[Goanet] Double Standards in Western press
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:20:32 -0800 (PST) From: Gilbert Lawrence gilbert2...@yahoo.com The point of my post, was the Indian newspaper's witty and pointed message of the cartoon, (no pun intended) regarding the response of the Australian police, was taken as an affront by the Australian cabinet minister. No such luck when cartoons in the Western media distort and / or offend the ethnic or religious sensitivities of other groups / nationalities.? If one believes in freedom of the press, the minister should have stayed out of the reporting of a free-press. I guess we know when and where the shoe bites. Mario responds: This is a gross misrepresentation of the situation and the initial post as well. There was a double standard being used, but it was not by the Australians. To begin with, representing the Australian police as racists of the worst kind by using a Ku Klux Klan cartoon is hardly witty and pointed when there is no evidence that the attacks were based on race as we can see from the puerile explanation of the Mail Today editor. The cartoon was deliberately meant to offend and provoke the Australian Police who had already increased their efforts to prevent these attacks and were thus not ignoring them. Quote: People in India perceive these attacks as racist, because their children are being attacked and killed. So it's good if Australia is getting agitated. The more agitated they get, the harder they will work to improve the situation, he told the BBC. Unquote. Just because their children are being attacked how does this make the attacks racist? As Gabriel has shown, some were clearly not. Secondly, none of the officials in Australia who protested the deliberate and grossly offensive cartoon said the paper had no right to print it, i.e. did not use their official positions to impede freedom of speech in India. This is precisely why mentioning the Danish cartoons in the original post was in poor taste because in that case the Danish cartoonist WAS using his freedom of speech, whereas the reaction was mass rioting and arson across several Muslim countries that took the lives of over a hundred rioters in police firings to quell the riots. This is hardly comparable to the reactions in Australia, nor were the reactions by Muslim radicals an expression of free speech. In fact, four years after the cartoons were first published there was yet anothet attempt on the cartoonists life just a few days ago.
Re: [Goanet] Double Standards in Western press
The police have not been complacent. And Aussie police are rarely complacent, despite their hands being tied down by do-gooders and civil-libertarians. All they did was state that any racial motives were yet to be established. And that was the distorted sentence played upon by the cartoonist. Given that the attackers have yet to be identified and apprehended, how can a police officer of any rank be sure that the attack on Nitin was racially motivated? Isn't it racist to 'presume' the race of unidentified criminals? Given that Nitin was walking down a dark alley-way in the late hours of the night, would the attack be likely to be racially-motivated or more likely by some drug-addled idiots looking for a source for their next shot? What do you think would happen to you if you said to those drug-addled youths that you had no money on you? I don't understand your statement Now the Indians who live down-under can sleep better, especailly if they have a White Australian girlfriend / boyfriend / mistress. What do you mean exactly? And please do not quote me out of context - that last line is very mischievous in its placement. I presume the trend is similar in other parts of the world relates to the overall growth in crime rates - not to Indian attacks. Now the question arises - why do these attacks mostly happen in the western suburbs of Melbourne? Why not in the eastern suburbs where there has been a sizeable Indian/Sri Lankan population for years living in peace with their neighbours? Where there is an Indian temple on extensive grounds? I would draw you attention to the following article - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/look-to-the-east-for-solutions-to-violence-against-indians/story-e6frfhqf-1225818209157 . Please note also that before this sudden large influx of Indians in Melbourne, there have been a lot of Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and Fijian Indians coming to Melbourne. There was never any trouble. Till now. So what changed? Attitudes of the newcomers? Is it because the previous settlers were professionals and had families and had experience of where to live whereas the newcomers live where costs are the cheapest? What happens when you move to a cheap suburb? What sort of demographic live in cheap suburbs according to you? Do you think only Indians are targetted in these cheap suburbs, or anyone who is perceived as having cash on them? How may non-Indians have faced the same sort of attacks in recent times in these suburbs? Ah! the latter never make it into the Indian or international papers, do they? Gabriel. - Original Message From: Gilbert Lawrence gilbert2...@yahoo.com To: goa...@goanet.org Sent: Mon, 11 January, 2010 10:20:32 AM Subject: [Goanet] Double Standards in Western press I think you have missed the point of the post and the cartoon. Just because it is an Indian on Indian (or in USA a black on black) crime, it is no reason for the police to be complacent. The victims of crimes are victims, irrespective of the perpetrator and whether the victims are Indian, White or any other ethnic group. The point of my post, was the Indian newspaper's witty and pointed message of the cartoon, (no pun intended) regarding the response of the Australian police, was taken as an affront by the Australian cabinet minister. No such luck when cartoons in the Western media distort and / or offend the ethnic or religious sensitivities of other groups / nationalities. If one believes in freedom of the press, the minister should have stayed out of the reporting of a free-press. I guess we know when and where the shoe bites. Thanks for telling us the crimes against Indians were perpetrated by other Indians. Now the Indians who live down-under can sleep better, especailly if they have a White Australian girlfriend / boyfriend / mistress. Regards, GL --- Gabriel de Figueiredo Some of the news don't mention the nationalities/origins of the attackers when they do mention the nationalities/origins of the victims as Indians, which can cause a distortion in understanding the motives behind some of the attacks. There was an Indian attacked in one of my friends' neighbourhood, which was reported in the local press - later transpired that the attackers were themselves other Indians, who had had prior altercations earlier on. I presume the trend is similar in other parts of the world. __ See what's on at the movies in your area. Find out now: http://au.movies.yahoo.com/session-times/
[Goanet] Double Standards in Western press
