Motherfuckers are trying to justify the caste system? Caste?

Even the fucking BJP and RSS do not openly defend the fucking caste system, and they’re the “Make India Hindu Supremacist” types.

Caste system was fucking horrifying, especially for the castes treated as “untouchable” (the Dalits). Once in a blue moon you will still get reports of them getting lynched because some upper caste fuckers got their fee-fees hurt. It’s almost dead, but some areas really like to do “nostalgia” like this.

It’s pretty forgotten nowadays in some places like my native city (for eg, no one ever cared about my caste or even asked), but it is fucking indefensible.

It’s nice to know that the affirmative action boogeyman is driving the upper classes on the other side of the world nuts, too.

Sunder-whats-his-name is decidedly a shithead.. But why there happen to be higher numbers of ‘upper-caste’ Indians in the US is decidedly complicated: India has a really complicated system of reservations (aka affirmative action) - so that if you happen to not be economically/caste/class disadvantaged (or don’t have the papers to prove it) you literally are competing with the majority of indian students for <10% of seats (see https://collegedunia.com/exams/jee-advanced/reservation) to the point where these admissions spots India’s (and the world’s) most competitive schools go empty for want of appropriate candidates. The politics of reservation aside - a lot of folks from ‘higher’ castes - unable to make it into that 10% end up trying education in the US or elsewhere to get away from this paucity of opportunity (while they do have to be economically privileged to do so - I don’t know anyone who did it without taking loans)

– edit: more “Those affirmative action students/hires just don’t have grit” whining

Ok.. I am going to be brave and not going to use a throwaway. I find it perplexing that HN crowd who is usually arguing for a balanced analysis and seeing both viewpoints is suddenly behaving as if this data proves some injustice is currently happening in India as well as US (in the context of Indian caste system). To be clear, India has/had a caste system that was extremely oppressive. Currently though, the social aspects aside, economically and crucially educationally, the “lower castes”, have an advantage due to a system of reservations - affirmative action on steroids. I am not going to argue one way or the other as to whether the idea or the implementation of such an affirmative action policy is fair or net positive. It probably still is in principle, but in practice the people who seem to benefit from this, in my experience, are very rich “lower caste” families. More things to say here, but I don’t want to digress. The law suit in the story has to do with IIT. So let’s take that specifically. IIT is extremely competitive to get into. It is even more competitive once you are in. It is common for affirmative action students to not do very well there. Call it a difference grit/talent/smartness whatever. This causes a some of them to disengage from studies altogether. Then it is not a stretch to imagine that some of them may not be very good at their job either. The lawsuit and the accusations of casteism has to be now taken with a huge pinch of salt. To be clear, I don’t know if any of the accusations in that lawsuit are true or not. But I do know that every middle class parent (including mine) drills into their kids the idea that you have to work freaking hard at studies to “get some where”. Everything about that 90 percent statistic can be explained through economics (already rich with all its advantages) or through desperation (high caste+ poor => no chance except if you work really hard). Of course I knew a few so called “lower caste” people in IIT who got in through the “general category” ie purely on merit. They were just as good as anybody there and are also doing well in the tech scene in US. edit: Added the below sentence.

The cynic in me thinks this guy accuser in the lawsuit is trying to hide his incompetence by taking advantage of the BLM and current sentiments.

Even more whining here and over here

So somehow, before IQ was even invented, ancient Indians selected for it without knowing? Okay, okay, I’m being uncharitable. Maybe they selected for the X-factor IQ tests try to get at. Somehow. Still without knowing they were doing so and better than we in a modern age, including the people who have set out the idea of that X-factor, are capable of doing. And this is more plausible than the idea that social, historic, and economic factors could EVER have contributed.

wow i’d never thought about it but I guess IQ differences between castes are a serious challenge to the bio-determinist viewpoint

reminds me of my favorite cyberpunk novels where people adhere to the rules of a carefully organized social hierarchy and realize, hey, this is good.

It reminds of a thought experiment of a friend of mine.

Pick two random children and put one in the best schools, given money and status and give the other one in the worst of everything.

In 10 years you’ll have been proven right which one you chose for which.

Jesus fucking Christ.