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Why I Hate Madonna editorial; - continued over from MBC forum
Topic Started: Jun 21 2008, 03:14 PM (294 Views)
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Rock Star From Mars

Nliyan2 first posted a link to this 2003 editorial ("Why I Hate Madonna") in the MBC forum.

I did not think it would be appropriate to place my critique of this editorial in the MBC forum, since I can see some people getting very angry at my political and religious views, which I mention in my critique below.

I am in total agreement with the author of this editorial concerning Madonna's thefts of other people's cultures.

But we part ways in other areas.

Why I Hate Madonna: Subtle racisms and the exotification of my South Asian self

Shrestah, the author, seems to think that Madonna exploiting "Non white" religions / cultures is more offensive than Madonna exploiting what might be viewed as "white" religion/culture.

I don't think I agree with that.

To start with, it sounds like special pleading from non-whites.

Madonna being flippant and disrespectful by way of using a crucifix / cross (i.e. Roman Catholicism), bindi and henna (i.e., South Asian), tefillin (Judaism)... is all part and parcel of the same thing.

Telling me that it's okay or more acceptable for a white woman to be disrespectful towards "white" culture doesn't fly.

I also find it hypocritical and funny that Shrestah seems to equate Roman Catholicism with "whiteness."

For one thing, there are plenty of non-whites in the world who are Roman Catholics (I have in mind Hispanics in South and Middle America especially).

Secondly, there are also quite a number of whites, such as myself (though I do have some American Indian ancestry), who reject Roman Catholicism.

If I were polled and forced to choose, I'd say that Protestantism is a bit more representative of "white culture" than is Roman Catholicism, especially in North America.

(I'm not a Protestant, by the way, and I don't agree with them on everything, either.)

Given that Shrestha complains elsewhere that she doesn't think whites are capable of defining or understanding racism, or that whites are guilty of stereotype formation, here she herself is assuming that 'Roman Catholicism = white culture.'

She feels perfectly fine defining 'Roman Catholicism = white culture.'

Sriya Shrestha
author of editorial
Nearly everyone at NYU shudders at the thought of offending anyone, but what they lack is actual knowledge of what is offensive, how and why.
And I guess Sriya Shrestha is the only one who has that actual knowledge?

And that she's the only one worthy enough to make those distinctions and to tell us what they are?

Who made her the final judge and arbitrator?

She seems to be trying to tell white people when and how and where they have the right to be offended.

I don't think I need a Non-white person's approval or permission to feel just as offended by Madonna's abuse of "white" culture as I am by Madonna's abuse of "non white" culture.

I get so very tired of people assuming or saying that white people do not and cannot understand racism, that white people have never known any suffering, or that we white people do not have the right to hold opinions on these matters, or we should not express those opinions.

~And sometimes it's white people saying that - the liberals.

Remember all that Obama pastor Wright stuff?

There were actually white people (liberals) saying,
'It's okay for Wright to hate whites and preach white hate at his church, we whites cannot and should not feel entitled to opinions on the matter. Give him a pass, let him hate whites and preach about it, because black people have a history of being mistreated in America.'

So if someone has black skin, that means he is automatically entitled to act like a racist scum bag, gets a free pass, and is above criticism? No, don't think so.

I think Jews are the single most persecuted people on the planet, over the longest period of time (going back thousands of years), but I would not sit here and excuse a rabbi if the rabbi was giving sermons on how God hates all Gentiles!

Look, I don't like political correctness either, but I think the author of this editorial should at least give these (usually politically and socially liberal) white folks credit for trying to address and eradicate racism.

Sriya Shrestha also acts as though her culture is the only one to ever have been exploited or stereotyped by another, when it's happened to everyone at one time or another.

The most hypocritical of all:

Plenty of non-whites continue to carry around stereotypes of whites! And some of those stereotypes usually go like this:

Whites are racist, hateful, wealthy, insensitive pigs who have never known any kind of suffering.

Quote:
 
And now, many years after British colonialism, in a global market run by U.S. imperialism...
Excuse me, "U.S. imperialism?"

Honey, Americans exporting their goods, culture, and services around the world via entertainment and a free market is not "imperialism."

When the French ship and sell their champagne to the United States, I don't call that "imperialism."

It's just business; the French have a product that Americans want to purchase.

