Well, ain’t this some fabulous reporting from the New York Post (Thanks, Nina):
If you were in Manhattan yesterday, you might have thought an enemy force had taken over the island and severed the East Side from the West.
The invaders were not al Qaeda, but the Pakistani Parade and Festival, which stormed Madison Avenue from 23rd to 41st streets; the Daytop Village Street Festival on Madison from 42nd to 57th; and the Church of the Good Shepherd street fair on Third Avenue from 23rd to 34th.
The occupying armies ate up 45 blocks in the city’s heart from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., plus time before and after to set up and take down.
I’m consumed by a wrath which makes me want to kick something. An enemy force? A festival which STORMED Madison Ave? Are you kidding me?
This little bit of ignorant commentary is all yours thanks to a Real Estate/Opinion writer named Steve Cuozzo. The title he chose for his piece is awesome:
SLEAZY, STINKY, CHINTZY STREET FESTS ARE MORE FOUL THAN ‘FAIR’
Granted, Cuozzo was referring to three different events while frothing-at-the-ass, but to mindlessly lump in another culture’s Independence Day with a mere street festival wasn’t very bright, considering the purpose of the lumping. Celebrating Pakistani Independence is sleazy, stinky and chintzy? Foul? I’ll tell you what’s foul: sloppy writing, ignorant thinking and pure disrespect. Perhaps this “journalist” thought he was being snarky; maybe he imagined that his choice of words gave his opinion piece that edgy, blunt, rudeness that naive people include in their stereotypes about the city I love most. Perhaps, he is simply a jackass. Whatever his reasoning or purpose, he is wrong. He is offensive, inappropriate and ignorant. And he does not speak for me, or any of the several hundred New Yorkers I know and love.
Real New Yorkers are just that– real. They’re not jerks taking potshots at a community which contributes plenty to the luminous energy the city marinates in. Immigrant communities from every corner of the globe are exactly what make the big apple taste so addictively extraordinary.
New York’s difference is its strength.
Shame on Steve Cuozzo and shame on the New York Post for publishing such garbage in the first place. I seriously doubt that this paper of no record would have either the inclination or the testicular fortitude to print similar if it were covering the Puerto Rican day or St. PatrickÂ’s day parade. The fact that the New York Post isn’t respected or taken seriously may be true, but it’s also irrelevant; Cuozzo’s words remain unacceptable.
Pakistan is definitely not the flavor of the month (maybe for the last 3 yrs). Thats the price you pay for being a terrorist nation and exporting jihad. To be honest, I was tickled pink to read this commentary. Anything, and I mean ANYTHING that paints Pakistan in a negative light is welcome. And please dont start a flame war on we-are-all-browns. It doesnt work that way. The difference between browns of various hues (is that a pun?) is well known in the US of A.
luminous energy the city marinates in
I am rolling that over my tongue and loving that sentence – great writing – phrase of the week I reckon.
And yeah, what an ignorant racist wanker.
Yeah right thats why Sikhs and Hindus are being attacked by racists in the USA – what a sap you are!
It’s been de rigueur among “hip” New Yorkers to snark about street fairs for some time now.
That said, for the guy to lump in the Pakistani independence day festivities is just plain stupid. Mostly he’s bitching about standard-issue street fairs which offer Thai food and pashminas and crepes and God knows what else. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Pakistani festival didn’t have … uh, any of that? As for his pathetic whining about his “hour’s drive time” in Midtown – New York has one of the best subway systems in the world. I highly recommend he look into it. Good for the environment too!
The Post doesn’t have the delicate sensibilities of other papers when it comes to offending people, though. There was a minor uproar at NYU (my school) when they printed a photograph of an NYU student leaping to her death from a Midtown apartment building. The Post couldn’t have given a shit about sensitivity; it sold papers.
I beg to differ.
“The difference between browns of various hues (is that a pun?) is well known in the US of A.”
Not from my experience.
What an offensive article!
I am a sap. I like to lick the boots of ignorant white racists. I get on my knees and lick them! Now go and spit on those damn terrorist Pakis over there – I’m not like them – they deserve it – even those Paki children and their mothers – go and lynch them! Not me! I’m OK! I’m with you I’m an Indian yeah!
