This guy makes a great point about the recent brouhaha involving Rep. Cynthia McKinney. Basically that all of these cries of racism are akin to the boy who cried wolf. When the racism charge gets overplayed people begin to ignore it -- and along with it cases of genuine racism.
And you don't have to look at the McKinney episode, other examples abound. For instance check out this story from the Washington Post the other day. Essentially some fast food joints are being accused of operating under the radar of D.C. regulatory policies -- accusations that some owners equate to racist behavior designed to drive out black-owned businesses. Nothing can be free of the racism charge. Rep. McKinney wasn't stopped simply because she didn't follow proper procedures, it's because she is black. Businesses can't be under pressure for a failure to abide by regulatory policy, it's because they're black-owned.
And damn, a Nigerian coworker of mine several years ago told me that even the FIFA soccer rankings are racist, because Nigeria was listed so low (nevermind that Brazil, a majority-black team, is consistently #1)!
We've really come to a bad place with such charges bandied about so frequently.
Update: On a somewhat related note I was out with a Hungarian friend of mine the other night and asked if they have "yo momma" jokes in Hungary. He responded "No, we have jokes about Jews and Gypies. And also the Scottish."
I didn't ask for any of the Jewish jokes and he didn't volunteer any (actually I asked him if he was familiar with Borat, since it seemed like the kind of thing that would come straight out of his mouth). Nonetheless, based on previous experience with Europeans and Hungary in particular I would guess they are a little nastier than the "How many ______ does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" variety.
What makes it especially disconcerting is that Hungary has a rather notorious history with Jews that I think most people aren't aware of.
While I think there is plenty of racism to be found in this world the situation is far better in the U.S. than most other places.
And you don't have to look at the McKinney episode, other examples abound. For instance check out this story from the Washington Post the other day. Essentially some fast food joints are being accused of operating under the radar of D.C. regulatory policies -- accusations that some owners equate to racist behavior designed to drive out black-owned businesses. Nothing can be free of the racism charge. Rep. McKinney wasn't stopped simply because she didn't follow proper procedures, it's because she is black. Businesses can't be under pressure for a failure to abide by regulatory policy, it's because they're black-owned.
And damn, a Nigerian coworker of mine several years ago told me that even the FIFA soccer rankings are racist, because Nigeria was listed so low (nevermind that Brazil, a majority-black team, is consistently #1)!
We've really come to a bad place with such charges bandied about so frequently.
Update: On a somewhat related note I was out with a Hungarian friend of mine the other night and asked if they have "yo momma" jokes in Hungary. He responded "No, we have jokes about Jews and Gypies. And also the Scottish."
I didn't ask for any of the Jewish jokes and he didn't volunteer any (actually I asked him if he was familiar with Borat, since it seemed like the kind of thing that would come straight out of his mouth). Nonetheless, based on previous experience with Europeans and Hungary in particular I would guess they are a little nastier than the "How many ______ does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" variety.
What makes it especially disconcerting is that Hungary has a rather notorious history with Jews that I think most people aren't aware of.
While I think there is plenty of racism to be found in this world the situation is far better in the U.S. than most other places.
No comments:
Post a Comment