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I know that there's only a very small percentage of black people in Italy, Mr Prime Minister, but as the leader of a culturally prominent nation you should know better.
That's like a black person trying to be 'cute' (Silvio B's defense of this statement which sadly doesn't sound like it's been untouched by racist thinking, and is at best grossly inappropriate) about how incredibly different a white person looks by calling them 'bleached'. No doubt you had some magnanimous intent, were somewhat appreciative of Mr Obama's skin colour, and it is true that race should not be ignored at a time when Obama's black African heritage stands out in its singularity (for the country he represents, and the company he is in as President of the USA, that is - unless you're in Africa, chances are you will not see a lot of black leaders in the media).
But if you want to complement a person on their skin colour (and, well, as a politician, I would personally focus on other things), you should think about how it might affect THEM. There are all sorts of complimentary ways to compliment someone on the shade of their skin - chocolate, mocha, cinnamon and ebony come to mind. Tanned can be conflated with 'artificial', which would show a disbelief that a man of Obama's intellect can come wrapped in that shade of epidermis. It's too much like you're saying "underneath all that, you're just like us, white people (and we can be like you, too)."
No, he's not, and you can't. We do not have the technology to change the colour of our skin (or at least its appearance) as suits our mood as yet, and for now Obama represents a race (well, partially) which looks beautiful in its own right, is made up of people who have their own standards of beauty, which should be appreciated if you're going to try and contribute to the discourse around them, and these people will hopefully continue to resist the discrimination they are up against to continue to increase their contribution to world culture.
You wanna rethink that statement, buddy?
It was inevitable that Berlusconi would cop a bit of backlash, with a great many Italian CNN readers claiming to be embarassed over such an 'idiotic' comment. However Alessio Vinci, the correspondent for the news network who is deeply embroiled in Italian affairs, suggest there are "many adjectives to describe such behavior, but racist is not one of them" on his blog.
Jean Leonard Touadi, the only black member of the Italian Parliament, was not of the opinion that the Prime Minister was racist (is he being too lenient, or thinking wishfully?) either, going on to say I am deeply disappointed that the first thing that he has to say about such a big and important event for the world and the United States is to say that the new president is sun-tanned.
In any case, let's hope that Silvio Berlusconi has had some time to reconsider this remark over the last 20 days, and will, at the very least, think twice before attempting to compliment someone in a way that isn't so complimentary after all.
Silvio Berlusconi
I don't have time to comment on the below articles right now, but I would like to bring them to your attention... I will be updating this post to respond to them, so please come back shortly! (Edit: I ended up discussing them in the comments section.)
From Shanghaiist.com:
'Respected professor upsetting the sexual apple cart'
Lin Yinhe
With a title like that, who could resist? The Shanghai Daily report in question discusses the recent controversy surrounding noted professor Li Yinhe of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The article is an opinion piece written by Jiang Yunsheng and says that while he/she respects Li's research on sexuality ...
I think some of her opinions on marriage and sex are ill-timed. In fact, the following viewpoints issued a challenge to the present marriage system.
She thinks that one doesn't need to show his or her affection to only one person, or even to the same sex; one night stands are but a personal choice and it shouldn't be morally reprimanded if both participants are unmarried and, she suggests that the government should issue licenses to Chinese prostitutes.
Our interest piqued, we decided to search for information about Professor Li. The wife of late author Wang Xiaobo, Professor Li's research and controversial, public stances on matters of sexuality have earned her equal parts notoriety, applause and scorn. Back in 2004 she promoted the idea of legalizing sex work. Recently, Li has found herself facing a much heavier fusillade of criticism than ever before. Why? Because she openly advocates polygamy, one-night stands, homosexuality (including homosexual marriage), and even, in certain cases, incest.
The incident that upset the "sexual apple cart" was a report in the Nanjing paper Jinlin Wanbao that suggested that at a talk there, Li's espousal of uncommon sexual practices incited anger among the audience members. Professor Li does not deny her viewpoints, but claims that the newspaper report was false -- according to her, the atmosphere was of one of heated and lively debate, and people surrounded her, but not to condemn her but rathe to get her autograph and continue exchanging ideas with her.
