Shilpa Shetty, an Indian Bollywood actress, has been getting a lot of attention due to racist "bullying" she was subjected to as a contestant in the British show "Celebrity Big Brother".The Times of India, had an interesting commentary on racism in India. And as an outside observer I would have to agree with the author.
I don't think any Indian would deny that in India looking east Asian or "African" is not really a good thing.
The blatant discrimination against black people may possibly only be surpassed by the discrimination against women.
But still Indians were up-in-arms when they were the victims of stupid racial slurs.
Don't you love the fact that we as people can "dish it out, but we can't take it." Sigh.
3 comments:
Very interesting! It does appear that so many can 'give it' but then find it hard to 'receive'.
As for the TOI link, in the end, 42,000 complained to the OFCOM.
As for the 'slightly undercooked chicken curry' .. the chicken wasw still running around the kitchen it was that undercooked! Shilpa has many talents to her credit, but cooking isn't one of them ;-)
In the end, Shilpa was the worthy winner of the TV show and carried herself with pride & dignity.
Totally agree. I was going to write about this.
Racist insensitivity runs rampant in Indian culture. Prejudices come from ignorance. Most Indians have a skin colour bias (that's a discussion topic in itself). What's interesting is that while we are acutely aware of being at the receiving end of discrimination (due to the colonial past), we're barely aware that it's no different from what we dish out - even amongst our own people via the caste system. Few people can make this connection - my family included.
I'm not one to hold the high moral ground on racism and discrimination. I think it's a fundamental human flaw inherent in all of us. Like a bad habit, we don't learn to supress it until education or travel opens our eyes.
Regarding the whole Shilpa affair, I saw all the videos on youtube. I would not remotely consider it raciscm. Yes, there's was a HUGE culture clash where a dominant bully faced off a quiet, demure type. Obviously one came off looking like a bitch and the other, a victim. It made for good ratings but did not nearly justify the hullabaloo in India. In the end, I think it was all an orchestrated publicity stunt.
I think I missed it all. Can't we all just get along?
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