Ah yes, the Hindu model of caring more about cows than untouchables.
Ah, yes, "the Hindu model". Meanwhile, plenty of high-status Westerners will happily donate and volunteer towards their local animal shelters, seemingly caring more about them than about Indian untouchables and other millions of people in extreme poverty, that they could donate to instead. Why do you assume it's only Hindus who sometimes push their charitable concerns too far?
Cows being sacred is a facet of Hinduism. It's not some general feeling of good-will towards cows / animals by Indian nationals. It is literally based on the idea that the cow represents one of the deities in the Hindu pantheon.
The caste system was (is?) inextricably linked with Hinduism.
There is a clear difference between literally valuing animals over people in a direct way (as shown in the article I linked) vs. putting effort to help animals and less into helping humans. The former is zero-sum, in that you are directly disadvantaging humans for the sake of animals. The latter is not, in that you can help both animals and the destitute. Volunteering at an animal shelter does not disadvantage others, even if holier-than-thou types would like to say that world hunger should be solved before helping animals. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
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Ah yes, the Hindu model of caring more about cows than untouchables. Definitely ideology worth emulating.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/08/13/4898834...
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Ah, yes, "the Hindu model". Meanwhile, plenty of high-status Westerners will happily donate and volunteer towards their local animal shelters, seemingly caring more about them than about Indian untouchables and other millions of people in extreme poverty, that they could donate to instead. Why do you assume it's only Hindus who sometimes push their charitable concerns too far?
Yes, "Hindu model".
Cows being sacred is a facet of Hinduism. It's not some general feeling of good-will towards cows / animals by Indian nationals. It is literally based on the idea that the cow represents one of the deities in the Hindu pantheon.
The caste system was (is?) inextricably linked with Hinduism.
There is a clear difference between literally valuing animals over people in a direct way (as shown in the article I linked) vs. putting effort to help animals and less into helping humans. The former is zero-sum, in that you are directly disadvantaging humans for the sake of animals. The latter is not, in that you can help both animals and the destitute. Volunteering at an animal shelter does not disadvantage others, even if holier-than-thou types would like to say that world hunger should be solved before helping animals. The perfect is the enemy of the good.