Of course, many people are not going to care what did or didn't happen in Nanjing or if she was being wrongly vilified by the media -- what they want to know is how she, like Satan, could advocate polygamy, sodomy and incest. Li's replies are quite interesting -- she says that China's problem is that sexual mores are, for the most part, dominated by what she terms a pre-modern sexuality, meaning China's feudal past. What Li advocates is that there be greater sexual diversity in society -- meaning that we can choose the ways that we want relate to other human beings, including what kind of sexual relations we want to have with them.
Now you're going to get some flack for remarks like that, almost regardless of where you are. In fact, Li believes that there are but three necessary and sufficient conditions for determining if sexual relations or practices can be considered legitimate and therefore tolerated by society:
1. The sex is voluntary (consent).
2. The participants are all adults.
3. The sex occurs in a private place.
By her own admission, Li's principles negate a lot of moral restrictions that we're used to imposing on sexual activity. For example, if you and six or 18 of your close friends want to get together somewhere private and re-enact scenes from Eyes Wide Shut, you can do that -- that shouldn't be against the law (though in China, it is). Li's position is a fairly classical liberal position. When she says that the individual has an inviolable right to pursue certain kinds of behavior so long as they don't infringe on the rights of others to do, it becomes clear that her intellectual forebears are John Locke and J.S. Mill, and though her feminism and openness to "alternative" or marginalized forms of sexuality might have shocked those two Englishmen, her insistence that such rights inhere in the individual are merely elaborations of the points that these thinkers made so long ago.
In a recent interview, an interviewer asked Professor Li if she felt that her views were "ahead of her time", to which she replied (and we paraphrase ): "If I had said in 1900 that we shouldn't bind women's feet, I would have been 'ahead of the times,' and if I had said at that time that men and women could kiss before marriage I would have been 'ahead of my time' as well. If we wait for the appropriate time before making changes, then there is really no hope for social progress." (Italics are courtesy of Epiphanie of PmC) The interviewer asked Li why bother promoting these minority views, when mainstream society is not going to try all that kinky stuff anyway? Li replied, correctly we think, that it's not a matter of condoning this or that behavior, but rather one of protecting our rights to choose what kind of behavior to engage in -- and only such a framework can protect (sexual) minorities from the tyranny of the majority.
Li's steadfast adherence to classic liberalism and the universality of human rights has also drawn fire from the pomo camp, who have cast doubt on Reason and the Enlightenment project. Li's reply to that: The postmodern critique just doesn't fly when it comes to China. Generally speaking, China's economy is just getting into the swing of modernity, while sexual mores are, according to her, still stuck in the pre-modern phase. Now we know that she probably knows how much raunchy sex goes on Shanghai -- but she seems to feel that on the whole, China's still too conservative. She believes that a certain amount of repression is a necessary evil for civilization to occur (Freud in Civilization and its Discontents?）but that there is such a thing as too much (unnecessary) repression (Herbert Marcuse's notion of "surplus repression?"), and Li believes that China falls into the latter category. Li hopes that Chinese society will change, but she does set the bar rather high: A recent blog post claims that mere tolerance for sexual minorities and non-mainstream sexual practices is not enough -- there must also be a genuine respect for those members of society who prefer a sexuality that isn't heteronormal. We know that this ain't gonna happen unless the society as a whole becomes more open to alternative lifestyles and differences in general.
And is ever going to happen? The Shanghai Daily piece closes with this:
The so-called "sexual pleasure rule" is a physiological terminology, but human sexuality is governed by implied rules of behavior and the status quo -- at all times and in all countries -- admits of no exception whatsoever.
Without question, the form of marriage and sexual relationships will change with social development.
But one cannot be too careful in dealing with these problems, especially while the entire nation has not reached an advanced level of ideological, ethical, scientific and cultural thinking yet.
