arent indians the biggest racist??? (Page 3)

Originally posted by caramelcj


I thought Hindi by itself was never declared the national language..sure just in as much as  spanish and not english is the language of the USA...

.. after all it is my heritage...
India is a diverse country..
I respect my heritage as much as anybody else would..


this is regionalism..

like sareg said in "United STates of India", you cannot every body to speak Hindi...
uniformity is not possible...

Originally posted by himali


Disclaimer: all views expressed here reflect my personal experiences. i do not want to target any particular community here.
i know its shocking.....
but let me assured you that i am an Indian and i am proud of the fact but still i am against responding to Shilpa Shetty as an Indian just because she was racially abused by some Brits.
are we Indians living in India not Racist??? you ask a man living in india about who he is and a prompt answer would be i am south indian or north indian or maharastrian, gujarathi, kerlaite kashmiri. very hardly will people say that i am an Indian. yes, we do discriminate based on states, race, caste in India..agree. However, if I meet some Indian in US and if they ask me where are you from? I would say my state of origin and not that I am India….reason- 'coz they already know I am Indian….its written on my face …. However, if some firangi ask me I always say I am from India… and I know friends who say the same. I have heard stories about how some south Indian tells that they are from Hyderabad, Madras etc. etc. but no personally experience. All my friends including ones form southern India also say that they are from India when asked by firangies… if you are already in India..it does make sense to tell that I am Gujarati, or Maharashtrian, or Punjabi 'coz otherwise we all know that you are Indian
is it not racism???
introducing yourself from your origin state is not racism. However, discrimination, offering jobs, or treating someone based on their origin is racism
few Bihari students waiting on Dadar Station(mumbai) for their Railway Board Exams were beaten up badly and crammed in trains and sent back to Bihar without allowing them to appear for exams...why? because they were Bihari..if they had appeared for exams, naturally local candidates wouldnt have got chance. this was the excuse given by the so called 'goody' people in mumbai who not only did the hideous crime but also managed to garner votes in next BMC polls, heighlighting their deed in the best interest of 'local' candidates.
I am not sure about this whole news so I won't say much. However, I have seen tons of other community going to Mumbai and being treated well and not being beaten up. Also, it is very very normal human nature. If you see outsider (be it someone from different country, different state, different city, or different family or caste) is treated differently if he/she tries to take away jobs of pople from their original state… we had discussed one debate about glass celing post by dazzlingflower some time ago. If you stay at par with the locals they will treat you and let you blend, however if you exceed them and try to reach the highest glass ceiling that's when the problem start
today when we see Bihari Babus on the streets of mumbai or in local trains, we all 'original' mumbaikars wrench our nose whispering slightly in co-passenger's ear how these 'low standard' people are affecting Mumbai's growth and making it as dirty as Bihar is. at that time dont we neglect their contribution in Mumbai's success even if they have 1% of share in it. we chose to ignore it cause we feel its our land and 'others' should have limited access to it.
even today when fights errupts in trains over 'fourth seat' dont we blame the 'others' for increasing problems in mumbai..be it slums or population or degrading life styles? dont we sincerely shake our heads in negation when we see a tattered clothed 'other' man accompanying his wife and a whole train of children behind? dont we tell them to go back to Bihar or whatever place they have come from? dont we blame our governemnt for providing them shelter and other necessities?
even if i am a maharashtrian,I have dark complexion and curley hair--something popularly known as south indian traits.wherever i might go the first question hurled at me is "are you south indian?" isnt that called racism??? when i answer them 'i am indian' they stare me as if i am grade one fool. Yes, I agree with you on most part. It is sad to see this. However, not all group of people are like this. I remember when I was in college we had two professor from Bihar. They were very intelligent and good people. They used to tell us how they love our state and city. They were impressed the way their wife and daughter can go out alone at night without any fear. They said that if anything happens all men on the street will come to rescue women and help them and how safe the city was. They never wanted to leave the city for this reason. I am sure when these ousiders migrate they have strong reasons to leave their hometown. But as I mentioned before if they are taking away locals jobs and position it is also natural for locals to feel insecure. Just like when Indians abroad are taking away jobs of Americans that where racism comes into place
more than 60% of engineering and medical colleges in mumbai has minority based admission procedures.when an able maharashtrian candidate is refused an engineering seat cause it was reserved for 'gujrathi' student, is that not racism??? that is problem with university and institution who wants more money and donations. It is not fault of student from different state. If government provides equal opportunity to all the states and region I am sure there is no need to locals to move out of their town. Maharashtrian candidate is refused seat in Mahrashtra, Gujarati student is refused seat in Gujarat for that Maharashtrian minority students. I think institution and education system and corruption are blamed who make these students hate other on name of racism
arent there some hospitals where even rich people from a particular state would be given privileges over poor Locals? this is not racism based on states. This is discrimination between rich and poor. Not only rich from outside, even rich from within the state is given good treatment…it has to do with money not state or caste
we call it community service but isnt that racism under veil???
even today when two gujrathis or two south-indian people meet each other they would start conversing in gujrathi or telgu/malyayi languages respectively.who cares about what our national language is. you arrive on Bangalore Airport and rickshawwalhas their would refuse point black to talk to you in any other language than their's. y ou should read our debate called "Hindi In South India". It was interesting and educational. If two Gujarati talk in Gujarati what's wrong with that? What's wrong when to Mahrashtrian talk in Marathi? I have been to places where there are 5 Maharashtrian and 1 Gujarati where they only talk in Marathi knowing that this one outsider does not know their language still won't try to talk in Hindi. That's not good, however if there is group of plp speaking same language why do you want to talk in Hindi? For your question about locals talking in their language and not outsider's language refer to Hindi in South India post… you may find your answer
if we indians, though living in the same country, being governed by the same administrative force, sharing same resources for individual prosperity cant let go off our racism or communism if i can say so, why should we expect Brits to accept us as part of their society where every UK bound indian family tries to bestow same 'indian' values and beliefs upon their children who are left confused over whether they are Indians or Brits. where every NRI family follow and protect traditions that have vanished from India ages ago. wont our NRI parents die of cardiac arrest or bout of shame if an indian girl choses a Brit partner??? That's the thing parents have to understand. If they want Americans or British pople to accept them as their own they have to first teach their children to be one of them. Indian American child is first American and then Indian according to me. My child born in US is American first and then he/she is Indian. Her country of origin is America and not India.. Her parents are form India, not he/she.
i am NOT supporting Racism or Communism but Indians arent the right people to create a ho-ha over Racism. We should see whats burning under our feet first and then blame others. Yes, Indians are racist themselves for sure. I have seen Indians avoiding blacks or African Americans as well and treating them different. Indians are racist at times when it comes to their own country, however, that is not a reason to not to fight agains racism for Indians in other country as well.

