. Why? They don't want the poor people from Redwood City coming through. In fact, one Atherton gentleman went to a RWC City Council meeting complaining about it and asking RWC to put up signs on their side too. The folks at RWC apparently told him to go stuff himself, that those little yell…

Humans are not apes. Neither literally, nor figuratively. That's not only incorrect, but it's a vicious thing to say, and it has dangerous implications.

Please expand on your line of thought. What are the "dangerous implications" of calling all humans "apes"?

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#95

Post by ameister14 »

Confusion wrote: post #76

Nietzsche and The Last Psychiatrist[1] would have a field day with this. The article tells a story we love to believe: we may be poorer than the people the article talks about, but we are nicer, more empathic, better people. We love to believe it, because it makes us feel good about ourselves and provides a sense of justice: nobody has it all and if someone has more of one thing, he will have less of something else.…

Yes, people who you believe are undeserving can obtain wealth. No, that doesn't mean that all wealthy people are like that or that it is necessary to behave badly to become wealthy.

The last psychiatrist is an ok writer, and a lot of his stuff is fun to read, but he draws some really erroneous conclusions. I'd be careful about being drawn in by that.

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#96

Post by pekk »

rm999 wrote: post #51
jimrandomh wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You know what these people call themselves? Middle class. They refuse to acknowledge that they are wealthy. No, they've got it right. The distinction between middle class and lower class is entirely about wealth, but the distinction between middle class and upper class is not. Wealth is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for being upper class; the distinguishing features are flexibility and power, not money.…

In India being upper middle class can provide you with a lifestyle (and I think therefore mentality) that resembles upperclass in the West because of cheap labor and weak labor laws. I know doctors in India who have live-in servants, chefs, drivers, etc.

Agreed: if you have a maid, you cannot really say you are middle class any more

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#97

Post by sk5t »

davidroberts wrote: post #74

This does not just apply in India. A long time ago, I had a job soliciting donations door to door in the US. We did all we could to avoid the rich neighborhoods and actively sought out the poor minority neighborhoods. People in those neighborhoods with only two dollars would give one to help others. In the rich neighborhoods, they would call the police the moment they saw you. If I ever had to have a heart attack in…

I don't think it's that the rich don't want to help, but they are accustomed to fending off people trying to take their money. Deal with it often enough and everyone looks like a swindler--it's a bit like the experience of moving to the big city, and learning that it's better to brush off 100% of the people on the street who have a sob story, just need bus or subway fare, or claim to have gotten their car towed.

Also, in rich neighborhoods, the police have the time and inclination to speak with unlicensed door-to-door peddlers. It is unquestionably in the wealthy homeowners' interests to discourage both solicitors and burglars from wandering the neighborhood, knocking on doors, seeing who's home and who's not...

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#98

Post by drdaeman »

javert wrote: post #82
not_that_noob wrote: post #71

Humans are apes. It happens right here in Silicon Valley too. Atherton has nice little yellow signs that say 'No Through Traffic'. Why? They don't want the poor people from Redwood City coming through. In fact, one Atherton gentleman went to a RWC City Council meeting complaining about it and asking RWC to put up signs on their side too. The folks at RWC apparently told him to go stuff himself, that those little yell…

Humans are not apes. Neither literally, nor figuratively. That's not only incorrect, but it's a vicious thing to say, and it has dangerous implications.

If "ape" is a synonym to "hominoid", humans are apes. Literally.

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#99

Post by pekk »

corin_ wrote: post #30
ashray wrote: post #6

Ooh, no comments, I'll bite. The last time I said something negative about Indian society I had my personal details thrown all over HN. Wonder what's going to happen this time. So here's the thing. This article is pretty spot on. We, the privileged of India, do indeed feel entitled. There's absolutely no doubt about that. My theory is that the population pressure in India is so very high that you're always fighting f…

Guess it depends on your culture/background, but your description of upper class people who believe they are middle class sound like people I would call middle class - I'm English. So while you may be completely right in the context of India, your examples don't necessarily explain it well to an international audience.

The actual American "middle class" might be regarded as completely working class to the English...

Re: India’s elites have a ferocious sense of entitlement

#100

Post by manishsharan »

I highly doubt the veracity of the article about the SUV driving young man and the vegetable seller; this story confirms your worst stereotypes about India and gets eyeballs but it is bullshit.

I would like to point out that poor people in India are a very well represented : Communist part and Marxist parties are doing very well in India. Every political party courts the votes of poor people. If you pull shit like that SUV kid , the vegetable sellers would swarm your car and fuck you up good.

I grew up in Delhi. The poor people in Delhi day are very well aware of their rights and exercise them -- sometimes with violent consequences for the brash rich.

The feudal India that you allude you is gone and good riddance to it . One has to be super fucking powerful to get away with shit like that in India.

Btw , Salman Khan (the actor) is facing jail time. So yeah !

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