I am a DALIT.I can say this wih absolute confidence that This is a bogus article with no facts n rational substance.The author is imagining too many narratives of which reality has no link.Caste problem exists,i accept but i think it is over exaggerated and itt has become a tool to denigrate Hinduism.Caste is a social institution.every society has some form of Hierarchy structure to work.In today India,the condition of Dalits has improved significantly due to reservation.Dalits are everywhere from Judiciary,Police forces,Scienists,Teachers nearly every field.CAste exists nearly in every society in one form or another.All the people who opposed this campaign,one will be shoocked none of them belonged to Upper castes ,to say brahmin is void.The backward community opposed this movement to target Brahmin.I am an Educated dalit.Even i opposed this.so now what will u say.Most Hindus are good n rational mind people with progressive views.this is an assault on Hinduism done by ChristoIslamists in the guise of Dalits
14
This gentleman is out of touch with the reality. India has more 16% Dalits and only about 2% have received education. I don't understand where in the world he sees Dalits.
You can Brahmins are every where in the india's institutions from Judiciary, politics, and nearly every field. Only jobs are left for Dalits such scavenging, Leather work, carry dead animal Caracas. These jobs are reserved for Dalits. Shame on these Brahmincal system, who are victimizing poors of India.
It is time to Smash it.
For your referance
https://theglobepost.com/2018/06/19/india-dalits-violence/
https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/newsdetail/index/2/12381/2017-timeline-of-atrocities-against-dalits-up-rajasthan-top-the-list
go check these article and get high on "Ganja"
12
What is the ultimate vision of people who complain about hate speech and harassment on social media? Do they expect there to be a filter in place where if I want to type a rude message to a Dalit, the site says sorry you can't do that, the recipient is a member of a protected minority? (The two examples shown in this article hardly qualify as trolls, but okay.)
I have a question and some advice for the author: What ever happened to ignoring bullies and not taking everything so personally as a dire attack on one's very existence?
The first rule of the internet is to not feed the trolls. What trolls want is to get under your skin; being banned is sign they are successful at doing just that. I think that wailing about how Twitter needs to police its user's activity so that a micro segments of its user base aren't offended would satisfy a troll greatly. Nothing lets them know they've gotten to you more than writing an opinion piece about how upset you are.
3
There is a page on FB for months called "Fry Dalit Dogs" ( in Tamil). It hasn't been taken down for months! These are real concerns on social media. Damaging to marginalised people's consciousness and efforts. As an upper-caste Gujarati Bania, I confirm Brahmanical Patriarchy is real and alive and must be Smashed as the author has eloquently elaborated upon.
9
These difficult conversations already reflect—reveal—a difficult reality.
So much of the commentary on this article is just evidence of how much hate and misunderstanding is prevalent online. Caste is a physical reality for many people in South Asia.You need only see the news on parading Dalit women naked through the streets, on murders of inter-caste couples in Tamil Nadu, the obstruction of "low" caste and tribal students in universities, the sheer exploitation and suppression of a large mass of people based on Caste. When these people come online, they no doubt face the same caste-d mentality online, the same caste-d abuse, hate, discrimination, and exclusion. This is to be expected. But that doesn't mean it should be tolerated. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook who have been called to be accountable in the past , whether it is to testify before congress on whether Russian intervention takes place in US elections, or how they played a role in genocide in Myanmar - letting their platforms become breeding grounds for the propaganda of the Rakhine State. When they can be held accountable in these processes, they must be held accountable to Dalits, Adivasis, and Muslims of India too. T
9
More power to the author and the likes of hers who are struggling both against the brahmanism that permeates and dictates everyday life in India, and patriarchy that subjugates femininity of any form. It is surprising that people cannot see how they work together caste and patriarchy, hello... all the arranged marriages that happen within same caste and class backgrounds. As a gay person from North India I have had a taste of it myself and can see it happening though I need to admit I am upper-caste and man so on the favoured side of the power spectrum. Also, Internet today especially social media affects our lives very intricately. It gives freedom but makes many lives more vulnerable. It all depends on what backgrounds one comes from. Twitter and facebook and likes need to take up some responsibility...
3
So glad I am not on Twitter. Don't need or want to listen to the ugliness and hate.
3
Twitter is a cancer on society - amplifying differences, discouraging deep dialog, encouraging rudeness, and wasting people's time. The fact that it is Trump's preferred method of communication proves this.
