Sunday 13 February 2011

Morrissey Calls Chinese a Subspecies


Morrissey calls Chinese people a subspecies in an Guardian interview...
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/sep/03/morrissey-china-subspecies-racism
"Did you see the thing on the news about their treatment of animals and animal welfare? Absolutely horrific. You can't help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies."
 "If Morrissey had made such comments about Indians, Africans, or Jews, there would be uproar, marches down Parliament and demonstrations across the land. So where are the Chinese protests or demonstrations? Nowhere. Absolutely zilch! "
So Why Was The British Chinese Community Silent?

The perception is that British Chinese people seldom fight back or argue back in the face of racism. I remember years ago, an English doctor on-call visited my ill grandmother. My grandmother could not speak English, my FOB Sister had to translate, this annoyed him. He said...
"This translation is time-consuming, shall I try and speak Chinese? Ha-saw, wing wang wong." 
This contumelious behaviour from a professional doctor is unacceptable, yet my FOB sister just smiled at him and carried on as though nothing happened. It was a kairotic moment, a realisation that Chinese FOB's and elder's of my parents generation will never fight racism - yan yiu sau hei. If Chinese are unwilling to fight racism to protect themselves, they're certainly not going to do it for anyone else. Recounting the observed instances of racism in my life, only once do I recollect a Chinese female with the fortitude to verbally confront her perpetrators, such passiveness makes the Chinese victim the bete noire not the perpetrator.

In the UK, some forms of racism are more acceptable than others, none more so than a social tolerance of casual racism towards Chinese. Casual racism is opportunitistic, a fleeting malapropos comment, its so common that its no longer perceived  as malicious, merely "politically incorrect," Chinese have heard it all before...anywhere and everywhere, if you look for it you will find it. For example, today, former England football manager Glenn Hoddle made a Chinese 'knee-shin-toe' joke live on Sky Sports television.
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1357091/Glenn-Hoddle-centre-Sky-Sports-scandal.html)


As a silent and almost invisible ethnic minority, the Chinese in the UK are a soft target as a consequence of many factors, these include a lack of representation, inability to respond due to an inadequate command of English, lack of leadership, political illiteracy, western superiority, segregation, negative police response, Confucian humility and passive neutrality. The UK Census 2001 states that 50% of British Chinese have no religion, the highest for any British ethnic group, unlike British Muslims, there are no religious leaders or radicals to rally around or speak on our behalf, nor have Chinese ever been part of any organised labour movement which historically has been a source of political radicalism. But perhaps the real problem is the lack of homogeneity within the British Chinese community. British Chinese immigrants can be classified as follows...

(1) Mainlanders / Taiwanese - Third wave British Chinese immigration. FOB's - Huge influx post 1990s. Predominantly Mandarin speaking, many cannot speak nor read adequate English (standard of English in the Mainland is poor), they won't know who Morrissey is nor will they read the Guardian. This group is the most FOBBY, insular and clueless about racial stereotyping, many have no white friends and take no interest in the opinions of White people like Morrissey.

(2) Commonwealth Immigrants -  Second wave of British Chinese immigrants. Post 1950's -1970's mainly Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and also refugees from Vietnam. Predominantly Cantonese speaking, many do not work for White employers nor socialise with White people. There is some cross cultural and cross ethnic racism between (1) and (2). Some Cantonese crack similar Morrissey type jokes about Mainlanders about them being dirty, uncivilized and unable to speak Cantonese. (comparatively it's not as acute as the racial problems between Afro-Caribbeans and Africans in the UK). Some would find the idea of the Mainland Chinese as a subspecies rather amusing, Sunny Leong and Anna Chen however, perceived the subspecies comment as an indiscriminate attack on the Chinese as a race, inclusive of Chinese diaspora.

(3) BBC's - Offspring of (2) and (1), both are different. The mandarin group is Taiwan and Mainland orientated, whereas the Cantonese speaking group is split into 2 sub-group's.
Group A is westernised and tries to be white by following white culture, some cannot speak Chinese, they define themselves as British and seldom make a point about their ethnicity,  ie they don't like discussing or referring to their Chinese ethnicity.
Group B are wannabe FOB's that follow East Asian culture i.e Chinese TV drama and Chinese music etc, they have little interest in British politics and are highly unlikely  to be Guardian readers.

(4) OtherFirst Wave Of British Chinese Immigrants, 'Those of Chinese Descent,' and Mixed Race. The first wave arrived before the main influx of Commonwealth immigrants and settled in  Limehouse, Liverpool etc. Many are married inter racially and are the most culturally assimilated and integrated into British society. This group includes mixed race, as a corollary, some Chinese may not consider this group to be Chinese as they cannot speak Chinese, but it is incorrect to call them 'gwai-sing,' they have 'White blood,' its to be expected. Whereas this group of mixed race consider the UK as their permanent home, its in contrast to many full blood British Chinese holding second passports and may not necessarily view the UK as their permanent home, but a temporary home, there is less incentive to get involved, integrate or assimilate.

