Comments on: I’m Not Vinod But I Play Him on TV

By: Jai Singh

Jai Singh — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 22:27:14 +0000

(especially if it's a woman).

Meaning, if the person they're talking about is a woman.

By: Jai Singh

Jai Singh — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 22:24:59 +0000

I've mentioned this before to some other commenters during previous SM conversations on the same topic. This appears to be something specific to desis in the US -- I'm from Britain and this kind of behaviour generally doesn't happen here. There have actually been bloggers/commenters from some British desi blogs who've quietly observed the past fireworks on SM and they've found it all quite bemusing too. Possibly it's because of the whole "brown" thing -- non-existent in the UK, at least not in the same sense. Desi guys in Britain tend not to think of themselves in terms of their skin colour, apart from having a general awareness of it. (Some of the women do, though).

There have been some efforts recently to redress the balance, most notably the thread about that Persian model, but yes in some quarters of SM's commenting populace the attitude is indeed "light skin = bad, dark skin = good". It's okay to glorify darker complexions and comment favourably on the latter, but it would be very unwise indeed for someone here to make equivalent comments about the lighter types (especially if it's a woman).

This stance is understandable considering the historical/traditional negative attitudes within desi culture concerning such matters, and if the viewpoints described above are part of an effort to (finally) redress the balance, but it is possible for the pendulum to swing too far in the opposite direction and to take political correctness to unnecessary extremes. Racism is racism, regardless of whether the prejudice is against darker people or lighter individuals.

By: Naina

Naina — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:05:31 +0000

I think the most disturbing part of the entire situation is that a racist comment is being delivered with such a dualistic undertone. I would venture to guess that if one were to confront such a comment, the response would be, "What, like being called 'pasty' or 'light-skinned' is such a bad thing?" The same goes for thin women who are called "anorexic" by others, and expected to not take offense, since thinness is supposedly such a coveted body type.

By: Jai Singh

Jai Singh — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 18:15:03 +0000

Naina, unfortunately that's exactly what it is (in the case of many commenters here, if not necessarily the moderators themselves). These things have been known to get pretty nasty here. It's understandable that some of the more unpalatable aspects of "traditional" desi culture have obviously been unfair to some people, and no doubt many commenters here have also been adversely affected by that on a personal level if they've been on the receiving end of such behaviour too.....but it's not right to replace one form of racism with another. There is such a thing as excessive overcompensation in such matters.

By: Naina

Naina — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 16:19:53 +0000

I suppose we can only hope that the SM moderators and fellow readers don’t buy into the ‘ligher skin = more beauty and respect’ and therefore subconsciously do not take offense to such a comment. For some, perhaps that way of thinking is so ingrained into their psyche that they even tend to be bitter and resort to insults. And no one seems to flinch!

By: Jai Singh

Jai Singh — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:03:25 +0000

Naina,

I was just pointing out his sincere lack of class and civility in mentioning Shaun Majumder's complexion. It was derogatory and quite unnecessary.

Quite right. I can imagine the outcry on this blog if someone made a similarly derogatory remark about a dark-complexioned South Asian. It would probably (correctly) trigger a stream of responses accusing the commenter of racism, along with the offender quite possibly finding his post deleted and himself banned.

There's a little too much tolerance for the reverse situation on SM these days. No double-standards, please.

By: badmash

badmash — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:49:58 +0000

Hey Vinod – I’m sure you’ve heard, but just in case – Milton Friedman died today

By: shalini mehra

shalini mehra — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:25:47 +0000

sorry i mean to say “i hate side-by-side comparisons in the context of racial profiling.” i don’t know why i said garlic. hm.

By: badmash

badmash — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 21:36:04 +0000

Ahahaha

By: jtk

jtk — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 21:14:53 +0000

Thanks for the Ian pic, hairy_d! That man has The Best Broadcasting Voice in TV history…