It’s very easy to irritate a nation of 1 billion people. Just make some insulting remark and the entire state apparatus will go berserk issuing démarches and calling the ambassador of the offending country to take a tongue lashing. We saw this happen with the New Zealand anchor making fun of Sheila Dikshit (The “Dick – Shit” angle) and with some members of the Australian police making fun of an Indian man being electrocuted on the rails.
But I think it’s time we learnt to just ignore such comments. What do we gain? We just end up showing the world how insecure we are and that any idiot or asshole can make us froth at the mouth. We place ourselves at their mercy and give them more power than they should have.
We Indians are one of the most touchy races. We can’t bear anyone making fun of us. As if to maintain our dignity and impressiveness we have to squash every little bugger who dares laugh.
US politicians and actors for example have learnt the hard way that trying to sue someone or shut them up only draws more attention what was said and makes them look ridiculous and insecure. Comedians are endlessly making fun in the most rude manner about blacks, homosexuals, politicians, religious people and specific individuals. And no one minds. If they do mind, they’re very careful not to let anyone see how upset they are. Because there’s nothing funnier than seeing someone trying to keep their dignity by getting angry telling others to shut up.
For example, here’s a short clip from “South Park” making fun of and abusing Paris Hilton. Listen to the “Moral” at the end…(Warning – this can get pretty gross!)
If this was India, Paris Hilton would have taken the show to court, won, and put the creators in jail. But if she tried that in the US, people would just laugh at her, tell her to get over herself and take a joke. She’d look very stupid trying to take South Park to court – a series that makes fun of everyone.
And this is what’s happening with us Indians. By protesting against every little racist comment made by private individuals, we’re being silly and pouty. Imagine the school kid crying “Teacher teacher – he made fun of me!” And that’s exactly what we’re beginning to look like right now. An insecure childish schoolboy.
Update: I’d like to reproduce a comment I found on a Yahoo! news story regarding China’s response to Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize which gives an interesting point of view:
It is very easy to embarass East Asian peoples and is associated with shame and often times this is the kind of reaction you get.. It is their weakness. They will never change that aspect of their culture..
Being much more shameless
Westerners on the other hand are more direct and honest in speech and are not so easily embarrassed..
Easterners are too easily shamed
Westerners are not easily shamed enough
Agreed. Each society has its ignorant bigots. I think there is only a very limited ‘benefit’ from pointing fingers at others. Look within equally AT EACH such opportunity. Have we abolished the caste system? Has our discrimination stopped? Do we treat everyone equally in India? Do we NEVER pass rude comments about other other communities in India?
I’ve studied this complex issue in some more detail in DOF (http://discovery.sabhlokcity.com/) and on a number of posts at:
http://sabhlokcity.com/category/b-interests/australian-matters/racism-in-australia/
In reply to Sanjeev Sabhlok
A good analysis of the various types of racism in your post Sanjeev. And with regard to Indians protesting against racist remarks, pots and kettles do come to mind :)
Question, why ignore when we have right to protest ?
protesting is a feedback system isn’t it ?
In reply to bachodi
You’re right Bachodi. Protesting definitely is a feedback system. The question is what feedback are we giving? I feel the only feedback that others receive is that our dignity is so fragile that we can’t bear to be laughed at…
But more to the point, what’s the use of calling the ambassador of a country to protest against remarks made by individuals? A government of a foreign country can’t do anything if one person chooses to exercise his/her right to free speech (even if it’s offensive.) Even with the “Burn a Quran” pastor we asked the US government to intervene. As if they could just stop him when he’s not broken any law…
I will second your thoughts.
We must ignore them.
People will do what they want but if start reacting at every comment nobody will care of us.
Also this happens everywhere, we Indians are no sane, We make fun of everyone but if someone does this to us we take in on account.
Yesterday South African Champion Swimmer marked crowds at the venue as Monkey for howling and shouting, yes that what his opinion but to an extent we should also know the ethics too, At CWG stadiums people are always shouting when at that time players need to concentrate.
