Is Apu from the Simpsons racist?

Those numbers are quite meaningful though... It suggest that Hispanics aside, White's comprise more people at poverty level than all other minority groups combined. So the phrase "White Privilege" which sounds like a term describing all white people, to George's point is inaccurate, at best it describes a particular portion of Class status of White People and George seems to be going all in with it being just the Class status that's the privileged rather than the ethnicity.

I understand the percentage perspective as well and how that is disproportionate poverty for minorities but there needs to be cumulative analysis of both the total numbers as well as the percentages. Neglecting one or the other is distorting the reality of the situation.

 

For too long these issues have been hijacked on the basis of emotions rather than facts. If we could just lay out all of the facts without the emotional baggage, there might be some hope. Instead of a logical argument based on facts I am lamented as "mansplaining" (of all things) and the issue becomes a rehashing of tired old talking points and the usual finger pointing. Then it gets personal and turns into a matter of arguing tactics, facts be damned.

I try not to go down that road lest I be banned again, the ultimate expression of this phenomenon. After all, if you can shut an opinion down, you win, right?

 

The Simpsons has always had a slight liberal/progressive bias that would occasionally be seen in a few episodes. Now you have these joyless progressive schoolmarms like Soulcomprimise saying it’s a racist show because Apu somehow represents all people from India.

Questions like this, asking whether or not something we’ve held dear to us in popular culture for many years is offensive in the current year always gives me a headache. But the same time I enjoy watching the left cannibalize themselves.

 

I'm honored that you consider me such a champion of liberal/progressive thought. But I don't claim that Apu represents all people from India or the Middle East. If I gave that impression I apologize.

Do you think our worldview is shaped by the television we watch though? We laugh at Apu. Then what happens in real life? Maybe a stereotype or two stands out a little more prominently. I'm surprised you don't find that to be harmful. I think stereotypes are dangerous.

 

Meh.

Stereotypes can be used in a dangerous or harmful way, sure. But they're not by default. This is comedy for Pete's sake. Some of those jokes they hang on this stereotypical Apu character seem even rather society/culture criticizing. Others may make fun of his position or country of origins but man, that's no problem on itself at all. It's a comedy that has always used (and not abused imo! Like can also be the case in comedy of course) and made fun of american stereotypes. For years. Apu is just another one. He happens to be from India. So fucking what???

 

Talk to the white working class boys who are struggling in school and can't get into the university with no scholarships available to them about their white privilege.

Talk to the white girls of Rotherham and Telford who were all victims of middle eastern gang rapes about their white privilege.

 

I think that it normalizes a narrow view of Apu in this case, or more generally of Indians. It makes him seem quirky and lame. They're not like that.

 

You seem to feel like I don't feel badly for those people, or that somehow both white privilege and white victims of rape and those with their own social disadvantages can't exist in the same society. That's your opinion. Fine. But I don't agree.

 

White privilege doesnt mean all white people have easy lives. It simply means there are issues that come up throughout the daily lives of minorities that would never occur to a white person or that they take for granted because they simply dont have to deal with it

 

Finally, someone articulated this correctly. Good post!

 

Well in that case, I've never been called an Uncle Tom, a coon, or a traitor for going against the popular narrative and having contrarian viewpoints against leftist naratives. Because this is something a white person never has to deal with. I suppose that's white privilege.

 

A white person honestly has an easier time in the justice system, all things being equal. If you look at white mass shooters, the narrative has become that they were/all are grappling with ''mental health issues,'' and now as a country, we need to take mental health issues, seriously. If you're a Muslim, you're automatically branded a ''terrorist,'' or if you're black, you're ''just another thug.'' But, if you're a white shooter, or mass murderer...you are struggling with mental health issues, and society should help you, feel bad for you, understand you. (I'm not saying that's wrong to take mental health issues seriously, but why is that the automatic narrative for white people, and not people of color?)

That's where white privilege shows itself at times, imo.

 

^why do you take it as anti white to acknowledge the struggles of minorities? Why would that be a reflection on your whiteness at all?

To say, for example, blacks and hispanics have a higher rate of poverty proportionate to their population
Or
That blacks and hispanics are arrested and convicted of drugs at a higher rate despite using at the same rate -

To say these things is not an attack on whites and it honestly baffles me how defensive people get over it

 

Those statements aren't attacks. It's the assumptions and conspiracy theories of what causes those statements to be true.

Let's just paint everyone with a single brush, and give white people a guilt trip about it. And don't forget to virtue signal how woke you are about it too

 

Attention parents of minority children:

Prepare your child for successful adult life by constantly reminding them that white privilege and systemic racism won't allow them to achieve as much as their white peers, and that they will always be a victim. Also let them know that hiring managers and police officers will always be racist and sometimes violent towards them.

 

I don't look at black people as thugs or Muslims as terrorists. If it's a black person on the street with his gang bangers in baggy pants then sure, thug status, but not a black person in a suit going to work, nor is a Muslim with a wife and 3 children going to attract terrorist status to the majority. So I don't agree with that. I do however believe everyone has the right to perceive a threat through their own eyes. Personally I wouldn't want to walk down a street with what I would stereotype as black thugs. I wouldn't wanna walk down a street with white thugs either, or a street dominated by Muslim men. That's me being weary, not racist, and I've every right to exercise my personal interpretations and I have no doubts all y'all would do the same. Whether or not they are threats doesn't really make a difference. You should not expect nor force anyone to go against their free will of judgement. That's what makes us human. That's what makes us free. It's a great vision to have that all races can live together in harmony, but it's unrealistic. Always has been, always will be. And that's not a white man's fault. Just look at two different species of dog, cat, monkey, bird etc. As animals, it's not in our nature. We have the ability in our ways and higher intelligence to overcome this, but pretty much like the dude said in Jurassic Park, life finds a way to draw back to our animal instincts and that includes all races of humans, not just whites.

 

I'm white and I've never felt like anyone is trying to guilt trip me or paint me with a single brush. Thats your own personal perception.

 

White guilt is the keystone of modern progressivism.

One example is Chris Matthews apologizing on behalf of "all white people" during the Zimmerman trials.