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1. Making Arab in America » More Blogs on 24 Apr 2009 at 11:36 am

   [...] ArabDetroit Racialicious Tab All US4Arabs Huasipungo [...]

Comments

1. Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist! wrote:

   Don’t forget to check out #AmazonFail furor over at Twitter, because of Amazon’s new policy censoring books dealing with LGBTQ topics.

   Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 12:23 pm ¶

2. Whit wrote:

   Rawr indeed @ the sikh model http://sikhsinthemedia.com/?p=29

   Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 12:35 pm ¶

3. Lloyd Webber wrote:

   What I always say about “x is the new y” is “you know what’s the ne new Racism?, Racism is the new Racism”

   Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 4:17 pm ¶

4. Medusa wrote:

   Yeah, that and discrimination against fat people isn’t called fatism, it’s SIZEISM. Racism isn’t called blackism or Asianism or Arabism or Native Americanism, sexism isn’t womanism….fatism doesn’t even follow any standard English rules.

   Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 6:30 pm ¶

5. KadiBaby wrote:

   The reason he said that to the woman on “Tough Love” is that she acted out sexually with strangers she had met for the first time. With NO guarantee of her own safety, so I say YES, her behavior was dangerous and could get her raped. For any young women watching the show in this day of “sexting” and web cams, he needed to make it clear that her behavior was NOT acceptable in any context, even in the relative safety of the show. He didn’t just say it casually or flippantly…She was trying to defend her awful conduct, it wasn’t irrational “slut shaming”.

   Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 10:33 pm ¶

6. Mahsino wrote:

   As someone who is black and oveweight i’m just gonna call bullshit on this whole “fatism” (a ridiculous word in and of itself, as Medusa stated it’s sizeism) being equated to racism.

   Simply put, I can go to a gym to lose weight, I can’t, nor have I ever had the desire to do a damn thing about being Black.

   Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 10:40 pm ¶

7. Seattle Slim wrote:

   I’m honored to be a link here. It’s been a few years, but it’s still a great feeling.

   Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 1:02 am ¶

8. sfsinger wrote:

   Can I just say for the record, the conversation at WAOD about divestment is in its infancy. We ere defining it there. The detailed conversations with definitions and a course of action have been at BWBTT and Muslim Bushido. And the Seattle Slim dissenting opinion is just obstructionism pure and simple. Ranting about being banned for violating posting rules at another person’s blog isn’t dissent. It should also be noted the discussion is related to Black women and children who live in residential areas that are overpopulated with a criminal element and why they need to remove themselves from these areas. If one example was to be used: Dunbar Village I certainly fail to see why anyone would question whether it’s a necessity.

   Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 2:02 am ¶

9. Latoya Peterson wrote:

   @KadiBaby –

   Having watched the show, I agree with Marge’s assessment. If I go out and get drunk in front of a group of strangers I don’t know, I’m drunk in front of people I don’t know. If I am drunk and one of them is a rapist, that is when I am in danger of being raped.

   A lot of the language in these discussions centers around the woman – you shouldn’t do these things or you might get raped. Well, people are raped when they aren’t doing those types of things, raped by their partners, raped by acquaintances. The whole idea of a woman “getting herself” raped negates the fact that there is someone else actually doing the raping. Adrian was acting like a dumbass, particularly as her behavior was not helping her meet her stated goal. But Steve was dead wrong on his assertions and he was actively helping to reinforce rape culture.

   @sfsinger –

   I follow WOAD and Gina’s post is clear in terms of what the purpose is. I also linked to the same BWBT post Gina did. Slim actually posted two reactions to being banned – I linked to the one that talked about expanding our perception to other areas and other community traditions.

   I understand that wasn’t the aim of Gina’s post, but Slim was quite right – we aren’t the only black women under seige and would could learn a lot if we looked to our sisters around the globe. I also had the impression from the comments that the discussion wasn’t just divestment from places like Dunbar Village (I wouldn’t call that a community) but the divestment from all things that are harmful in pop culture, theology, what have you.

   Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 7:36 am ¶

10. Whit wrote:

    Mahsino, you could use skin bleachers if you felt the need to lighten your skin tone. Not every fat person wants to or can (or even should) go to the gym to ‘lose weight’ as if losing weight is always a good thing, or all fat people want to change their weight.

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 10:20 am ¶

11. Seattle Slim wrote:

    Sfsinger,

    Is that what “disagreeing” is called now? Obstructionism? I have a right to my opinion and I began formulating my arguments on my blog. Emphasis on the “my” part.

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 1:24 pm ¶

12. Rchoudh wrote:

    Some nice informative links here! Some of my opinions on them:

    1) Mid East students getting their own category: sounds good it acknowledges diversity. On the other hand how far will this new categorization extend? Will it affect the upcoming 2010 US census survey? I read that the Census Bureau believes it to be too expensive to change the current categories to include more. And I also read that some Mid East Americans feel maybe it’s best for the US census to not be changed because in the post 9/11 climate what if the new categorization results in them being “tracked” by the government?

    2) Mid East rappers: Also interesting and it reminds me of the Islamic rap that is popular in certain parts of Europe. They rap similar themes.

    3) Black Enterprise article: really great rebuttal to that CNBC jokefest

    4) Fatism vs Racism: Ok so now one replaces the other? Can’t they co-exist together? Oh I forgot racism is gone now we’re in a post racial world!

    5) US vs Navajo Nation: Can someone explain to me legalese? Does it mean the court overturned a prior ruling?

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 6:35 pm ¶

13. Marge Twain wrote:

    I just solved the mystery of why my traffic has shot up:) Thanks, for linking me Latoya.

    KadiBaby- Ariane may have acted like a drunk fool, but she was trying to get that guy in bed. She’s been going back and forth on whether she wants to go along with the program and at that point she was fed up with it. When you say about a woman “her behavior was dangerous and could get her raped” you are letting the rapist off the hook. You’re taking his behavior as a given, while she’s on the hook to not entice him. You don’t consider Steve Ward’s words to be slut shaming and I wouldn’t either. I would take it farther and call it apologism, or as Latoya said, reinforcing rape culture.

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 8:12 pm ¶

14. Mahsino wrote:

    @Whit, no amount of skin bleaching is going to change the fact that I am/was born Black.

    And I don’t think I ever said that all “fat” people should or need to go to the gym to lose weight. I was simply stating fact that people can’t change race, you can (not should or must) change weight.

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 8:25 pm ¶

15. Sobia wrote:

    I LOVED the Sepia Mutiny piece! Especially

    “You third-generation tykes owe us big. We smug singles are facing the wrath of our community now, so that one day you can actually take advantage of this “30 is the new 20” bullshit, and go to weddings, funerals, housewarmings or any other Desi-infested event without cringing, or hiding from the Auntie mafia in your car. Don’t worry about thanking us, just hook us up when we’re 65, since Social Security isn’t going to do it.”

    and

    “So now I’ve taken the UPS approach to dating: What can brown do for me?”

    Although I usually don’t read SM because of their “India is the only country in South Asia and Muslims don’t exist” approach, but this one was enjoyable.

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 10:19 pm ¶

16. Pablo wrote:

    “Although I usually don’t read SM because of their “India is the only country in South Asia and Muslims don’t exist” approach, but this one was enjoyable.”

    ======

    Sobia, it’s a real shame that you make a sectarian accusation against Sepia Mutiny. They are a blog founded by Indian Americans to deal primarilu with the Indian-American experience, and most of the bloggers are of Indian origin, although there have also been bloggers of Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi heritage.

    I fear you display your own reflexive prejudice and hyper-sensitive sense of marginalisation, something that is often reflected inversely when Hindu nationalists accuse them of not being ‘Hindu’ enough for them…..

