Do you know one way that you can tell whether a person is racist? They may often start a sentence with the phrase "I am not a racist ... but".
Sydney is a fairly multi-cultural, relaxed kind of place on the surface, but I have to say as soon as you start scratching around a little or step one foot into the country outside of the city, you find that a proportion of the people are a little less than tolerant of certain city inhabitants (pointed out to me by more than one shocked tourist).
The best "I am not a racist ... but" line I have ever heard came from my taxi driver in a little town called Picton today:
"I am not a racist ... but I support races a little like other people support football teams"
He went on to clarify:
"You know how an Arsenal fan would get on with a Manchester United fan outside of a football game but they really want their team to win - I'm like that. If my taxi company was to employ a Muslim, I would probably get on alright with him and have a joke with him at the 'rank', but in the end I want the White race to win!"
Win what? The FA Cup? I wasn't sure.
Though amongst his rants about how he used to be a hippie in the '60s and was cool an' all that, but now he felt he should be buried in a nazi uniform, he did propose an unusual solution to global terrorism - I think it involved sending all terrorists to live in Beverly Hills and I am sure he expressly mentioned that each of them should be given a 'leggy blonde called Sandy' to be their wife. Something to do with cultural envy.
The conversation with the driver made me remember that one of my (usually very left wing) mates had joined a (not very) covertly racist group on a social networking site. It was a bit shocking as he is potentially one of the nicest, calmest and generally tolerant people I know. This has given me a dilemma which I am unable to solve. Should I say anything?
Knowing his situation and reading between the lines I can see that the opinions to which he is subscribing are not his own and are second hand ones which come from the influence of another. This means 1) it is hard to argue against the views and 2) the only thing he is really guilty of is being a bit dim. But its always weird when you encounter racism in young people (somehow it is more acceptable from oldies).
I certainly don't want to spark big philosophical debate about the subject as I know what happens when I mention contentious words such as 'climate change' in a post (I get random aggressive comments from fanatical googlers). For now, I ignore the problem.
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5 comments:
Joining a group doesn't necessarily mean you support the views of the group. He could be learning about what they think, and what they do, in order to generate a more informed opinion.
"A lot of my best friends aren't racists... but"
How dare you mention racism and Climate change in the same sentence? Penguins are black and white, how do you explain that then!?
I pore scorn on you and your entire family. Apart from your highly intelligent and attractive elder brother that is.
I was serving bar in an area that was known for being fairly racist and sure enough more than one white person felt that they could share their views with me as I served them beer. I shut them up quickly.
I think I know which group you mean as someone I know joined it and I was surprised.
Oli - you can read the group's site without joining it. I went on to have a look and I still couldn't add the friend and the group together, although they're a friend from the past and things must have changed since I knew them...
Oli- yeah, it was more than the one thing though. More like a general trend...
A Fanatical Googler - I am going to tell mum that it was you who poured all the scorn. Penguins have yellow beaks.
Whit - for some reason when that person is older you dont feel the need to argue with them. You kind of hope that their ideas are out of fashion.
Kerry - yeah people keep changing. Its quite annoying.
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