Comments on: Amongst the natives

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:18:21 +0000

my internet is going to be sporadic for 2 days. monitoring will not be possible.

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:42:43 +0000

i don't get why people like you think you deserve an answer from me. if you want community, there are other commenters. like i said, i don't care to explore the framework too much. i run several other weblogs, it isn't as if i have an incredible amount of time to make myself clear to anonymous people on the internet.

Seriously - who provided the template for Australian culture training?

the australian section seemed really stupid. OTOH, i assumed a lot of indian perception of australia is filtered through whole indian-students-in-australia thing.

By: melbourne desi

melbourne desi — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:24:50 +0000

Seriously - who provided the template for Australian culture training? Useful as genital worts on a ribbed condom. Must have been a Kiwi. University is uncommon in Australia ? Oz has had "free" higher education since the early 70's.

A bastard is a term of endearment eg. my best mate is a totally utterly worthless bastard.
And as for mobile phone penetration and product usage - complete fail.
eg iphone has had multiple carriers ever since its launch - unlike the USA.

Oz has issues - carbon tax and outrageous home prices but the BPO training. Maybe I should offer my services on Australian culture. I reckon to learn Broad Australian listen to cricket commentary by the likes of Mark Taylor / Ian Chappell / Shane Warne / Bill Lawry (not Richie Benaud or Tony Greig) .

By: bwunderlick

bwunderlick — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:48:58 +0000

Whatever dude. You can't even explain what in the article makes you feel the way you do and resort to some pedantic discussion about how people can't understand each others views unless they share the same framework. Weren't you just claiming that there aren't any deep differences between Americans and Indians? Isn't that in conflict with what you are saying now? It is obvious you should leave the writing about culture to the writers and stick to science. If you don't feel like engaging in explaining your casual slander of the author of the original article, that's cool. It's not very convincing or seems petty, but hey, more power to you.

This place used to be cool, now it's just a forum for people to ramble on and on about their idiosyncratic views about some the affront of the day and yell at others for not sharing it. I'm embarrassed myself for taking part in it. For a community site it's just sad there isn't more of a community. I was hoping to read a thoughtful discussion about a pretty interesting and different report about the familiar ground of Indian call centers. This site is uniquely position to talk about it, instead all we get is kneejerk and unexplained resentment about something not even in the article. So like I said, whatever dude.

By: brownie_pts

brownie_pts — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:37:01 +0000

Y'all need some help from Captain Subtext here. So put on your Truth Helmet and get ready for a thrill ride.

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 20:44:39 +0000

but you are a writer and as a reader I'm saying I really don't understand what you're trying to say.

right. but to unpack what person A's subtext is for person B, you need to go into a lot of background conversation about priors. that would require a lot of time. subtext is perceived through one's broader framework. i don't really disdain people who don't agree, but i don't care to expend energy and time on clarifying on this issue if our background assumptions diverge so much. if we were talking about human evolution i probably would, because matters of science are more clear and distinct.

more formally you could say that:

framework(what it is based on) -> subtext

you seem to think that "what it is based on" will clarify everything. it won't. what you need is the framework function. that's not a task i'm too inclined to take on right now, which is why i'm fine with you expressing your opinion, but not inclined to engage you much further.

By: bwunderlick

bwunderlick — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:58:17 +0000

I understand what subtext means, however it still has to be based on something. It can't just be a word you use to avoid actually presenting your view. The overt meaning of your responses are you are disdainful of readers who don't agree with you, while the subtext is you're defensive and thin-skinned. The two are related, though not the same thing.

Of course you have the right to delete my comments, and I guess you will. Still, can I just say I don't understand what your point is here in the post or the following:

the bigger point is that indians aren't THAT different from americans in deep universal ways, and if the affluent nuclear family with two working professionals and a child who explores his own interests is good enough for andrew marantz, it will be the same for the children of the call center managers 25 years from now.

You can go ahead and dismiss me as a troll or stupid or whatever, but you are a writer and as a reader I'm saying I really don't understand what you're trying to say.

By: The Kutra

The Kutra — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 11:52:26 +0000

What’s grating is the casual racism of the “modern” Indian.

Indians think they’re much smarter than data would indicate.

Similar stuff here:

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/nov/03/slide-show-1-our-average-student-outperforms-the-american.htm

Yeah, sounds like an educator to me.

By: Sandip

Sandip — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 08:15:46 +0000

I did find Andrew's story very rich in detail and evocative but this continuing fascination with the call center and how that narrative never seems to move / progress intrigues me. Wrote about it on Firstpost.com. http://tinyurl.com/3zsa4ms

By: Sahar

Sahar — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 07:55:03 +0000

Yes, that is definitely true–you can see that even within South Asia–the villagers are one way, the lower-class urbanites another, and the upper-class urbanites are well on their way to being comfortable in the West! I fell more at home in suburban NYC than I do in all but a few neighborhoods in the main cities in Pakistan. Perhaps it’s because I don’t eat paan!