    (The permanent bloggers of Sepia Mutiny are actually two Sikhs, two Christians, and one Hindu, showing the multicultural nature of the Indian community in America and of India itself, a composite culture that also makes your insinuation about them actively ‘marginalising’ Muslims all the more insidious and snide)

    In short, if there is a space for a Pakistani / Muslim American group blog that can be as witty, fun, serious, involving and vibrant as Sepia Mutiny is, I suggest you start writing it, rather than making rude comments about people who do nothing wrong at all but the mistakes all good people make when they try their best.

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 11:06 pm ¶

17. Mahsino wrote:

    After thinking more about it, I should probably make myself clear: I’m not trying to deny that weight discrimination exists, I’m merely stating (and I know I run the risk of playing the oppression Olympics, but as a duel “athlete” I think I can say) it’s not the same struggle, in my singular opinion, it’s not even in the same ballpark.

    And though it is a struggle, it’s not the same as racism, and the issue is way too complex (health concerns vs. physical appearace) to parse down to a comment about the gym.

    And since this isn’t the first time a comment I’ve made has been misconstrued because I kept it too general, I guess I should preface my opinion with the fact that I am aware of some of the studies involving weight and it’s correlation to employment, wages and quality of health care, but I think in most cases there are other elements surrounding society’s attitudes about weight other than somebody being offended by mere physical characteristics.

    Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 11:37 pm ¶

18. Whit wrote:

    Mahsino, of course discrimination against fat people doesn’t operate the same way as racism. That’s the whole point of not playing oppression olympics. I apologize if what I said seemed to buy into that notion. Just because you feel/know that you can lose weight by increasing your activity level doesn’t mean that it applies to all fat people. People are fat for a variety of reasons, and not everyone can change those situations to become less fat. And that’s assuming they want to be less fat, which is a pretty shaming/blaming/phobic/pitying assumption to make in the first place.

    Posted 15 Apr 2009 at 12:27 am ¶

19. Mahsino wrote:

    at this point i feel i’m arguing with someone whose on the same side as me and we’re getting caught up by the wording. i acknowledge that not everyone want’s to or should lose weight and i wasn’t making assumptions about the general overweight population. and i think i mentioned that people are overweight for a variety of reasons, so what i’m not understanding is why we’re arguing? or are we even arguing over the issue, without voice intonation it’s hard to tell if you’re reiterating my point or arguing a variation of it.

    Posted 15 Apr 2009 at 4:14 pm ¶

20. Sobia wrote:

    @Pablo:

    “The permanent bloggers of Sepia Mutiny are actually two Sikhs, two Christians, and one Hindu, showing the multicultural nature of the Indian community in America and of India itself”

    And what about the Muslims of India? India has the second largest Muslim population in the world, but SM couldn’t have one Muslim blogger? There are not even any casual Muslim bloggers on there.

    SM does seem to serve the Indian population well, but considering there is still a “South Asian” feel to it (links, desi blogs list, and the odd story on terrorism in Pakistan) it seems it might be better if they actually included stories about Pakistanis and Bangladeshis at the same level as those about Indians. But if India is their focus, then it should be a little more explicit. And maybe leave the stories about Pakistani terrorism off of there. Pakistan is more then just “terrorism central.”

    Posted 15 Apr 2009 at 4:58 pm ¶

21. Rchoudh wrote:

    @ Pablo

    I don’t know if you’ve read any of SM’s posts about Pakistan. Very often the comments on those posts devolve into becoming anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistani tirades that go unchecked by the bloggers. If they want to blog about events in Pakistan or other surrounding countries that’s fine but I don’t see the point of discussing about non-Indian/Indian-American issues if the posts don’t generate constructive dialogue but instead devolve into knee-jerk racist comments about non-Indians.

    Posted 15 Apr 2009 at 7:32 pm ¶

22. Lea wrote:

    That Newitz piece is so disappointing, and her response in the comments is even more disappointing. The parallel a commenter drew to skeevy white men who think they “respect” “Asian” culture by fetishizing Asian women was really spot on.

    Posted 16 Apr 2009 at 6:09 am ¶