Caste Hierarchy, False-equivalence Argument, and Mount Everest

Post published:January 23, 2020
Post category:Social Justice

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.

USA: A Rigged System For The Benefit of The Rich?

Post published:July 12, 2018
Post category:Social Justice

November 8, 2012: it had just been two days since the re-election of President Obama in the US. That day, I shared, on Facebook, how who is in the White House doesn't make a real difference to the US and the world. I argued that regardless of who is in that House in Washington DC, because the systems in place are completely rigged and those who control, run, and enforce them are corrupt, a significant percentage of the American and world population will continue to suffer.

Here's a reproduction of that Facebook post and the interesting discussion I had underneath it with friends, interesting especially now since the election of Trump to the same office!

Miss Nepal: “Be Beautiful…Be The Change”

Post published:April 11, 2018
Post category:Kathmandu, Mustang & Nepal Social Justice

Why do most of the contestants and winners of Miss Nepal beauty pageant belong to BCN (Bahun Chhetri Newar) trio of ethnicities?
My tentative answer is that they are the most privileged groups in the country, and the pageant is of the BCN, by the BCN, for the BCN!

Unleashing Nepal: The History of Rent-seeking Mentality

Post published:March 19, 2018
Post category:Social Justice

This section from Unleashing Nepal describes how the Birta and Jagir systems implemented by Prithvi Narayan Shah created cultural practices and values and shaped some of the attitudes of the upper caste males of the Brahmin, Chhettri and some Newar castes, which, still prevalent in one form or another, has been and continues to also be an impediment to social, economic and political progress. (Another consequence of the systems were to impoverish and marginalize the indigenous population of the country.)

Nepali People by Job Applications

Post published:September 18, 2017
Post category:Social Justice

COMMITTED, in the process of expanding, recently advertised fourteen different positions. Reproduced in this blog post are charts of the applications by age, gender, caste etc.

Affirming Non-white is NOT Equivalent to Denying White

Post published:December 17, 2016
Post category:Social Justice

White privilege is something a white person enjoys by virtue of his/her skin color. No white person gets discriminated BECAUSE of his/her white skin color, the way a non-white person frequently is, for instance. No white person is denied something BECAUSE of his/her skin color, the way a non-white person frequently is, to give another example.