Averdris
Le Roi Du Château
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Are you a Minority?
- Thread starter ybbor
- Start date
CaptainF
The Professional Poster
I'm 100% scottish and swiss.
The swiss part in turn would make me a small portion of German, Italian, and French I suppose, but its all one Euro melting pot over there.
The swiss part in turn would make me a small portion of German, Italian, and French I suppose, but its all one Euro melting pot over there.
silver 2039
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
- Messages
- 16,208
When I used to live in the US I was a ethnic and religious minority. But I live in India and ethnically, I'm not a minority anymore but linguistically, religiousilly I am.
But I don't consider myself to be a "real" Indian. I'm one of those fake NRI type peole with dual citizenship and I'm and ABCD. I'm not quite sure what I am.
So yes techically I am a minority in both countries.
But I don't consider myself to be a "real" Indian. I'm one of those fake NRI type peole with dual citizenship and I'm and ABCD. I'm not quite sure what I am.
So yes techically I am a minority in both countries.
aneeshm
Deity
I'm a Brahmin in India . Seats are reserved for everyone but us in colleges and universities , in government jobs , and in everything else the government has a hand in . So yes , I'm a minority ( not in terms of race or ethnicity , but in terms of their Indian analog ) , against whom reverse discrimination is practised ( unfortunately ) . Point is , the reverse dicrimination does not work - the Brahminical culture of obsession with education and security makes Brahmins prosper irrespective of the government .
aneeshm
Deity
silver 2039 said:
You are like Trishanku . You will have to settle for one , eventually - either you can reject your culture and lose your roots , with all the attendant problems that brings , or you can embrace it , and realise what it offers you . Up to you , of course .
silver 2039
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
- Messages
- 16,208
aneeshm said:
Um caste still matters in India? I was under the impression it was banned in 1950. Thats sounds kinda like affirmative action.
Darkness
Shadow creature
This really depends on the area we are talking about...
In my country I am not a minority, but in the city I live in I am a minority...
In my country I am not a minority, but in the city I live in I am a minority...
aneeshm
Deity
silver 2039 said:
Casteist discrimination was and is banned . But that does not stop the government from giving quotas and seats to what were earlier called the lower castes ( that is , reverse discrimination ) . There is a helluva lot of affirmative action going on , and I have to suffer for it ( I am taking the competetives this year , and each exam has a quota reserved in colleges for practically every caste except Brahmins ) .
If a Brahmin has ninety-five percent , and some SC/ST person only thirty percent on some governmental exam , they are given almost equal treatment . This is the sort of thing I am talking about - the sullying of the meritocracy by politicians who will pander to caste groups to get votes . The percentage required to pass is lower if a person is from a lower caste - which is unfortunate , because then people do not trust doctors ( or other professionals ) from the lower castes , even if they have passed on merit .
As Brahmins are not organised into one voting bloc , they can conveniently painted as the "oppressors" , and be discriminated against , as is happening right now in governmental jobs and educational institutes .
Heretic_Cata
We're gonna live forever
Caucasian , romanian.
For some unknown reason i have been told that i look arabian and italian
For some unknown reason i have been told that i look arabian and italian
Erik Mesoy
Core Tester / Intern
Uh, dual-citizienship world citizien (lived for several years in USA, South Africa, France, Norway), with Asperger Syndrome, yeah, probably a minority.
thetrooper
Misanthrope
- Joined
- May 24, 2004
- Messages
- 9,098
Riesstiu IV said:
Riesstiu sounds Finnish to me.
Me: white male. Where I come from racism is not the problem, ignorance is.
Gr3yL3gion
Voice of Madness
Nth generation Dutch\Portuguese, half Chinese, asian looks. Consider myself as minority.
Abaddon
Deity
white male- cant get more majority than than..*
*well you can, but in a western perspective
*well you can, but in a western perspective
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
In terms of ethnicity, One quater German and the rest Finnish and Swedish, i am not part of a minority. But with Asperger syndrome i could be (in some sense) be considered a part of a minority.
Rambuchan
The Funky President
There is much to say about this topic, so here's a long post for those who are not lazy at the monitor.
