As the introduction, I am reproducing the same from the first blog post in the series.
The worst thing the caste system (see below) in Nepal has done is to corrupt the minds of the population, in many different ways too.
The classification of the population of Nepal based on the EXTREMELY casteist 1854 Muluki Ain (Law of the Land, i.e. The Constitution).
One of the ways it has corrupted the minds of the population is inculcating the belief that the so-called High Caste Hindus are the knowledgeable ones as well as those who are supposed to rule. Made up of two social groups, the High Castes are the Bahuns (Brahmans) and Chhetris (Kshatriya). Traditionally, the former are the priests and teachers while the latter the nobles and warriors.
Generations of the hill so-called High Caste Hindus have taught, by their older generation, at home, in schools and elsewhere — as well as by pretty much the entire society but in subtle ways — that they are more intelligent, more capable etc. etc. and the others such me, a Bhote, are NOT.
'Another Dalit friend added, "[…][U]pper caste children are made to believe that they are d purest & d most intelligent & then they alone have to get into education & professional work."
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) April 20, 2023
Consequently, self-fulfilling prophecy works its charm — they grow up believing that about themselves. Here’s some example from Twitter of exactly such individuals expressing that exact belief.
& yes, I agree w/ you that b/c the "khas-aryas are the…educated class" & "more capable" is why they are disproportionately highly represented in d Nepali media. As a matter, that's REALLY why disproportionately high % of them get elected: https://t.co/gqHH2AI4aT.😉😉😉😁😁🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/nZBGcLSgvm
And in a review of a book by an eminent Nepali scholar, Dor Bahadur Bista, the reviewer, Sewa Bhattari, a hill so-called High Caste Hindu, proclaims “Brahmins have the highest achievement motivation”!
A long read critiquing Dor B. Bista’s book.
No. of good points including abt some broad generalizations Bista makes & d issues w/ them. (https://t.co/aITjjWJW0L)
This caught my eye: "#Brahmins have d highest achievement motivation"!
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) July 20, 2020
In other words, and to quote, again, from the introduction to the first post in the series:
Systems and structures for the entire modern history of the country have been such that the priestly caste have been able, mostly, to decide and dictate what knowledge and education is. Not surprisingly, they are also accepted as the ones having them and therefore in a position to impart. As for the Chhetris, their predominant roles as rulers and warriors within the borders of the country have also reinforced their high status leading to also their own views of themselves as superior to — and more knowledgeable as well as more powerful than — the rest of the four castes below them.
Of course, many of the manners in which the hill so-called high castes who carry that air of superiority and knowledgeability and given to communicating or conveying or exposing that, for whatever reason, can be very subtle, naturally, since they may be internalized and therefore unconscious.
But before I demonstrate that, a couple of disclaimers.
Firstly, that is NOT to say that every single member of the hill so-called High Caste Hindus think that of themselves and view themselves that way relative to others. In other words, as obvious as this may seem, stating that as a hashtag, #NotAllHighCastes! 🙂 Sufficient numbers have done and continue to do so for the social, political, and economic structures to be as warped as they have always been and continue to be, however.
Secondly, the the sense of superiority is NOT limited to the hill so-called High Caste Hindus. See below for the second disclaimer, which is, again, a reproduction of one I shared in the first post in the series.
(To be sure, the gradation of the rest of the people has corrupted their minds too: those above think of and view themselves as superior to those below and behave (misbehave?) and interact with the latter in ways which demonstrate and reinforce that.)
I have personally come across hill so-called high castes who have demonstrated that subtle, unconscious, and internalized casteism and their sense of superiority and knowledgeability in exchanges with me. And what I am reproducing below is another exchange with such an individual who I personally know–we are school mates–to demonstrate just that.
Not unlike the last one, this one also comes from Facebook. The exchange took place under a post of mine about trickle down economics.
Here’s the original post about trickle down economics.
The hill so-called High Caste Hindu school mate, who has taken issues with my posts and opinions etc. in the past and has made some crazy arguments in very bombastic language more often than not, again, made the following comment (name redacted in bright red).
The users redacted in green and light orange are both international Facebook friends, a former colleague and a former student respectively. Anyway, next, I responded to the post by the former student.
And what does my school mate come back with? Nothing that actually addressed anything we had said. But, when you believe that you know better and what you know is right, of course, that arrogance blinds; engaging, on equal terms, with one you view as lower caste or status and look down on (albeit unconsciously) and addressing what they say sensibly does NOT occur to him. Of course not! 😀
I tried to draw his attention to the way he made his comments unnecessarily obtuse and difficult to understand by pointing that out but to no avail.
However, of course, it’s possible that that was deliberate — that he was actually trying to demonstrate to us (really to me?) how much more he knows by bamboozling us with the use of those big words. He didn’t care — because he is convinced that he doesn’t have to — that he came across as more muddled than erudite on the topic of discussion!
Then I tried to steer the conversation back to the topic. And my former colleague (name redacted in green) — a native English speaker and a teacher — pointed out the fact that his English is “close on incoherent.”
And what does he come back with? Again some incoherent sequence of sentences and an argument in support of trickle down economics that made absolutely no sense!
And in response to my colleague’s comment, how does this school mate from Nepal respond? With a kind of indirect personal attack.
Anyway, I responded with a lot of questions about his comment, one filled with big and intelligent sounding words which actually had the effect of making it unintelligible.
And my colleague also responded by pointing out how making personal attack is “an inability to put an argument together.”
But of course, he responds with again just a lot of word salad!
I don’t think he realized the fact that him refusing to share any additional evidence and basically expecting me to accept his half-assed evidence and/or find evidence myself kind of demonstrates his arrogance borne potentially of his unconscious view of himself relative to me. The manner in which he responded to my former colleague (name redacted in green) further reveals his disdain for people who question him as well as his inability or unwillingness to communicate intelligently in English.
Anyway, not long after I shared the above response, kind fed up I decided that I would put a stop to it. So, I added the following comment.
The former student (name redacted in yellow) also commented pointing out how “dumb” his argument was.
The school mate did NOT respond to neither my comment nor to the international former student labeling his argument “dumb”, which was just as well.
My conclusion that he likely had an axe to grind and had no intention of engaging with me in good faith is based on the way he has engaged with posts of mine a number of times. The exchanges I reproduced in the first one in the series and this are but just two examples. He’s come at me in the same way under other Facebook Posts of mine in which, again, he felt he could–or felt it necessary to–comment either arrogantly (and deliberately?) disregarding what I said or demonstrating his ignorance! Once, under a October 27, 2015 post–part of which was reproduced in the first post in the series–he even spoke disparagingly of my alma mater while congratulating me on my Honoary Degree!
To return to the Facebook exchanges, another Nepali classmate responded jocularly with the following though!
And finally, a reproduction of the exchanges I had under the same post with my former colleague. In my second comment I make a reference to one piece of data in support of the fact that trickle-down economics is a sham.
There you go, an example of the way privilege blinds, so much so that the structurally privileged in Nepal expose their unconscious views and biases, informed by sense of superiority and knowledgeability because of their caste. What’s the solution? Same as what I suggested in the other blog post: “A revolution…a revolution of the mind.”
What do you think?
References
You might not surprised to learn that I have published blog posts around the same or related topics.
“Putting Someone In Their Place”…Nepalese Style is actually about an incident on Facebook where an individual (a Xaverian classmate, I am pretty sure) tried to “put me in my place,” by reminding me of my ethnicity, not just by talking down to me.