What would you say when they spit on you? I would laugh if that happened.
Richmond Cabbies
Streets of San Fransisco
Whoops! Those damn Indians were probably just collateral damage eh? You sap!
My opinions are formed from my experiences. And the people I have come across clearly know the differences. I worship this guy and I think this is a relevant article starting from line one.
the Post is long-time reputed to be lowest form of life, where NYC papers are concerned. It’s not even fit for dogs to poop on. It’s probably the furthest thing from journalism that I’ve ever seen…
If he hates the way parades and street fairs and the like take up precious outdoor space for their silly notions of fun, why doesn’t he head to East Hampton with the rest of the pretentious morons…
Might be OT, but cant get more interesting than this.
The price you pay
But you are a craven and pathetic lickspittle to racists arent you? I detest violence but you have to admit, there would be a certain morbid humour if you were verbally abused and spat on by a racist out to batter some brown Muslim look-a-like, wouldnt there? I mean, I would find that funny, even though I am a pacifist, it would have a kind of cruel justice wouldnt it? Because you are a bootlicker and craven lickspittle to low racism arent you?
Punjabi Boy, could you get a trifle less personal? Your intolerance is about as much as the nut heads here beating up people and you call yourself a pacifist. Everybody is entitled to their own opinions and as I said before, these opinions are formed by personal experiences. It is disgusting that people get beaten up at all. But among the desi population of more a million +, are there more than a dozen incidents per year? Statistically is that too much? Please dont say I condone violence against muslims or anything. But, u can be beaten up in the US for being black, white, latino, brown, gay or for no reason. So, its not about just being brown. What we need is a constant eduction to make all Americans understand the difference between these 2 vastly different nations.
The Price You Pay: The worship of a nutjob like Rajeev Srinivasan only calls into questions your own mental competence
Anna: Of course we’re the enemy. As long as blather like this is in the mainstream press, the fight hasn’t ended.
Might be OT, but cant get more interesting than this
Shaved Rajeev Srinivasan + Blond Wig= Ann Coulter.
Please just stop for all our sakes. I can only handle so much jingoism in one day.
The price you pay
Why should I get less personal you lickspittle? In a post about a racist article about Pakistanis you have an orgasm of glee at the stereotyping and viciousness of it then get on your pulpit and pray for more hatred to fall onto Pakistanis heads? Whats up lickspittle?
And you have to admit, it would be kind of funny, in a sick and unpleasent way, if a redneck beat you up for being a Pakistani Muslim, wouldnt it?
desiDancer, you put it perfectly. Who even reads NYPost. Infact I feel that Sepia Mutiny, referring to something they write, lowers SM standards, and gives credibility to NYPost.
As for the other commentators, who wanna bash Pakistan…the problem that i see is that the white racist trash, is so dumb in the brain…like the writer of the article, that it will be difficult for them to differentiate between pakistani and indian. And when they beat your ass black, I hope SM runs that as an update to this article.
Well, Rajeev’s articles are amongst the most popular in Rediff, esp. among the expats. He says things openly which most Indians discuss over dinner in the safe confines of their homes. So, if you call him racist, rabid or a cross-dressing Ann Coulter, so be it. Just so you know, you are throwing those epithets on most Indians too.
there are substantive differences between pakistan and india.
there are substantive differences between non-muslims and muslims.
there are substantive differences between non-muslims and muslims in the west.
there are many people who can’t tell the difference between non-muslims and muslims.
a significant subset of these people noted above are of somewhat violent inclination and will use political reasoning to justify plain old thuggishness.
there are multiple issues at work here, and i suspect this thread will conflate them. i don’t see why there has be a uber-brown identity and even amity between various groups, differences are often real. that being said, as the moderate victim of racist attacks (don’t worry, i kicked ass) and knowing others in predominantly white and black* areas who were attacked, i can attest that when it comes to violence (as opposed to verbal intimidation) there really isn’t much time to distinguish yourself from other types of browns (ie; the lecture that lovin’s uncle or whoever gave to some men who were trying to verbally intimidate him in jefferson city). so, when it comes to politics, i think the price you pay has a valid point.** when it comes to interpersonal violence, well, there isn’t much of a point.
i think there are plenty of other premutations in there. perhaps people will be specific as to the context of alliances and educational measures….
