Wednesday 10 June 2009

Racist By Default

Why is it that when people think of racism against, say, Indians, the default thought is that it's Anglo's doing it?...


Why?.

11 comments:

  1. Because we think of life through the prism of our own ethnicity. I'm Anglo (well I look anglo), most of my friends are Anglo, most of Australia's anglo, the media (your favourites) are OVERWHELMINGLY Anglo. You end up tending to think of everything as relating to your own race only. It was actually mildly surprising to find out as a teenager that other races are racist against other races, as a kid I'd thought it was just an Anglo thing - weird huh?

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  2. I think someone mentioned Lebanese gangs very quietly at one stage.

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  3. I noticed Birmo 'copped a serve' last week for the Indian thing going on in Melbourne. The comment basically related HIS ethnicity to the racial tension.

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  4. Basic programing the stranger is danger, thus we're all racist unless we're taught or lift ourselves out of it.

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  5. We are currently the biggest demographic.
    In 30 years or so, may not be the case.

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  6. Because they, themselves, are indulging in some racial stereotyping - fucking racists

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  7. Part of the problem might the percieved solution. If one becomes aware of race and how it plays out in a culture, then ergo, one will be called a racist. Or one must be called... Say What?

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  8. There are racists within races...Indians, for example, discriminating against other Indians. It doesn't answer the question, but does point to the underlying truth of the question...we are all racists in some way.

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  9. Wasn't MY immediate response. I actually rather figured that Melbourne has quite a sizable non-Anglo demographic, some of whom rub shoulders with the suburbs where the Indians congregate. And some of those non-Anglo demographics are, shall we say 'over-represented' in the ranks of organised and violent crime?

    Mind you, I didn't assume that was the problem either. There's a mental list of probable causes, and my suspicion is that it's a mixture. Nothing's ever cut-and-dried simple when it comes to race issues.

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  10. Let's not forget we can get called all the names under the sun, but god forbid a white person saying anything negative about anyone. When we do it, it is being racist. Why is it not the same when other people do it to us?

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