And in case you haven't noticed, with the dollar not being very strong right now, with the American president begging the Saudis/OPEC to lower oil prices, America ain't exactly in a position of power right now.
(EDIT: I just remembered that this thing was written in 2003, not 2008! But I'm leaving my point in there anyhow.)

Also, the people of the world want American goods and services:

American movies routinely sell by the zillions overseas. Americans do not force people in other nations to buy and watch our movies, our McDonald's hamburgers.

Quote:
 
We are fearing for our lives and livelihoods because we have been transformed from trinkets to terrorists.
And you think that whites have done that?

The reason people in your culture are thought of as being terrorists is because some of them are terrorists. :dunce:

Some Muslims from that region of the world blow other people up.

Quote:
 
We are fearing for our lives ...

From whom, lady?

When's the last time an American "white-y" in America raped or beat you because of your henna or head scarf?

You obviously don't fear retaliation, because you felt comfortable enough to write that editorial, knowing it would be published in a paper on the web.

(Try publishing a stick figure cartoon of prophet Muhammed and see what happens, though.)

There is not a persecution in the United States of people who wear henna, bindi, or even head scarves, so lay of the "people of my skin color/ culture are living in fear."

When I think of South Asia (if she is referring to India and Pakistan), I don't even think of Islam. I think of Hinduism.

I am aware that there is a large number of Muslims in that area of the world, however.

About stereotypes-

Here she sums some up of her culture, and she acts really annoyed that (she assumes) a typical white person thinks about these things when thinking about her culture:
  • We are her toys, her fashion, her flavor of the month.

    We are alternative lifestyles full of spirituality, meditation, incense, homeopathy and relaxation.

    We are frozen samosas and TV-dinner channa masala at the local grocery and iced chai lattes at Starbucks.
Why is she offended by that?

What follows is probably what she would likely do if asked to describe American culture: how is this any different?
  • Apple pie.
    Levi's blue jeans.
    Magnolias in New Orleans. Alligators in bayous.
    Spanish Moss hanging from oaks in Florida.
    Wal Mart. Blue light specials at K Mart.
    Middle class lifestyle.
    Cowboys on horses. The Old West.
    Madison Square Garden in New York.
    Crowded shopping malls in December.
    Fourth of July bar-b-q's.
    Disneyland. Baseball.
    Elvis. James Dean. Marilyn Monroe.
    Windows, Bill Gates, Apple Computer.
    Mount Rushmore.
    Nike shoes.
    Rap music. Top 40 hits.
    Grand Canyon.
    iPods.
    Coca Cola.
    Cell phones.
    Superman. Hollywood.
    Mickey Mouse.
    Ford. Chevy.
    Big Macs at McDonald's.
I don't see what's so offensive about someone associating certain traits, businesses, fashions, sports, etc. with a particular culture, especially if it's innocuous stuff.

How many Aussies out there can I offend when I say:

When I think of Oz, I think of...
Koalas, "g'day, mate," kangaroos, Sydney's opera house, Steve Irwin, and Crocodile Dundee?

Hindus, Hinduism:
Vishnu, Vedas, cows, reincarnation

Elvis fans, Elvis:
white sequined jump suits, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, Graceland, Lisa Marie

Brits:
London, punk, Big Ben, foggy weather, Princess Di, Monty Python, pubs, fish and chips

Roman Catholics:
rosaries, popes, saints

Jews:
Moses, burning bushes, dietary laws, star of David

Druids:
trees

Of course we all already know that human beings are more than just the type of clothes we wear, the movies we watch, our national landmarks or the foods we eat, so if she's trying to say that people reduce her people to only that sort of stuff, I think she's wrong.

Other than those problems I had with her piece, it was a fine Madonna-bashing work.

Here it is in full:
  • 12/2/03

    Sitting in NYU classrooms, I am struck by the extremely light, tiptoe approach students take when it comes to racial issues. They strain to make sure they leave only tiny marks behind, nothing to offend anyone. Nothing can be said, no generalizations can be made, because that would be prejudiced, stereotypical and negative.

    Yet in taking these painfully planned baby steps, most manage to be grossly ignorant, racist and ridiculous - usually without even noticing. Still, everyone continues to strain for those tiny steps.

    During a small group discussion on everyday racism in my South Asian diaspora class, my classmates were constantly qualifying their statements: "Not all [blanks] do this, of course, just some."

