On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 11:41 AM, ss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Monday 24 Nov 2008 3:07:43 am Charles Haynes wrote: >> Certainly that's the impression I got. Please correct me if I'm wrong, >> but haven't Brahmins in the past been notorious for behaving exactly >> opposite to their professed ideals > > Are you asking me if all Brahimns behaved in this way? All of several tens of > millions of them? > > If you think so you are wrong. The problem is the continuous smearing of > Brahmins when a very large proportion of Brahmins have been law abiding, poor > and studious and nothing more. > > The "impression" you have is at least in part a result of that. > > If people were serious about how figuring out what Brahmin behavior really is > like India would stop considering it un-PC to talk about this and accept a > cosy situation in which Brahmins can be cursed and not defended.
Not at all, I'm simply trying to 'prove' (aka 'test') your suggestion that Braminism inculcates a "deep sense of duty, integrity (incorruptibility) and immunity to temptation of material (financial) recompense" Questioning virtue is not the same as accusing them of vice. More formally, if you say all members of set B have property P, my pointing out that there exist B's that are not P is sufficient to call into question your claim, but is not the same as saying no B's are P, or that all B's are not-P. Honestly though, I don't know enough to generalize for myself, I'm simply automatically suspicious of other peoples's sweeping claims of virtue or vice when applied to an entire large group of people. Obviously there can be venial corrupt Brahmins, and there are prudent, just, temperate, courageous, steadfast, optimistic, and charitable non Brahmins. Do Brahmins in general have more of a sense of duty, more integrity, and less greed than other people? Hard to say, and it hardly matters unless one is trying to propose Bramin versus non-Brahmin as a basis for discriminating between classes of people or as a measure of someone's worth. -- Charles
