Of bigotry, racism and ethnocentrism

We are aware of the root cause behind colonial history: to "civilize" the inferior races. The feelings of ethnocentric attitudes persist deeply in human psyche. It is evident in most of the world leaders, particularly in the Western world in their attitude towards the developing countries. It is not a surprise that the people of the West also suffer from the same syndrome. This is not to exculpate people from any part of the world in any society. Those who have a little higher station in life in the developing countries manifest similar behavior toward the less fortunate. How unfortunate!

In the Western leaders, John McCain is probably one of the biggest hype. The truth is that he has turned from a maverick to a hypocrit. He is a racist otherwise he would not use word such as "gook" to refer to Vietnamese people.

And just today Bush chided the Iraqi leaders for the way they executed two of Saddam's allies. He thought it smacked of revenge. What a remark! It is hard to figure out what planet these people livein; it is apparently not Earth. However, as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Anyway, the point I wanted to note was the racism and bigotry present in the world. The news in Hindustan Times caught my attention. Here are some exerpts:

Shilpa faces racist abuse on UK show
Vijay Dutt
London, January 16, 2007

TV viewers in the UK are outraged at the racist treatment meted out to actress Shilpa Shetty on the reality show Celebrity Big Brother. Over the past few days, fellow participants have called Shilpa “dog”, “Paki”, and other offensive names.

“Goody’s mother Jackiey (who has now been evicted) started calling Shilpa ‘Sipla’, then, sarcastically, ‘princess’ and finally, ‘the Indian’,” hotelier Girish Sanger told HT. “When Shilpa cooked chicken, Lloyd refused it, saying it was overcooked and that was why Indians were thin and sickly. She said, ‘How do Indians eat with their fingers? One doesn’t know where their fingers have been’,” Sanger said.

The Guardian quoted Lloyd as having said of Shilpa, “She is a dog,” and Goody as, “She makes me feel sick. She makes my skin crawl.” The daily said that on Monday’s show, “Shetty (had) ended up in tears”.