Hmm. On racism and media.

[kickaha]

So I ran across this... http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/21/chavez.ap/index.html

In it, Pres. Chavez of Venezuela apparently said "Go to hell, gringos!" in reference to the US in a radio address.

Okay. So he's unhappy, and he even probably has good reason to be.

So where's the outcry that would happen if a US politician said "Go to hell, wetbacks!" in reference to Mexico or any other Latin American state?

In case you couldn't notice, I'm not one that ascribes to the (to me, idiotic) idea that only whites can be racist, and only men can be sexist. Racism and sexism are endemic across races and genders, IMO, and equally stupid and moronic in whatever form they pop up.

Now, one could argue that gringo hasn't the punch that other racist names might have... but I'm not so sure, having grown up in a Hispanic-Anglo racially tense area. Gringo was spat with the same venom as wetback, in my personal experience, which makes this just...

*shakes head*

Idiots, idiots, everywhere, and not a brain to think.

Comments

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Where's the outcry? Where's the American who understands the world outside our borders well enough to know whether or not anything Hugo Chavez says is even worth listening to, let alone getting upset over?

I guaran-damn-tee you that every American who does know the answer to that question (I grant that I do not; I know Venezuela is an OPEC member, but that's about all) also knows enough about politics to discount anything said in a public forum by a politician who's in the middle of riling his constituency up into enough of a frenzy to give him the broad dictatorial powers he doesn't already have and so desperately wants.

The majority of Americans don't give a rat's behind what some jumped-up little man in charge of some furrin' country says. Which is, of course, your point. :)

[jason0x21.livejournal.com]

Because there's no such thing as Latino privilege, maybe?

I man, in exchange for all the breaks I get simply by being a white dude, I can take the occasional epithet because of simply being a white dude.