Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ho95b.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ho95b!wcs From: wcs@ho95b.UUCP (Bill Stewart) Newsgroups: net.nlang.india Subject: Re: Motels in Arizona and New Mexico Message-ID: <360@ho95b.UUCP> Date: Mon, 8-Apr-85 14:57:09 EST Article-I.D.: ho95b.360 Posted: Mon Apr 8 14:57:09 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 9-Apr-85 02:35:27 EST References: <3913@ucla-cs.ARPA> <603@rlgvax.UUCP> <4985@mit-vax.UUCP> <5689@duke.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 36 Balu Raman (duke!br) seems to have misinterpreted Oded Feingold's article: > > In article <4985@mit-vax.UUCP> oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) writes: > > Maybe the anomalous concentration of Indian ownership is > > due to their willingness to do the disgusting scutwork and > > incessant cleaning that go with the territory. That in > > contrast to us Americans, who are too high class for that > > sort of stuff. (I should have said Swiss, but the major > > audience is here in the US). > What is this guy talking about high class......Look like this > i___t has been working too long in AI. I think most Indians > operate motels to be their own boss instead of working for > racists like this guy. Also most of the Indians who operate > motels hire people from this so called high class to do the > shit-work. ........ At first glance, OAF's article looks insulting, but he's not saying "You s enjoy doing shitwork and we Americans are better than that"; he's saying that there are a lot of jobs in this country (and Switzerland, and Iran), that are done by immigrants who are willing to work hard, even though there are members who may be unemployed but consider themselves too good for that sort of work. During periods when there have been lots of immigrants to this country, they have often started at the bottom, whether because they have no skills or because they don't have the cash to start businesses or because a racist society only lets s work at low-prestige jobs. Some of the classic examples in this country are Chinese hand laundries, Hispanic migrant-labor farm workers, Irish ditch-diggers - these are not saying that "that's all the s are good for", but these people have been willing to do "lower-caste" work when "better" jobs are hard to get. Bill Stewart ihnp4!ho95c!wcs