Is there anything preposterous about my behavior?
Hello! In his book “Waking Up”, Sam Harris claims that there is something preposterous about Easterners coming to the West for education and economic opportunities. I did so too when I came from India to here in the US. Is there anything preposterous in that?
Not knowing anything about you I am able to give any answer I want.
Yes:
1. You probably enjoy Cricket.
2. You’ve got a whacked religion.
3. Why would you give up a wonderful life to go far away to pour Slurpees?
4. You drive on the wrong side of the road.
5. Cow meat is a favorite in the West.
6. How will you pay back the student loans with the meager wage you’ll earn when you go home?
7. White women aren’t interested in Asians.
8. You’ll be labeled a Muslim terrorist.
9. You came here to steal a job from an American.
No:
1. By stealing a job from an American you make Americans work harder.
2. By going to American metropolitan areas you generally avoid dim-witted racist dill weeds and can make way more money than the dill weeds.
3.
Hello! In his book “Waking Up”, Sam Harris claims that there is something preposterous about Easterners coming to the West for education and economic opportunities. I did so too when I came from India to here in the US. Is there anything preposterous in that?
No. You made an intelligent choice. I don’t think Sam Harris says it (or you) is a preposterous choice.
I think he says that the preposterous bit is the entire situation, the swap of huge numbers of people, east to west for economic/education, west to east for spiritual enlightenment—“a global comedy” that has me where you want to be and you where I want to be - it is exactly the set up used in a traditional farce. And moreover, he notes that there’s really only one side of that exchange that can be made to look ridiculous, and I don’t think he meant it was the easterner travelling west for economic development, do you? If there was a swipe, I think he was making it at the Stanford student turned hippy.
But is it any more than a mere humorous observation on the absurdities, perhaps joyful absurdities, of modern life?
Hello! In his book “Waking Up”, Sam Harris claims that there is something preposterous about Easterners coming to the West for education and economic opportunities. I did so too when I came from India to here in the US. Is there anything preposterous in that?
No. You made an intelligent choice. I don’t think Sam Harris says it (or you) is a preposterous choice.
I think he says that the preposterous bit is the entire situation, the swap of huge numbers of people, east to west for economic/education, west to east for spiritual enlightenment—“a global comedy” that has me where you want to be and you where I want to be - it is exactly the set up used in a traditional farce. And moreover, he notes that there’s really only one side of that exchange that can be made to look ridiculous, and I don’t think he meant it was the easterner travelling west for economic development, do you? If there was a swipe, I think he was making it at the Stanford student turned hippy.
But is it any more than a mere humorous observation on the absurdities, perhaps joyful absurdities, of modern life?
Hmm. I mean, I am in medical school in the Caribbean, and if I decide to end up leaving for India and settling there for any reason, that would be utter devastation. I have nothing left behind in India.
There have always been people who are stayers, and people who are goers. You are a goer. Simply be happy to live in a world where you have choices.