When a hill so-called high caste Hindu counters a member of another caste describing the challenges in their lives because of the caste they are born into by saying that they too struggle and have had to work hard to get as far as they have gotten in life, they are basically making a false-equivalence argument. What is a false-equivalence argument anyway? I go into the details by using an analogy -- that of climbing Mount Everest.
The story of two young Nepali adults in love but struggling with a dilemma that many like them do: they are from different castes and their parents don't approve of their desire to get married and start a family. But the comments under their story on Facebook, where I found it, fills me with hope!
Last January I decided to drastically cut down on my social media activism in Nepal. Additionally, I also decided to cull my Facebook friend list and make my Facebook posts viewable only by friends. Four months later, I came across yet another reason to do that.
A Grade 8 Social Studies textbook has nothing on the one system that has defined and shaped our society and is responsible for, directly or indirectly, many -- if not most or even ALL -- of the social, economic, and political problems our country faces, hindering its progress: the caste system! And the reason? It's a "small" issue!