tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post243380674432759426..comments2024-03-27T13:09:26.512+05:30Comments on E=mc^2: Indian values are actually habits IISujaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16539694685428659940noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-46949621733316783532009-12-15T18:17:46.107+05:302009-12-15T18:17:46.107+05:30Idler:
Thanks a lot for the excerpt and the link. ...Idler:<br />Thanks a lot for the excerpt and the link. This work was done in 1985. Hmm..Sujaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16539694685428659940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-29489497275365065472009-12-15T14:32:56.967+05:302009-12-15T14:32:56.967+05:30Sujai,
Perhaps this may help explain the frustrat...Sujai,<br /><br />Perhaps this may help explain the frustration.<br /><br />An excerpt:<br /><br />I should like to illustrate this contrast, if I may, by noting the typical answers one would give in these two parts of the world to questions designed to evaluate a person (This is the issue of the difference involved in ‘appraisals’ between our two cultures, touched on in the previous section.) In the following, answer ‘P’ would be typical in the West and ‘Q’ of Asia.<br /> <br />Question: “What kind of a person is X?”<br /> P: “He is a friendly person”.<br /> Q: “He comes home every week to enquire after my health”.<br />Question: “What kind of a wife is she?”<br /> P: “A caring, loving wife.<br /> Q: “She never eats until everyone in the family has eaten”.<br />Question: “What kind of a son is he?”<br /> P: “He is a well-behaved boy”<br />Q: “He prostrates at my feet every time he comes to see me”<br /> : “He always takes some sweets with him when he visits his aunt”, etc.<br /><br />I would like to put to you that answers marked ‘Q’ are very typical of Asia and often very irritating to Westernized sensibilities, because these answers do not appear answer the questions at all. The ques-tion was: not what someone does or does not do, but what kind of person that someone is. The for-mer may be relevant to answering questions about the latter, but they are not the same. Such would be the remark that one makes, if the Western culture is taken as the reference point.<br /><br />In the West, the action one performs is seen as an expression of one’s self (at times only). Where this assumption is present, there both action and language serve the same goal: one expresses one’s self in action and one’s thought in language.<br /><br />That both may do so imperfectly or even not at all is incorporated in the notion that there is no nec-essary relation between the self and its expression in action, or thought and its expression in language. The debates about which of the two is modelled after which or what was there first, become varia-tions of the same theme: one does not escape the theme by talking about linguistic actions and lin-guistic utterances instead of thoughts and propositions. Because moral or immoral actions could but need not express the morality or immorality of the self which performs them, one would want to dis-tinguish between a person and his actions.<br /><br />From -- http://sites.google.com/site/colonialconsciousness/WeShallnotceasefrom.pdfIdlerhttp://idlinginc.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-53586981107529698632009-12-06T17:32:25.780+05:302009-12-06T17:32:25.780+05:30--then the religious people, whom I consider to be...--then the religious people, whom I consider to be mentally weak--<br /><br /> That's a weak argument to start with<br /><br /> How can you say that they are mentally weak?. <br /><br /> And by making above argument you seem to have accepted that smoking and drinking are for mentally weak.Bhanu Prasadhttp://www.bhanuprasad.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-30190238011079896922009-12-01T09:05:01.871+05:302009-12-01T09:05:01.871+05:30Bhanu Prasad:
"mentally weak" people ne...Bhanu Prasad:<br /><br />"mentally weak" people need not be morally corrupt.<br /><br />If that is the case, then the religious people, whom I consider to be mentally weak, would all be morally corrupt.Sujaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16539694685428659940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-59297755759453958992009-12-01T04:17:23.356+05:302009-12-01T04:17:23.356+05:30-- If you are smoking and drinking then there is a...-- If you are smoking and drinking then there is a good chance you are morally corrupt--<br /><br /> Smoking and drinking are HARMFUL to health. And any person indulging in them freely, sans limit, is mentally weak. <br /><br /> No wonder many cultures consider drinking and smoking as "haraami"Bhanu Prasadhttp://www.bhanuprasad.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-6239916505986602962009-11-29T02:18:49.077+05:302009-11-29T02:18:49.077+05:30"Indians have got their priorities all skewed..."Indians have got their priorities all skewed up." - because Indians are a billion strong nation of brainwashed morons ! (Damn and I am also one of them)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-14316964066462521542009-11-29T01:00:30.426+05:302009-11-29T01:00:30.426+05:30funny link :)....wonder what our proponents of &qu...funny link :)....wonder what our proponents of "Indian values" have to say on this.rupshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05604894882503264842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-89737143624426115832009-11-27T11:50:33.152+05:302009-11-27T11:50:33.152+05:30I just can't help but posting it here..
http:...I just can't help but posting it here..<br /><br /><a href="http://post.prashanth.net/whats-the-difference-between-googlecom-and-go" rel="nofollow">http://post.prashanth.net/whats-the-difference-between-googlecom-and-go</a>ruSh.Mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09420972964787775346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-70079247095426317332009-11-27T11:45:08.618+05:302009-11-27T11:45:08.618+05:30Too many words. Too little thought.