18
People seem to be missing the point that this article was not about Brahmins, nor particularly about Caste, but about Twitter harassment. Twitter has failed to address this issue in every place where it has been raised; in the US, in the UK, in Brazil where it is leading to rampant rumor-mongering, in Burma (Myanmar) where it has facilitated the genocide of the Rohingya minority, and in other countries where it is used along with FaceBook to incite violence against specific people and groups. That is the point Ms. Soundararajan is making. Twitter and FaceBook own this problem in India, Burma, Brazil, European countries, and the US.
23
This is heartbreaking and I want to lend my support to these women.
How, exactly, were these social media platforms supposed to make the world a better place. I have seen no true, genuine upside.
5
The real pinch is hurting the Brahmincal Elites across the world. Even after india's independence, Dalits and Adivasis are suffering worst in the hands of these Brahmincal regime. All the india's institutions from judiciary to education are controlled by the so called these elites. They do not want to see any one entering in education, or government jobs. This is simply because of the hate they have against SC/ST population.
The article reflect the reality and elites are having difficulty to digest the truth. I hope Mr Dorsey would understand the struggle of Dalits. Most of these bloggers here are writing against the article even though ground reality support the cause, but these bloggers only represent Brahmincal Elites.
Hope the world would rise above and support the humanity.
16
@Konyagi
How ignorant one can be. In America where you live, it is called affirmative action allowed to underprivileged community. Hope you remember EOE.
So far issues of dalits are concerned in India, had government implemented the reservation policies honestly, many lives would have improved. However, people in power, bureaucracy, politics, all are controlled by Brahmnical forces, hence the status quo is maintained.
It is about the time that world should take a notice and condemn Brahmnical patriarchy. Annihilate the caste system and lead towards the humanity.
Reality can not be lies. When people suffer, they hurt.
I will live it for wise to understand.
5
It's not just Twitter that has a caste problem; the world has a caste problem - a caste problem and a religion problem. The caste system, like religious systems, is the product of human beliefs, and the result of all beliefs on the healthy existence of the human species is extremely negative. It will take an enlightenment, a paradigm shift in human thought, for India to do anything about its mean-spirited caste system; and it will take the same for the world to rid itself of religions. Even with this enlightenment, it will take decades to free us from religion and castes. However, as far fetched as this seems, it will come to pass. Either that, or the world will blow itself up first
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds would see the survival of a particular group of people or a belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
5
These platforms insist they are blameless, in the same way gun manufacturers point out they can't control what purchasers do with their weapons. Fair enough, but let people who've been harmed take legal action. Even entire groups.
4
Thank you for this important and thoughtful article.
I lived in and studied in India for my entire formative years. As someone who has bridged these two very different cultures, one thing I can observe is that American tech companies are failing to appreciate and understand cultural differences around the world. Which means they are failing to foresee or forecast any unintended consequences and potential problems that might arise from their woo-woo idea of a globally egalitarian communications platform. What might be well understood and digested here, like say, free speech, could end up being something entirely different somewhere else where free speech is not a given. And it could be calamitous. Yet the West pushes on, intent on growing their market share, and willfully ignoring the dire risks. Yes, it's something that India has its own Twitter office, and that Jack Dorsey is making effort, but it's probably not nearly enough. The platform is already compromised, and the people compromising it–gaming it for their own gains–are many steps ahead. If you can't appreciate cultural differences, then you're really going to fail to see how your medium is being misused or exploited.
13
Are Indians forced to use twitter?
2
The author relies on outdated information about brahmin caste being gatekeepers of power. Its a weak card that he imagines is an ace on a world stage. The greater barrier than caste is language and having a growth mindset. Twitter is not a platform to adjudicate on a thousand plus years past. I concur with other commenters here that this is not Twitter's problem. Twitter clarified on this episode (https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1064523210211831809). Let merit take over. Thats the reality. Trolls can troll meanwhile for they have nothing better to do.
3
@sridhar first of all, please stop misgendering the author before giving us a lecture on caste and gender
9
@sridhar Twitter isn't responsible for moderating its own too? Please.
2
With all due respect, if you hold up a poster that says 'Smash X', where X is the name of an undifferentiated group of people, you can hardly be surprised if X decides to smash back.
Try this for comparison: 'Smash Christian Homophobia'. I believe in the sentiment, but if I phrase it like that then I'm the one who's raising rhetorical temperature. It doesn't sound revolutionary: it sounds like playing to the gallery.
9
@Jack Daw If you can't differentiate between bhrahmanism and brahmin (a caste), then you don't really understand what this movement means. So try this for your comparison ... "Smash White Supremacy". You believe in the sentiment and also know that it is not anti-white. It just aims to stopping something that is wrong (white supremacy).
