Hacker News Reader

Comment by indigoviolet | Hacker News Reader

I'm Indian, and I disagree with the caste system, but am also cynical enough to think this is no big deal. People will always discriminate against people for one reason or another.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=black+social+networ...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=muslim+social+netwo...

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=arabic+social+netwo...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rich+people+social+...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=beautiful+people+so...

View on HN

I guess the most odd aspect to an outside observer is how incredibly indistinguishable , at least from a physical observation, caste members are from each other. This is in such stark contrast with the societal confinement it locks people into it borders on a parody on prejudice, were it not so tragic.

EDIT: This star trek episode comes to mind (Are you blind?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi7QQ5pO7_A

Why should it matter that they're physically indistinguishable? Would it be more excusable then?

Caste is just another uneducated, thoughtless distinction to discriminate against other people.

Caste is as correlated with cultural identity and upbringing in India as religion, nationality, and skin color are in other parts of the world.

No, it shouldn't matter, just an observation it's a dimension of ignorant distinction I'm not used to, is all.

The examples you cite are not comparable to the caste system. The caste system explicitly implies inherent inferiority/superiority in one human being over another.

- I think you should ask Evangelical Christians if they consider other humans inferior otherwise why else do they try to "save" them from their inferiority.

- You should ask KKK/Neo Nazis if they consider Blacks inferior or superior?

- You should ask Chinese if they consider the mixed race Black singer (from the Chinese version of American Idol) inferior?

- Some Muslims consider non-muslims Kafir.

- Shia and Sunni consider each other inferior.

- Some muslim sects in Pakistan, and elsewhere, are considered non-muslims.

- Jews consider Palestinians, and vice versa, inferior.

And so on and so forth...

So, yes, those examples do apply.

I should still point out that in some of your examples, there is a choice. E.g., if a Muslim really holds a non-Muslim to be 'inferior', he'll no longer be inferior if he converts. It seems that there's no such hope or opportunity in the caste system.

To me, that's just splitting hairs. I don't consider religious discrimination to be any better than caste-based or skin-color-based discrimination.

My point is that this is one more manifestation of an inherent feature of human behavior, to consider similar people to be better than dissimilar people. Societies that become prosperous and educated can counteract this urge to some extent, but I haven't seen any society that really stamps it out.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com