Aaah, Cricket's Back-Who's The Racist Eh?
India v. Australia - the bitching, the sledging, the controversial umpiring decisions, the racism, and oh yes, a bit of cricket here and there. Summer's back in town innit?
Once again, we should prepare to witnes the Indian's 'we have done no wrong' cricketers in action while the Aussies have no doubt been prepped incessantly to do no sledge, or even give the enemy a funny look....all this cricketing $$$ floating in India you see...maybe we should make sure they win as well....
Inside Cricket had Harbhajan Singh's interview where he proclaimed he is proud to be Punjabi, proud to be Sikh. Accepted at face value by pretty much all and sundry, no one I know claims that to be supremacist or the like. But now imagine if Hayden proclaimed he is proud to be white, proud to be Catholic....
Aaaah, I cannot wait for the first ball to be delivered-bet it'll be a bouncer...let the games begin!!!
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
9.10.08
30.1.08
Back After a Long Lay-Off
Who says lecturers don't do any work? Mind you I'm not saying we are always very busy-this is work time, and I am blogging, but September-December was hell, and then came the long awaited holiday.
Plenty has changed since I last blogged-bit like Billy Joel's 'we didn't start the fire' song....Bhutto's gone, Kenya's in strife, election campaigning in Malaysia, Pakistan and now the USA (and within my school...), Howard's gone (!!!) and of course, Benitez and Hicks managing to take Liverpool down the drain. All in all, more bad than good so far, but variety is the spice of life.
While the fire continues burning, we seem to be ready, as usual, to jump out of the frying pan and into the, well, fire. Bickering politicians have led Kenya to the brink of no return, even if Odinga is right in saying Kibaki manipulated the election results. At moments like this, perhaps he is right in not backing down to a dictator wannabe, but at what cost? In Pakistan, Benazir's son takes over the PPP, and promptly returns to England to finish his studies-once again proving that the PPP is no solution to Pakistan's woes. Dictatorial the Bhutto's might not be, but nepotistic they sure are. Woe to democracy, and more blood will be spilt after Musharraf no doubt manages to do a Kibaki and hang on to power.
Yeah, and did I mention Howard is gone...? YEAH!!! The last remnants of the White Australia Policy have been put in the rubbish bin, where it deserves to be. Rudd will no doubt prove to be an incarnation of Tony Blair so expect a honeymoon period to last longer than normal, but he will at least apologise for the Stolen Generation (but compensate them exactly $0). Otherwise, business as usual as we suck up to China, though at least the Kyoto protocol has been signed. He can't be totally useless though, having used and abused Peter Garrett. Word to the wise, Peter dear boy-sell your soul to the devil and....well, you know....Rudd may look like Tintin, but his heart beats a Thatcherite beat.
Hindraf did Malaysia both a service and a disservice-they seem mightily mad; no one in their right mind can accuse the Malaysian government of genocide. The federal government is many negative things, but let's not get carried away boys!!! Nonetheless, they forced the issue of minority marginalisation to the fore, yet showed the limitations of how they themselves can help the Indian minority out of their poor state. Perhaps once the community itself decides that strongman characters (i.e. Samy Vellu) should make way for proper representation, they'll be better off. As it stands, one can bitch and cry as much as one wants, yet the truth remains that the biggest obstacle to prosperity for the marginalised Indians in their community remain their own community, and how it sees itself, rather than Badawi and Co., who mind you, should do something to help rubber tappers at least earn a monthly salary!!!
Now the election beckons, and as usual the opposition continue to squabble-the fact is that Keadilan and DAP are as bad as the BN coalition-power crazy bastards. When the opposition is just as corrupt, why vote for the imitation? Mind you, their populist message (keeping it simple-we'll reduce the cost of living, no worries) might get them some votes, as will BN excesses the last few years. Pity the opposition in Sabah is even more useless.
Obama, Clinton, McCain, Romney-for once we have a different election campaign; choose between a black man (black-white-indonesian really), a woman (who might well have been president between 1992-2000 already), a Vietnam war POW with a quite liberal streak and a Mormon. Really, what happened to the Christian fundamentalists? Anyway, it's these fundamentalist who might still vote in a block for one of these candidates, and that spells trouble for the Democrats as Obama is pro-abortion, Hillary is well, Hillary....The Republicans might be at a low ebb, but don't be surprised to see President McCain (with vice-president Lieberman!!!!) come into office. Aaah, all this talk of blacks, women and Mormons-watch the Jew sneak into the White House....at least Al-Qaeda and the KKK will be happy with their increased membership when that occurs...
And Liverpool? Well, deary me....for once I am totally speechless.....
