Fascinating to see the Western world fall apart while quadrupling down on the possibility AGI and fossil fuels.
5 to 10 more years of these disproportionately wealthy nations quibbling with each other and fighting within themselves due to far right politics and one wonders what the world will look like in a few decades.
Most empires fall when they spend more time looking backwards than forwards. Looking at you America…
slams buzzer ER nurse.
Capitalist nations uphold those with capital. Who would have thought?
What would you say to those that wish the same on America since Trump defended the Saudi government’s actions? Or is that a “special case” where civilians should be seen as distinct from their government?
The only way you counter it is with education and being worldly
Well said. It really shouldn’t be harder with the technological advantages we have today but clearly the powers that be go out of their way to make sure it’s not used for that purpose.
Indian Hindus have had a caste system since it was introduced in the Vedas 3500 years ago. It was initially intended as means of organizing society and not necessarily hierarchical.
It wasn’t necessarily systemized until it was legally codified by the British during the colonial era. Indian historians have debated the fluidity of caste prior to this time and concluded that while caste endogamy was clearly the norm, caste was much more fluid historically.
There are thousands of castes in India. When the British came across this system, for the purposes of census administration, they limited self identification to only one of the four castes as described in the Vedas, legally codifying it as a hierarchy.
The idea of one group of people seeing itself as superior to others is a common theme throughout human history. The US had a race based caste system for most of its history with the addition of legally codified chattel slavery and segregation of African Americans.
Pulitzer prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson argues that America still has an invisible caste system to this day.
America utilizes DEI to remedy past and present caste discrimination. India outlawed caste discrimination at its inception in article 17 of it’s constitution.
Some regressive Indians bring a casteist worldview with them. The government of the United States and its supporters are currently working at establishing a caste system where those of European heritage are high caste and those of other races or heritages are low caste. Both are wrong.
I say this mainly because I come across many people that see caste as a uniquely regressive institution the likes of which has not existed in other societies. Every hierarchical system based on race or ancestry is casteist and essentially every human society in civilizational history has had and likely currently continues to have that bigotry deeply ingrained within.
Nothing you said is wrong. Just adding context for a better understanding.
Not entirely true, many want to bring their family (see settler immigrants in early America) and there are still many that don’t want to eliminate immigration entirely.
Sectarianism will always exist. One can argue that the resurgence in white supremacy here is a manifestation of that (a group of Europeans and their descendants thinking their sect is superior / innately worthy of more resources).
I think one would be hard pressed to defend the argument that racism is a “white export” but what is undeniably true is that colonial Europeans were obsessed with race and saw the world through the lens of a race based caste system.
They assumed that all human progress could be distilled to lighter skin people being more advanced and darker skin people being more primitive.
They created entire scientific fields around this and interpreted their religion in a way to support this.
In India, they interpreted indigineous systems of social hierarchy such as caste and took them a step further, defining those that were darker skinned and lower caste as inherently criminal, keeping them under the watchful eye of their surveillance state.
They perceived lighter skin Muslims and upper caste Hindus as more “civilized” than darker skin low caste Hindus and gave the former administrative opportunities because of this perceived superiority.
They had an explicit policy of divide and conquer, promoting hateful and divisive rhetoric that resulted in communal violence so that people would be distracted from fighting against them.
Then when Nazi Germany destroyed their infrastructure in WW2 such that they could no longer financially maintain their institutions of colonialism, they drew an arbitrary border which cut through incredibly culturally and linguistically diverse communities and left.
In summary: Would there be animosity between Pakistan and India without the mismanagement of partition and the empire going out of its way to promote hate? Probably.
Would racism and sectarian violence not exist in the absence of the European world view being spread globally through colonialism? No we would still have that.
Were these made substantially worse by colonial powers promoting those divisions around the world over centuries? I think absolutely yes.
So while I take your point that such divisions didn’t originate in the West, it very much was a core component of their worldview and they stoked and exacerbated those divisions everywhere they went. I find it difficult to let colonists off the hook for that.
But to your general point on human nature, I agree. The reason why I hold America toa different standard is it calls itself the land of oppurunity and takes pride in that.
From the regressive perspective, if you’re nonwhite and poor you’re a leech on society and if you are well off you must have took it from them by gaming the system. The core is not seeing others as equally human.
Being financially secure is a multiplier to their bigotry as they feel it challenges 1) their collective power and 2) their worldview that anyone that shares their melanin level is innately superior in every way.
To be honest, as a South Asian, racists have always been openly bigotted in our direction. It was never really taboo in most Western countries. We have no StopAsianHate or BLM equivalent.
That being said I appreciate the author for highlighting the issue. Despite our faults (by virtue of being human) we value family and education as ideals and that has helped us create prosperity, especially in the US where Indians are the highest earning demographic. This rubs some the wrong way, even if it is fairly earned.
Though its not surprising, it is disappointing when it occurs in a nation that sees itself as a land of opportunity.
Deploying the same methodology that Republicans used to track cost increases under former President Joe Biden, JEC Democrats found that the average US family is spending roughly $700 more per month on basic items since Trump took office in January, pledging to bring prices “way down.”
Smart to use their methodology. That way they can’t call it flawed. Well they can but they’ll sound stupid
She has to choose between primarying Schumer or running for president in 2028. The former may be more realistic but it’s certainly not an easy decision.
The goal here is to go back to a world where such racial hieraechies are accepted but without human accountability. This way you are subjugated arbitrarily but hey the computer said so, so what can we do about it?
It should go without saying but their citizenship should have no bearing on their treatment. If they were undocumented, this behaviour would still not be justified.
People without legal status in ones nation state are not less worthy of human rights.
The only way to get decent prices is if you use their gamified, personal information stealing app. Otherwise you’re paying out the ass for trash tier food. They did this to themselves.
Consumer weakness.
It’s not that you’ve failed to offer a product that’s a good value proposition for the consumer no…
It’s their weakness. If they were stronger they’d buy your overpriced trash. The problem certainly is not that you’re selling trash. It can’t be.
I dont agree but I do think an overly individualistic and hedonistic approach to physical love can be harmful over time. There are people out there that are essentially masturbatng with another persons body and that is never going to be fulfilling in any meaningful way. A lot of mainstream, commercial porn portrays love making this way which can be problematic for so called gooners.
Dont think I’ve ever heard anyone outside the US say that.
deleted by creator
Its possible as a once or twice off but I think with how the population skews in many Western countries, retirees will always have a disproportionate voice. Essentially death by gerentocracy. It’s why new legislation often amounts to a transfer of wealth from young to old.
Even if that skew wasn’t a factor, many young people are consuming far right propaganda on social media and accepting that ideology as their worldview.
Finally even if there is a massive rebuke against Trump/MAGA etc. by 2028 it may be too little too late.
Its fascinating to watch news within the US versus outside of it. Within the US there are political commentators recommending that allied nations do their best to hold out to 2028 when the US hopefully gets back on track. Outside the US, countries are reorganizing supply chains to minimize US involvement / dependency wherever possible.
When your most reliable partner suddenly becomes unreliable, you don’t forget that in one election cycle.