Really America? Really?

[Telume]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/a-lot-of-people-are-very-upset-that-an-indian-american-woman

This just.... I don't even, I just don't. Can we eradicate this cancer? I'm betting these are the same people that called Marc Anthony a dirty Mexican (p.s. He's NOT MEXICAN. Who'd've thought?)

[Emerald_Gen.3]

I'm an American but I find this absolutely disgusting. So what if she's of Indian descent she should deserve to win and feel good about it not be ridiculed. I read some of those comments on there oh my God people please, just kill yourselves, give us competent people more oxygen that we'll use for smart things to say. Just me putting my opinion out there...So yeah America you suck sometimes.

[Oslo]

This turns my gut. Just another reminder that we live in a society that consistently tries to trample on the dignity of people who aren't white.

[Kumori]

Just no. Bye. (This is why I live in Britain.)

[abunaidesu]

yes, a majority of americans are idiots that seem to forget that the native americans were on this land first

:rolleyes:

but don't assume we're all like this.

[Lady Vulpix]

I can't believe that so many idiots firmly believe that their country is only for those whose ancestors were born there. Why don't they look back a few generations? They will find that their own ancestors arrived from other countries as well.

And accusing her of the terrorist attacks is so insane that it makes me sick. Actually, that is the kind of mindset that fuels terrorism.

[Knight of Time]

I find this disgusting too, I mean, if people see that a white woman won Miss America or some other major accomplishment, they're usually happy for her...but if it's a non-white woman winning, and people are not happy she won, then it's something I would rather not deal with. Regardless of a woman's race/ethnicity or religion, people should be happy for her in a situation like this one...but if some are not, it's their problem if they don't like her because of her ethnicity (I can't stand it when people of one ethnicity aren't friendly to people outside of their own ethnicity; it's both stupid and racist). In my opinion, you have to give people credit for winning a contest or something similar (like a game show aired on TV), whether they're white, black, Indian, Asian, etc.

We all have to remember, though there are many races of people, we are all of one race: the human race.

[MToolen]

I give no excuses for the ignorant. I have no pity for the hateful. Still, as a teacher and a human, my job is to do what I can with the influence I've been given, to show boundaries that condemn wrong as well as praising the good. If enough people with enough sense push against this, publicly and sensibly, we can turn the tide. Eradicate it completely? Probably not. Ignorance breeds ignorance, and it is a constant battle. But the battle is worth it. Press on with me, on these boards, online and in your lives. I believe that is the only way to make stories like these more scarce.

[ChobiChibi]

I read the article earlier. So much bullshit. Do not like.

But has anyone ever experienced this the other way around? I got accused of being racist by a black man the other day at work, because I asked his children to return to him as they were on their own. The colour of his or his children's skin obviously doesn't matter to me; it could have been anyone, I would have still done my job and asked the children to return to the parents. It bugged me. I wouldn't be able to pull the race card if it were the other way around. Not that I would. But ergh. I thought he was gonna hit me lol.

[Perfect Chaos]

Yeah this type of bigotry just makes me facepalm to whole new levels.

I am super proud of her for winning as it makes us Indians look insanely awesome (hey ladies, if she can win Miss America, maybe I have a shot with a chick too :D).

Sadly, I can relate to her since I did get some hate like that from my fellow peers in middle school after the whole 9/11 event and it did not make going to school any easier as such.

Their ignorance has no depths really. Pathetic.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Finland isn't a perfect example of a xenodochial country either. Here they say foreigners take our women and jobs but even the mathematics are against that claim. If we don't welcome immigrants and their workforce we'll be out of working people when our original population gets too old!

[Magmar]

QQd7_HqR900

And there's exactly how I feel about this only from max bemis

[shazza]

I feel that the heightened focus on the War of Terrorism over the past 12 years has deeply ingrained in Generation Y a justified prejudice against minorities - specifically those from the Middle East and India. The media broadcasts implicit associations between terrorism and Islam that call upon our unconscious, primitive prejudices into conscious awareness without an insight into the gross inaccuracies of their assumptions.

Not only that, but the increasingly unintelligent - alleged to be entertainment - television shows and passivity brought on by hive mind social media are breeding a signification proportion of the population - young minds that should be at the peak of their potential - that only demonstrate a frighteningly limited depth of reflection, therefore unable to engage in some much needed meta-cognition to plant a seed of compassion, foresight, and awareness.

[Lady Vulpix]

It seems to me that people are now taking 9/11 as a reminder to hate everyone who isn't like them, and that's exactly why terrorists exist. Hate breeds more hate. It may take many generations to stop it. Who the haters are doesn't really make a difference. Sadly, every culture has them. But I think the USA are a country where racism and prejudice are particularly ingrained, to the point where two people of different ethnicities can hardly talk without one of them either making a racist remark or calling the other a racist for no reason. I hope that, at least, ends soon.

I don't think we can end hate easily, but ignorance can be cured with knowledge. The only solution I can see is getting people to know each other and realize how much we all have in common. After all, we're all human. And I do think it's possible because it's happening here. Just look at us, posting on this thread. We're from many different countries and backgrounds, we're all disgusted by those reactions, and we're discussing things maturely. I think everyone here cares about what others think, say and do rather than what others look like and where they come from. So this kind of interaction is possible. We need to spread it out.

[Nall]

But has anyone ever experienced this the other way around? I got accused of being racist by a black man the other day at work, because I asked his children to return to him as they were on their own. The colour of his or his children's skin obviously doesn't matter to me; it could have been anyone, I would have still done my job and asked the children to return to the parents. It bugged me. I wouldn't be able to pull the race card if it were the other way around. Not that I would. But ergh. I thought he was gonna hit me lol.

