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Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

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Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#221

Post by fastball »

zozbot234 wrote: post #14

It's so disappointing to see in the article that caste discrimination is still being blamed by some on the religion of Hinduism. There's no dharmic status whatsoever for "caste" in the commonplace sense. The Vedas occasionally talk about something that gets misinterpreted as caste, but it's very clear from the texts that they're talking about individual callings and aptitudes, and not any sort of immutable status. Th…

> it's very clear from the texts

Not sure that applies to any religious text ever. Regardless, it is clearly not clear, since people are misinterpreting it.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#222

Post by renewiltord »

loeg wrote: post #176
ramraj07 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You threw a racism uno card by asserting that the Japanese guy was racist with zero proof. You’re stereotyping people as much as you accuse others of.

It was a different commenter -- franklampard.

Well, then we can certainly say he wasn't hired based on a review of past performance. Lamps has had a terrible managerial career.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#223

Post by mama123 »

belval wrote: post #7

To Indian commenters on HN, how much of that is true? Do you feel threatened when a coworker asks about where you are from? It's something I do ask from time to time (not during interviews obviously, but during lunch for example) out of pure curiosity. Should I stop? I guess that I should explicitly add that I am not from India. Cross-cultural communications can be a bit difficult at times and I'd rather not make blu…

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".

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#224

Post by moffkalast »

nsajko wrote: post #183
throwaway_dcnt wrote: post #11

The reason for my current user name here at hn was this exact form of racism. It is the first post I made when I created this throwaway. I was assured that my experience was unique and not widespread. I am both sad and happy to see this, sad because it exists, happy because it is getting some attention here at HN. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that everyone of us needs to be vigilant about this t…

Your idea is unfair and would be illegal to carry out. Because it's racist, obviously. Furthermore, I live in the Balkans area (Croatia) and it so happens that companies from this area do employ people of varied ethnicity, and those do work on the same teams.

Exactly, the only way to get people to accept everyone as they are is to see that they're exactly the same as them. If a person can't put this sort of thing aside and work with a basic dose of professionalism then they should frankly be fired. You can't tolerate intolerance.

You'd think that a nation as varied as the US would know that.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#225

Post by nirav72 »

throwaway_dcnt wrote: post #11

The reason for my current user name here at hn was this exact form of racism. It is the first post I made when I created this throwaway. I was assured that my experience was unique and not widespread. I am both sad and happy to see this, sad because it exists, happy because it is getting some attention here at HN. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that everyone of us needs to be vigilant about this t…

Can we please stop conflating casteism as racism? While both equally horrible, one is not same as the other. One can possibly hide their caste. But a person cant change their racial phenotypes.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#226

Post by thowaway_2mar »

random314 wrote: post #203
vmception wrote: post #57

One day it occurred to me that I can tell if someone is from India, but that I'd never considered to notice more nuances than that, for such a big country with so many groups of people. I have just begun to notice, but I have no idea about the identity politics. I recall in college that some of my friends from India would fawn over certain last names, and I felt it was something to do with the caste system, but I had…

In India dalits are about 20%. In Silicon valley, I would be surprised if they are more than 2%. India is like 3 different countries when sliced by caste. The highest castes are about as privileged as the typical Chinese. The middle are at sub saharan Africa levels. The bottom 25% constitute probably the most deprived population in the world. Better off than the Rohingyas but not by too much. "Jay Bhim" is a great mo…

^ India is like 3 different countries when sliced by caste. The highest castes are about as privileged as the typical Chinese. The middle are at sub saharan Africa levels. The bottom 25% constitute probably the most deprived population in the world. Better off than the Rohingyas but not by too much.

Not true, at all. It depends on your state of birth and the caste. A Dalit from a poor state like Bihar is underprivileged than a Dalit of Kerala or Tamil Nadu.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#227

Post by thowaway_2mar »

nirav72 wrote: post #225
throwaway_dcnt wrote: post #11

The reason for my current user name here at hn was this exact form of racism. It is the first post I made when I created this throwaway. I was assured that my experience was unique and not widespread. I am both sad and happy to see this, sad because it exists, happy because it is getting some attention here at HN. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that everyone of us needs to be vigilant about this t…

Can we please stop conflating casteism as racism? While both equally horrible, one is not same as the other. One can possibly hide their caste. But a person cant change their racial phenotypes.

How can I hide me caste without changing my last name?

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#228

Post by bradleyjg »

nirav72 wrote: post #225
throwaway_dcnt wrote: post #11

The reason for my current user name here at hn was this exact form of racism. It is the first post I made when I created this throwaway. I was assured that my experience was unique and not widespread. I am both sad and happy to see this, sad because it exists, happy because it is getting some attention here at HN. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that everyone of us needs to be vigilant about this t…

Can we please stop conflating casteism as racism? While both equally horrible, one is not same as the other. One can possibly hide their caste. But a person cant change their racial phenotypes.

This is not so cut and dry. The US has a long history of people “passing”.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#229

Post by thowaway_2mar »

peter303 wrote: post #158
bleah1000 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you enforce this? In the US this is completely illegal. In addition, you would have to ask extremely invasive questions of everyone. So is your proposal that you require that your company ask for the detailed ethnicity of everyone? What happens when people refuse, do you just not allow them to interview or manage? What about people who were born in the US, do you assume that if they are of Japanese descent…

In India the surname might indicate caste. Then easy to tell in States.

True, but in diffrent indian states people from diffrent caste can have the same surname.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#230

Post by wozniacki »

nsajko wrote: post #183
throwaway_dcnt wrote: post #11

The reason for my current user name here at hn was this exact form of racism. It is the first post I made when I created this throwaway. I was assured that my experience was unique and not widespread. I am both sad and happy to see this, sad because it exists, happy because it is getting some attention here at HN. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that everyone of us needs to be vigilant about this t…

Your idea is unfair and would be illegal to carry out. Because it's racist, obviously. Furthermore, I live in the Balkans area (Croatia) and it so happens that companies from this area do employ people of varied ethnicity, and those do work on the same teams.

I understand your overall argument but one anecdote does not a rule make, whether in this scenario or any other scenario.
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