I am a British-Indian. Both parents are of Indian origin, one grew up there as an Indian (Indian passport till leaving for England) and one growing up in Africa as an East African Indian (British passport).
Cute as the term is, British Indian is fairly accurate of my identity, or as close as any equal opportunites form will get. I'm 'more British' than say Silver with his dual nationality but certainly 'less British' / 'more Indian' than my native friends. Whatever you want to call it, I am part of both a ethnic minority in England and a religious one too, as a supposed Catholic. This Catholicism (being from Goa area) and Britishness actually puts me in a minority when I go to India too. It's a lose lose situation.
Some experiences:
Seeing as I don't buy into Catholicism much at all I'll share some experiences about being an ethnic minority in England.
Although, unlike many other ethnic minorities in the UK, I refuse to live my life playing the racism card I have been well aware of racist sentiment directed against me and my family whilst living here. There have been many times that family members and myself have been made to feel like outsiders. This is despite the fact we speak English as our first language, don't do arranged marriages, wear 'western clothes' and have generally assimilated into British culture.
Here are some of the cold truths about what really goes on, and has gone on, for minorities in this allegedly tolerant country (I'm fiegning indignation for the sake of the topic, I do believe England is more tolerant than many other countries):
- The 50s: Grandmother arrives from Uganda. She gets on the phone for job interviews, she's well qualified and has good experience from days in British East Africa. Plenty of interviews come from these calls for she speaks with a received pronounciation, the Queen's English no less. When she arrives at the interviews it's as if there has been some misunderstanding over the phone. Why? Because she's dressed in a sari. This is a garment that is modest and can be formal and was considered perfectly fit for work in British East Africa. Well this garment turns out to be the deciding factor in potential employers' decision making. She doesn't get the jobs. Not because of her attire but because it's clear she's Indian and 'won't fit in'. Who does she end up working for in the end? A Gujarati legal firm (and people wonder why immigrants bunch together!). Grandfather was ok as he had been transfered from Uganda into England anway.
- The 60s: My Dad starts looking for work as an accountant. Again, fully qualified. He faces less blunt discrimination but still fails to get a job with an English firm. Who does he end up getting a job with? A Jewish accountancy firm in London.
- The 70s: My uncle goes to university and gets the crap beaten out of him on a regular basis. Why? Because he's 'a Paki'. The large populatin of people from what is now Pakistan in the north of England seems to earn everyone with brown skin this title, even if they hail from an area some 1500 miles away from Pakistan. His life was made a proper misery and his high marks are probably due to him staying in and studying rather than risking a thick lip again. This is in Warwick, a supposedly notable university. It should be noted that he's a bit of a wuss anyway.
- The 80s: Family members have been living in Birmingham for a while now, at least 15 years. Well they start getting all kinds of grief from skinheads and neo-nazis. The medley of graces includes verbal insults, some deckings (and counter deckings), regular intimidation at the workplace with verbal insults and pesky harassment. Friends have such further hospitalities as human excrement through the letterbox, hoax filth calls and in some extreme cases bricks through windows.
I start going to school in England in this decade and am one of just 3 Indian boys at my school. I lose count of the times a parent comes up to me and calls me by one of the other Indian boys' names. I wonder why it seems so easy to confuse us - one is a Sikh boy and wears a little turban, the other is actually Sri Lankan and then there's me. The other children (under 10yrs old) treat me more with curiosity than malice. An English teacher goes gaga over my Indianess and immediately demands me to start teaching him Sanskrit!
- The 90s: My sister faces regular racist abuse at her school and gets in trouble for fighting with other girls over it. I start experiencing more open racist malice at school as kids get older. It's only verbal, stereotypical, predictable abuse but it's there nonetheless. Certain catchphrases that begin getting associated with Indians get used at me: "tickets please", "here's your change" and "jarrrly good sir". It amuses me that they can't apply more imagination.