Who said cultu...Too many words. Too little thought.<br />Who said culture evolves consciously? “a bindi is not an expression of a value” – I think you’re mixing ideology with value. I can value my turds without having a definite ideology to back it up.<br />Collective identities are identified by customs and habits (one definition of which is “customary practice”). Another meaning of “habit” is a garment/costume denoting an identity. <br /><br />“They have derived their eating habits from their religion, and not ecological or economic conditions.” – Are you sure about this? You presume that a particular set of economic and ecological condition can only support a single dietary habit. People eat what they can get and what they can afford.<br /><br />“Habits of couture”?! do you even know what couture means – it is reserved almost exclusively for designer clothing.<br /><br />Your point of mistaking values for ideology is valid, though. While vegetarianism can be an acquired habit – in my opinion, it does constitute a latent value system. It is naïve to assume that all our values are the results of our own conscious choices; much of it is derived. Read about the much discussed "christian ethics" to understand how institution embody much of our ethical system. <br /> <br />“Indians have got their priorities all skewed up.” – Yes. And lazy and half-informed posts like this are not going to do anything to change that,Bland Spicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18118881822892452579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-78125789439732496962009-11-25T17:42:25.163+05:302009-11-25T17:42:25.163+05:30men can drink and smoke. Not women! Drinking/Smoki...men can drink and smoke. Not women! Drinking/Smoking for men is not corrupt in this society.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-77844746778354749102009-11-24T10:47:59.571+05:302009-11-24T10:47:59.571+05:30AV,
I dont really disagree; I just think that if ...AV,<br /><br />I dont really disagree; I just think that if we had a strong "social drinking" background we would just as likely reject prospective sons-in-law for *not* drinking (oh the effrontery of refusing a drink) and rationalize it to his anti-social tendencies/ smug superiority/ whatever- but the basic issue could again be 'our habits' not being compatible with his.<br /><br />thx,<br />JaiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-81767318935955811502009-11-24T05:29:50.578+05:302009-11-24T05:29:50.578+05:30@Jai
What you said about alcohol and meat eatin...@Jai<br /><br /><br /><br />What you said about alcohol and meat eating kind of proves what Sujai is trying to say. Indian parents don't think about compatibility between individuals at all when trying to find matches. Alcohol consumption and smoking still have stigma associated with them in Indian society. Smoking is not treated as some unhealthy habit but an indication of how morally corrupt a person is. Apparently, smoking corrupts women considerably more than it does men. That's another issue anyway.<br /><br />So they reject anybody who drinks/smokes and they rationalize by bringing up compatibility issues.<br /><br />Your points about economic status were bang on though.<br /><br />--AVAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-69497098941545534572009-11-23T16:35:45.396+05:302009-11-23T16:35:45.396+05:30Good post Sujai. Bang on mostly.
A few points ab...Good post Sujai. Bang on mostly. <br /><br />A few points abt the 'match-fixing' though:<br /><br />Its not usually easy to identify swindlers of money, they dont advertise themselves as such. I do know of parents avoiding certain lines of work (eg. small scale business) that are seen as more prone to corrupt practices. Parents prefer a son-in-law with a "decent" ie. secure govt job even if it makes less money. <br /><br />They actually do avoid matches from beyond their income category and in general the less wealthy class views suspiciously the more wealthy one working on the theory that its likely to be ill-gotten (except for "IT" sector jobs).<br /><br />Re. meat eating or alcohol, I do know NV families that try to marry off their kids to similar NV types and have problems with a Veg-only incoming spouse, so compatibility seems to be the key parents in general look for. Doesnt seem to be a bad idea if you're talking abt arranged marriages.<br /><br />Overall parents are risk-averse because they are, or feel responsible for, holding up the offspring family if they come to a bad pass. just a view from my corner of the world.<br /><br />Thx,<br />JaiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21825668.post-13730322829792761952009-11-23T12:31:25.290+05:302009-11-23T12:31:25.290+05:30In the first part, the defenders of "Indian C...In the first part, the defenders of "Indian Culture" were pretty dominant and vigorous, I hope the trend to follow here too..<br /><br />I am no less an Indian by criticizing others who are morally uptight and know nothing about social and civil discipline.. <br /><br />If alcohol-non veg are paap, so is molesting/teasing a woman..ruSh.Mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09420972964787775346noreply@blogger.com