The two ladders

We live in a segregated society - one where those on the bottom rung of the ladder are never allowed to question those at the top rung. This stratification is more than an economic segregation; it is also a stratification based on status. For example, someone who is viewed on the higher ranks of their profession can never be questioned by those who are just starting their journey. Our language reinforces this stratification - terms such as paon ki khaak (a term implying one's insignificance and worthlessness in comparison to someone else) are used to describe an unassailable gap in the stations, and reminds people to stay in their place, and not dare question the decisions or behaviour of those at the top. Perhaps the most tragic part of this stratification is the existence of this ladder in academic institutions. In part because of our culture of obedience, and in part because of the status quo, unethical practices of the senior professors at our academic institutions are tolerated, or even accepted, by those who are in the junior ranks. Senior faculty get away with poor treatment of the students in their labs simply by virtue of their seniority.

I have heard numerous stories of students (and junior faculty) having to give up a rare opportunity to travel abroad or be present at a conference to their professors (who may or may not be qualified) - just because the professors ask them to. Anything other than complete submission would end the career. Original ideas of the students are stolen by their professors - and bad ideas of the professors cannot be questioned - because everyone is supposed to stay on their own rung. This 'staying in one's place' also creates a strange psyche where credit is given not because of ideas but because of one's position. I am troubled when gifted students in Pakistan doubt their own ideas just because they do not go to a prestigious institution, or because they are conscious about their accent. They have been told to doubt their own intelligence, not because doubt is an important part of inquiry, but because their ideas are probably not good just by virtue of where they come from.

Then there is another ladder. A ladder many of us climb through sheer luck and good fortune. It is the ladder of opportunity. Immigrants in the US and elsewhere, who got the opportunity to study, work and settle, climbed this ladder. I am part of those who happened to be lucky and were guided by the kindness of mentors and support of others. Yet, many around me, who came from the same background as I did, today support exclusionary ideas and would be eager to support politicians and policies that would close the very path that gave them the success that they enjoy today. They cheer rhetoric that demonises immigrants just like themselves. In some cases, they may be OK with immigrants from their own tribe, but have nothing but disrespect for immigrants who may look different, or practise a different faith. They think that people like them were different back in the day, and today someone who wants to imagine a similar future somehow is inferior and their desires are contaminated. These people - and there are plenty of them around - are the ladder pullers. With a false sense of self, and a deeply troubling opinion of others just like them, they are unable to recognise that their good fortune exists simply because a generation before them no one pulled the ladder.

These two ladders may seem different, but those at the top act exactly the same. They benefit from the system that propels them upward, and yet are blind to the injustice that is meted out to those who are at the bottom of the ladder. Justice does not need a grand theater to manifest - it can start with the simple idea of imagining that others may have the same desires as we do.