David’s Reviews > Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents > Status Update

Given a choice, would (white) Americans choose democracy or whiteness/white power?

Some thought American exceptionalism would somehow protect us from the COVID virus...but it didn't, did it. It did expose how vulnerable we were/are, and how unprepared we are for such calamities, and how the low caste people dominate the "mudsill" vocations required on the front lines of society, allowing others to stay home, safe.

In the US, it really is like the Confederacy won the war, with the statuary commemorating their major generals and the other memorials, with all the streets and schools that are named after Confederates, all the appearances of the Confederate flag. Compare to Germany, where displaying a swastika is illegal, people are reminded of the terror, and no Nazis are memorialized. Huge differences.

Stomach-churning examples from present-day America showing how "lower caste" (ie black) members of society are unfairly treated because of their perceived caste membership. Even flying first class leaves one open to mistreatment.

These inequities have medical repercussions, and not just for POC: dominant caste members who face discrimination suffer similar health effects and have shorter lives, too.

Ch. 21 described how new scapegoats were sought in Germany during WWII when nearly all Jews had been removed. Having dark wavy hair made a girl a target.

Ch. 22 about the Stockholm Syndrome had disturbing examples of how subordinate caste members are expected to forgive dominant caste transgressors in ways hard to imagine if the roles were reversed, eg a black judge comforting a just-convicted white female officer.

The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste includes several good examples of dominant caste members disregarding feelings or needs of lower caste members. Several descriptions fit Rs and former guy "to a T," you might say. :-)

The Euphoria of Hate ushers in a new part, The Consequences of Caste, by describing a video from Nazi Germany around 1940, after the Germans have taken France, with a sea of humanity cheering and waving swastika flags everywhere. "...The threat...is not one man, ... it is all of us...."

Reviewing the case if phenom pitcher Satchel Paige, whi did not first pitch in the majors as a rookie until he was 42 and last pitched in the majors at 59. That last was to be a stunt, but he threw 3 scoreless innings against the BoSox.

Reviewing the case if phenom pitcher Satchel Paige, whi did not first pitch in the majors as a rookie until he was 42 and last pitched in the majors at 59. That last was to be a stunt, but he threw 3 scoreless innings against the BoSox.

This last chapter on the early front lines of caste covers a case of 2 Harvard-educated couples, one black one white, moving to a town in Mississippi to embed themselves in the population to study both sides of the caste hierarchy. Further illustration of the caste divisions came from how their study, with a black primary researcher, contrasted with smaller studies done by white researchers.

Last Place Anxiety tries to illustrate how members of the lower caste compete against each other, to avoid being the bottom of the bottom. E.g., immigrant POC striving to keep their foreign accent so it's clear they're not from here.