This group is the most vocal, visible and media savvy. British Chinese Celebrities David Yip (The Chinese Detective), Gay Fashionista Gok Wan, TV presenter Alexa Chung...are part of this group. They have assumed the role of representing the British Chinese within the mainstream White media, ironically  in Sheeps clothing as none of them are full blood Chinese. A glance at the bottom of the Sunny's Independent blog, there is no one who comes across as being Chinese except mixed race Madam Miaow AKA Anna Chen. She is usually the lone spokesperson within the white media as full-blood Chinese (who are not White enough) don't have access to the media. She feeds off it, her audience for her performances are predominantly White, her blog friends are predominantly White men. She made a huge fuss over the Fu Man Chu broadcast on Radio 4,  yet Chinese people don't listen to 'White middle aged' radio stations like Radio 4. The average age of its 450,000 listeners was between 52 and 55. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/17/radio-4-axes-childrens-show-go4it

 Cultural Segregation 

Last weekend, David Cameron said "multi-culturalism had failed." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12371994 "different cultures have been encouraged to live separate lives." The following illustrates cultural segregation....

White Singer Morrissey
http://www.facebook.com/Morrissey 400,000 fans (can't see Asian faces or Asian names on his fans list)

Asian singer Jay Chou
http://www.facebook.com/jay 1million fans (can't see any white western names on his fans list)

Morrissey's band The Smiths
http://www.facebook.com/TheSmithsOfficial 1million fans (no Asian fans)

It is no surprise, globally speaking, westerners listen to music produced by Whites and Asians listen to music produced by Asians, but locally its no different, within the Chinese Community Groups, we have cultural segregation too. Groups 1,2,3(b) don't assimilate too well into White British culture, whereas Groups 3(a) & 4 have 'lost touch' and are detached from Chinese Culture. As the Chinese community is segregated with their own interests and language, it will be difficult to find a leader who can represent these disparate groups, ideally they need to be fluently trilingual.

To illustrate cultural segregation within the media, Fobby Chinese read Chinese publications written in Chinese characters and watch Chinese news channels, Chinese programming made for Chinese people, therefore those who write to British broadcasters to complain about Radio 4 or Eastenders etc are unlikely to be FOB's. For a prime time programme, commonwealth immigrants may complain, but if its anything else such as the Guardian Newspaper,  the complainants will be largely formed of BBC Sub group A, mixed race, those in interracial partnerships and White liberals. It is not dissimilar to the types of people who complained about the late Wendy Richard on BBLB when she described the Chinese as "inscrutable." A FOB Mainlander will not understand the meaning of the word inscrutable nor will they understand the concept of racial stereotyping.

Recalling a C4 TV show called 'Banzai,' an ode to Asian FOB stereotypes, games with chopsticks and a  Burt kwouk voice over, it was backward and cringe worthy. The show was pulled during its first season in USA after complaints from the Asian American community, yet in the UK, the show managed to run for 4 seasons, this is difference between America and the UK, the Asian American community is larger, more diverse, with more clout and is more racially aware.  As UK FOB's are clueless about racial stereotyping, I was convinced the script was written by a FOB, however it was actually written by a White guy - Gary Monaghan, that would also explain it.
The mainstream media in the UK does not represent the views of Chinese people in first place, there are few Chinese journalists, except those of Chinese descent (ie. Chris Choi, Ben Chu, Polly Samson etc.  Programming is largely produced by White people for White people to watch, newspapers largely written by White people for White people to read, therefore what is the point complaining when their audience is white? These publications are not written for the benefit of Chinese people. Once, I wrote a letter of complaint to the BBC, they reviewed the footage and concluded  it was far from offensive but complimentary towards Chinese people, this is what happens when those on the review board are not Chinese, but even if there was a token Chinese on the review board, it would be an obsequious Uncle Tam.

China now regularly makes news headlines in the west for all the wrong reasons...aggression, failure or disaster,  I.e Tiananmen Square massacre, environmental disaster, pollution and dangerous manufacturing, animal and human rights abuse. All negative material to present the Chinese as an evil subspecies...except of course when a cuddly panda is sent over for breeding. Everyone say "Awwwww." 

Friday 4 February 2011

I'm Not Racist But...I Have a Preference!


Remember that old nugget...
"I'm not racist...but...(FILL IN THE BLANK)."
Political correctness has moved racial denial onto a new post-modernist level...
"I'm not racist but I have a (racial) preference." Or "I'm not racist, I just don't find Black women attractive."
This form of denial is amusing, upon what foundation are they being judged? Is it their personality? No, it's their race. Giving preferential treatment to White women over Black women is discrimination based on race. Racism takes many forms, the non-overt effects of passive discrimination (i.e, ostracism and rejection etc) are the most annoying, one can neither see it nor hear it, but can feel it.