There it is, folks -- the "our level isn't high enough yet" theory, which explains why China isn't ready for democracy either. Shanghaiist agrees with the author of this piece in saying that you can't be too cavalier about these things -- change of this sort never comes about easily. On the other hand, Li is also right in defending the function of those who are "ahead of their time," who say things that make decent people squirm but whose ideas and values just might set off the spark of positive social change.
The problem is that the "the people are not ready, their levels are not high enough" is a convenient way for the powers that be to arrogate to themselves a paternalistic role where they get to decide who makes the choices about how both the direction and the speed of social change. This is why, though not a huge fan of Super Voice Girls, she nonetheless defended its right to exist against those who wanted it stopped and banned. And while Professor Li often confines her work to sex and sexuality, what she really advocates, in the end, is the creation of an open society, where sexuality is like freedom of speech -- I may hate what you say, but I will defend your right to say it (and respect you as a human being the whole time through). And at least for us, that is an apple cart worth overturning.
and, from ABCNews.net.au:
Sex, kitchen sinks: iPhone baffled by British accents
Posted Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:45pm AEDT
A new voice-recognition search tool for the iPhone has problems understanding British accents, leading to some bizarre answers to spoken queries, a newspaper report and users said.
The free application, which allows iPhone owners to use the Google search engine with their voice, mistook the word "iPhone" variously for "sex," "Einstein" and "kitchen sink," said the Daily Telegraph.
Comments left by users on the application's website seemed to confirm the problem. "Awesome job Google. Only problem is every time I say the word 'fish' it registers as 'sex'," wrote one, identified as Kevin.
A video demonstration of the Google Mobile App on the online giant's website shows an American engineer successfully asking for pictures of the Golden Gate as well as cinema timetables and temperature conversions.
The website also includes a link to a video showing people with Irish, British and Chinese accents asking for relatively complicated searches, with apparent success.
But British iPhone owners had less luck when speaking the word "iPhone" into the application - a Scottish user was offered a porn website after it mistook his search for "sex," the Telegraph reported.
A user from Surrey, south of London, had his request mistaken for "Myspace" and "Einstein" was another option offered for "iPhone" spoken with a Kent accent, it said.
The only British accent which correctly understood the request was for a user from Yorkshire, northern England, although he was also offered "bonfire."
A Welsh accent gave the suggestions "gorillas" and "kitchen sink."
"I've got a traditional Kentish accent and the thing kept on spitting back ridiculous things," said Roger Ellinson, 26, from Maidstone in Kent, south-eastern England.
"I asked it to find my nearest pizza take away and it came back with something about volcanoes," he added.
"I asked it to find my nearest pub and it gave me a link to some kind of weird dating website," said Mr Ellinson. "I'll have to try to put on my best American accent to get it to work."
On its website, Google points out that the new voice search system "is currently available only in US English."
One British user, Edward Parsons, says on the site's comments board "This is fantastic, except for the North American accent bias.
"It actually works pretty well, but I have to disguise my [North London] accent with a terrible folksy Texan tourist voice to get results. I can see this is going to be the source of much amusement and confusion."
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Rune Vejby says:
I am so glad that you mention the "sitting on benches talking to random guys/persons" idea because it is very life-affirming and fun, actually. I have a special relation to public benches. It is a brilliant thing. They allow you to sit down somewhere and experience the world from one unique perspective. Normally you would just walk or bike or drive through cities, only focusing on not bumping into people. The same when you are a tourist: you rush around in order to be able to see as much as possible but only spend few hours/minutes in each place! When you sit on a bench you get the opportunity to dwell on the world from one special place. Often I look at the traffic and the buildings nearby. I also look at people passing by. Another special thing about public benches: it is perfectly fine and "permitted" to talk to a person sitting next to you. If you walk on the street or sit in a bus it would be considered very odd if you start talking to people nearby. Even though benches are public space too, there seems to be something special about them. They are somehow magical.
I say:
<3
You say:
Pick a bench, any bench...
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Less than four days ago, the world United States of America elected Barack Obama to be the next president, and I have taken the time to feel ecstatic about it... I've come to expect my sense of wild contentment with the world to grow, and while the right to same sex marriage has been taken away in California, I am still wishing that I was lucky enough to live there more permanently.
Oh yes, yes... Yes We DID!
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As California goes, so goes the nation... and as America goes, so goes the world - even if they were not the first country to introduce civil unions (Denmark) or gay marriage (Netherlands). So what does the passing of Proposition 8 mean?
It means that the taste of equality that was felt for several months had time to register in the minds of many, and will be sorely missed. It is clear that with such a small margin of defeat, proactive non-homophobes will not lament their losses for much longer. Once a precedent like this has been set, it's only a matter of time before it is reintroduced as a permanent fixture. The unkind gestures brought to my attention by Prop 8 is soon to be a thing of the past, and it's important to realise that, if we keep positive and open-minded, there is no change we cannot introduce within our lifetime. Nobody wants to live in fear - whether it is of homosexuals or dying tomorrow. You can help erode the level of fear present in the people you know you affect (and the people you don't know you affect, too) by
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The following text is copyrighted in the name of Rune Vejby and should not be reproduced without permission. Apologies for my inability to reproduce the images included in the Microsoft Word Document.
Contents
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I'm feeling very international these days... not only am I seriously pursuing a job that will take me all around Europe on a regular basis (a traveler's dream), I've been mingling with people of all kind of backgrounds more frequently, and over the past few months, I've begun a number of close friendships over the internet. I am going to meet one of these new e-mates this weekend and I am feeling all shiny, new and refreshed.
It began with postmodernism-inspired pals in Egypt and Denmark, found myself re-invigorating my friendship with my friend in China, led me to place up ads for musicians, language swaps and counselling lessons, generating a wealth of contacts. I am currently learning Japanese, Spanish, Chinese and French! My Spanish teacher is a photographer and architect who originated in Italy and has spent many years in Spain, and my Chinese teacher has lived in both Beijing and Hong Kong. My French teacher is a Parisian of Algerian background, which gives her a unique view of the French, and my Japanese tutor is a pretty girl from Kyoto, somewhere in Japan I haven't been
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It's rare of me to save an image to my computer. Here are some that inspired the right-click shimmy.
The Northern Lights in Scandinavia - a sight you'd have to travel into remote terrain to capture, not to mention being in the right place at the right time
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September 26th 2008 02:50
We need nothing short of multiple revolutions of thinking to replace the slow sort of change that comes with generations of old-fashioned thought, wherein absolutism and phobias such as racial prejudices, homophobia, xenophobia and many others are made much more obsolete than they happen to be right at this moment in my world.
In the 1960s people decided to radically re-evaluate their worlds and make a dramatic break with the past - why can't we do that now? This is the kind of revolutionary thinking that should always be in practice, not something that comes around every half-millenium or something
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Comment by Postmodern Critic
on Fan-fiction, Slash & RPS
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Angelina and Jennifer is very creative!
I dabbled in writing a RPS story, and one of the reasons it's so compelling is that you already have a very strong personality to work with... you don't need to create one of your own, but you can 'fill in the blanks' all you like.
I'm sure Viggo wouldn't mind awfully, but then again it can't feel entirely unobtrusive either... Ian McKellen actually knows about fanfiction written about himself and condones it! Also, I think Dominic Monaghan (who played Merry in LotR) printed out a bunch of RPS and showed it to some of the cast members at a party, and they were joking about it.
I love your description of hetero slash-inspired couples, where there is an element of the forbidden, I hadn't looked at it quite that way before.
I was quite surprised to stumble upon LotR RPS and slash all those years ago, I had never even suspected that a subculture of women (it's almost always women) would write about men in romantic or erotic relationships, and it sat comfortably with me intellectually.
Great post!