I don’t know why I keep reading the BBC Have Your Say forums. I fear I may be turning into a Daily Mail reader, hooked on that feeling or moral outrage.
Anyway…
No. There are millions of pictures of non-black people being ridiculed (i.e. George Bush, Tony Blair, Bunker Brown, Nick Griffin, Wayne Rooney etc, etc), should these be removed as well? This has only come about because the 1st lady is black, if she’d been white, this would not have made the news.
Bob Todd
Recommended by 266 people
It worries me greatly that Bob does not appear to understand what racism actually is. The fact that 266 other morons apparently don’t either, and that said morons pushed this comment to the top of the pile, makes me despair.
Apparently this sort of thing is quite common. I hear people saying things like “I’m not a racist, but…” or “it’s just a laugh, they laugh along as well and make jokes about white people too.” As someone who has been a victim of racism I can assure you, dear reader, that these people are fucktards.
The picture of Mrs. Obama altered to look like an ape is racist because historically comparing black people to apes and implying that they are less highly evolved, less intelligent and less human than white people has been used by racists. Ridiculing people because of their actions or beliefs is fine, ridiculing them simply because of the colour of their skin (which they cannot do anything about) is racist. Calling someone a “paki” is racist because it is a term of abuse based on racial background, where as calling someone a “brit” is simply shorthand and not an insult. How people cannot understand this rather simple distinction is beyond me.
There has been criticism of attempts to educate kids about this kind of thing, calling it liberal leftist namby-pamby PC brigade nonsense, but clearly there is a very real need for it.
2 Comments
Sorry fot the essay but this is an interesting post…
I think the problem is dependant on just how sensitive we are to any part of ourselves. I think that people who bully in any way, as cruel as they are, will prick any part they see as weak and use that to their advantage. For example if you have a large nose compared to most other people then you may be called big nose you may even stand a chance to be beat up for it! I know this is not racism but the same principle could apply.
I know white people and other ethnicities that have been attacked by groups of so called racists. But is it actually racism, just because the attacker is a different race? Is it just prejudice? Would they have been beet up regardless of how they look or their race? Is it just the nature of some humans to target the weak and ridicule them in whatever way they can, be it race, sexuality or personal appearance?
I am a white male, and I would expect that if I came under attack from someone of a different race they may start off by calling me baldy because I have a bald head if that didnt work it would progress on to other things. They may however just go straight for the kill and brand me a racist because I have a bald head, and its association with racism in past years.
The fact is some people will use anything that they can to hurt someone, its all bad and against the rules I live my life by. Live and let live, we are all different for a reason, I actually like it that way ?
It is just semantics.
Fixating on things like race, nose size or hair loss is pretty childish. The pathetic “journalists” who ridicule Alistair Darling for having black eyebrows and white hair are, well, pathetic. Sure, attack his policies and decisions, just try to rise above playground level insults.
Of course adults who do that sort of thing are just idiots without the wit to come up with anything better, but racists deserve special ridicule and chastisement. Historically race has been a huge problem. People forget that we used to keep black people as slaves, and up until the 80s non-whites really were second class citizens. It’s taken a lot to get to the stage we are at now, and it’s going to take a lot longer before we really rid ourselves of it.
In all honesty I don’t think it will really go away until most of the racists simply die of old age. Younger people are, by and large, less racist I think because they are more used to mixing with non-whites and have integrated a lot of different cultures (hip-hop music for example). You can try to make the rest understand but I think it’s a loosing battle.
BTW, I am white, just in case you were wondering.