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Happy New Year Twenty-Ten --- Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 16:32:38 -0800 (PST) From: Gilbert Lawrence gilbert2...@yahoo.com One of India's newspaper has a cartoon about Australians and their country goes berserk. See below: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8447465.stm Yet, when Western Press has a cartoon about Allah or religion, it is Freedom of Speech. Mario asks: I detect some confusion here about free speech and double standards. The suggestion is that it is somehow wrong for Australians to condemn as deeply offensive being depicted as racists in an Indian newspaper, but OK for the Indian newspaper to print a cartoon depicting the Australian police as racists. The controversy has arisen because Indians say the attacks on Indians is because of their race, whereas the Australians think the attacks are by common criminals and thugs and the race of the victims is not a factor. Obviously, no one knows for sure. The example used is the series of offensive Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, when the western media claimed the cartoons were an expression of free speech. This is not a good example. To begin with, the reaction to the Danish cartoon by Muslim radicals was deadly rioting in the streets of several Muslim countries, attacks and arson of Danish embassies and even property belonging to other Europeans, as well as attempts on the life of the Danish cartoonist as recently as last week. Over 100 people died in the riots and the police firings on the rioting crowds to quell the violence. The Muslim radicals who rioted in the streets and are still trying to kill the Danish cartoonist went far beyond any concept of free speech. As we say in America, Your right of free speech ends where it intersects with my skin or my property. In addition, inciting people to chaos and violence would violate the principle of free speech. So far, there are no reports of Australians rioting in the streets and burning the property of Indians over the Indian cartoon. In fact they are doing everything they can to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Secondly, I looked in vain in the BBC report for anyone claiming that the Indian newspaper did not have the right to publish the incendiary and incredibly offensive cartoon. All the Australians did, according to the report, was verbally condemn the cartoons as deeply offensive. Unless there is a double standard being used, the Indian paper had every right to publish the cartoon under their rights of editorial free speech, and the Australians likewise had every right to condemn the cartoons as part of their own right of free speech. My question is, would the students who were victims of violence in Australia have been any safer in India? Make up your own mind.
Re: [Goanet] Double Standards in Western press
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Happy New Year Twenty-Ten --- Race angle forcefully fed by media, feel Indians - Times of India. I don't think Australia is racist, it's just law and order situation. Indian media has hyped and exaggerated, Amitan felt. http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/indians-abroad/Race-angle-forcefully-fed-by-media-feel-Indians/articleshow/5430180.cms Some of the news don't mention the nationalities/origins of the attackers when they do mention the nationalities/origins of the victims as Indians, which can cause a distortion in understanding the motives behind some of the attacks. There was an Indian attacked in one of my friends' neighbourhood, which was reported in the local press - later transpired that the attackers were themselves other Indians, who had had prior altercations earlier on. See also Two men questioned in Sydney over Indian's murder - Times of India Police officials are looking into claims that Singh, who recruited Indian immigrants to work on farms, may have been murdered on December 27 in a fight over unpaid money to workers. http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/indians-abroad/Two-men-questioned-in-Sydney-over-Indians-murder/articleshow/5429880.cms The current issue of an Indian being set on fire in Essendon (an outer suburb of Melbourne) is also rather strange, in the circumstancial sense. Police accounts say there are certain “strange” bits to the story, which made a racially motivated account appear difficult to believe. The attackers have been described in only a generalised description which is really just unspecific, just four males, Det Act Snr Sgt Smyth said. Gabriel. PS Robberies in general have been on the increase lately, and violent ones more so, usually involving knives (guns only in gangland warfare, which seems to have died down), especially in periods leading up to and immediately after the Christmas season. The reasons are obvious (drinks, drugs and money to obtain the former). I presume the trend is similar in other parts of the world. - Original Message From: Mario Goveia mgov...@sbcglobal.net To: goanet@lists.goanet.org Sent: Sun, 10 January, 2010 10:11:15 AM Subject: [Goanet] Double Standards in Western press --- http://www.GOANET.org --- Happy New Year Twenty-Ten --- My question is, would the students who were victims of violence in Australia have been any safer in India? Make up your own mind. __ See what's on at the movies in your area. Find out now: http://au.movies.yahoo.com/session-times/
[Goanet] Double Standards in Western press
I think you have missed the point of the post and the cartoon. Just because it is an Indian on Indian (or in USA a black on black) crime, it is no reason for the police to be complacent. The victims of crimes are victims, irrespective of the perpetrator and whether the victims are Indian, White or any other ethnic group. The point of my post, was the Indian newspaper's witty and pointed message of the cartoon, (no pun intended) regarding the response of the Australian police, was taken as an affront by the Australian cabinet minister. No such luck when cartoons in the Western media distort and / or offend the ethnic or religious sensitivities of other groups / nationalities. If one believes in freedom of the press, the minister should have stayed out of the reporting of a free-press. I guess we know when and where the shoe bites. Thanks for telling us the crimes against Indians were perpetrated by other Indians. Now the Indians who live down-under can sleep better, especailly if they have a White Australian girlfriend / boyfriend / mistress. Regards, GL --- Gabriel de Figueiredo Some of the news don't mention the nationalities/origins of the attackers when they do mention the nationalities/origins of the victims as Indians, which can cause a distortion in understanding the motives behind some of the attacks. There was an Indian attacked in one of my friends' neighbourhood, which was reported in the local press - later transpired that the attackers were themselves other Indians, who had had prior altercations earlier on. I presume the trend is similar in other parts of the world.
[Goanet] Double Standards in Western press
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Happy New Year Twenty-Ten --- One of India's newspaper has a cartoon about Australians and their country goes berserk. See below: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8447465.stm Yet, when Western Press has a cartoon about Allah or religion, it is Freedom of Speech. Regards, GL