Recollecting my days at university, it was segregated into cliques along the lines of class, gender, race, religion etc. FOB Chinese were in a group, French students were in a group, Oxford graduates were in a group, even a visiting lecturer commented on our visible segregated social circles, he referred to the Asian group at the front as the "Asian contingent." Prima facie, in the west, it is not always apparent how stratified or segregated White people are, however, Asian's are targeted because of their indifferent physical appearance. So its stated by White's..."Asian's are always in a group and stick to their own kind, they don't integrate." Indeed,  FOB Asians arrive at a UK university from Hong Kong and seek out other FOB's from their own country to form a clique and expand their Chinese social circle by joining the Universities,' but in conversation with other white students, finding out where they're from etc, its apparent that they are racially and/or ethnically segregated too. It’s far easier to discriminate on race than most other factors and people do it all the time.

Attraction works in the same way, A makes a personal judgement about B and rejects B, no one will know why A made those judgments, if A is accused of racism, A will not admit it, nobody wants to be classed a racist, therefore excuses are made to circumvent the issue, "I'm not a racist, it's a preference" saves the face of closet racists. This country is sensitive about the ‘R’ word, we cannot have a sensible debate, it’s verboten, so people just walk around ignoring people they don't like without saying it to their face, the UK is a strange place to live with this enforced PC.
I recall a conversation I had with a White British girl...

Girl: I'm not racist, I have date guys of other races
Me: Would you date an Australian Aborigine who cannot speak English? Would you date a Pakistani national who was a Muslim and wanted you to wear a burka and move to Pakistan with him?
Girl: (pauses, goes silent then says) maybe
Me: Maybe? You mean NO don't you? You paused because you realised its racist to say 'no,' so you said 'maybe' to appear not racist.
Girl: But I'm not racist, its a preference!
Me: ah, that doesn't mean youre not racist, just less racist than someone who only dates their own race.   


In law, the meaning and definition of racial discrimination has a wide meaning and includes preference:
the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The law does not permit a bar/pub to exclude Muslims or black people or Asian people from entry and it must serve them a drink, however the White people inside the bar are under no legal obligation to talk to them nor engage in conversation with them. Generally, the law doesn't like to interfere in social relations, so you are free to ostracise, racially discriminate or 'have a preference' for whoever you like when it comes to friendship and dating etc.

Marriage is rather more serious than dating, many may consider dating interracially, but would they marry interracially? Would they want interracial children? Can they cope with  religious, language and cultural indifference? Would their parents or relatives approve of an interracial marriage? The reality is that there is a huge gulf between dating and marriage. Here is an example from the USA.

In the US, White men date interracially more than White women. The statistics are from a GALLUP POLL 2005, the stated margin of error is +/- 7% points.

White Men - 25% have date black, 30% have date Hispanic, 27% have date Asian
White Women 24% have date black, 28% have date Hispanic, 9% have date Asian

Compare this with 2006 US National Census Bureau's Marriage statistics...

0.11 % of White men are married to Black female
0.6% of White women are married to Black male
0.34% of White women married to Asian male
0.52% of White men are married to Asian female 

There is a huge difference in statistical percentage points between dating and marriage.

Another example, UK ICM poll 2007 uses a small sample of 235 18-33 year old British whites.
http://menmedia.co.uk/asiannews/news/s/531081__one_in_five_wont_marry_white

Would you consider dating an asian person / a black person?
83% white people would consider dating someone who is black
78% white people would consider dating someone who is asian

When it comes to marriage would you only marry someone of the same race as you, or would race not matter?
87% white people wouldn't mind mixed race marriage
9% white would only marry someone from the same race

Asian in the UK is defined as Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi etc, does that mean 78% of White British girls wouldn't mind wearing  a burka and marrying a Pakistani Muslim? These surveys have to be taken with comedy effect. People don't want to sound racist, so they will give the answer that they believe is the  politically correct thing to say, without acting on it. Compare this survey with http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-people-write-you-back/. Predominantly American, there are a lot of Brits registered, it uses a much larger sample...

Is interracial marriage a bad idea? (sample size: 283,000)
whites  YES =7%  No =93%


Would you strongly prefer to date someone of your own race?  (sample size 750,000)
Whites 45% said yes. 55% said No.

It is indoctrination into believing they're "not racist" when in fact having a preference means the opposite. Their preference is for whites, their own race, when they have a choice...their first preference for their own race prevails. When they have no choice or the options available for whites are so dreadful, they will then consider the second, third, fourth choice etc, this is why ethnic minorities on White dating sites usually don't have much success, they are low in the pecking order.

For a national picture, according to 2001 UK Census, under 2% of white population were married interracially. If its argued its the result of  a low ethnic minority population, if hypothetically the UK allowed 20million muslim immigrants into the UK does that mean 78% of white people will want to marry them? Most whites have never been inside a muslim's house before, let alone date one.

Dating is one thing, marriage is another. Dating Surveys are full of lies, its common to misrepresent the numbers of sexual partners they've had etc. Only  marriage statistics are facts. You can "mess around" with whoever you like and no one needs to know, you don't have to worry about what people think, your parents don't even need to know about how many sexual partners you've had or what race they were, or what sexual orientation they were or indeed how old they were etc. However, when it comes to making a serious decision about who you spend your life with, it no longer becomes a private affair but a public one. Despite what people say, actions speak louder than words, just because you are open to dating interracially doesn't necessarily mean you will nor does it mean you want to nor does it mean you will end up marry interracially.