8
@Jack Daw There is a marked difference between vitriolic statements opposing an expressed political belief and threatening violence, rape or murder against those speakers who offend you. Isn't that the point of this op-ed piece? People who live in a country in which over tens of thousands of years the vast majority are still dirt poor and regularly held down are in need of some self-examination.
3
Here's what the author of this piece, the designer of the posters said:
"Smash. Brahmanical. Patriarchy. The Brahmins sit at the very top of the caste hierarchy and are longstanding gatekeepers of power. Their voices collectively dominate public debate and opinion in traditional and social media, extending their supremacy beyond traditional Indian institutions."
Yet the link to an article by Ms Aruna says this:
"This is patriarchy, which is based on brahminism. For women from each and every caste, the patriarchy they experience is different...We need to be clear that we're not talking about brahmins or any commmunity, we're talking about the system in which patriarchy is perpetrated in various forms based on your caste location."
The author says it's those Brahmins, smash them. Ms Aruna says, let's be crystal clear, it's not the Brahmins or any specific group, it's the system.
In other words, they completely disagree with each other.
6
@Talbot, Ms. Soundararajan made it clear in the article that she was not the artist of the poster, but it was part of a series of posters that were handed to Mr. Dorsey. Ms. Soundararajan is not claiming that the poster's sentiment is the full of what she is protesting about how Twitter is managed in India (and elsewhere), rather it was an illustration of the way such images produce a backlash that can lead the company to inadvertently endorse the backlash despite it's claims to be fighting such trolling and harassment. And it is not a contradiction to say that one thing is a subset of another. Brahmins, as part of a Caste system are supported and upheld by a patriarchal system. Caste structures are a subset of patriarchy, a version of how it is played out in a culture. So smashing Brahmins can be seen as one element of smashing patriarchy. No contradiction inherent in that formulation.
6
@Barbara Roseman
Author writes: "I designed a series of political posters."
"Ms. Gadde apologized for the photograph of Mr. Dorsey with my poster, saying she and her colleagues should have been more thoughtful..."
Contrary to your opening sentence, the above indeed suggest the author was the artist of the poster. Nevertheless this poorly written, banal article may be the closest to a fake news story published by the honorable NY Times.
A closer look at India might reveal the oppression on the Dalit community is likely due to so called other Backward Classes or other non-Brahmin class. Their caste system is several thousand years old, complicated (with over 800 or so caste groups) and laying the blame on a small declining section (4% or less) of brahmin population for all the social ills is not going to improve the situation. Twitter will generate heat but not shed light or solve the problem either. Sad!
2
@Barbara Roseman
Author writes: "I designed a series of political posters."
"Ms. Gadde apologized for the photograph of Mr. Dorsey with my poster, saying she and her colleagues should have been more thoughtful..."
Contrary to your opening sentence, the above indeed suggest the author was the artist of the poster. Nevertheless this poorly written, banal article may be the closest to a fake news story published by the honorable NY Times.
A closer look at India might reveal the oppression on the Dalit community is likely due to so called other Backward Classes or other non-Brahmin class. Their caste system is several thousand years old, complicated (with over 800 or so caste groups) and laying the blame on a small declining section (4% or less) of brahmin population for all the social ills is not going to improve the situation. Twitter will generate heat but not shed light or solve the problem either. Their political system depends on politicians playing one caste against another. Sad!
2
Here's a thought: Why is this Twitter's problem? Other societies, including poor ones, do not use social media to organize lynchings and beatings. But in India it does happen. Logic 101: Does that suggest the problem lies with Twitter, or with Indian society?
American society is still deeply divided over race, 50 years after the civil rights era and 150 years after the end of slavery. But I don't blame Twitter for it, I blame America's collective unwillingness to tackle the roots of the problem.
The author of this article raises a serious issue, but it can't be solved on Twitter or in the pages of the NYT. She needs to take her activism to the streets and villages of India, where the problem lies.
11
@Milo Minderbinder
In today's world there is no separation. Global social media have global responsibilities, because they wield global power. It is as simple as that. The fight for democracy is one and the same the world over. This, too, is as simple as that.
20
@Milo Minderbinder
"She needs to take her activism to the streets and villages of India, where the problem lies."
Social media is "the streets". I agree that India's problems are India's problems, but social media companies can and have played a part in exacerbating these kinds of problems (e.g. Facebook in Myanmar). A good starting point might be for Twitter to actually start enforcing its own rules on "Hateful speech."
