Bloody hell, I get back from weekend & it's all turned into a "racism" argument.. I was having a laugh, I've lived in Russia, Isreal, Turkey & France, was married to a Turkish girl, there was no racist slant at all, people go OTT these days.. where's the racism?? the "funny name" or the mention of a religious holiday? The Mods can take it down if they wish, doesn't bother me..
Thats why I didn't bother with forums till now, this one seems sensible enough, notice that site still has that **** posted up
Almost nothing gets deleted from CI, though I did once have a Gwilym Lloyd comment pulled at the request of the BBC.
It's ridiculous isn't it? Far too many people are too stupid to understand what racism actually is. It's incredible the amount of people who think saying certain words like 'muslim' or 'pakistani' are racist. Racism isn't about anonymous people making silly jokes on a message board that those being joked about will never see. It's alienating, killing and inequality. There's a pretty enormous difference there. In general I can't stand it when people are so obsessed like that, this Madhog character is a perfect example (we disagree on everything, to be honest) I've noticed a few times on this board he's jumping on someone for the mere mention of someone's colour or nationality. The stupidest thing about all of it is, this percieved 'racism' is so selective. People use the word 'jew' as an insult all the time as if it's something bad, yet if I did the same thing with 'muslim' I'd be hung, drawn and quartered. It seems to only apply to islam, Asians or black people. For the record, I didn't find it that funny, but I find constant racism accusations about as funny as the holocaust.
Just for the record I posted that IMO the original joke was more childish than racist, but your statement above isn't true either. A silly joke on a message board can be racist and because its in a written form it will be interpreted slightly differently by everyone who reads it. Saying something can't be racist if it's put over as a joke is a lame excuse that's probably been made by every racist since the dawn of time.
My point was that something so silly as this is not going to hurt or persecute anyone. The whole problem with racism is the alienation of different parties in certain areas around the world and throughout history, such as the holocaust, apartheid, etc. Name calling or telling jokes is nowhere near even comparable and no it doesn't hurt anyone, unless they're looking to be offended.
I appreciate a joke on a forum isn't as extreme as the holocaust or apartheid but that doesn't mean it can't be racist. Also name calling and racist jokes can hurt people emotionally and they often create an atmosphere where worse types of abuse can follow. I lived in Australia from 7 to 14 and I can say it wasn't great fun to be called a 'pommy wog' when I got on the school bus most mornings. Maybe if more people experienced racism aimed at them there would be less racists.
But that's name calling in general and the race part is irrelevant if it's just people being called names which is the problem.
Being insulted because of your race isn't just name calling in general. Racist name calling is intended to make one race of people feel isuperior to another and we all know where that leads. I don't think you're a racist but I also don't think you appreciate that racism can only be defined by the victim who suffers it.
It's just the petty accusations of racism over every little thing that I object to. This thread contains what is essentially name calling but it is not hateful or discriminatory and you see examples every day of things like this.
glad people see it for what it is! there are no victims as the character was complete fiction.. mind you that's what Salman Rushdie reckoned.. as for being called "childish".. I'm 40 now..
