This is true and it seems to be a phenomenon that has only been spreading since you posted this a decade ago. Will we get to a stage where those who now and can are a despised lower caste, and poor people may in extremis be forced to sell their children into (Oh, God, no)... education?
The Germanic peoples (pre-conversion to Christianity) were a good real-life example. Warriors got respect, especially if they fell in battle, for then they would spend the afterlife in the Hall of the Fallen, feasting and drinking the beverage of the Gods. Everyone else was sent to the Home of Hell, where they'd only have goat's urine to drink.
It's super effective.
I don't think this fits the "essential to society" part.
- The Doctor Who character Strax is a Sontaran nurse, apparently in penance for something.
Strax: It is the greatest punishment a Sontaran can endure, to help the weak and sick.
This is explicitly a demotion and punishment from the warrior class, not to mention he's working as a nurse in a human (or Human Alien) conflict rather than healing other Sontarans. I don't really see how Sontarans - an expendable clone race which consider death in combat a great honour and consider living to almost 12 years a long survival rate - would require nursing for them to function. The insinuation in this episode is that weak and sick Sontarans are left out in the cold no matter what.
Edited by 151.230.175.147
Couldn't the origins of Burakumin of Japan and the Dalit (Untouchables) of South Asia be regarded as extreme Real Life examples of this?
Edited by NimmerStill Hide / Show Replies
Not really, since Japan and South Asia would have to be a Planet of Hats that the Burakumin somehow support. While they do useful work and aren't appreciated, they need that last component to really click.
I am very tempted to put a "truth in television" example for this, because ive seen a lot of examples where people use the very technology science enables in order to trash science and spread science denial, but this is prolly a trope that shouldn't have real life examples.
Hide / Show Replies