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justa TPO
Member
Username: Justa_tpo
Post Number: 436
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, January 17, 2010 - 01:15 pm: | |
"Like cheap car insurance and meerkats, two very different things"
Quite possibly the funniest analogy I have heard this year. I salute you  |
Spike
Member
Username: Spike
Post Number: 1069
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, January 17, 2010 - 09:17 am: | |
Devonboy, surely pure semantics? though given that the title of the thread is about the meaning of the word, that's fair enough
The discrimination against women in this country which leads to lower wages based purely on gender is clearly a form of oppression, and while some definitions may mention extreme pressure by the state, as a prerequisite for "oppression" others don't and I would anyway contend, that historical precedent, government economic policy, general attitudes all equate to that pressure, otherwise the situation wouldn't persist? |
devonboy
Member
Username: Morgan144
Post Number: 71
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Friday, January 15, 2010 - 12:57 pm: | |
Justa,indeed we should be putting our own house in order first but "We need look no further than our own history for examples of oppression. Hell, it's even going on today. It has only been recently that women working for the local Council, the pinnacle of 'diversity' have been awarded equal pay. And we all know of the glass ceiling that exists in many other forms of employment. There are also issues with firms purposely not employing women of childbearing age as they cannot/will not pay for maternity leave. If we as a society are to impose our own ideals of what is correct, we must first lead by example!"
What you describe here is not oppression, it is discrimination. Like cheap car insurance and meerkats, two very different things! Not getting equal pay is not comparable, IMHO to not being allowed to work at all, or to not being allowed to go to school or being stoned for adultery (I could go on)
I completely agree with you - yes, we invented concentration camps, yes we had the Spanish Inquisition (no-one expected that!) and yes we had slavery and no religion can occupy the moral high ground when it comes to oppression - how many millions have died in the name of god? I just think that to consider the caste system as having some kind of civilising effect is misguided, to say the least. |
Myob
Member
Username: Psiman
Post Number: 489
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 10:51 am: | |
Slumdog Millionaire, a good film that is horribly depressing. What amazed me is that people called it a "feelgood" film. What do they normally watch, snuff movies? |
Pulp fiction
Member
Username: Pulp_fiction
Post Number: 130
Registered: 03-2009
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 09:57 am: | |
2 words honour killings,
No questions asked and no investigation or any chance of a trial or fair hearing.
Watch slumdog millionaire tonight and let me know what you think. |
justa TPO
Member
Username: Justa_tpo
Post Number: 431
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 09:03 pm: | |
It was not devised by mankind, rather 'India' kind, in this case the Varna System mentioned in the Hindu Scriptures. If you wish to dissect religious practices for examples of oppression, I can assure you they are plenty of targets. And would also counsel caution!!
We need look no further than our own history for examples of oppression. Hell, it's even going on today. It has only been recently that women working for the local Council, the pinnacle of 'diversity' have been awarded equal pay. And we all know of the glass ceiling that exists in many other forms of employment. There are also issues with firms purposely not employing women of childbearing age as they cannot/will not pay for maternity leave. If we as a society are to impose our own ideals of what is correct, we must first lead by example!
And then where would we stop? Would we march on countries which have the death penalty, countries where innocent people are imprisonment without any evidence, countries where the neediest are denied basic needs. Let me tell you, we would be marching no further that our own back yards!
People are denied drugs which may save their lives due to lack of funds, the same funds that they have given to the NHS in the bloody first place!!!!! Not given these drugs is akin, in my book, to imposing a death penalty. We’ve had internment in Ireland, those held in Belmarsh and then subsequent control orders and one of the highest levels of poverty in the developed world. I'm surprised that civilised countries are not marching on us! |
Pulp fiction
Member
Username: Pulp_fiction
Post Number: 129
Registered: 03-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 08:36 pm: | |
Devonboy, you hit the nail on the head ( did you use a hammer from UPW to do this ), but a brill point my friend.
The reason for 2 posts is because my Iphone was playing up. |
devonboy
Member
Username: Morgan144
Post Number: 69
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 12:57 pm: | |
Good point, Pulp and well worth making twice! Justa, what palnet have you been on recently? The caste system was/is one of the most oppressive systems of class division ever devised by humankind. There were periods in India's history when the murder of a member of a lower caste was not illegal. People were beaten to death for being Untouchables or for simply talking to someone from a lower caste. Sure it brought communities together - but only to beat up other lower caste communities! This is not the kind of community spirit I want in my street! |
Pulp fiction
Member
Username: Pulp_fiction
Post Number: 128
Registered: 03-2009
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2010 - 05:00 pm: | |
We feel we have the right to go to Iraq and change their thinking, so let's go to india and change theirs also!
I hear what your saying but What can we learn from them, how to opress people at every turn? Their caste system brings about community spirit , in the words of jim royle 'my arse'. |
Pulp fiction
Member
Username: Pulp_fiction
Post Number: 127
Registered: 03-2009
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2010 - 04:57 pm: | |
We feel we have the right to go to Iraq and change their thinking, so let's go to india and change theirs also!
I hear what your saying but What can we learn from them, how to opress people at every turn? Their caste system brings about community spirit , in the words of jim royle 'my arse'. |
justa TPO
Member
Username: Justa_tpo
Post Number: 430
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, January 10, 2010 - 09:42 pm: | |
Given that it's an integral part of India, do we have any right as 'westerners' to change this to a system that 'we' have deemed suitable?
There is a body of evidence that this caste system promotes a sense of community, something that we are seeing a lack of in our 'civilised' society. It may be that we can learn from them! |
Pulp fiction
Member
Username: Pulp_fiction
Post Number: 126
Registered: 03-2009
| | Posted on Sunday, January 10, 2010 - 03:01 pm: | |
I am currenly reading the autobiography of Poolan Devi, a woman who was opressed in India due to her cast, for being a woman, for being poor, and she became a well known bandit in India and was then abused by other bandit gangs, she finally surrenderd and was sent to prison, and later got married and was then murdered.
And if you havent seen Slumdog Millionaire it is on on the 13h of Jan, opression of different casts, female, the poor and a host of others.
Makes you think. |
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