** as some on this blog have noted muslims regularly will distance themselves from hindus when christians start to make fun of their elephant gods and what not. similarly, non-muslims should feel free to distinguish themselves from islamic terrorists. that being said, on the personal leve of interaction with confirmed racists this is all really a moot point, a wog and a pandey nigger are really no different.
Ok here’s a quote from the article you linked to:
HAHAHA. So there is no such thing as South Asian culture, but there is an “Indic” Hindu-Buddhist-Jain-Sikh culture? That is hilarious.
I’ve got your Indic right here.
It was his glee and orgsamic rapture at Pakistanis being vilified that make him spineless and ‘orrible.
The Muslim cultures of Pakistan and Bangladesh are worlds apart from the composite Indic (Hindu-Buddhist-Jain-Sikh) culture of India.
i think we need to be careful about getting into an either-or. frankly, i know many bangladeshis and pakistanis who perceive themselves to be very different from indians, but, i have also seen a lebanese american muslim during eid-al-fatir joke to some pakistani muslims that he can’t ever tell the difference between indians and pakistans, they cook the same (the men were not amused).
in any case, i think that the muslim cultures of south asian and the non-muslim cultures (operationally hindu) are going to be more different in the future than in the past as the peasant milieu dissolves into a more gritty urban atomistic reality. i see more deobandi than sufi islam in the future, and i see more “neo-orthodox” hinduism. of course, hopefully beyond the tunnel of intolerance there will be the panacea of modernization and genuine secularism.
p.s. many of my friends in high school would talk about how someone was “catholic” and not “christian.” this is the reason that i’m skeptical as to how far educating the public will really go as regards the hindu vs. muslim different…. (i stopped telling people that my family was muslim after they asked me if they worshipped cows a long time ago, saying you were muslim doesn’t automatically refute cow-worship to most people below an IQ of 100).
p.s. and yes, i know that hindus don’t worship cows. but i once saw a friend of mine in college trying to explain how hindus respect/revere the cow to a chinese american friend, and i saw that these distinctions are really pretty irrelevant to non-browns. ms. chen clearly thought ms. patel worshipped cows after the conversation.
razib
No need for the big dissertation – subtlety isnt what is on this guys mind – he is just rubbing his hands with glee because Pakistanis got hated on and vilified – it made him happy and he got excited and overjoyed about it – straight up case of a spineless bigot rejoicing at hatred being splattered about.
…enemy force…The invaders…al Qaeda,…stormed…The occupying armies ate up the cityÂ’s heart…
No plunder, pillage, massacre, rape, and slaughter of innocents?
I’m a lifetime New Yorker. The Post is not a source of responsible journalism. It is successful carnivalia.
Sorry to see a celebration, a fun thing portrayed this way.
Sorry punjabi boy. The phrase you cited is an energetic miss. A good editor would at least raise an eyebrow and probably strike this (borderline?) mixed-metaphor.
No need for the big dissertation – subtlety isnt what is on this guys mind – he is just rubbing his hands with glee because Pakistanis got hated on and vilified – it made him happy and he got excited and overjoyed about it – straight up case of a spineless bigot rejoicing at hatred being splattered about.
sure, sure, but i’m sure not non-primitives will show up with more nuanced views. though i wonder, has SM ever IP banned someone?
Christopher John
What is a borderline mixed metaphor?
And the image of a city marinating in inchoate luminous energy is a lush one and its possible overstretch and misstep suggests to me the mess and miscegenation of a city like New York – after all NYC is that imprecise and imperfect cultural mix that has a tone and note all of its own, right?
No strike – keep it in – I am going to steal it to describe London one day 😉
The Price you Pay: this is the tripe that your hero publishes.