    When I mentioned that I am often exotified, seen with disgusting oriental fantasies by white men, and never Asian men, my white male groupmate delicately reminded me I was on the verge of making a gross generalization.

    I replied that it was not a generalization; it was the truth. But wait, I was reminded, you don't want to say that all white men would look at you like that and that no Asian men would. That is true; I did not want to say that, and I hadn't.

    What I think my concerned classmate was doing was simply mentioning that some - not him necessarily - may think I was being a reverse-racist.

    And I believe this same deep-seated white fear of reverse racism fueled the sudden, fierce anger expressed by some white (or should I call them Caucasian?) students during a later discussion at the idea that perhaps there was something slightly more offensive about Madonna wearing a bindi, sari and henna then there was about her donning and defaming the Catholic cross.

    White kids think the same rules apply to them [they do not? says who - ed], about what can be said and what can't, and in my experience many students of color feel the same way.

    Nearly everyone at NYU shudders at the thought of offending anyone, but what they lack is actual knowledge of what is offensive, how and why.

    Rather, they attempt to be politically correct, using terms like African-American and Hispanic, but still managing to claim that a black student has the same benefits as a white one if they both come from an elite private school or that Latino immigrant workers should be grateful for the low-wage, exploitative jobs they find in the United States.

    These PC pushers still manage to be out of touch with reality, out of touch with what racism, sexism, heterosexism and prejudice really is.

    They do not understand that a history exists that makes Madonna's flippant, fleeting usage of South Asian-Hindu fashion and culture a bit offensive.

    A history in which we have been the source of the West's stories of mystery, enchantment, oddity and the exotic. We have always been trinkets and charming tales. We are brass pots and spiritual men who can float; and tongue-tickling spices and thick, luxurious rugs; and skinny, starvation-swelled bellies standing in a brown mass waiting to be saved by British food and religion.

    We are the women who, due to a lack of a strong Western-style feminism, starve, suffocate and drown our baby girls for not being baby boys. We are anything but human.

    And now, many years after British colonialism, in a global market run by U.S. imperialism, we are once again remembered by our trinkets.

    While South Asian women remain invisible in U.S. pop culture, they are now seen painted on Madonna's hands, glittering on her forehead, wrapped around her personal-trainer-trimmed white body.

    We are her toys, her fashion, her flavor of the month. We are alternative lifestyles full of spirituality, meditation, incense, homeopathy and relaxation.

    We are frozen samosas and TV-dinner channa masala at the local grocery and iced chai lattes at Starbucks.

    And suddenly now we are also frightening, fiendish and dangerous. We are fearing for our lives and livelihoods because we have been transformed from trinkets to terrorists.

    Our foreignness has become less charming and increasingly frightening. And Madonna's phase of wearing us on her body has only made it easier for us to be targeted.

    She reduced us, or reinforced an already existing reduction, to inhuman, fashionable baubles. And it is not difficult to stop giving visas to a bindi or a set of gold bangles.

    Nobody has qualms about jumping or shooting several yards of rich, luxurious silk. Who would mind throwing thousands of Buddha, Shiva and Laxmi print T-shirts into detention camps without explanation or lawyers? After all, ultra-fashionable tops do not need legal representation.

    So I think that when Madonna stretches the boundaries of Catholicism, uses a cross to criticize the racist, white supremacy and puritanical, sexually-repressive aspects of her religion, it is quite different than her playing dress-up with a culture that no one owns, but that she can still certainly exploit.

    I'm sure if she had not already dropped South Asian for Americana, she would have rapidly done so after Sept. 11, 2001.

    Or maybe her desire not to blend in with the post-Sept. 11 barrage of red, white and blue pasted across everyone and everything explains her recent switch to a Che Guevara style pseudo-revolutionary.

    We all know how she likes to be different, cutting-edge. I bet my grandmothers would be pleased to know that, a few years ago, they beat the world's most popular, trend-setting pop diva to the fashion finish line.
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nliyan2
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Yeah, I actually agree with your rebuttal of some of her points. I also think that political correctness discourages true political discourse in this country and I think it is probably heavily influenced by all the political interest groups/corporate interests in this country. The fact that our media only cares about money doesn't help at all and is one of the greatest tragedies of our time. Anyways, yeah, even though I am not Indian, I can see why that writer was offended by what Madonna has done.
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