Your Blog Has Too Many Ads, Cracker-ass Crackers
7 September 2005, lunch time
When I first started my site, my plan was to never to write like this site was my journal, and to avoid any touchy subjects like politics and religion. Well, at least I more or less stuck to the journal part.
I stopped reading BoingBoing because their site is so littered with ads I just don’t feel like reading it anymore. I’m not missing much — usually if something good turns up on BoingBoing it will show up on every other website I read soon enough. The problem is that I miss the crap that shows up on BoingBoing too. Thankfully, there are other easily irritated brown men out there reading BoingBoing for me.
Dinu noticed this suspect headline on BoingBoing: Katrina: whew, here comes India to save us, at last! And American’s wonder why they are seen as arrogant assholes all around the globe? To be fair, Xeni Jardin, the author of the post, could be linking to the Bruce Sterling post precisely to point out the arrogance of it. Or like Sterling, she could be a jerk.
Now, the bigger question, which Dinu asks, is whether this is racist. I’m not sure at what point arrogance becomes racism. And I’m not sure if the BoingBoing link has crossed that line. If these are the sentiments of Xeni Jardin, then personally, I am glad she posted them.
I’m not a big fan of political correctness. If someone doesn’t like me because I’m brown — or a Paki if you will — that is their prerogative. Political correctness isn’t going to fix anything, it simply hides a serious problem. I don’t want any racist to feel obliged to hide their racism out of common courtesy.
Sometimes you will hear people — politicians — saying we need a more tolerant society. I hate that idea too — bear with me. As a minority, I don’t want to be tolerated. People tolerate headaches and long lines at the supermarket. I would like to be treated with the same respect I treat other people. If someone can’t do that because they are racist, then I’d prefer they wallow in their own ignorance then pretend to be nice to me. I suppose tolerance is a first step to a better society, but it is only a step. The end goal should never simply be a tolerant society. We should expect more from ourselves and the place we call home.
I hope for a society where people don’t just tolerate brown people, but worship them like gods.
by Mahi on September 7 2005, 1:47 pm #
It doesnt seem racist, but yeah arrogant and condescending fit.
Offers of help from third world countries really hurts american pride i think, that statement’s as much a criticism of their own failure to help themselves (they take so much pride in their percieved self-sufficiency) as it is an insult to india
by Ananthan on September 7 2005, 2:43 pm #
The BB post really confuses me. The title is fishy, but the rest of the article just seems to be pointing out the aid package details. And maybe the chosen title is just a mirror of the original. But the initial post by Bruce Sterling is all kinds of racist I think. The part I quoted directly in my post and the friggin’ Gunga Din poem are just insulting, if you ask me.
As for what you say about tolerance, you’re quite right. Tolerance implies that you feel irritated or agitated by something and are putting up with it for the sake of some greater good. Someone’s race should never be a source of aggravation, not in a proper society.
My main thing is the frightening level of arrogance that Sterling brings out. “Oh you stupid pakis can only find five mil? Shit, we wipe our ass with that kind of cash!”
It really sickens me.
by Dinu. on September 7 2005, 2:46 pm #
I like to use eggs as a gauge for racial tolerance-acceptance in our society. When I was younger, you couldn’t find brown eggs consistently at the supermarket. Some days they were there and some days they weren’t. Nowadays, you can get brown eggs any old time you want, but only if all you want them all to be brown. And in due time, eggs will be sold in mixed cartons, because people won’t want brown eggs or white eggs; they’ll just want eggs.
