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The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

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Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#81

Post by oflannabhra »

quantummkv wrote: post #17

A better way to allegorize the Indian caste system would be the racism in USA. No one in urban centers or in the new generations is racist against black people. Go to the folks from the older generations and in the hinterlands and you will find that racism still exists somewhat. A similar trend is present in India. The new kids in urban centers don't care about caste. The old people in the villages and hinterlands? T…

Why should it be allegorized?

The whole point of the article, and her book, is to bring the caste system and its consequences into light. Allegorizing it would wash away all the specific issues she is trying to raise!

Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#82

Post by oflannabhra »

To everyone whose response to this is "Oh yeah, that's just like racism and slavery in America." Please consider the following:

Both racism and casteism have similar results. That is, subjugation of certain peoples, violations of human rights, the preservation of the oppressing class, death--a whole host of evils.

However, they have different sources, are codified differently, entrenched in different cultures, and therefore should be addressed and combated differently.

Sujatha did not write a book to make people understand that American slavery (and its continuing echo) is bad. Furthermore, purely trying to understand Sujatha's story through the lens of American slavery is essentially hand-waving away the points she is trying to make.

Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#83

Post by lfxyz »

bzliu94 wrote: post #80
scythe wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An physics postdoc should pull in 40-60k (mean 49k) without an NYC CoL so I'm not sure subway conductor is better. Adjunct salaries can be disgustingly low but that's mostly in the humanities AFAIK.

What is CoL?

Cost of Living, I imagine.

Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#84

Post by yellowstuff »

quantummkv wrote: post #23
Blackthorn wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one in urban centers or in the new generations is racist against black people. I'm sorry but this is just wrong, and you can prove it to yourself by reading the news any day.

Well it looks like mistyped that. I meant the majority of the people. You always have some people with other views.

That view is hard to square with studies showing that resumes with black-sounding names get fewer callbacks.

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/mar/15/...

Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#85

Post by romwell »

scythe wrote: post #66
akgerber wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conductors average $62k/year: https://bizfluent.com/info-12099370-salary-new-york-city-tra... It's a decent middle class job.

An physics postdoc should pull in 40-60k (mean 49k) without an NYC CoL so I'm not sure subway conductor is better. Adjunct salaries can be disgustingly low but that's mostly in the humanities AFAIK.

>40-60k

>Might

My friend got under $40K as a physics postdoc in TX, my partner got around $50K as a math tenure-track in midwest, and those are the lucky academics that could find these positions.

You can look up salaries at many public institutions. The trend is pretty sad.

Some people might get a lot of money by winning the lottery, doesn't mean it's a viable career choice.

Disclaimer: I jumped ship, and still might suffer a bit from the sour grapes syndrome - but not because the salaries in academia very any good.

Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#86

Post by tacomonstrous »

noobhacker wrote: post #58
tacomonstrous wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the main benefits in India of increasing urbanization is the accompanying anonymity. I would assume this incident didn't occur in a big city. Did it?

According to the author of the book being discussed, the caste system is very much alive in cities [1]. From what she said, it seems like people can tell your caste by asking a few simple questions or observing your body language. The caste system persists even among Indians in America. [1] https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/sujatha-gidla-an...

Discrimination when it comes to housing (just as in matrimony) is still rampant in India: religion, gender, marriage status, and certainly caste are all reasons people are regularly denied access to rental properties. I suppose my point was more about ephemeral commercial activity, like entering a coffee shop, which was the example that was given in the grandparent comment.

Edit: Fascinating interview, by the way. Thanks for posting it! Loved this part:

>GIDLA: I will say this: Everybody is dying to know whether I got into university because of reservations. My answer to them is, “Go ahead and die.”

Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#87

Post by heavenlyblue »

creep wrote: post #47
heavenlyblue wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You had just said it: they oppose the institute of marriage, which is not only a traditional way of announcing the union of two people (let's for a moment accept the fact that maybe marriage is only a Christian creation), but is also a legal way of exposing it. Now please tell me how opposing the gay marriage is not in any way a sign of hate towards gay people that bars them from certain legal liberties? You could tr…

Some believe that people who get abortions oppose the "institute" of life (since we don't know when life starts, we can't say it doesn't start before 9 months). Is it possible to oppose a practice one believes is barbaric without hating the person who is practicing it? Of course it is-- if you understand human nature. No one is their behavior-- so, the most logical thing is not to hate a person for a single element o…

You're playing the redefinition card rather than accepting that abortions of one human being are never your own business, and the set of values you have accepted when you had accepted "God" in your life have been created centuries ago when we knew close-to-nothing about medicine.

Re: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

#88

Post by LarryL »

tacomonstrous wrote: post #3
LarryL wrote: post #2

My parents visited India a few years ago, they faced that issue when their guide refused to enter a coffee shop, when he explained that it was because he was not allowed to enter because of his caste, they turned back (disgusted)...

One of the main benefits in India of increasing urbanization is the accompanying anonymity. I would assume this incident didn't occur in a big city. Did it?

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that it was in a big city. At least, I'm sure it was not in a small town/village in the country.
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