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Comment by JPKab | Hacker News Reader

I know, I know I sound like a dick here, but I think this is one of those cases where his being born and raised in India is a contributing factor. Indian culture is vastly different than ours, including a very high "power distance" measurement compared to typical Western nations.

In India, if you're rich (or even middle class), you have servants and you do what you want. In his view, this is his, and he doesn't have to share it with the lesser people.

Sure, many people born in America would do this too, but they would possibly feel a bit more guilty about it.

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Yeah, I know this is just an Internet forum so who cares what's said right? But ...

But Ask the Korean made an excellent point about culturalism: "The term "culturalism" is my coinage ... is the unwarranted impulse to explain people's behavior with a "cultural difference", whether real or imagined. Because the culturalist impulse always attempts to explain more with culture than warranted, the "cultural difference" used in a cultural explanation is more often imagined than real. To paraphrase Abraham Maslow, to a man with a culturalist impulse, every problem looks like a cultural problem."

http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2013/07/culturalism-gladwell-...

FYI most Indians in the US like the more egalitarian, US way of lower "power distance" better.

Sorry, but this is such a vapid statement.

Yes, sometimes people ascribe things to culture which aren't due to culture, and sometimes the converse is true too.

It's one thing to say "No, actually you're ascribing something to culture which isn't part of Indian culture at all. This is just him being a tool" but you've made no effort to explain why you think his actions aren't in line with his cultural upbringing.

PS: As a child of immigrants, I constantly see how culture is the root cause of a lot of my parent's "bad"/unacceptable-in-America behavior.

>>As a child of immigrants, I constantly see how culture is the root cause of a lot of my parent's "bad"/unacceptable-in-America behavior.

Yes, but kindness is not one of them.

Actuallly, he's kind of a dick anyways. He once gave an interview with the BBC about IIT's where he said that the IIT's were so difficult that he "cruised through the CMU master's program". Later, it was revealed that at the time he attended, the IIT's had a 5 year bachelor's program; something that he conveniently forgot to mention.

What's IIT and CMU? SVP?

Indian Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon.

Probably Carnegie-Mellon, a University in Pennsylvania that has an excellent (top 10 in US) engineering program.

What's the standard bachelor's program in the US?

We have a 5 year bachelor's here (Uruguay) for all engineering degrees (including Computer Science which is bundled with engineering here), and many have told me it's equivalent to a Master's in the US.

The typical US bachelor's is 4 years, and 1-3 years for a master's, depending on the subject.

The IIT example is probably misplaced. My dad went to the IIT at roughly the same time. Based on conversations I have had with him, the IITs had a 5 year program at that time because the students who got in had very different levels of some fundamental skills especially ones related to English and Communications.

My dad, for example, studied K-12* in a school where his medium of instruction wasn't English. He got into IIT because he placed first in his school district/state but he couldn't converse fluently in English and spent his first year basically learning English and "mapping" math/science concepts he had learned in our native language to English.

* - My recollection is weak on this, but I think India (or some parts of India at least) may have had a K-11 system at this time instead of a K-12 system.

I grew up in India. And I agree with you here.

Being said that, I doubt how "feeling less guilty" make any difference, if they are going to do it anyway.

So you mean you agree that it's a "culture" specific to India that rich people don't think they should give back to lesser privileged? You are sadly mistaken. Being rich, anywhere makes you less compassionate (there are studies). On the other hand, almost everywhere in the world there have still been many rich people who were very kind. Azim Premji, Rattan Tata are examples off top of my head of big businessmen who gives back too much. On the other hand, rich people like Steve Jobs and many more in the USA were not at all kind from any reference. Kindness is not a cultural trait. It's a personal trait.

Edit: One link to substantiate my claim: http://www.upworthy.com/take-two-normal-people-add-money-to-...

No, he must be a racist, since he's saying exactly what I said. After all, you are ascribing a motive to me, so why not him? You self-righteous whiner.

You are a racist. He is talking about his own race, so can't logically be. However, he is just being an elitist here. A lot of Indian people start thinking high of themselves once they arrive to the US. It's in our blood, since we were ruled by Europeans for 190 years. :)

The thing common between you two here is that both are drawing wrong and uneducated conclusions here. There is no causal relationship between being an Indian and being 'unkind' (Yes, I still know you didn't use a direct word, but you didn't reply to my next comment to you, so I assume you meant something very similar to that).

