Via the Trial Warrior , Antonin Pribetic, Brit Alex Aldridge’s Legal Cheek flattens the world just a little bit more:
At a seminar last week, one of the most senior judges in India courted controversy by suggesting that “90% of Indians were idiots” . But Justice Markandey Katju hadn’t bargained for the enthusiasm of a pair of “deeply hurt” law students in the audience to put their legal education into practice…
This morning it was reported that Tanaya Thakur and Aditya Thakur have initiated legal proceedings against the judge.
It’s heartwarming to know that there are special little snowflakes, fragile flowers, the Slackoisie, wherever young lawyers can be found.
“We are deeply hurt and humiliated by Justice Katju’s words,” said the duo, adding that the judge’s jibe “would depreciate the reputation of India and its citizens”.
Is Justice Katju right? Beats me, but then, I certainly have no basis to quibble. Regardless, the fact that his words are deeply hurtful and humiliating seems to be the issue, because reality doesn’t matter. Even young Indian lawyers are entitled to hear only words of warmth and support, lest their ears burn and self-esteem crumble.
American lawyers tend to think that this is just a local phenomenon, a by-product of our culture of giving every millennial a trophy for participating, where the child who came in last was merely the 37th winner. Nobody is a loser in America.
Apparently, not in India either.
One of the great unspoken fears of new lawyers here is that while they whine about the misery of their unemployed lives, the lack of recognition of their brilliance or appreciation of their total awesomeness, even the crap legal jobs are being shipped overseas to foreign lawyers. It’s not that they want these jobs. They don’t. But when they get hungry enough, they would take them begrudingly.
The belief is that while the work is beneath the dignity of our newest colleagues, there are millions of young lawyers in India who are thrilled to have the work and will work awfully hard to do the best job possible. Unlike our little darlings, Indian lawyers are happy to labor long and hard, put in their best efforts and would never be so sensitive as cry when their self-esteem is bruised.
Good news! It’s just a myth. They, or at least some of them just as it’s only some of our own who share their entitlement, are just as whiny.
The bad news is that this doesn’t mean they won’t work for a pittance compared to what young American lawyers need to service their debt or the price of a bag of Cheetos. Or that they won’t take the responsibilities seriously and perform the work with vigor and diligence. But at least they demand the same validation as do our own.
This, of course, presents a grand opportunity for young lawyers here, now that we know their counterparts in Bangalore are prepared to sue if they don’t get a red balloon. Fill the gap. As lawyers in other countries become more like us, become less like us and embrace the work ethic, the quest for excellence, that comes with winning the race rather than demanding a trophy for being the 37th winner.
And don’t sue anybody because they hurt your feelings.
Sturgeon’s Law: “90% of everything is crap.”
BTW, I like how Captcha is becoming so personalized. Today, it identified me as “Assrox heathen”. You must really have an in with those folks!
You got that? Damn. I was saving it for Randazza.
The duo also appears not to understand the difference between “depreciate” and “deprecate”.
I saw that too, but I cut ’em a break since English isn’t their first language.
The good news is that he did not say that all Indians are idiots.
And that’s an important point, just as all young U.S. lawyers aren’t Slackoisie. They don’t have to be. They can make the decision at any moment to stop feeling all butthurt and entitled, to stop whining about the unfairness of it all, get off their butts and do something about their situation.
Perhaps should have invoked the Small Penis Rule : “90% of Indians—those with small penises—are idiots.”
I think of the small penis rule often, but am dissuaded from using it by cultural differences, particularly when it comes to my tribe. [Sarcasm, for those who think this comment hurtful because they have small penises.]
Wouldn’t the SPR set the upper bound on idiot Indians at 50 percent?
It’s that kind of thinking that completely misses the point of the small penis rule. You must have a small penis (gender notwithstanding).
I don’t suppose you’d buy it if I said that my penis is so large that I habitually troll people into saying I have a small penis just so I can drop trou and prove them wrong? No? OK, I admit it… but the good thing about having such a small one is that if anyone ever defames me in a novel I won’t be deterred from suing…
That’s how someone knows you’re actually hung like a racehorse.
“90% of Indians were idiots”
Not just Indians and not just 90%. IMO (and IME) 98% of everyone can’t think logically. Go look at comments on anything related to Casey Anthony, for example. It took me 3 minutes to figure out she was innocent. It would take 3 eternities to convince most of the public.
This is your jury pool. Good luck with your next jury trial!
(BTW, H. L. Mencken estimated the idiots at 80%, but I think he was an optimist).
Isn’t depreciate (diminish in value) correct in that context? Saying 90% of Indians are stupid diminishes the value of India’s reputation. Whereas deprecate (express disapproval of) wouldn’t really make as much sense. Saying 90% of Indians are stupid expresses disapproval of India’s reputation.
As a software engineer my type of job was one of the first to get shipped to India 10 years ago leading to a short term lull in the employment market for programmers back then. The employment prospects for software engineers has now returned to America in spades. You see, there is a very good reason that India is a third-world country, they are lazy and while cheap you ultimately get what you pay for. And, in the computer world at least, businesses have come to that realization and are moving the jobs back here. We tend to think of anyone from the Asian continent as an intelligent hard working person. The reason for this is that we only see the cream of the crop here in America, there is major competition among them to obtain visas to escape India. Only a fraction of a percentage ever obtain a visa and we only see the ones that made it over the wall. So we tend to believe that the other billion people back in India are just as smart and hard-working as the ones that got a visa by being admitted to our ivy-league universities. But trust me, there’s a reason the country is mired in poverty and squalor and I wouldn’t get too worried about long term prospects as this outsourcing craze plays itself out in other industries.