19
@Milo Minderbinder
Why shouldn't Twitter, (a huge, wealthy corporation) be required to expend some of it's enormous profits to ensure that it's product does not endanger it's customers? Is there no one in Twitter employ in Mumbai capable of devising and applying a culturally appropriate filter to ban Indian hate speech and other societally-detrimental content from the platform? Cost can hardly be prohibitive, given Twitter's profit margin.
In the U.S., taxpayers fund a myriad of agencies to protect the public from tainted foods, drugs and dangerous buildings/working conditions. We even used to have a powerful federal agency to protect us from dangerous misuse of the media, the FCC. (That agency still exists, but it has now been rendered impotent through political maneuvering, hopefully not permanently.)
Because social media has evolved as a collection of enormously powerful, monopolistic corporations, we need an international effort to protect the basic human values and rights that are well-understood and embraced by the majority of citizens of all free countries. Free speech is important, but using it to endanger individuals or target groups for hatred/violence cannot be allowed. Companies freely facilitating societally-detrimental actions are complicit and need to be brought into compliance with a business model that promotes the well being of humans, whether or not they are stockholders.
6
The issue of caste goes far deeper. The entire political system is corrupted by the fact that each caste has its own politicians and parties and since these pols are all they have - they can't go anywhere else - the castes cannot criticize or ostracize their own political leadership because they have no place else to go. Those 'leaders' know their constituents are trapped and powerless without them so there are zero checks and balances. The level of corruption this drives throughout all political parties and nationwide governance is unprecedented and set in stone. Until the caste system changes, it will remain the underlying reason why everything in India is broken.
6
As a resident of India and a non-brahmin, I think the author is way off the mark. Modern day oppressors of Dalits are mostly not brahmins but are of other castes, most of which are classified as "backward classes" by the government. Anti-brahminism is very similar to anti-semitism. Followers of "Periyar" a well-known brahmin baiter of the past, coined the slogan "if you see a snake and a brahmin, kill the brahmin".
It is ironic that brahmin should be accused of trolling by people who themselves spew hatred.
24
@M Srinivasan And yet .. it doesn't appear to be the Brahmin that are being attacked, beaten, lynched, murdered .. go in fear of their lives for the "offense" of stating their opinion.
12
What a load of nonsense.Brahmins are the most discriminated community in India.The Affirmative action which is written in to the constituition of India deprives Brahmins and other upper caste Hindus legitmate economic oppertunities.There is no such Brahmin supremacy in India.But that won't stop activists like Ms Soundararajan to stripaway whatever little dignity they have left.
7
@MSM Looks like you are afraid of losing your caste privilege. Even the richest Indian bows down to the brahmin (thanks to the stupid caste system), but somehow the brahmin are the "most discriminated" according to you? WOW!!
6
The biggest problem with online content moderation is that it's largely community-driven: ie, that posts will only be reviewed if they're reported en masse. This gives right-wing trolls two advantages: 1. Their content will almost never be removed and 2. They can mass-report anyone they don't like. Left-leaning twitter has to constantly walk on eggshells while the right rides roughshod.
16
I have faced a lot of trolling on twitter and facebook as a Dalit. I am also in technology at silicon valley startup and I know the platforms could do more to protect people like me. I would not say I am an activst all I do is forward and like, but that alone is enough to enrage the trolls. I hope we can get this issue heard without more casteism.
30
@Gita Kamble
If you are familiar with that market, what percentage of H1-B visas would you say that the Dalits receive?
2
@Gita Kamble Good to hear from someone who actually knows something and can speak from experience.
2
I feel like blaming Twitter specifically, or Facebook specifically, is missing the point -- the problem is the increasing centralization of the internet. There aren't different websites to discuss different things anymore, or even a Usenet-style system of having every subject be somewhat self-contained. Facebook is now where ALL discussion is made, Twitter is now where ALL discussion takes place, and I'm pretty sure that you can see what kinds of problems that can cause.
7
@Sean
I feel like Twitter and FB are the nuclear bombs of our time, and we're all wandering around Hiroshima after they've landed, injured to varying degrees. Regardless of proximity, our various societies are all suffering the consequences.
Like the climate catastrophe most of us believe to be in progress, this does not absolve any of us of trying to mitigate it to the degree possible by our deeply flawed human society.
The more negative comments and articles about how ugly Twitter and Facebook can be, the more convinced I am that neither of them are conductive to better mental health for most of its users.
32
I've never taken up with Facebook or Twitter.
The advantage of having a telephone that connects to the wall with a copper wire is that it gives you something firm to hold on to.
22