- The 00s: I leave university and start looking for a job, initially within advertising and PR, which are well populated by 'the old boy network'. I get jobs fine (it's not the 60s anymore and I ain't wearing a sari) but some interviews have undertones. One notable one is for a PR firm. I have lots of writing credits and experience on my CV but, out of all of them, the interviewer focuses in on some sketch work I did for 'Goodness Gracious Me' (they never used it). He comments that I seem very much like the Kapoor characters in that programme (they go around pretending to be British and calling themselves the Coopers). I ask him what this has to do with anything and he replies 'oh nothing it's just amusing to meet a Kapoor / Cooper in the flesh'. Well I'm pleased I could offer some entertainment and exoticism in his day and that he doesn't want to give me the job.
And so is the situation of Indians in Britain. Regardless of where you are actually from in India or the world, there was the common perception that we were all Pakis (from Pakistan). Nowadays, owing to the fame of Goodness Gracious Me (a Punjabi TV show), it's assumed that all Indians in the UK are Sikh Punjabis and listen to bhangra music in their spare time. We're no longer in the situation of being looked down upon as in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Nowadays there is a respect there but also a curiosity and expectation of exoticism still. We also have new and quite sweeping associations these days with terrorists, working in finance or IT, being a business man of some sort, being a potential 'honour killer', a male chauvanist or a downpressed female and so on. There are also many unspoken understandings that certain fields are still not welcoming of outsiders and that they are still largely the domain of the white male - politics, law, high levels of big business for example. Those who make it in these fields do so because they don't take no for an answer, apply themselves with diligence and don't keep thinking about that race card. Some of them it may be argued are tokens to multiculturalism. Those that don't go this route find work without many problems, or put up with problems / being a novelty, or they just start their own businesses up and employ each other to avoid the headache.
I am a British-Indian. Both parents are of Indian origin, one grew up there as an Indian (Indian passport till leaving for England) and one growing up in Africa as an East African Indian (British passport).
Cute as the term is, British Indian is fairly accurate of my identity, or as close as any equal opportunites form will get. I'm 'more British' than say Silver with his dual nationality but certainly 'less British' / 'more Indian' than my native friends. Whatever you want to call it, I am part of both a ethnic minority in England and a religious one too, as a supposed Catholic. This Catholicism (being from Goa area) and Britishness actually puts me in a minority when I go to India too. It's a lose lose situation.
Some experiences:
Seeing as I don't buy into Catholicism much at all I'll share some experiences about being an ethnic minority in England.
Although, unlike many other ethnic minorities in the UK, I refuse to live my life playing the racism card I have been well aware of racist sentiment directed against me and my family whilst living here. There have been many times that family members and myself have been made to feel like outsiders. This is despite the fact we speak English as our first language, don't do arranged marriages, wear 'western clothes' and have generally assimilated into British culture.
Here are some of the cold truths about what really goes on, and has gone on, for minorities in this allegedly tolerant country (I'm fiegning indignation for the sake of the topic, I do believe England is more tolerant than many other countries):
- The 50s: Grandmother arrives from Uganda. She gets on the phone for job interviews, she's well qualified and has good experience from days in British East Africa. Plenty of interviews come from these calls for she speaks with a received pronounciation, the Queen's English no less. When she arrives at the interviews it's as if there has been some misunderstanding over the phone. Why? Because she's dressed in a sari. This is a garment that is modest and can be formal and was considered perfectly fit for work in British East Africa. Well this garment turns out to be the deciding factor in potential employers' decision making. She doesn't get the jobs. Not because of her attire but because it's clear she's Indian and 'won't fit in'. Who does she end up working for in the end? A Gujarati legal firm (and people wonder why immigrants bunch together!). Grandfather was ok as he had been transfered from Uganda into England anway.
- The 60s: My Dad starts looking for work as an accountant. Again, fully qualified. He faces less blunt discrimination but still fails to get a job with an English firm. Who does he end up getting a job with? A Jewish accountancy firm in London.
- The 70s: My uncle goes to university and gets the crap beaten out of him on a regular basis. Why? Because he's 'a Paki'. The large populatin of people from what is now Pakistan in the north of England seems to earn everyone with brown skin this title, even if they hail from an area some 1500 miles away from Pakistan. His life was made a proper misery and his high marks are probably due to him staying in and studying rather than risking a thick lip again. This is in Warwick, a supposedly notable university. It should be noted that he's a bit of a wuss anyway.
