Comments on: My Own Private Bigotry

By: To illustrate the point further, if Joel Stein had just replaced Indians with African-American in hi « Sandeep Sood

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:29:18 +0000

[...] My Own Private Bigotry | Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:53:51 +0000

*******Point is, Indians are the new kids on the block, compared to any other ethnicity. Any changes they bring to the contemporary American way of living is bound to attract attention. Joel Stein had the courage to express his discomfort with the overwhelming ‘Indianization’ of his town. The phenomenon he was trying to talk about was the ‘involuntary’ and ‘unexpected’ bigotry that arose within him inspite of he considering himself as unbigoted. His aim was to share his feelings and find a way to better understand its origins.******

Hmm.. No. Indians(The doctor Engineer types) started pouring in during the 60s.
Somalians are the newest kids in the block. They seem to have reed-ki-haddi unlike self-loathing Indians like my Uncle who came to USA in 1968. Even though the gangsta type Somalians outnumber the intellectual types, They are not afraid of their identity. They wear their “strange” ethnic muslim garb openly in the whitest of white neighbourhoods, while we Hindus remove our “dots” out of fear of being stared at and pretend to hate BJP in order to please the westerners. They(Somalians) have found political representation and have the courage to defend their sharia-esque law on national TV and on Bill maher’s show (ALL within a decade and a half).
When Joe Biden said “I know many Indians. They make good motel owners and 711 employees”, the reporter didn’t even bring up Kalpana Chawla, Sanjay Gupta, Kal Penn and many many IT workers. Our attitude is, “He is not entirely wrong!” Infact, I know some Indians who think that their ignorance is actually cool and try to emulate it.

Anyways We have only ourselves to blame for such insults. We should have found a voice long back. I blame the self-loathing generation that came before us. See, how connivingly Joel Stein appealed to the “Gandhi” in us. That is double-speak for, “I can slap you but you can’t slap me back. I expect you to smile and show me your other cheek”

By: Rohit

Rohit — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:19:27 +0000

My God! That Glenn Beck video showed what an ignorant, arrogant prick he is.

By: Anirban

Anirban — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:43:45 +0000

@jay: Did you see the American complaining about filth in his hometown? All that I saw was he being pissed about the abundance of Indians in general (unless you make the assumption that Indians = filth) in his hometown. And also their elephant-nosed gods. And yes, their spicy food. Where does filth come into the picture? Aren’t you confusing two different issues?

By: jay

jay — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:07:46 +0000

@ anirban
lol i did read the article by an american telling us the sad reality about his home town edison and i also read the article by union minster for india on the nobel price for dirth and filth telling us how indians themselves have dirty habits. now even if i or others have never been to india or usa we can read both the articles, check pics on the internet and come to a conclusion.

By: Anirban

Anirban — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:56:11 +0000

@jay: Have you ever been to the US? Because it seems if there was a “nobel price” for ignorance you would have won it.

By: jay

jay — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:22:12 +0000

how different is the times article from the statement made by Indian Union minsiter for Environment Mr. Jayram Ramesh who said that all cities in india are dirty, filthy and if there is nobel price for dirt and filth india will get it no doubt????

go to any city, town in india people spit around, throw dirt around, piss anywhere they feel like… for them everything outside there home is a toilet. now if they come to usa with this attitude than ofcourse most americans are gona hate it. if u wana be dirty back to india if u wana be clean, well behaved have manners than u can be in usa.
thats what the article says….. if u dont like times article listen to ur indian minster and try to change. dont make american cities dirty like indian cities.

By: Anirban

Anirban — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:11:44 +0000

@Shatadru: I live in Edison and I know what Joel means. I do not have a problem when someone says “Edison is overrun with Indians.” I do have a problem when someone says “Indian gods are ridiculous” or “Indian malls are ugly” or “Looking at the stupid Indians here one can see why their whole country is so damn poor.” Different DOES NOT mean inferior or ridiculous – you need to understand that. If you agree to what Joel says, then you also must agree to the notions that gays are ridiculous, or people with physical deformities are inferior, since they are different from the majority of us.

Point out the differences, sure! I do that all the time on my own blog. Just don’t be judgmental about what’s good and what’s bad.

By: Shatadru

Shatadru — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:54:23 +0000

Some of what Joel Stein was bordering on offensive, but all of it was true. One visit to Edison and you see what he means.

By: rajnikant

rajnikant — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:48:13 +0000

good work