Jon Stewart and his crew were in good form this week covering some stuff related to race and Asian-ness.
First up, the "raghead" slur against South Carolina Republican Nikki Haley. Haley comes from Punjabi Sikh background, but is a Christian, born in South Carolina and is married to a white American. But she is still a dirty foreigner to rival Congressman Jake Knotts, who said on an internet talk show, "We already got one rag head in the white house. We don’t need another one in the governor’s mansion." No matter how much you assimilate, you're never quite white enough...
There's also stuff in this clip about famed White House correspondent Helen Thomas's anti-Semitic remarks that led to her resigning from her longstanding post.
Also on The Daily Show, the ever-awesome Aasif Mandvi checks out the town of Hacienda Heights where the school board is warning that teaching the middle-schoolers about Chinese language and culture is tantamount to making them into little Maoists...
As we gear up for some World Cup-inspired festivities, it's sobering to note how the sport's governing body FIFA has recently denied Iran from entering a women's football team in the upcoming Youth Olympics because they all wear hijab.
Now, don't for a minute think this is because FIFA are a champion of women's rights, or that they make rules like this based on any kind of common sense. After all, this is the same FIFA whose President Sepp Blatter has previously urged female players to wear skimpier outfits to increase the popularity of the game. And this is the same FIFA who several years ago made it a yellow card offense - the same as making a dangerous tackle - for any male player to remove his shirt while celebrating a goal.
Now, as I understand it, Iran mandates that its female players wear a form of hijab when they play. This, for me, is very wrong; I have no problem with the women wearing it, but only if they are also given the choice not to as well.
But for FIFA to ban it? That's some major cultural insensitivity from an organisation that is meant to represent the "World Game".
And in this tussle between FIFA and Iran, who are the real losers? You guessed it - these gifted young women who just want to play soccer.
The baby's name is Ardi Rizal. He's from Musi Banyuasin in South Sumatra. And he's a 2-pack-a-day man.
I couldn't believe this was real when I first saw it... but then it IS in Indonesia. And knowing Indonesia as I do, it's actually not all that surprising.
Indonesia has many vices, but cigarette smoking is probably its most common. According to this article, the smoking rate amongst the population has risen in the last 20 years (from 53% to 60% of males). I've seen other estimates that it's closer to 70%. Compare that to neighbouring Singapore, where only around 30% of males smoke.
The reason for Indonesia's addiction? Free reign to the tobacco industry. Cigarettes are cheap, and there are few restrictions on cigarette advertising. Indeed, tobacco companies are ever-present as sponsors for youth events, and can enact strategies to snare young consumers that would be unthinkable in Western countries. And the government enjoys the tax income generated by all this consumption. The smoking rate is likely to increase as well, since traditionally smoking was considered unseemly for women. Yet as Indonesia continues to modernise, these old taboos fall away and young women, particularly in the cities, see smoking as a symbol of freedom and modernity. Hooray.
You can also blame kretek cigarettes. Kretek refers to cigarettes with shredded cloves mixed in with the tobacco - brands like Gudang Garam, Bentoel, Djarum and Sampoerna are the best known. The cloves give a slight sweetness that helps appeal to young people; no wonder then that the US recently passed laws banning them from sale there. In Indonesia however, they are the preferred cigarette of around 80% of the market. This is partly due to their cheapness - they are taxed at a lower rate, perhaps because Indonesia is a major producer of cloves.
The power of the tobacco lobby - not just the foreign-owned corporations, but also the many farmers in Indonesia - means that it is controversial to even claim that cigarettes are bad for you. We take it for granted that virtually all smokers in the West today know that it is a deadly habit, even while they choose to ignore the risks. But such knowledge cannot be assumed in a country like Indonesia.
So you can blame the parents - damn right, since his father first gave him a cigarette to try at age 18 months - but this is only the most extreme example of a nation-wide dysfunction.
UPDATE: Apparently little Ardi Rizal has been given some medical treatment that has reduced his habit to "only" 1 pack a day. So I guess that is sort of good news.
If you have any Korean friends whose vocabulary is sadly lacking in swear words, now you can help them by sending them this. Its super funny. And serious.
Check the video below and tell me; do you think this is...
a) funny b) racist / Islamophobic c) boring d) funny for about 10 seconds and then kinda boring e) just stupid f) in poor taste for making fun of a vulnerable minority g) clever because it plays around with our expectations and stereotypes h) or something else?
You can pick more than one.
Then answer this honestly:
Would it make any difference to your answer if I told you that the people who made this are white British non-Muslims?
Or would it make any difference to your answer if I told you that the people who made this are British Asian Muslims?
No right or wrong answers here, I'm just interested in what folks think. How much is our appreciation of humour dependent on who it's coming from? Can we just laugh instinctively, or do we need to decide if something is ideologically okay first?
For the record, the creator of the video is Muslim. You could read more and watch more at The Samosa.
Last night on the tube I was fortunate to watch one of the most fascinating and moving documentaries I have ever seen. The Choir follows a number of inmates in a harsh South African prison who find the prison choir a distraction from their daily reality and a way of finding redemption through the power of music. If you've ever heard South African choral music you'll be able to imagine how breathtaking the music is.
If you ever have an opportunity to watch this, I can't recommend it enough.
You can read an interview with its Zimbabwean-Australian director Michael Davie here.
