Goanet meets in Goa: December 27, 12 noon and January 7, 4 pm (meeting point: Kala Academy canteen). See you there! ------------------------------
"Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Fred, > Hi Mervyn, The problem is that things are not so > black-and-white any more. (Had this been so, it > would have been easy to appeal to reason and logic.) > > Over-simplifications don't take the debate forward. Over-simplification? Ok. Let me try and make this simple. Is the caste system good or is it bad? If it is good, then we have to develope it more. If it's bad, it has to be purged. I do not see a third way. > Many in this part of the world still perceive that > accidents of birth determined how much access -- to > educational opportunity, jobs, > computers... and general opportunities in life -- > one gets. Efforts to change the situation through > affirmative-action of sorts have not changed > the situation for the vast majority. > > Needless to say, the caste system -- in diverse > forms -- also thrives within Catholicism in Goa, > despite not having ritual sanction. Well, I sure am glad that most of the Catholic Goans who now reside outside Goa, did not carry/import this system to their new countries. > Of course, such realities are not something "only an > Indian can understand". In the other countries of > our adoption, these trends come up in the form of > bias based on colour, race, religion, class, > ethnicity, whatever. FN IMHO, the Indians who cannot understand the caste system, are the ones who leave India. Other countries welcome them with open arms. And lasty, Canada is light years forward in the progress it has made against discrimnation (of any type.) The method that always works is to hit the discriminators in the place that hurts the most i.e. their bank accounts. Mervyn PS. Someone once said that culture is like a pool of clear water. If it does not have an inlet and outlet, it will stagnate and die. ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