Personally i don’t these kind of remarks as racist, we Indians make fun of Sikhs by Santa Banta jokes but we dont call that racist.
People should come over these type of comments and should behave as responsible citizens.
In reply to Abhishek
Yeah – I think protests have value only when they’re done rarely. Not for every little thing…
I would have agreed under normal circumstances, but the increase in anti-Indian sentiments in Oz, and the spate of racist attacks means, these are certainly pan-Ozzy undercurrents, and this needs to be checked. We Indians are far too passive for our own good, and at the same time, we turn unnecessarily wild and passionate about the wrong things too.
In reply to Pallavi
You may well be right Pallavi. There might be a pan Ozzy racist culture. My only doubt is whether or not a government protest is the right way to try and address the issue…
The NZ anchor didn’t merit so much attention…and coming from a nation that calls all of NE chinkies and the people from South Madrasis!!
In reply to Purba
Perhaps we (Indians) feel that we can be racist to each other, but outsiders can’t be racist towards us! Something like it’s OK if a black person says “Nigger,” but it’s not ok for a white guy to do the same…
I feel that protesting is like encouraging a negative feedback..It is like telling a naughty boy not to play in mud but he ends up playing more with mud to see us furious.In normal circumstances,it is good to ignore these comments.If at all somebody pass racist comments on you,think about this..
When we walk on the roads,a lots of dogs bark at you.We don’t take an effort to make all those shut their mouth.Instead,we know where we are heading to and we walk pass them.
The same applies here too.Let them bark as much as they can.Once they get tired of it,they will stop it :)
In reply to Bhavia
A very good way of putting it Bhavia – thanks for coming up with that analogy!
Hi Bhagwad
Very true. But I would push the envelop a little further. I think that not only we can’t take racist jokes lightly, but WE ARE one of the most racist countries ourselves. Your post reminded me of something I had written last year during the height of the “racism in Australia” incident. Here’s a link for your reference http://deodhar.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/who-is-more-racist/
Cheers!
AD
In reply to Ashish Deodhar
:D
Once upon a time there was a pot and a kettle…
In reply to bhagwad
Actually, just updated indianliberals with that blog post. I think it’s nauseating that we, the most racist of all people, take offence at something someone says far away from our shores!
There are a couple of ways of looking at it. We can ignore it. It is not our problem as long as our citizens are not targeted. I would assume that the people of Australia and NZ are concerned about racism in their society and are doing their best to end it.
But I am not against Indians protesting against racist remarks or actions. We are exercising our right to complain just like the individual in NZ is exercising his right to make racist comments.
Expressing our dissatisfaction to the NZ envoy is appropriate. Paul Henry (the individual who made the racist remarks) made those remarks on New Zealand “Public” Television (owned by the NZ government). His target was a public figure (Sheila Dikshit is Chief Minister of Delhi).
In reply to Hari
I think you have a point about the remarks being made on Public NZ television. But not about Sheila being a public figure.
Government owned channels have to be careful about what is being said and need to be politically correct since the channel supposedly gives the official position of the NZ government.
This is not a comment on your post, but on the poll you are running on gender equality. If reservations are given to the weaker section of the society, how would they become equals? It will obviously result in widening the inequality. If genders are to be considered equal, all should be treated equally.
In reply to Anand
I tend to agree with you…
I think this is one of those situations where you have to pick your battles. Sadly we live in a world where people are going to make racist comments. There are times when someone’s stupid racist comment should be ignored. That’s why it’s hard to talk about racism, because people get really defensive, and you can be seen as being too sensitive.
But at the same time, I feel there are times when someone makes a racist statement, they should be called on it. Afterall, that’s freedom of speech, isn’t it? You have the right to say something racist, and I have the right to tell you that your comment was offensive. :P
In reply to RenKiss
Oh yeah – definitely. People have the right to give feedback and tell the guy he was an asshole! My only point was that the government shouldn’t get involved…