He is one to call out on literary style. That first sentence is syntactically flawed. And we are not even talking about the foaming-at-the-mouth rabidity of the insubstantiated allegations therein. Not that I am a big supported of the Communist Party of India, or anywhere else, for that matter. But atleast, they are the ones who are more or less on the ball with facts compared to neo-conmen such as Srinivasan.
Ignoring the gratuitous (and redundant) Latin for a bit, this conclusion demonstrates the tenous grip that Srinivasan has on reality.
In fact, I recommend that the GoI puts him in a three-piece suit and sends him across to negotiate the peace process in Pakistan and then outsource him to the West Bank.
Anna, the NY Post is also known in some circles as a ‘squalid little rag’.
for me to poop on.
i know that this is par-for-the-post, but what’s the comparable coverage of other ethnic-nationality based holidays?
More from Srinivasan:
If he’d gone to school or college in Delhi, he’d have found out that he has very little in common with the average Delhi-wallah too. During the mandatory hazing rituals at college, he’d be kicked in the stomach and called a ‘maddu’ while the rest of the guys in his dorm did impressions of him licking thair-saadham (yoghurt-rice) off his elbows.
Bigotry is bigotry and has to be opposed. My feelings:
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
Good grief, I thought this was a spoof when I started reading. Shocking to say the least, unbelievable the subs let this fly. Today was the Notting Hill Carnival down my way, now THAT’S storming. An all-time low of 80 arrests today! I love carnival, great stuff.
PB, you really like that sentence? I think it’s reflective of the hack’s sloppiness; ending a sentence with a preposition.
I know this is waywardly off-topic, but Sania Mirza just won, yay! Or w00t as you weirdos like to say 😉 Was watching the match (that’s called hard revising), not that easy for her.
Is it wrong that I find Sania rather hot in a sweaty kind of way? I never thought she was any great shakes until today, suddenly her bouncing, her metalwork and her eyes have mesmerised me. I think it’s because she’s got a little more colour in her cheeks. I hope SOMEBODY understands my attraction to her. Punjabi Boy, you still there?
Whoops. I’ve spotted my mistake. This is what comes from speed-reading.
It’s OK Anna, I’ll get my coat.
.
LoL
Bongo were you smoking some of that Jamaican doodah down in Notting Hill tonight?
ToI says she lost, although she did become richer by $12k. Maybe she won after all.
Ms: Sania Mirza just won the first round of the US open. That article you refer to is discussing something else, which happened two days before the US Open (read the first paragraph more closely).
US Open my friend ms. The big thing, Flushing Meadows, lots of people, balls, big men, bigger women…you know.
Anna, midway through reading about irregular periods I became wracked with guilt. I didn’t mean to be rude – I think it’s rather crass to be pedantic about people’s grammar in blogs. I thought PB was quoting the Post and I was trying to be snarky back at the journo.
PB. Whilst the Bong in my name refers to my heritage, I also chose it for its double meaning. Pass the dutchy pon de left hand siiide…
The elements in the comparison don’t seem to match. Marination is a method (I’m no cooking expert!)of preparing meats (non-meats??)in sauces or fats, etc. Luminous energy can be many things (a radiation, a source of light, a scene of vital and humming exchanges, etc.)but it is probably not a cooking preparation.
The two elements are not compatible.
The instance is borderline because of the allowance (in the network of conceits) for a marinade to absorb heat/energy and then transfer it elsewhere.
Your argument vis-a-vis suggestiveness has more merit and charm than the original.
But I’m almost sure I was wrong with carnivalia. Shouldn’t it be carnivalnalia?
The price you pay
So now entire populations can be held accountable for the policies pursued by martial dictators? I say we stop sending food to North Korea, they surely deserve to starve.
Who is Sania’s opponent in the second round ?
According to the draw board on the ny times website, it says Maria Elena Camerin of Italy will be Sania’s second-round opponent.
But that is why it works – because of the incongruity – it startles and makes you think.
Oh thanks! 🙂
“So now entire populations can be held accountable for the policies pursued by martial dictators? I say we stop sending food to North Korea, they surely deserve to starve.”
Okay, so this is the necessary imperfection needed to meet Leonardo’s definition of perfect beauty; an incongruity that, ahem, indeed emanates force from its flaw.
