It’s a strange world !!
Two events happened in past one week, one in western coasts of US and one in UK. Those two events are totally unrelated to each other and they cater to different audience. But both of them have run into same issue ~ ‘Racism’.
Michael Richards (whom I didnt know till this issue) it seems is a well known comedian in US. Last week during one of his stand-up shows he got pissed off, totally out of control and made some real harsh comments on some black people (afro-american as they are called) like calling them niggers showing them finger and saying the great F word repeatedly. Media is saying now that his career is finished !!!
Cut to UK – to a show called Big Brother, where a confused soul like Jade Goody was bullying apni Shilpa Shetty for past few days. She got kicked out of the show recently and now they are saying that her career is also finished !!!
Itz human tendency to love anything ‘similar’ to him/her and to hate anything ‘different’ to him/her. Somebody was not wrong in Swades movie when he said “JO KABHI NAHIN JAATI, USI KO KEHTE HAIN ‘JAATI’) So, like it or not, Racism is here to stay.
(Just to clarify myself – I personally even hate the idea of ‘racism’ but the point I am trying to make is it does not depend on whether we like it or not – it is here to stay. Ummmm … if I use some more green cells, things which can crease out racism is when the world will be flattened in all respects so that there will be enough space for everybody not only to survice but to live a luxurious / comfortable life. Or racism can be out if & when we start interacting with ‘Alien’ people from other planets when we’ll realise how similar white, black or asian people are… and so on …)
Anyways, Racism is not what amused me of above two events but it is two events which happened different part of world and hit the same issue in very similar manner. What a co-incidence! It was like watching an event unfold and then watching the replay.
Update 1
Karan Thapar interviews British High Commissioner, Sir Michael Arthur here.In the show Karan keeps coming back to following two questions:-
* How damaged is Britain’s image in India today (after Shipla Shetty’s issue)?
* Is Britain a Racist Country?
Apart from the way British High Commisioner tried to escape above two questions, I could not help but notice the difference in accent b/w american english accent & british english accent.