From: Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_comcast.net)
Date: Tue Mar 23 2004 - 15:30:32 PST
On Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at 05:59 PM, Woody Smith wrote:
> Joke or not a joke I agree that it is a negative jab at Africa and
> Africans. Jokes are frequently used to make bigoted or discriminatory
> comments seem more palatable.
>
Although, in Jared's defense, depending on his age (i.e., less than
probably 40) he's probably never even heard that anyone ever used the
term "monkey" in an anti-African racist fashion. And, since many
people call chimps 'monkeys', to many peoples' perception Africa is a
place where you can find monkeys. Unfortunately, there appears to be
no education system in the world that provides an unbiased view of
other lands. (Witness the wild misperceptions about the US that are
prevalent even in Western Europe.)
Also, racial hypersensitivity is itself racism. In Ikem's own words,
"I take it you're white, or at least, not a person of colour." That,
without doubt, is a far more racist statement. It is highly offensive
in two ways... 1) It presumes that all "white" people are bigoted; and
2) It presumes that "white" people are a single homogeneous racial
unit, rather than being from many different ethnic backgrounds.
Sorry, but I'm quite surprised that only one person (as I was writing
this) spoke out in any way about Ikem's own prejudice. There's an old
saying... When you point your finger at someone, you've got three
pointed back at you.
- Eric.
-- Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org) ===================================================================== Fight political correctness! Speak the truth!!! ===================================================================== -- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
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