girl, close the color comment thread! i’m attracted to rebutting those morons like flies to shit!

And ye shall receive. Thank you, everyone. It’s been…something.

(I am finding this site fascinating.

whistles innocently

The irony is that I never made any statements at all about lighter desis being superior or more attractive than their darker counterparts — apart from clarifying the prevalence of lighter people within some Indian communities, re: my previous chat with Razib — so it’s interesting to see supposed “supremacist” or prejudicial attitudes being ascribed to me despite little evidence that I support such a stance, “smugly” or otherwise (in fact I’ve explicitly stated the opposite). As you and other long-time participants on SM (and Sikhnet for that matter) would know, it’s also quite wildly inaccurate.

The recent comment about “a particular brand of desi male” also confirms exactly what I was saying regarding the stereotyping of strangers based on a handful of comments, along with basing opinions on guesswork and assumptions. Well, people see what they want to see.

Events on this thread have actually made me quite nostalgic for Sikhnet, believe it or not ! Which is certainly saying something, considering my mixed feelings about how that discussion forum has developed in recent times, as you know.

No problem about sticking up for you; I did think it was a slightly ill-considered move for you to go into too much detail about the prevalence of “white” people amongst Sikhs or your relatives (especially considering what happened after some of your comments on the CG/Black men & Asian women thread) — and hopefully you picked up on my subtle warning on that matter higher up this thread — but this is obviously an extremely sensitive topic and there is a huge amount of misinterpretation of people’s attitudes and motivations by some commenters out there. I’m sure you’ve noticed it too. However, I think you’re a good guy and am glad you’re continuing to participate on SM, so it’s unfortunate that some people may be projecting their own preconceptions onto others and causing them to make quite staggering negative assumptions about their personalities and opinions. The badtameezi towards complete strangers is quite astounding too, which is another reason why I was reminiscing about Sikhnet — debates frequently got heated there (as you probably remember) but on the whole, I don’t remember this level of neurosis being exhibited. Or maybe my memory’s just hazy

It is, however, a shame that this thread has gone significantly off-topic and almost no-one is actually trying to offer some kind of constructive feedback and suggestions regarding how to rectify the colour-prejudice, apart from complaining about it.

Dert,

Modification to my previous comment: I appear to have more than one CG, so I guess I have the edge on you Maybe you need to try harder…..

Razib,

What the hell are you laughing at ? Half of the problems here are because of people misunderstanding the tone and historical context of my (and other people’s) conversations with you ! Badmaash……

I bet ANNA knew this would happen, mischievous woman…..

Yes you have, and I do appreciate it. I was surprised when I didn’t get roasted for my post #154, but later when I realised that you and Dharma Queen were going back and forth in ways which to some extent were related to my comments, I put in a quiet apology. Neither you nor Dharma Queen mentioned me by name but I realised you were defending my comments along with your own. Thank you.

They are readers. We write for them, and they take the time to comment. It is appreciated.

I am NOT following this thread so this is NOT a comment on any of the substantive conversation that may be taking place. However I need to react to this one line above insofar as it raises an issue about the blog.

I speak only for myself, but: This is an open, welcoming place. New commenters are highly welcome. There are certain basic rules of courtesy that are spelled out above the comment box, and so long as they are respected, everyone is welcome.

Moreover: Just because someone is a lurker, not a regular commenter, in no way diminishes their importance to the blog and their value to us. Personally, I enjoy very much the presence of the regulars, including the ones I sometimes disagree with, and I am glad you are all here. However, if it weren’t for the lurkers, I wouldn’t be writing. Thank you to all the lurkers and continue to be whoever the hell you want to be.

Peace.

curiouser and curiouser…

You said it

There is something weird happening to this blog, and it’s occurring across multiple threads. Who the hell are all these people ?! They’re not regulars as far as I know (at least in terms of posting comments if not necessarily just lurking instead), yet all kinds of accusations and wild extrapolations are flying around. What is going on with SM ?

By the way, I am so glad you finally decided to pop your head around the door and finally make an appearance here, my friend. Look at what you’ve started !

Amitabh,

I’ve taken several bullets for you on this thread so I hope you appreciate it, mundea…..

Dert buddy,

Jai, I’m so very happy and proud of you. You’ve found your very own personal CG.

Good to see you here, bro. Funnily enough (re: the “CG” deja vu), I was thinking exactly the same thing

Razib, I caught a reference way back to lack of genetic diversity among Africans – I seem to remember way back in anthro class learning that there was more genetic diversity in the African continent than anywhere else. Can you clarify?