Hmm. On racism and media.
Jan. 21st, 2007 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kickahaSo 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.
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.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-23 03:20 am (UTC)OTOH, I wasn't arguing that racism as an institution isn't present, I was *solely* talking about the words coming out of Chavez's mouth.
I don't believe that allowing anyone to get a bye for racism *based on their race* is appropriate or useful - in my opinion, by doing so, regardless if it is out of racism, or guilt, it *only perpetuates it*. (Well, really, any reason for allowing it eludes me, but...)
Letting someone get away with being racist doesn't make up for any oppression, lack of privilege, or previous or current societal inequities, it simple creates more racism, as I see it. If there are problems to be solved, then by all *means* solve them *directly*, but I don't see how allowing racism on the one hand makes things better on the other. It doesn't solve squat.
Racism, in all its insipid and insidious forms, needs to die a fast death. In my book, allowing it isn't a bargaining chip to be used as a form of, well, racial barter in place of actual equality. It's just a bad idea IMO that detracts attention and energy from actually creating a better world.
Let me ask you something, in all seriousness. If the folks who are having the insults thrown at them aren't in the position to 'make that call'... then who is? Now, you can easily take the stance that you're not going to let it affect you personally, and I think that's admirable, and the best long-term solution for a lot of this, to be honest. But. I don't see how that means that one cannot also call the racist comments what they are, at face value, and leave it at that. *shrug* I dunno. I'd rather have a world where skin color really, honestly, shockingly truly doesn't matter, and I don't see how allowing racism in any form gets us any closer to that... especially when it's so explicit. meh.