{"id":62,"date":"2010-07-09T21:21:13","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T11:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wildcard.gnubies.com\/?p=62"},"modified":"2010-07-09T21:21:13","modified_gmt":"2010-07-09T11:21:13","slug":"for-top-grade-racism-you-cant-beat-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=62","title":{"rendered":"For top-grade racism, you can’t beat the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

THERE have been a few instances in the last three months when racism has reared its head in Australia, via the utterances of sportspeople. One<\/a> was the case of one of the coaches of the NSW rugby league team, Andrew Johns, who referred to a player from Queensland as a black cunt.<\/p>\n

Then there were two<\/a> former AFL players who made disparaging comments<\/a> about Aborigines. But when it comes to xenophobia and racism you can’t beat the US of A.<\/p>\n

Time magazine columnist Joel Stein recently demonstrated the supremacy of that country in the practice of racism – through the written word. In a column<\/a> that expressed regret about the fact that Edison, the town in New Jersey which he grew up, was no longer lily white, Stein bettered even many of those who were masters of this art in the old Jim Crow days.<\/p>\n

Stein’s beef was with Indians, who have apparently settled in Edison in such large numbers that they have changed the complexion of the town. Restaurants which once served white people’s food now serves curry, theatres which once screened movies fit for the white man now screen Bollywood masala. Stein didn’t miss out on a contemptuous reference to Hindu deities. He had the whole bag.<\/p>\n

If all that wasn’t enough, Stein went one step further and threw in a reference to the insult levelled at Indians in Edison – dotheads – evoking memories of the infamous Dot Busters<\/a> hate group which was responsible for a number of crimes against Indians in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

There was more: Stein said he had no problem with Indian engineers migrating to his hometown; he didn’t like it when the lower classes such as merchants came in in numbers. I have never read a column where someone manages to bring in every possible racist angle within such a short stretch. One has to hand it to Stein – if the Ku Klux Klan is looking for a grand vizier, they know where to look.<\/p>\n

If the column was about any group of white people and was written in the same vein, Time would never have published it. That’s something one can say with certainty. But people of colour – even the US president Barack Obama – are somehow illegitimate in their own country. There is still a bunch of ignorant, stupid Americans who claim that Obama was born outside the US.<\/p>\n

Stein’s open racism – and the pathetic defence he offered – are examples of the fact that people whom one considers civilised are quite often not what they seem. What is inside comes out when people are under pressure and shows their real character. Of course, after the deed is done, we have the pathetic defence: “I never meant to hurt anyone. I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”<\/p>\n

Surprising that people who lay claim to being educated know so little about themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THERE have been a few instances in the last three months when racism has reared its head in Australia, via the utterances of sportspeople. One was the case of one of the coaches of the NSW rugby league team, Andrew Johns, who referred to a player from Queensland as a black cunt. Then there were … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “For top-grade racism, you can’t beat the US”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,13,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-australia","category-migration","category-terrorism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2582,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=2582","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":0},"title":"I'm not a racist, but...","date":"May 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Everyone knows the rules at Collingwood: if you racially vilify anybody, it's zero tolerance. You're out.\" - Eddie McGuire, Collingwood president WHEN the well-known Daily Show comedian, John Oliver, visited Australia earlier this year to make a series of clips on the issue of gun control, he used some of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AFL"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2667,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=2667","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":1},"title":"Australia: Muslims not welcome here","date":"July 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"THE brilliant American comedian Dave Chappelle often refers to himself as a connoisseur of racism. A keen observer of the way in which people of colour are discriminated against in the US, Chappelle is quick to use his observations in his stand-up routines. 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