There has been a lot of hype about the recent oz attacks on the Indian students, the so called racist attacks. People here as usual have started questioning their morals and make misleading films on the same, but there is something quite not right with this.
first of all Let me start by saying that I, as an Indian, am totally appalled by the attacks on the Indian students in Australia, but I don’t think they can be termed as racist attacks. Racism is just an outcome of the other obvious anger the Australians have, the anger of some foreign national coming to their country and taking away their jobs. We should not forget that in the end it is their country, they pay taxes to live there. And anyways, we should be the last people to be offended by it, coz aren’t we doing the same thing in our country. Aren’t the Maharashtrians kicking out the north Indians for the same reasons?
And as far as racism is considered, there is something I need to say.
I have this theory on people, to analyze the mentality and mindset of a community, you should see the types of commercials that go around. Coz in the end these commercials are what influences them, to buy things and spend their hard earned money. So what type of commercials do we find in India.....…
Here is an example of a commercial currently being aired on the television
“He's the rugged type, with sculpted arm muscles. He rides a
motorcycle and wears a trendy tank top, wraparound sunglasses and
slicked-back hair. There's only one problem: His skin color dark. His
fair-skinned love interest won't even accept his offer of a rose. But
in this ad, the protagonist is able to buy a magic cream that will
change his status in life, turning his brown skin several shades
lighter and causing his beloved to swoon”.
The commercial of a well known fairness product (fair and handsome or something)
And not just fairness creams, these ads sell fruit juices to cement portraying exceedingly fair models and actors. From Bollywood to Tollywood (thats south Indian by the way) every where we have (need) "fair people". why this obsession with fairness. we are not supposed to be that fair, we are known for our brown color. so if we need to change it so desperately (coz fairness creams for guys is the limits), that means we must be very insecure of our dark complection
and if that is the case then how can we blame someone for discrimination?
a very shocking fact I recently found out was that most of the students who go there don't do so with the intension of obtaining quality education, rather to get a shot at getting a permanent resident ship. I thing it is nothing more than ironic that the country they so desperately want to leave behind has become the reason for their apathy.
As far as education is concerned, India has a fairly decent education system, from IITs to IIMs to AIIMS to NITs to a lot of good collages all of which have a very transparent and merit based selection procedure. Any hardworking and deserving student can get in to them and obtain world class education. I did…..
if education was really the reason they would have gone to the American universities or even European. Given the GRE or GMAT and gotten a good scholarship too, then why Australia.
so i don't think Indians have the moral high ground in this case. But as usual our Indian tendency to dramatize every thing and our birthright to teach the world some values and culture, will not allow us to let it be treated as anything more than sensible and rational anger.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
MY STAND ON: the OZ attacks
Posted by reversedpolarity at 6:17 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
10 million aussies and already 9 lakh Indians there.
be it racism but it has the frustration of the local ppl invloved with it.
rather than politicizing the event we should prevent Indians from leaving the country.
the ppl who go there for studies are not talented but they actually lack it .
why not improve the situations in our own country first and then expect better treatment abroad ?
I would never think tht these attacks are right but somewhr exists a tolerance limit which wen crossed will result in events like these .
I do hope tht the Indian ppl living there be guaranteed of safety and live free but I hope even more for a better India which would not have to deal with situations like these in the future .
a pretty different approach to the existing scenario...... but whatever maybe the reason, violence cannot be justified. your ideas are thought provoking but in my opinion, the aussies should seek more constitutional and legitimate ways to protect their interests.
ways like preventing migration and securing the interests of the local people .
I second your thoughts .
I think mr.Mohit has brought forward an interesting point. But the way I see it, the increasing use of fairness creams by Indians, male or female, isn’t the real issue here.
The inferiority complex of Indians is just a sideline in this matter. I agree with him saying that the matter was blown out of proportion. But why did that happen? According to the media, because the ignorant attitude of the Australian police. That’s one way to draw attention to the matter which I find is quite serious, because violence is and never will be the right way to solve this problem. But then again what is the real problem here?
These incidents can’t be explained by just looking at it from one angle. Let’s start by saying that Australia isn’t the only country where rabid faces of racism have been raising heads. But I don’t really think racism is the problem here, but admit that racist elements might be involved in the incidents. Furthermore, a few of the attacks looked opportunistic to me. But the question remains: How and why did certain violent acts happen?
One could look at it historically. With the passing of time, a lot of countries who were colonies, like India, gained independence from colonial powers. Nowadays India has one of the biggest economies in the world, competing with countries like the UK, USA and also Australia; countries that were also former colonial powers back then. The sense of hatred in the past against colored people can unconsciously precipitate in some minds and find expression in such abhor able acts.
A factor that could increase this hatred is the fact that many of them feel that their job opportunities are being eaten up by the Indian students.
Another explanation can be the one of the Australian government, saying that Indian students are soft targets for drug users as most of them reside in very poor communities where the crime rate is high. The target of thieves and drug users has shifted from senior citizens to Indian students who walk around with their laptops.
What I find very hypocritical about this, is the reactions of a lot of Indians at home. They made such a big fuss about it and even retaliated by attacking other nationals. But let’s be serious…Do they react the same when Indians are being murdered in Arabian countries where the heads of fellow Indians are being chopped off?
Nope, didn’t think so. But countries like USA, UK and Australia mustn’t even dare to mistreat Indians living / working/ studying there. They expect that these countries where values of democracy are held high, treat them the same. But they don’t bother at all when fellow Indians are being butchered in Arabian countries. People in poor countries don’t have values and don’t know the meaning of humanity and the ones living in rich countries do???? Please…
Another reason why I find their reaction hypocritical is: they look at others but not at their selves. They have a saying for this in Dutch : “De pot verwijt de ketel dat hij zwart is”.
Think about the cast system in India and the way they treat people from different cities and yes..the increasing use of fairness creams. And they yell and cry about racism when they’re also doing it. It’s sad part of their lifestyle.
In closing I resent that the media has made a big fuss about this, because by labeling this as racism, it will complicate matters even more and only sow seeds of hatred. And this has already begun as Indians are attacking other nationals. If we want to find a solution, we must look at the various answers to the “why” question.
thank you guys for your generous comments. I think the problem is that we don't question enough. we don't like to challenge our believes or our customs and cultures, our morals.
our self righteousness is blinding us. I think we need to have our very own south park. i m sure it wont last a day
As said above... violence in any form is not justified... Yeah, people may not be in a position to question, after all they discrimination they do, but, it was not the CEO of Himani Co. that was attacked. The person attacked was not an Indian, but an individual at the time. (Seriously, how many of us walk everyday, thinking that whole of our 'motherland' is walking with us!). It is the rights of an individual that is in question here...
And, so, I feel, giving it alien and racist picture is not justified... Violence against any Indian should be treated as it is done against any other Aussie... (Unless, of course, the Aussies are so united, that there is no violence among them!!!)
Post a Comment