- The 80s: Family members have been living in Birmingham for a while now, at least 15 years. Well they start getting all kinds of grief from skinheads and neo-nazis. The medley of graces includes verbal insults, some deckings (and counter deckings), regular intimidation at the workplace with verbal insults and pesky harassment. Friends have such further hospitalities as human excrement through the letterbox, hoax filth calls and in some extreme cases bricks through windows.
I start going to school in England in this decade and am one of just 3 Indian boys at my school. I lose count of the times a parent comes up to me and calls me by one of the other Indian boys' names. I wonder why it seems so easy to confuse us - one is a Sikh boy and wears a little turban, the other is actually Sri Lankan and then there's me. The other children (under 10yrs old) treat me more with curiosity than malice. An English teacher goes gaga over my Indianess and immediately demands me to start teaching him Sanskrit!
- The 90s: My sister faces regular racist abuse at her school and gets in trouble for fighting with other girls over it. I start experiencing more open racist malice at school as kids get older. It's only verbal, stereotypical, predictable abuse but it's there nonetheless. Certain catchphrases that begin getting associated with Indians get used at me: "tickets please", "here's your change" and "jarrrly good sir". It amuses me that they can't apply more imagination.
- The 00s: I leave university and start looking for a job, initially within advertising and PR, which are well populated by 'the old boy network'. I get jobs fine (it's not the 60s anymore and I ain't wearing a sari) but some interviews have undertones. One notable one is for a PR firm. I have lots of writing credits and experience on my CV but, out of all of them, the interviewer focuses in on some sketch work I did for 'Goodness Gracious Me' (they never used it). He comments that I seem very much like the Kapoor characters in that programme (they go around pretending to be British and calling themselves the Coopers). I ask him what this has to do with anything and he replies 'oh nothing it's just amusing to meet a Kapoor / Cooper in the flesh'. Well I'm pleased I could offer some entertainment and exoticism in his day and that he doesn't want to give me the job.
And so is the situation of Indians in Britain. Regardless of where you are actually from in India or the world, there was the common perception that we were all Pakis (from Pakistan). Nowadays, owing to the fame of Goodness Gracious Me (a Punjabi TV show), it's assumed that all Indians in the UK are Sikh Punjabis and listen to bhangra music in their spare time. We're no longer in the situation of being looked down upon as in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Nowadays there is a respect there but also a curiosity and expectation of exoticism still. We also have new and quite sweeping associations these days with terrorists, working in finance or IT, being a business man of some sort, being a potential 'honour killer', a male chauvanist or a downpressed female and so on. There are also many unspoken understandings that certain fields are still not welcoming of outsiders and that they are still largely the domain of the white male - politics, law, high levels of big business for example. Those who make it in these fields do so because they don't take no for an answer, apply themselves with diligence and don't keep thinking about that race card. Some of them it may be argued are tokens to multiculturalism. Those that don't go this route find work without many problems, or put up with problems / being a novelty, or they just start their own businesses up and employ each other to avoid the headache.
JoeM
Imperator
English, white middle class male.
However, I am in a minority when it comes to global classifications on education and wealth.
My blood relatives include; French-born, Irish, Brazilian, Spanish and Welsh, hence I do not really class English as a race, we've always been a melting pot of immigrants, particularly in London where we've had successive large waves of immigrants back to pre-Norman invasion days when the Danish sent a whole bunch across the waters.
However, I am in a minority when it comes to global classifications on education and wealth.
My blood relatives include; French-born, Irish, Brazilian, Spanish and Welsh, hence I do not really class English as a race, we've always been a melting pot of immigrants, particularly in London where we've had successive large waves of immigrants back to pre-Norman invasion days when the Danish sent a whole bunch across the waters.
Chukchi Husky
Lone Wolf
Ethnically no, mentally yes (on the border between Asperger's Syndrome and Autism).
thetrooper
Misanthrope
- Joined
- May 24, 2004
- Messages
- 9,098
Mental minority. Aren't we all?
MaisseArsouye
gentil petit nuton
In Belgium, Walloons are the minority ( Flemish being the majority ), so I voted yes.
But with the federalism, and as I live in Wallonia, it has only few consequences.
But with the federalism, and as I live in Wallonia, it has only few consequences.
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