Nice post Himali. Very thoughtful and good points. Thanks! and welcome to Debate Mansion!

Originally posted by .:Aphrodite:.

I agree. I was watching this Indian TV show a while ago and some guy made a joke about how some guy in Africa who's sooo black had one wish and he said "i wish i was white" and everyone laughed as if there was nothing wrong with it.

               why afro/desi people would wish to be white and why that idea has such amount of acceptance is deep rooted in a century of imperialist rule and the consequences of servitude. somewhere deep in our minds we still are slave to the western world and believe in its superiority subconciously.you need to take a look at micheal jackson to realise,how far this inferiority can lead us. the other day there was a pyschatrist trying define animosity between middle east and western world on discovery channel. he traced the impact to the fables, hatred and fear handed down the generations from the bloodsheds during crusades. comparitively the struggles and bloodshed, the feeling of servitude and being less is fresh in our memories since we have been independent state for merely 60yrs. someone us still have relative that have lived in those turbulent times.

I have seen so many desi people have some sort of a superiority complex as if they're better than Mexicans or African Americans.

also many bollywood movies show non-indians as immoral and sex starved people. HELLO? India probably has the biggest population of prostitutes (most forced to work there after their own family member sold them), women are molested in trains etc. and yet Westerners who have cheonsensual sex are "immoral".

       citing westerners as immoral is not racism.this more a case of ignorance and culture clash than racism.besides what to do you expect from the citizens of a country that celebrates virgins and sex within marital bonds when it comes in contact with sexually aware and open society.  once again historically westerners exploited eastern cultures sometimes even in sexual terms and somewhere that memory exists. there are westerners who have a concubine on every continent simply because they can afford it. as for prostitution....there are many african , european and eastern countries that are way up high on the lists. as for molestation and rapes...unfortunately western countries are no better than india.

How many times in Indian movies do we see some ethnic groups being stereotyped? All the time and yet Indians complain that Indian characters in Hollywood are stereotyped. OH PLEASE..

i agree

also, watching Fair and Lovely etc ads are so embarassing. However, we got some desi girls where i come from who make snide remarks at girls with fair skin. I swear one time at a wedding these girls were backchatting about me and my sister and said "i bet they put whitening creme on their face, I am natural and tanned".. so desi girls with fair skin are fake?

 kill me!!! but they are no more embarassing than watching the ads of tanning salons and those unnaturally orange tanning creams and bronzers. the simple fact is that we value the rarity more. indians are tanned lot so we value fair skin there, westerners are fair so they thirst to be tanned . add this fact to the superiority that we associate with fairness subconciously due  to our history and we are  a fairness obsessed society.actually westerner's obsession with tanning too stems from imperialist period, people who went to east or on adventures came back both tanned and rich, somehow subconciously in western world tanned became equivalent of class and riches. hence the current fight for being tanned all the time. btw those snide remarks you mentioned seem to be more jealousy induced than any form of racism or apartheid.