Who says lecturers don't do any work? Mind you I'm not saying we are always very busy-this is work time, and I am blogging, but September-December was hell, and then came the long awaited holiday.
Plenty has changed since I last blogged-bit like Billy Joel's 'we didn't start the fire' song....Bhutto's gone, Kenya's in strife, election campaigning in Malaysia, Pakistan and now the USA (and within my school...), Howard's gone (!!!) and of course, Benitez and Hicks managing to take Liverpool down the drain. All in all, more bad than good so far, but variety is the spice of life.
While the fire continues burning, we seem to be ready, as usual, to jump out of the frying pan and into the, well, fire. Bickering politicians have led Kenya to the brink of no return, even if Odinga is right in saying Kibaki manipulated the election results. At moments like this, perhaps he is right in not backing down to a dictator wannabe, but at what cost? In Pakistan, Benazir's son takes over the PPP, and promptly returns to England to finish his studies-once again proving that the PPP is no solution to Pakistan's woes. Dictatorial the Bhutto's might not be, but nepotistic they sure are. Woe to democracy, and more blood will be spilt after Musharraf no doubt manages to do a Kibaki and hang on to power.
Yeah, and did I mention Howard is gone...? YEAH!!! The last remnants of the White Australia Policy have been put in the rubbish bin, where it deserves to be. Rudd will no doubt prove to be an incarnation of Tony Blair so expect a honeymoon period to last longer than normal, but he will at least apologise for the Stolen Generation (but compensate them exactly $0). Otherwise, business as usual as we suck up to China, though at least the Kyoto protocol has been signed. He can't be totally useless though, having used and abused Peter Garrett. Word to the wise, Peter dear boy-sell your soul to the devil and....well, you know....Rudd may look like Tintin, but his heart beats a Thatcherite beat.
Hindraf did Malaysia both a service and a disservice-they seem mightily mad; no one in their right mind can accuse the Malaysian government of genocide. The federal government is many negative things, but let's not get carried away boys!!! Nonetheless, they forced the issue of minority marginalisation to the fore, yet showed the limitations of how they themselves can help the Indian minority out of their poor state. Perhaps once the community itself decides that strongman characters (i.e. Samy Vellu) should make way for proper representation, they'll be better off. As it stands, one can bitch and cry as much as one wants, yet the truth remains that the biggest obstacle to prosperity for the marginalised Indians in their community remain their own community, and how it sees itself, rather than Badawi and Co., who mind you, should do something to help rubber tappers at least earn a monthly salary!!!
Now the election beckons, and as usual the opposition continue to squabble-the fact is that Keadilan and DAP are as bad as the BN coalition-power crazy bastards. When the opposition is just as corrupt, why vote for the imitation? Mind you, their populist message (keeping it simple-we'll reduce the cost of living, no worries) might get them some votes, as will BN excesses the last few years. Pity the opposition in Sabah is even more useless.
Obama, Clinton, McCain, Romney-for once we have a different election campaign; choose between a black man (black-white-indonesian really), a woman (who might well have been president between 1992-2000 already), a Vietnam war POW with a quite liberal streak and a Mormon. Really, what happened to the Christian fundamentalists? Anyway, it's these fundamentalist who might still vote in a block for one of these candidates, and that spells trouble for the Democrats as Obama is pro-abortion, Hillary is well, Hillary....The Republicans might be at a low ebb, but don't be surprised to see President McCain (with vice-president Lieberman!!!!) come into office. Aaah, all this talk of blacks, women and Mormons-watch the Jew sneak into the White House....at least Al-Qaeda and the KKK will be happy with their increased membership when that occurs...
And Liverpool? Well, deary me....for once I am totally speechless.....
15.11.06
Who's A Racist Then?
There's been a big hue and cry in the press about some guy in the stands calling the English cricketer Monty Panesar (Sikh, beard, turban and all) a 'stupid Indian.' Some say that's not racist, because calling someone an 'Indian' is not racist, but the guy is English, not Indian and bringing up his ethnic roots is surely an attempt to separate him from the rest of the squad and then mock him with the 'stupid' remark. In that context, separating him based on his ethnicity, it is a racist statement. In actual fact the guy went on further claiming Monty can't speak English, so he would need to say it in Indian (mind you, there's no such language as Indian, just as there's no such language as Iraqi, or Australian).
What is an acceptable insult at a sporting event? If Monty was called a 'stupid poofter' I doubt we'll hear much about it. We can still bash gays. We can call him a 'stupid prick' but certainly we'll get dirty looks if we call him a 'stupid cunt.' The male genitalia is open for insult, but not the females. I recall a few years ago an Aboriginal player in the AFL complained being called a 'black cunt.' The perpetrator denied calling him black-I fail to recollect what he claimed, but some women wrote in asking why denigrating a skin colour is considered bad, but calling someone a 'cunt' acceptable? We often make fun of women at sporting events - 'he's a big girl's blouse' might be acceptable on account of it being a depiction, but what about 'he runs like a girl' or 'at this rate we should all wear skirts and play in high heels' (Steve Bruce). Is that acceptable?