Until that fateful day: Support brown chickens—buy brown eggs.
by rishi on September 7 2005, 4:38 pm #
Brown eggs are okay and all, but I hear Persian eggs are the best! :P
by sh!ma on September 7 2005, 5:07 pm #
Rishi, that was beautiful. I was going to make a joke about Persian eggs and martyrs and omelets, but I decided against it.
by ramanan on September 7 2005, 5:43 pm #
Shima, we’re aiming for equality here. If you don’t recognize all eggs as created equal, I’m afraid to say you’re part of the problem.
by rishi on September 7 2005, 5:53 pm #
is Ben going to arrive and point out that he doesn’t tolerate eggs?
by Weiguo on September 7 2005, 6:04 pm #
I can’t help that everything Persian is just so great! It’s a burden I’ve had to carry all my life. sigh
by sh!ma on September 7 2005, 6:07 pm #
If there was an award for comments on this site, I’d have to nominate Wiggy’s.
by rishi on September 7 2005, 6:09 pm #
The funny thing is I think Ben is a vegan, which would mean he doesn’t eat eggs. There have been some classic comments on this site. The Bukkake post has some bizarre ones.
by ramanan on September 7 2005, 6:55 pm #
Actually, Weiguo (and I am totally in love with you now for actually thinking of me!), I guess it would be my job to say that if you all really loved the eggs, you wouldn’t kill and eat their mothers.
by Ben on September 7 2005, 7:06 pm #
Ah didn’t read Ram’s comment first, I was too giddy that I was practically invited to step into this thread and say something banal.
But yes, as someone who not only tolerates and cherishes all life on earth, I would ask you not to abuse the eggs, brown, white, or other.
And on a more serious note, Ram’s comment is exactly what I have always felt. I hate the dogma of tolerance because I don’t want to tolerate or be tolerated. I don’t even want acceptance. I want a world in which we don’t even think of these questions because it is so utterly normal for us all to live our lives together.
by Ben on September 7 2005, 7:09 pm #
Sounds like a world without the internet.
by rishi on September 7 2005, 7:15 pm #
ram—that was the whole point of my comment.
Rishi—for best comment I would have to vote for whoever (Dave?) explained the Oxford comma somewhere around here. < 3 grammar [ed. It was indeed Dave.]
by Weiguo on September 7 2005, 9:29 pm #
Excuse my ignorance, but geography has always been one of those things I’ve never bothered to learn about.
Anyway, I was wonderng, where exactly do the majority of Tamil people come from? Ram mentioned people may not like him because he’s a Paki, but I have to admit that for some reason I’ve always assumed that the term “Paki” meant, if nothing else, “from Pakistan” and I know Ram ain’t from there.
I always thought you were more of a Tiger, but here’s an opportunity to be enlightened on the matter.
by Ju-Lian on September 8 2005, 2:29 pm #
India’s got the most tamils (tens of millions), Sri Lanka’s got a few million, Malaysia/Singapore have smaller populations
paki, like sand nigger, is a catchall racist term for browns
its beauty is in its wide applicability
by Ananthan on September 8 2005, 2:46 pm #
Ananthan sums that all up nicely. (Although, I don’t think you would hear someone South Asian being called a Sand Nigger. That would be a racist term for Middle Eastern people. I think it became popular after the gulf war. I never heard it before. Though, I am sure Chinese people have been called Gooks instead of Chinks, and Korean’s dirty Nips instead of Gooks, so whatever. If you are ignorant i’m sure you don’t actually think about your racist nomenclature.)
Also, someone from Pakistan is Pakistani. If you called them a Paki they might punch you.
by ramanan on September 8 2005, 2:57 pm #
true true, but i think melanin-challenged south asians could get it too
by Ananthan on September 8 2005, 3:04 pm #
Why do the pacific rimmers get so many racial slurs? That’s just not fair.
by rishi on September 8 2005, 5:22 pm #
Oh my god. Ram’s last comment may well get me in trouble at work for clearly doing things that don’t involve scanning documents into PDF format. My new favorite comment on Funkaoshi.
by Ben on September 8 2005, 5:54 pm #
I’m guessing because America has been at war with the Koreans, the Japanese, the Vietnamese, and were not on good terms with the Chinese for a long time.
by ramanan on September 8 2005, 6:16 pm #
Don’t Freak, I’m a Sikh.
by ramanan on September 8 2005, 9:04 pm #