The difference here is that white people are the majority by a pretty large amount. Stupid racist white people in large numbers are definitely capable of harm; a couple of black people pulling the race card are probably just gonna result in hurting the feelings of some white people. But yeah, idiots come in all skin tones.

I do think it's weird that in an age where information is more freely accessible than ever, people generally seem more ignorant. But that's probably just because now the stupid narcissists have a medium to voice their opinions with.

[Telume]

It happens to everyone.

My dad went to a Pollo Tropical once and the lady actually started insulting him in English (she assumed that he didn't speak any), the comments were according to him: "These damn immigrants can't speak a word of English, can't get their damn order right..".

My dad's amusement level was 0. His rebuttal: "Excuse me, but I ordered something. And this 'damn immigrant' can speak English better than all of you combined." (Keeping in mind that we were in a black neighborhood.)

---

And it's not just America, it happens in Europe as well. During a football game (soccer), they will actually do monkey chants at black players and throw bananas at them. It's disgusting. I've heard cases of this happening in Ukraine, Belgium and England.

--

What I would've paid to see that lady's face when he (my dad) responded to her racist comments in English!

[Knight of Time]

Seeing this topic also made me think of something that happened on TV earlier this year...did anyone watch the newest season of Big Brother? There was this blond woman named Aaryn who got evicted for being racist toward a few people, including a couple of her fellow contestants there...did anyone see the controversial stuff she did?

This is just another example of a bad thing you can find on a reality show.

[Nall]

I didn't see it since Big Brother is a horrible show but I heard about it from my mom. She told me she was also fired from her job because of her racist remarks.

Casual racism is a lot more common outside of the United States. I've never been there but I've heard that Australians use racial slurs in casual conversation all the time.

[Blademaster]

Oh hey a thread about something really stupid regarding this country. Maybe it's about the absurd amount of crime committed by certain demographics that goes unreported because it goes against the the dogma of political correctness. Or maybe it's about how our economy has plummeted so far and hard that even the big banks are panicking like it's 2007 again. Or maybe it has to due with the ludicrous propaganda surrounding Syria that our government has been pushing that isn't at all grounded in reality and has gotten so sloppy and half-assed that less than 10% of the country is buying it anymore.

...No, wait. It's about some inane fucking beauty pageant that everyone is eating up because the TV said to get mad over it because appeals to emotion are an easy way to get ratings.

Carry on then.

[RedStarWarrior]

I'll ask you to not blame me for the stupidity of some of my fellow Americans. I honestly don't give two shits who wins Miss America.

[Heald]

Idiots post opinions on Twitter:

1795

I guess the good thing about Twitter is when there's a slow news day or an event no one cares about, some hack can just dig up some comments idiots are making purely out of shock value.

Not that racism shouldn't be challenged where it is found, and judging by the fact that pretty much all of those accounts have been deleted, suspended or hidden, Buzzfeed's audience did a good job of shaming the morons who posted those opinions.

But the USA is a nation built on racism, and it isn't alone in its disgusting attitudes towards other nationalities (which I guess isn't racism per se, more like jingoism/nationalism, although Americans are usually more comfortable with other white nations than with 'brown' nations). Also I don't tar all Americans with this, again, just the ones who state their opinions as such (including the ones who sit in Congress and have a problem with 'brown' people or a 'brown' President). But just like the US has its idiots, so do many other countries. At least when idiots in your country (and mine as well) express idiotic, discriminatory opinions such as these fools, people will generally step up to slap them down (although I sense in America this only stretches as far as equal rights amongst races - anti-gay, anti-trans and anti-abortion politicians and activists don't seem to get nearly enough heat for their opinions as they would in a place like the UK or other West European state). Go somewhere like Palestine or Iran on any September 11 and no one is stopping anyone from celebrating the anniversary of the attacks.

But yeah, what would have been better than inventing news around this is not to have given these idiots the oxygen of publicity in the first place. Does anyone really care what Doug from Seattle on Twitter has to say about anything? Why didn't people create news stories about the various horrible things you can find scrawled in public toilets? Oh, that would actually take some effort, God forbid a journalist actually leave Starbucks to go find a story.

tl;dr version - some Americans are idiots, the ones I know seem to be ok, ignore idiots on Twitter

[Shadow Wolf]

I think David summarizes my opinion in his vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oOKBrJdER0

[Telume]

^ This vid made my day today.

[Lady Vulpix]

Well, what can I say? Now I may understand why, back in 2006, a former TPMer asked me how many Congress members in Argentina had brown skin. My answer was (and still is) "how should I know?", and back then I was left wondering why he had asked such a peculiar question (like you probably would if you were asked how many members of your Congress have green eyes, or how many have pointy noses). Now I see that skin color seems to be something far more relevant in the US, to the point where people probably do know the answer to that question in that country, and there may have even been a discussion about whether or not the rate was acceptable.

[RedStarWarrior]

We have 541 members in our Congress (though 6 can't vote). I'm sure I could go through and count all of those with green eyes or pointy noses if you'd like, Gabi.

[Dark-San]

Can't be bother with this racist beauty pageant. Walk down the streets of either Singapore or maybe London, I doubt you will get that many racist comments as compared with the States. What is wrong with an Indian winning the Miss America title? May I remind everyone that India produces some of the world best looking supermodels and has proven herself by winning the title Miss Universe or Miss World several times. Besides as a declining only sole superpower, America needs to get some of her shit straighten out like in-fighting politics (Republicans and Democrats) that lead of the governmental shutdowns or her involvement in the Middle East (Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). If they don't get their shit together, it won't be a surprise to see the Chinese usurping the Americans of being the world largest's economy by 2020 or even number one World Power.