"You are a racist"

Really? You are accusing me of thinking I am superior based on genetics (which is essentially what racism is), because I made a cultural observation which you don't agree with?

I don't like the culture in the United States' Deep South, so I guess I'm a racist for that too. I don't like Saudi Arabian culture either, again I'm racist, right?

If you don't like me ascribing things that are personal to an entire culture, then have at it. But to infer that its based on race is absurd. One of my main mentors in my career is a man who came to this country from India. I have immense respect for him, and according to you he falls into the "elitist" category due to his withering criticism of Indian culture. I'm sure that because he was born to a Dalit family you would call him biased. I think he just gets it.

I love how when a person of Indian descent disagrees with you, you label him an "elitist."

No True Scotsman. Look it up.

By the way, the diplomat who got arrested here deserved it. She should have done what everyone else in America who can't afford a live-in servant does. Don't have a fucking live-in servant. Wash your own damn dishes like the rest of us do.

I in fact strongly defended the arrest of the diplomat and supported your last line in contrast to what a lot of my Indian friends said in what turned out to be a heavy argument. Of course, she shouldn't have had a live-in servant if she couldn't afford. But then again that doesn't mean a stupid generalization should be made where it doesn't belong. You went too far saying "since they have servants and all ... they are generally like ... don't want to share their things when they become rich". And you surprisingly believe it's an attribute specific to Indian culture. Indian culture might be having many problems, but this cannot be one of them. This argument of yours somehow reminded me of this girl's interview. Don't know why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

If he is an asshole, no point blaming it on being Indian.

Wow. So having servants and being a douchebag are the same things, that you straight away conclude since they have servants they are heartless? Do you use services of carpet cleaners? Car cleaners? Two men and a truck? Professional Lawn mowing services? Do you get your oil changed, tire rotated by servicemen and pay them money? Servants services in India are not much different than that - there are just professional cooks, professional dish cleaners, or professional house cleaners - just like the cheap Mexican house cleaning services your people use. Some of them in India live in (and of course charge more) - and eat with the family. of course in the western countries they are blown up saying Indians are heartless. It is claimed these servants are cruelly made to work more than 40 hours, but no one realizes it's a developing country, resources are scarce - even those middle class 'owners' of those servants are working for more than 60 hours a week. Why wouldn't their servants work that much voluntarily to earn a living? Sure, you haven't seen poverty. In India it's still about survival, in US of A it's not.

I hope people in India can conclude the same about all Americans on one isolated incidence of Steve Jobs being an asshole (much more than this Khosla is). Or one Monsanto Corp. ready to compromise global health and life for money.

Yes, sir, you are not 'being' a dick, you are a dick.

Definitely, hidden behind internet usernames, a lot of people (who would not otherwise) show their racist side even here on HN.

Yeah, I never said anything like what you are ascribing to me. That's all in your interpretation. Heartless? I didn't say that, YOU did.

I grew up in a rural household. We never once hired anyone to do any of the things you mentioned, by the way. We did them ourselves. The cultural difference is there, and your weak attempt to draw parallels is absurd.

Ha. Yes, you didn't say any name at all. So what name would you ascribe to "if he is rich .... In his view, this is his, and he doesn't have to share it with the lesser people". 'Unkind' would be a good approximation? Or you'll find some euphemism? And your interpretation is that Indians feel less guilty about it as well. So sure, Americans do it, but feel more guilty. How sweet :).

You might not have used these services. I was clearly talking about "yours" culture, which you are using to draw differences. But you'd be living in a cave if you don't think that most of the Americans who can afford use these services. But still, let's blame Indian culture without knowing much.

Cultural differences are always there. The important thing, however, is to know where does it apply and where it doesn't.

Edit: And why doesn't my example of the unkind Steve Jobs doesn't apply here - because you don't like it? Did he share anything of what he earned with the 'lesser people'? :) In fact, he shut down all the philanthropic activities that were going on in his company instead. So why shouldn't I, by that analogy, generalize that to be the "American culture"? I think my argument definitely applies here and there's certainly a similarity. You might not want to accept that, of course.

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