(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

I take interest whenever I hear of evidence of a continuing trend in racism, sexism, or a similar ism. In a way, knowing about them gives me a perverse kind of pleasure, like I can use it as a comeback for those who seem to think we've advanced enough socially.

Many of the trends that I've heard about in the last couple years have connections to show business, which is hardly surprising when you consider that certain roles pretty much require a given racial appearance, etc. The "Hollywood White-Out" may have declined -- at least, I haven't heard about it since 2000 -- but there are still many movies with a Magic Negro, a flawless, pastless Black character who exists chiefly to help a White character with self-realization (Peter Jackson's King Kong, anyone?). These days, a non-White actor who doesn't request otherwise typically is given a costar of a different race in order to tell the audience that it's not just a "Black film" or whatnot. Black men (but not women) almost never get sex scenes, presumably because White men feel threatened by a show of that kind of power, or else they just think it's gross. There's a coolest man in the world most of the time (presently George Clooney), but women always have to settle for being the hottest at best. The masses are largely to blame for these iniquities; producers just go along with them.

I bring this up now because I'm not sure what to make of what I saw in the Express two days ago. The article is called "Love Can Reeeeally Hurt," subtitled "Your handy guide to getting it on without permanent injuries." (No, I am not opposed to such articles being buried in a free family newspaper.) The accompanying photo shows a dark brown man's chest and abs with a fair-skinned hand clutching them. Are they using diversity for maximum demographic appeal? Was it the sexiest male torso with the sexiest feminine hand they could find? Or is it a subtle suggestion that a Black man having sex with a White woman is a recipe for disaster? That is traditionally the most despised pairing, is it not? Think back a few weeks to the notorious attack ad on Harold Ford....

Eh, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. So far, there haven't been any letters to the editor on anything connected with the article.

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[level-head.livejournal.com]

And I even managed to mistype "DeckardCanine". ]:-/

In the South it used to be illegal for blacks and whites to wed. Many clergy were hung for giving Church-recognized only marriages to such individuals.

Yes, the old pattern of prejudices, on the decline for many years in the US, is the new rising trend in Europe -- where many people are killed for marrying (or even socializing) out of their race or nationality or religion. It's not in the news much as it is not Politically Correct to pay attention to.

One famous case was a girl killed by her father because a song was dedicated to her on a radio show request line -- he was the wrong type of person, and the father felt that if the girl knew him well enough that he would mention her in public than she deserved the killing. He stabbed her 11 times, then slit her throat -- but both the prosecution and defense (this was one of the relatively few that actually involved an arrest) agreed that they must proceed carefully in order to be "culturally sensitive" and avoid any hint of racism.

Here's a quote about honor killings from the governor of Van in Turkey a few weeks after my visit there. The quote is reflective of the tone of such trials as mentioned above:

We can't solve this problem by attacking these people's values and thus harming their feelings by ignoring the culture, traditions, customs and convictions here. Even if the subject is certain customs and traditions which might be dangerous or improper, while speaking of them, one needs to take both the social psychology and the individual psychology into consideration. Otherwise, there is a risk of pushing people into a more isolated life in the name of protecting their own values, ossifying their psychological defense mechanisms.

Perhaps as a result of that "consideration", the problem continues to grow throughput Western Europe. But the last issue of "The Independent" to return a search hit on "honor killings" was published seven years ago -- and does not mention Islam or Muslim at all. Just ... "religious groups". And the article mentions nothing about the practice in Europe, focusing instead on Pakistan.

But occasionally, the European aspect is visible. It even identifies one perpetrator as Muslim. (Note that "Asian" in the context of that article includes Pakistan and Afghanistan.)

===|==============/ Level Head