• FaceDeer
    link
    fedilink
    -26 months ago

    According to Wikipedia there’s ~600,000 Sherpas in the world. Are you seriously saying that the only thing they can do to avoid poverty is work as Everest guides (or have an extended family member doing it)?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      9
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I’m not talking about the Sherpa people, but rather the profession of Sherpa which is a subset of these people. There aren’t even 600k Sherpa (people) globally. A few hundred Sherpa (profession) handle Everest.

      And yes, that’s what I’m saying. Tibet is a poor country. What industry aside from Everest tourism do they have?

      • FaceDeer
        link
        fedilink
        -26 months ago

        So a few hundred Sherpa (profession) would be completely unable to find other jobs, like their hundreds of thousands of bretheren have somehow managed to do.

        Look, I don’t want people to die on Everest. But nobody is forced to go there, not even the Sherpas. They choose to go there. They know what they’re getting into and what the risks are. If you’re going to feel bad for them then you should also feel bad for the climbers, and vice versa.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          8
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          If you’re going to feel bad for them then you should also feel bad for the climbers, and vice versa.

          I don’t think so. This is an asymmetric relationship. It’s been documented time and time again the tourists treat the sherpas like shit. There’s also plenty of evidence they treat the mountain like shit, a mountain which is sacred to the Sherpa people. No, I don’t think I’ll feel bad for those who litter in what should be a pristine location and treat the locals poorly.

          (Side note, I don’t even know what to call that extra vice versa. It’s like a vice versa double negative. You were already in vice versa mode by suggesting I should also feel bad for the tourists.)

          • FaceDeer
            link
            fedilink
            16 months ago

            Perhaps the Sherpas shouldn’t be enabling them.

            And actually, my point is just that you should feel equally bad for them. They’re both people who chose to be there and they’re both people that died. If you don’t want to feel bad for them then that’s fine too.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            06 months ago

            the tourists treat the sherpas like shit.

            I submit it’s the shitty tourists being shitty, and either selection bias or toxic generalizations is filling in the rest for you .

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              16 months ago

              Nope. There’s a good documentary called Sherpa you should check out. Also - why do so many people know who Sir Edmund Hillary is, but not Tenzing Norgay? They both were the first up there. Sherpas have been treated poorly as long as people have been summiting the mountain.