I'm starting to think that everything in this regard is contextual. I can happily call my friend from KL a 'west malaysian imperialist pig' and he can counter that I should live on the ground rather than a tree and we'll just have a laugh, just as a lot of Black (African-American should 'Black' now start becoming offensive) rappers call each other 'niggers.' But I grew up going to matches calling the ref a 'pukima punya semenanjung' and while there's no doubt the refs were a bunch of 'pukimas' I really should not be referring to their place of birth. Ultimately, I should not insult a person's origins as I would not like it heaped upon me. Yet the 'pukima' statement would be considered offensive by some women (not least by the refs' mums)but I consider passable as I would calling Heskey a donkey, lest the RSPCA complain. We all have our standards, but what is acceptable?
Most will agree racist statements are out, so no black so-and-so, but say Indian and Nigerian so-and-so and it starts getting a bit less clear. Though certainly calling someone a French so-and so is these days clearly an insult in football as it intimates that they are soft, whingers, and divers, no thanks to the generalisations of people like Pires (Spanish mum, Portuguese dad!!).
Women, gays, fat people, dumb people? Can I call Frank Lampard fat without offending some fat guy next to me? Or say that Ade Akinbiyi is 'fucking blind' when he misses another sitter - will a blind person take umbrage to my assertion that blind people can't score open goals? Can I continue calling Van Nistelroy 'horse-face?' or intimate that Graeme Le Saux might prefer the company of men?
Context is everything, isn't it? Tough call to make sometimes....
There's been a big hue and cry in the press about some guy in the stands calling the English cricketer Monty Panesar (Sikh, beard, turban and all) a 'stupid Indian.' Some say that's not racist, because calling someone an 'Indian' is not racist, but the guy is English, not Indian and bringing up his ethnic roots is surely an attempt to separate him from the rest of the squad and then mock him with the 'stupid' remark. In that context, separating him based on his ethnicity, it is a racist statement. In actual fact the guy went on further claiming Monty can't speak English, so he would need to say it in Indian (mind you, there's no such language as Indian, just as there's no such language as Iraqi, or Australian).
What is an acceptable insult at a sporting event? If Monty was called a 'stupid poofter' I doubt we'll hear much about it. We can still bash gays. We can call him a 'stupid prick' but certainly we'll get dirty looks if we call him a 'stupid cunt.' The male genitalia is open for insult, but not the females. I recall a few years ago an Aboriginal player in the AFL complained being called a 'black cunt.' The perpetrator denied calling him black-I fail to recollect what he claimed, but some women wrote in asking why denigrating a skin colour is considered bad, but calling someone a 'cunt' acceptable? We often make fun of women at sporting events - 'he's a big girl's blouse' might be acceptable on account of it being a depiction, but what about 'he runs like a girl' or 'at this rate we should all wear skirts and play in high heels' (Steve Bruce). Is that acceptable?
I'm starting to think that everything in this regard is contextual. I can happily call my friend from KL a 'west malaysian imperialist pig' and he can counter that I should live on the ground rather than a tree and we'll just have a laugh, just as a lot of Black (African-American should 'Black' now start becoming offensive) rappers call each other 'niggers.' But I grew up going to matches calling the ref a 'pukima punya semenanjung' and while there's no doubt the refs were a bunch of 'pukimas' I really should not be referring to their place of birth. Ultimately, I should not insult a person's origins as I would not like it heaped upon me. Yet the 'pukima' statement would be considered offensive by some women (not least by the refs' mums)but I consider passable as I would calling Heskey a donkey, lest the RSPCA complain. We all have our standards, but what is acceptable?
Most will agree racist statements are out, so no black so-and-so, but say Indian and Nigerian so-and-so and it starts getting a bit less clear. Though certainly calling someone a French so-and so is these days clearly an insult in football as it intimates that they are soft, whingers, and divers, no thanks to the generalisations of people like Pires (Spanish mum, Portuguese dad!!).
Women, gays, fat people, dumb people? Can I call Frank Lampard fat without offending some fat guy next to me? Or say that Ade Akinbiyi is 'fucking blind' when he misses another sitter - will a blind person take umbrage to my assertion that blind people can't score open goals? Can I continue calling Van Nistelroy 'horse-face?' or intimate that Graeme Le Saux might prefer the company of men?
Context is everything, isn't it? Tough call to make sometimes....
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