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"Every one of your systems is a utopian system. Democracy would be heaven--if people would just be better than people have ever been. Of course, Soviet Communism was supposed to have been heaven too--if people had just been better than people have ever been. Your justice system would work perfectly if people would just be better than people have ever been. And of course your schools would work perfectly under the same conditions." My Ishmael
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UNIT 16 Dealing with the Hierarchy
What is a rationale? [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines it as "an exposition of principles or reasons."]
Steven M Parish, doing research for his book Hierarchy and Its Discontents: Culture and the Politics of Consciousness in Caste Society (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996), interviewed an untouchable by the name of Kancha in the largely Hindu city of Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. He asked him, "Do you think the matter of caste is unjust?" According to Parish, Kancha responded by saying that the caste system is simply a reality, adding "It was made long ago." As the subject of a discussion or writing assignment, explore this question: Why does the fact that the caste system was made "long ago" validate it for Kancha?
Which of the three rationales presented here works for you?--or once worked for you?--or no longer works for you?
Quinn says that "As things get worse and worse for us, we're going to need more and more of all the things that give us relief and oblivion and all the things that get us revved up and excited." In addition to the ones he cites, what examples of this trend do you see at work in the world around you?
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