From: rajat@watson.ibm.com (Rajat Datta)
Subject: Re: Were there universities in India before the British went?
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 22:10:11 GMT
Distribution: usa
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In article <BuKy9D.FJn@apollo.hp.com> nelson_p@apollo.hp.com (Peter Nelson) writes:
>
>  I don't think it's fair to impugn people's motives this way.   
>  No doubt some people are motivated the way you describe, but
>  speaking as someone who often asks people from other nations 
>  about their countries, and who, when he travels abroad, is happy
>  to answer questions about US history/customs, etc, I think there
>  are many people who are sincerely curious about the topic. 
>  I just think the phrasing "did you have universities" is awkward
>  for the reasons I cited.  However it does not in any way follow
>  that if a place did not have western-style universities, that it
>  did not have advanced education.  

No, it's certainly not fair to claim that the intent is always a
put-down.  However, it often is.  It is usually possible to tell what
the person means when they ask the question, and if it's intended as
an honest query for information, that's how I treat it.

>  My ancestors were from Scandinavia.  If a Christian were to ask me
>  "did your ancient ancestors believe in God?" how should I answer?  
>  To a Christian, "God" has a specific meaning.  If I answer, "yes"
>  this is not really correct, and moreover it would appear to concede
>  a particular definition of "God".   If I answer "no" this isn't
>  correct either; they weren't atheists.   Nor is it correct to 
>  simply dismiss the question as having impure motives; the questioner
>  could be sincere and I would be passing up an opportunity to 
>  educate someone.  So the correct approach would be to provide an
>  outline of Norse religion and practices.  
>

Scandinavians, I think, do face a similar type of prejudice.  My wife
is Swedish and looks it.  In many countries she has trouble walking
the streets sometimes because of all the propositions she gets.
Swedish women, it turns out, have this reputation of being sex hags.
Occasionally in conversations in bars, if I mention my wife's
nationality, the other guys will go "all right!".  Her friends, while
hiking in the mountains of Kashmir, were taken aside by an old man who
asked them if it was really true that Swedish women would sleep with
any guy, any time, if they ask.

My wife, in reality, is not much different in temperament than most
American women I know (although she is far more tolerant towards
topless bathing), and so are her friends I've met.  But the (false)
reputation of Swedish women is inescapable and something we have had
to deal with at least as often as questions like "Is it true that
tigers and elephants wander the streets of the cities in India?"

By the way, I've actually been asked that question.  I was a child at
the time and answered of course it is.  Somewhere in New York there is
a guy wandering around thinking that Indians keep tiger cubs as pets
until the pets grow up to the point that their tongues can draw blood
by licking humans.  The latter is apparently true although I don't know
from experience; tigers are supposed to have such coarse tongues that
they'll shred human skin by just licking.

Scandinavians also suffer from the perception of Vikings as
barbarians, when in truth, Vikings had much to do with spreading
culture and technology to a much inferior Europe.  The perception of
the barbarian Viking, of course, was only because they were
Christianized later.  Exactly the same kind of prejudice that Indians,
Native Americans and others suffer from.  How can people not from the
Judeo-Christian heritage ever have accomplished anything?

-- 
rajat (rajat@watson.ibm.com)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian