American student Kunthea Ker wrote how she was verbally abused at Sydney's New Year fireworks because of who she was. Tim Blair's response? He accuses her of lying.
We [her family] are American but we are also Asian, and the crowd seemed full of people making racist, disparaging comments about Asians - not only within our hearing but to our faces.
When we found a spot to sit, one woman remarked loudly that she didn't want to sit next to Asians. Another man shouted at us "I hate Chinese!" We are not Chinese. ...
Finally, as the fireworks began, a young man tried to push past us to the front. I told him: "There isn't any room to move. We're all trying to see the same fireworks." He responded by pushing forward anyway and saying in a contemptuous tone: "There is room. Anyway, you're Asian. It doesn't matter."
After all that had happened, I lost what little temper I had left and hit him. Then I began shouting, calling him a racist, cursing, the works. I am only five feet tall but I was so angry that my family and others nearby had to restrain me to allow the young man to get away.
Unquestionably, I acted inappropriately. Violence was a disproportionate response to the offence, not to mention illegal. Moreover, it was disgusting behaviour. But the racism exhibited by that man and others that night was even more disgusting and part of me still wishes I had responded the same way to all of them.
I certainly wish the other Asians in the crowd had spoken up instead of accepting or ignoring the comments.
Blair offers this conclusive disproof.
I don't buy this. Especially the part about "other Asians" remaining docile and meek while a whole crowd trashed Asians. Interestingly, Ms Ker has a background in creative writing.
That's it. That's Blair's entire argument. It doesn't seem likely to him. And Ker has a background in creative writing.
Blair's brains trust chimed in with more reasons why the story totally couldn't haven't happened that way:
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she was educated at Swarthmore
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an aussie racist would not say 'asian'.....they would say something like 'rice burner'. [Actually, a 'rice burner' is a Japanese motorbike.]
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she worked for a San Francisco law firm
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she has worked for the ACLU
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she is an obnoxious turd
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the dialogue is unconvincing.
The only one worth a comment is the last one: if she made up the dialogue, then with her creative writing background she would have made it more convincing, wouldn't she?
Oh, and her family witnessed everything, so if she invented the incident they would know. Blair's claim is not credible.
PS: Does this remind anyone of the Jamil Hussein case?
"rice burner?"
Yes z, Japanese motorcycles and/or speedtuned cars are often referred to as "rice burners" or "ricers".
It seems incredible that Blair could be surprised that racism toward Asians exists in Australia. They've had a long history of being weirdly paranoid about being invaded -- literally militarily invaded -- by Indonesia, and I've had plenty of arguments online with Aussies who were incredibly racist. Sure it's not all Aussies, just as all Americans are not racist, but can anyone be surprised that someone would run into racists in either place. Same with Germany and Jews, France and north Africans, etc.
It's less general a feeling , in all those places, than it was not so very long ago, but of course there's still a long ways to go to rid society of these disuting attitudes. People who deny these attitudes exist are helpers who prop up this disgusting hate, while pretending to be merely dispassionate observers of the scene.
As a European descended New Zealander the only time I have ever experienced racism was in Sydney. A colleague (a Canadian NZ resident) and I were on a business trip to Sydney and were having dinner in a Greek restaurant in King's Cross.
When the Australian Greek waitress asked where we were from. I replied New Zealand and was completely surprised to be told, amongst other things, that we were scum that had washed up on the beach at Bondi. Being a typical non-assertive New Zealander I just sat there with my jaw open. My colleague being Canadian and from Toronto just stood up told the women that what she had said was both inappropriate and offensive and said that we were leaving without paying.
Well I suppose we got a free dinner out of it but I still blanch at the remembered hatred.
I think Murcans feel a kind of secret satisfaction in knowing that we are not without competition in the racism stakes -- although (big foam finger) we're #1!
Eric Muller's blog recently attracted an unpleasant reminder of that fact in the form of a letter from Prof. (retired) Andrew William Fraser, who seems determined to make sure no one thinks Oz is a slacker when it comes to bigotry. But nothing is ever really new -- Eric Bogle has already written Fraser's theme song.
Oh -- and a web-cootie alert: my random Googling and linking turned up a site that doesn't think Bogle's song is a satire!
Click not on that link unless you have a strong stomach. Here's a pdf from Bogle's official site. Sorry.
Is Tim Blair saying that Asians are liars?
"Student"?
My Beijing-born partner arrived in Sydney in 1990. I recently asked her if she'd experienced much racism in her time here. She said that once, years ago, a bag-lady muttered something to her at a bus stop.
She thinks Australian society is amazingly tolerant and accommodating, much more so than, for example, China
I recall the genial contempt to all the Malaysian and Singaporean students who sat in the front of the engineering classes when I was a student at RMIT, and insisted on doing extra homework or other such un-Aussie acts. Is horrie still the common term of abuse (behind their back, of course)? I had a friend in high school, born 1960, who told me she was the second Jap-Aussie born, after her older sister. (She's now in the Netherlands.) In welcome contrast was the relatively generous reaction to the Vietnamese refugees, which showed these habits can be overcome. Being lucky can make people lazy and unsympathetic to others, whether the lucky country or the lucky province where I am now.
The good news may be that people are willing to complain about such stupidity now, and rather than say that these acts are justifiable (look at the role of the language laws - explictly used to shut up troublemakers), Tim B says these activities didn't happen. That's a great leap forward from accepting them as appropriate.
Well, off to samosas and baba ganouj
"It's less general a feeling , in all those places, than it was not so very long ago, but of course there's still a long ways to go to rid society of these disuting attitudes.
Racism -- at lest here in the US -- is not quite as open as it once was, but it's still very much alive nonetheless.
We have just gotten beter at hiding it.
At this very moment, the US Congress is talking about building a 700 mile long fence along the border with Mexico to keep out all the "undesirables".
Makes you wonder who's gonna do all of American's shit work for less than minimum wage after the fence goes in. maybe George and Dick would chip in.
Actually, it won't make a bit of difference. It's like the guy trying to plug up the huge gaping holes in the dyke with his fingers.
In one regard, racism is worse now than it weas in the past because people have learned to hide it better.
In my opinion, if we were really concerned about undesirables here in America, we would have booted out Bush and his gang a long time ago. They have done far more damage to our country than any illegal alien pursuing a better life for his/her family ever did -- or ever could.
Hey that's right. I clearly remember Pauline Hansen speaking about the imminent wave of 'rice burners' coming to swamp us all.
Dear tim,
Google turns up this: "Kunthea Ker. Duke University School of Law, Class of 2007", so she's currently a student at Duke.
Returned to university; noted.
Rather than Jamil Hussein, this story reminds me of Uli Schmetzer. Also, Stewart makes a good point: racists generally comment behind people's backs. Another reason Ms Ker's account is difficult to accept.
Tim Blair's got it wrong. Ms Ker's lies stem not from her creative writing, but from her past as a teacher. Tim's forgetting Ann Coulter's "teachers are part of the liberal religion" thesis.
...yes, racists everywhere are famous for being quiet and non-confrontional, particularly when there's a big celebration and they've been drinking.
So if racists just comment behind people's backs, does that mean that the Cronulla riots were a big hoax?
And surely you meant to say that the story was like the one you linked [about how Powerline got hacked?](http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2007/01/we-have-met-enemy-and-he-is-stupid.ht…)?
They also tend to come running when someone blows the dog whistle. There's a few sites like that around the place I understand.
Wow - they self-Lamberted! I'll add an update.
[An American Conservative writes a letter](http://not-angry.blogspot.com/2007/01/who-would-make-this-up.html)
>Dear Tim Blair,
>You are an idiot.
>Guess what. Racism happens and manifests itself in some insane ways. I buy the story Kunthea Kur wrote about in her letter to the Sydney Morning-Herald. I am not Australian and I've never been to Sydney, but I would never believe someone would make up a story that involves their family and their personal pride in this way.
>Get a grip, and stop accusing people who "have a background in creative writing" of making up the awful things that happen to them.
Oh, come now, jre! Andrew Fraser couldn't be a racist. Why, he gets the most respectable endorsements!
Tim (B),
I'm afraid it's nonsense to suggest that racism only occurs behind people's backs. Some of my friends have recently endured some very disrespectful behaviour to their face in their own accommodation whilst staying at University. The abuse reached such levels that they were forced to leave the property and seek new accommodation. The type of situation described by Kunthea Ker is entirely realistic and believable and situations like it are unfortunately still happening.
So now Lambert is citing an American conservative who's never been to Sydney -- and who can't spell a simple three-letter surname.
Very well. I'll quote one of Lambert's readers: "My Beijing-born partner arrived in Sydney in 1990. I recently asked her if she'd experienced much racism in her time here. She said that once, years ago, a bag-lady muttered something to her at a bus stop."
That's about the speed of things here, according to my Asian mates. Besides a few idiots, Sydney is a very Asian-friendly city. Chinatown seems not to have been burned down recently. As someone observed at my site, anti-American sentiment (from the lovely left) is far more likely.
"My Beijing-born partner arrived in Sydney in 1990. I recently asked her if she'd experienced much racism in her time here. She said that once, years ago, a bag-lady muttered something to her at a bus stop."
As we all know, bag ladies are the only racists on the planet who blame their situation on the Chinese -- and Jews, of course. Hitler was, after all, also a bag lady (in drag) before ascending to power so the example cited by Blair and the Hilter one clinch it.
Yes, tim, because racism against Asians doesn't happen often means that when someone complains about it, it couldn't possibly have happened.
Tim (B),
I think that you're being unfair. You're misrepresenting the general opinion amongst the readers here to create a straw man. I don't see many people claiming that Sydney is a racist town, nor any other city in Australia. What I see is people suggesting that generally we don't have a problem with racism but that racist incidents do still occur. This is certainly supported by the ancedotal evidence presented by Ms Ker and others in the comments. Presenting these stories is a large leap from saying that Australia is a racist place. All it does is pretty much confirm what we already knew; that there are still a minority of people who have backward points of view about foreigners and are willing to express those views in a hurtful manner.
What I find hard to comprehend is your denial of the events described by Kunthea Ker, especially in light of the now substantive criticism of your original post and follow up comments here and elsewhere.
"Sydney is a very Asian-friendly city"
Asia, i.e. the land mass that includes Lebanon.
We usually call them "rice cookers" here (the motorcycles). The dialogue is a little unconvincing, but that doesn't make it untrue.
I've never experienced someone else suffering from racist crap like that, and I know that nobody I know, including myself, would stand for it from another caucasian. The only times I've ever heard the word "nigger" spoken in public they were spoken by black men, and the only organization which openly attempts racism and is tolerated in America is "La Raza," which is a little funny, since "latino" isn't even a race.
My favorite thing anyone ever said or wrote about racism was from Ayn Rand: "Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man's genetic lineage ... Which means in practice that a man is to be judged ... by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors."
Let's hope the jerks in Sydney can get their crap together.
Unpicking Blair's logic is always an interesting forensic exercise.
In this case it is a syllogism.
Ms Ker is a leftoid.
All leftoids are liars.
Therefore Ms Ker is a liar. QED.( Tim Blair age 12 1/2)
Tim B, I think there might be a little goalpost-moving going on. My classmates at RMIT weren't particularly racist, just reflecting their time and place (typically ethnocentric engineering students). I'd say they exemplify the moderate unthinking racism all around, and hence no need to be rude to peoples faces. On the other hand, I suspect a young man who's been told that Asians are after his job and hence his life will be tougher than his dad's, has a few beers, and runs into a annoyingly assertive Asian American, may be equally unthinking and far more direct (and hence amazingly obnoxious). When 'Borat' comes your way, watch and you'll see plenty of examples.
I grew up in a predominantly Asian neighbourhood, had several Asian girlfriends, and spent alot of time mixing with Asians.
I have witnessed some racism, however, Ker's letter simply does not ring true. It sounds like she made a fool of herself and now whe's trying to cover her tracks.
Anyone who believes Ker's story is a drongo who is predisposed to the idiotic litany about Australians being vile racists.
>So now Lambert is citing an American conservative who's never been to Sydney -- and who can't spell a simple three-letter surname.
>Very well. I'll quote one of Lambert's readers: "My Beijing-born partner arrived in Sydney in 1990. I recently asked her if she'd experienced much racism in her time here. She said that once, years ago, a bag-lady muttered something to her at a bus stop."
>That's about the speed of things here, according to my Asian mates. Besides a few idiots, Sydney is a very Asian-friendly city. Chinatown seems not to have been burned down recently. As someone observed at my site, anti-American sentiment (from the lovely left) is far more likely.
Gee, Tim, you really ARE an idiot. Not to mention naive and rather inexperienced about racism.
Grow up. And get out into the world. Might do you some good.
Yes, racism exists in Australia.
No, it is not growing.
Yes, it is declining as assimilation and understanding grows.
Yes, as understanding of racial issues grow, isolated incidents are suddenly thrown into the harsh spotlight.
The incredible attention drawn to the few incidents occurring each year proves to me that Aussies aren't racist, on a whole.
Although the left is doing their bit with anti-US and now, anti-Jewish diatribes..
Didn't a famous person once say that everyone on the entire planet is racist.
Out of every place i have been this would be my "racist ranking", the higher the more racist
1. Asia - apart from using degrading terms to westerners to there face assuming you dont know the words, they are pretty much racist as it gets, one of my friends is half Japanease half Chinease and completely ostracised from her family because of racial hatred between the 2 countries, her mother is to.
2. Europe Eastern Block - eastern europe is just racist against everybody... it actually quite refreshing the conversation you have with the local are balls to the floor, gloves off. But most of all they really really really hate americans. Also hiphop and rap are in record stores in the "black music" section
2 b) Italy - italy is exactly the same as eastern bloc, the only difference unlike eastern bloc the people know english and they still wont speak a word of it to you.... they do this to be mean but its actually quite entertaining.... you can play games with this. Definately a place to insult the waiter after you get your food.
3.America - you never feel as unsafe as a white person in any 1st world country like you do when your in a suburb where white people are a tiny minority....really makes you feel like you have done something wrong the look some people give you, its really disgraceful reverse racism.... i mean you get drive by heckling... What the fuck... people will roll up to you in there car insult your race and colour and drive off.
4.France- same as number 2 to a small extent. plus you dont want to go there anyway not untill they fix there country i
5.Australia - there is no place in australia that anyone has to worry about getting racially abused (as in no place you can goto a guarantee you will cop abuse), the closest you would get is a pub in the outback. But between the hours of 9 am to 9 pm... you can be of any colour or creed and go anywhere in the country (unlike any of the above countries).
6.Switzerland - how can a country be racist when its so damn boring... and neutral... well they still are racist
So there you have it the racist sweepstakes.... everybody in the world is racist especially you the guy with the hair at the back.
It is probable that the events described in the letter actually transpired. Although phony race-baiting scandals are a feature of political life in America, thanks to the plague of pee-cee that afflicts that nation.
Possibly other events occurred which were not reported. There are two sides to every story. Often if people are provoked by a "foreign looking person" they will retaliate by attacking the other party's appearance eg racial identity. This does not mean that the slanderer is a racist in any politically significant sense.
I wonder why such a big deal is being made when some visiting student gets her nose put out of joint by the odd yob. Anti-asian feeling is of negligible magnitude in this country. Most Australians are more concerned with anti-social behaviour rather than alien appearance.
THis is proved by continuing high public support for high rates of economicly useful NESB immigration. Courtesy of John Howard, another political agent who is moronicly accused of playing race-cards, blowing dog-whistles etc.
Many US race-horror stories are beaten up in order to raise the spectre of revived fascism (cue Godwins Law) or incipient red-neck irruptions. They are often tattled to enhance victimhood, beef up a race-hustle or to ostentatiously parade the tattlers moral virtue. Check out the the sordid record of the Southern Poverty Legal Centre.
I guess Cultural Leftists have to find something legitimate to complain. Their does not seem to be much future in their agenda, given the almost complete collapse of their anti-scientific world model and public contempt for their political hum-buggery and ridiculous ideology.