#29: us and them
Why is fitting-in so important? As kids it is a big deal not to be the outsider. But surely as adults we ought to be more mature to accept and possibly embrace diversity. Are we?
Virginia Senator George Allen derided a college student of Indian origin by calling him a "macaca" – the slang for a "monkey" in some languages, to the amusement of his campaign entourage. He went on to mock: "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." Ironically it coincides with a census report on "multiculturalism", of how it isn't just a liberal buzzword, but a demographic fact. The DC region now has more than 1 million immigrants.
Newspaper columns were quick to point out that the kid was born in Fairfax (of parents of Indian ethnicity) and was just as American as any other.
But what if he wasn't? What if he really was "fresh-off-the-boat" – just like me? Would that have made it justifiable? Aren't the majority here in this country today descendants of someone who got here someday in a boat? What does it take to be "accepted" (beyond being "tolerated") despite differences?
This isn't an isolated incident. Coloured players in European football leagues are now the new high-profile targets. Monkey-chants in football games in Spain and Italy have become so pronounced and pervasive that FIFA penalised clubs (including the Spanish national coach for using racial slurs to "motivate" his "thoroughbred" players). The Aussie cricket-legend-turned-commentator Dean Jones called a South-African player a terrorist for being a bearded Muslim. Such treatment is meted out to other minorites too: natives, gays .... the list goes on.
Why do some in the majority feel so threatened by someone who does not talk, walk, or look like them? They are the majority – for crying out loud. As kids it was the outsiders who felt threatened; as grown-ups it is these few insiders who feel so vulnerable. How strange.
Virginia Senator George Allen derided a college student of Indian origin by calling him a "macaca" – the slang for a "monkey" in some languages, to the amusement of his campaign entourage. He went on to mock: "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." Ironically it coincides with a census report on "multiculturalism", of how it isn't just a liberal buzzword, but a demographic fact. The DC region now has more than 1 million immigrants.
Newspaper columns were quick to point out that the kid was born in Fairfax (of parents of Indian ethnicity) and was just as American as any other.
But what if he wasn't? What if he really was "fresh-off-the-boat" – just like me? Would that have made it justifiable? Aren't the majority here in this country today descendants of someone who got here someday in a boat? What does it take to be "accepted" (beyond being "tolerated") despite differences?
This isn't an isolated incident. Coloured players in European football leagues are now the new high-profile targets. Monkey-chants in football games in Spain and Italy have become so pronounced and pervasive that FIFA penalised clubs (including the Spanish national coach for using racial slurs to "motivate" his "thoroughbred" players). The Aussie cricket-legend-turned-commentator Dean Jones called a South-African player a terrorist for being a bearded Muslim. Such treatment is meted out to other minorites too: natives, gays .... the list goes on.
Why do some in the majority feel so threatened by someone who does not talk, walk, or look like them? They are the majority – for crying out loud. As kids it was the outsiders who felt threatened; as grown-ups it is these few insiders who feel so vulnerable. How strange.
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