Goans aren't very good at responding to criticism. And when someone points out their mistakes they are too scared to deal with criticism.
Last week on Vavradeancho Ixtt I read two articles which were very racist. I sent a letter to the editor of Vavradeancho Ixtt, a Br. E. Miranda a letter criticising those articles with a cc to Walter Menezes to help in case my Konkani had mistakes. I'll give you my letter below in English translation below. Dear Br. Miranda, In the 13th June issue of Vavradeancho Ixtt there were 2 articles related to African or people whose origins are related to people of African origin. One was by one Rui Aleixo Coelho, entitled 'Khapreachem Jivit' (meaning 'the Life of a Khapri) and the second was ''Kalu' hem vaitt utor? ' (is Kalu a bad word?). The author of the second article was not disclosed. Coelho writes that a President of America was a' khapri' (sic). His name was Abraham Lincoln. I told Miranda that most scholars regard this information given by Coelho was dubious quoting 2 links: https://www.npr.org/sections/newsandviews/2008/06/andrew_jackson_thomas_jefferso.html https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_heritage_of_presidents_of_the_United_States Then I told Miranda that I didn't want to continue with the issue as to whether American presidents were African or not. But I went on to question Miranda as to how he allowed Coelho to use the word 'khapri'. I said that I didn't know whether Coelho knew whether the the Konkani word 'khapri' was derived from the Portuguese 'cafre' or from the Afrikaans 'kaffir' both of which are regarded as being offensive to Africans or people of African origin. Then I questioned Miranda regarding the person who on his sports page wrote: 'What's wrong in calling someone' Kalu'? He's not white. So what's wrong in speaking the truth? I told Miranda that his writer had no business addressing people with appellations which they find insulting. I told him, "Your writer says - what's wrong in calling a spade a spade?" I explained to Miranda why one can't call anyone whatsoever he cared. I reminded him that in the old days the elite referred to discriminated groups of people as 'mhars', 'chamars' or 'gauddos'. I told him that now these groups of people find such words insulting. One cannot say, "What's wrong in speaking the truth?" This is a wrong attitude. One cannot use words which disadvantaged people feel insulted by. My letter was not published by Br. Miranda in the recent Vavradeancho Ixtt. Which brings me back to what I began this letter with: Goans aren't very good at responding to criticism. And when someone points out their mistakes they are too scared to deal with criticism. Augusto