From: Chris Russo (extropy@russo.org)
Date: Tue Jan 30 2001 - 16:13:16 MST
At 10:18 -0800 1/30/01, Samantha Atkins wrote:
>Chris Russo wrote:
> >I'm not talking about one or two guys hanging
> > out on an isolated corner, I'm talking about clumps of dozens all up
>> and down the roads.
>
>Are you sure these guys had jobs? Or homes for that matter? The
>unemployed will often be seen even in Western countries passing time
>with one another.
Good question, one to which I don't have a definite answer. I know
that many of the people that I met lived in extended family
dwellings, so I'd guess that if you have family, you have a home. I
know that I never saw big groups of women standing around, so
assuming a reasonable division of men and women in the society, why
are the men all homeless and unemployed, but the women aren't?
>That has not been my experience with the people from India that come to
>the US generally. Actually it is mixed as you would expect. Some
>people want to
>"do their time" and leave much like many US natives. Others are the
>among the most dedicated and tenacious learners and engineers I have
>ever worked with. But perhaps being different in that way is strongly
>correlated with choosing to come to the US?
Exactly. The engineers that you're seeing here who make it from
India are a huge cut above the ones who don't. They had the
motivation to do all the work that it takes to get sponsorship.
I didn't at all mean to say in my original post that there aren't any
good Indian engineers. Far from it. I've known some excellent
Indian engineers in my career.
>I can believe that generations of poverty plus generations of foreign
>rule have bred in a bit of a dearth of ambition. Plus religions that
>teach this world is maya do not help.
Tied up with their religion is that nasty caste system. Nothing like
a god-given right to treat your fellow countrymen like crap.
The enormous difference in the average life in India and here is such
an eye-opener. If you ever get the chance to spend real time there,
I'd highly recommend it. You might not enjoy your time there, but
it's tremendously educational. At very least (especially after the
local microbes get you "going"), you'll never take your western
toilet and ready availability of toilet paper for granted again in
your life. :)
Regards,
Chris Russo
--
"If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought
or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet
hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance
which does harm."
-- Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS, VI, 21
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