Quote:
|
Originally Posted by andyl
Possibly not explained myself very well. Muslim is used as a casual, catch all derogatory term by racists. They know that because of Islamophobia they won't necessarily get picked up on it whereas calling people 'Pakis' (which many, many still do) is more likely to provoke a negative reaction (although its shameful that many don't challenge it). And there is an undeniable link between race and British muslims which is why racists seize upon the current Islamophobic vogue.
Bit off topic but vaguely pertinent. I had a row with a friend the other week. She had complained, quite rightly, to her white daughter's school about racist comments made by a couple of Asian lads (don't know if they were muslim or not). The school has even handedly applied its anti-racism policy and disciplined those children. So far so good.
But when I challenged her on why I had heard the same daughter going on in her front room about how "pakis should go back to where they came from" (mainly Bury as it happens!) and that it was learnt behaviour from her parents, she replied without irony - and this is no word of a lie - "but some of my best friends are Pakis"! Leaving aside this is simply not true, she couldn't see the offence the word 'Paki' could cause. And, of course, it is difficult to complain about racism by people of Asian descent (or whatever) when you are practising it ahgainstr them in daily life. Finally I don't agree with racism from wherever it comes but there can be little doubt that there is more race hate directed towards Asian than there is against whites, even taking into account the disturbing rise in anti-Semitic attacks.
Increasing stop and search powers against people because they look like a muslim is not going to aid race relations and the feeling that I'm sure many muslims feel that they are being discriminated against in so many walks of life. I also don't think it will have any effect on reducing terrorist threat.
__________________
|
Yes, "Pakis" is n an unpleasant term, but I have heard it used my many Asians! And do you think the term "Brits" is derogatory? Or do you think referring to people as "black" is wrong? But what about people being "white"? Whenevr a label is put on a person or group, it is done so to differentiate them; this should not always be classed as discrimination. In this case, the label is "Muslims".
I have friends of many races and religions, and can see that the claimed discrimination against Muslims can be viewed as racism. I prefer to think of it as being a visible (if not always effective) attempt to combat terrorism.