Perhaps it is also an Amfortas wound…
…And you have won a Pyrrhic victory.
How can one carry on against such a loyal champion? I concede to you, oh noble knight.
Vick
You surely underestimate the effects of institutionalization. You also seem to think that rigged elections equal a democracy. In addition, you assume that “democratic” civilian governments in Pakistan have some sort of control over military and intelligence activities. Would you kindly tell me what happened to the last 2 “democratically” elected civilian leaders who disagreed with a Chief of Army Staff over a core issue?
Holding populations en masse responsible for certain negative actions is a dangerous course of action to take and — if anyone needed reminding — it’s the same twisted logic OBL and his cohorts have been using to justify their actions. People are only responsible for their own individual crimes/sins; let’s not fall into the trap of “guilt by association” or “collective responsibility”, both of which are unfortunately common Indian/South Asian tendencies. In any case, the original article from the Post is disgusting in its bigotry and its demonisation of an entire community.
Also, I’m finding myself agreeing with Razib’s views in his “dissertations”; however, considering that until 9/11 at least (and certainly until 7/7), most Indians here in the UK had viewed British Pakistanis as allies (in the ethnic sense if not necessarily the religious sense) because we were originally more-or-less from the same part of the world, had more common cultural frame of references than we did with anyone else, and had grown up facing the same kind of cultural-clash and racism issues as each other during our lives here in the UK….Well, personally I think it’s an extremely tragic situation that things have now developed to the extent that, in some ways, it is indeed sometimes necessary for Indians to disassociate themselves from their Pakistani cousins.
I absolutely hate the fact that this has happened. I hate the fact that many British Muslims have, in turn, decided to dissociate themselves from any sense of kinship with Indians here, because they view us as part of the “infidel enemy”. I hate the fact that this has thrown a spotlight on Islam and Islamic history and is now uncovering religious doctrines and precedents both sanctioning the actions of the extremists and demonising them in the eyes of the rest of the world; and yes I know that, as people of Indian origin, we know all about this already (as the last 1000 years of Indian history indicate), but I’m so sick of the very notion of hatred towards (and between) religious and ethnic groups, and the fact that innocent Muslims are also having to suffer because of the actions & mindsets of their more psychopathic brethren, and that the rest of us are also all being dragged into this because so many people can’t tell the difference between us.
And I absolutely hate the fact that the apocalyptic, megalomaniacal fantasies of the extremists — tragically, sanctioned by some interpretations of their religion — is not only now raising hell on a global scale but, if it gets any worse, will trigger retaliatory actions by more powerful nations – especially the US – who are being sorely underestimated by the jihadists. Damn them for their arrogance, damn them for their suicidal stupidity, and damn them for the hell they are putting their more moderate co-religionists through. I have no sympathy for the religious ideologies endorsing this behaviour, but viewing them as our fellow human beings I find it dismaying and incredibly tragic that their blind egotism and self-righteousness has triggered a sequence of events — in the military, the political, the media, and the social spheres — which, if worst comes to worst, has the potential to end so terribly for everyone concerned.
alybaba, How can election be rigged if everytime the incumbent lost? The goverment changed in Pakistan after every election and that would suggest that there was some election werent rigged as the opposition cant do it. BTW every survey done in Pakistan after Musharaff captured the power suggested that he was/is quite popular with mass. India was also ruled by a dictator for few years once. But public fought against her and won the democracy back. I never seen/heard Pakistani doing that. So shouldnt be they held responsible for the terrorism supported by their goverment all over the world.
Do you reckon Indians should be held responsible for the genocidal massacres of children, the gang rapes of women, and the burning and slaughter of innocent men, that have taken place in India over the last few decades in various pogroms, in light of the perpetrators of the pogroms being elected to parliament and staying free? So they are essentially sanctified by the mob for their crimes?
I’m ready to blame every Pakistani without discrimination, provided you are ready to accept responibility for every genocidal massacre carried out in “democractic” India – are you ready for it?
It makes about as much sense as the collective guilt you prescribe for Pakistanis.