One of you phoned me, all out of breath, to say: “Have you heard? Prince Harry said racist things about BROWN people! This is so Sepia Mutiny. Are you going to blog it? Are you? Are you? Because, like, if you do? I don’t want credit, but I can’t WAIT until SM covers it. Okay? So, are you blogging it? When?”
Well…how ’bout now, you not-annoying-at-all badger.
The video embedded above features Prince Harry disparaging darkies, his Grandmother and perhaps Canadians, as well— I couldn’t tell at times, with his accent. Well, that and a lot of people seem to insult Canadians (why?), so it seems like a safe assumption. The footage commences with time spent in an airport, waiting for a flight to the former British colony of Cyprus; after some editing, Harry is shown later on, discussing night maneuvers in Cyprus, as well as his pubes.
Speaking of those, they are what inspired the title of this post. In my title, I use the word “Ginger”, to refer to an infamous South Park episode which can help us understand why the Prince did what he did; perhaps by understanding, we may gain closure, and move on.
I had initially typed, “What next? Water is wet?” in the little Movable Type box before going the Ginger route. I only reveal this because I was really torn about which title to use. Obviously, South Park beats logic and sarcasm, every time. And for good reason, at least in this case.
Listening to Eric Cartman is especially instructive when trying to pick up the pieces after a traumatic video like the one above. Many people are asking themselves, why would Prince Harry SAY such a thing? Because water is wet? Trolls like to upset people? It’s just the way things are?
Or…is there something…more sinister…behind that pale skin and insolent mouth?
In a class presentation, Cartman argues that “Gingers” – people with red hair, freckles, and pale skin – are disgusting and are inherently evil, have no souls, and are unable to walk around during the day because of this...
Cartman stands up for himself and uses Biblical references (alleging that “Judas was a Ginger,”) and, as a result, Cartman’s speech causes a new-found prejudice towards Ginger kids in the school: Now all the Ginger kids are treated as outcasts and forced to eat in the hallway rather than the cafeteria. The other three members of the gang agree that they really need to teach Cartman a lesson. [wiki]
Wait, there’s an almost non-existent sepia connection coming up next:
In order to teach Cartman a lesson Kyle, Stan and Kenny sneak into Cartman’s room at night and use makeup to make his skin pale, dye his hair red and put Henna tattoos of freckles on his face. Cartman wakes up in the morning and finds that he has been turned into a Gingerkid. [wiki]
If you want to see the entire, relatively commercial-free, 21-minute long episode via Comedy Central, go here. It didn’t work on my Mac via Firefox (no volume, for some reason), but it played just fine with Safari. If you do watch, you’ll experience the same epiphany which I did. Cartman leads us in to the terrifying mind of a ginger, and reveals their true nature when he says:
We must view the rest of the world as the low-life dark-skinned rats that they are.
Is it really shocking then, that the spare heir sees those who would save his ginger kundi in combat as “Pakis” and “towel-heads”? No, mutineers, it is not. Let’s save our outrage for something we might have a chance to change; to aim it at Gingers is a waste of our precious time.
Isnt he only like 20 or something? When I was that age it seemed like all friends from different races were greated with a racial comment.
royalty inbreeding intelligence joke
What do you expect from “royalty?” This is why we kicked Great Britain’s ass in the Revolutionary War: so we wouldn’t have to bow to rich brats (except I guess some do to the Kardashians 🙂
I am pretty sure dirty Harry is not the son of Prince Charles. He is technically a bastard. Rumors have circulated for a long time that he is actually the son of one of Diana’s lovers who had similar hair. Harry must have inherited his character from daddy sleaze-bag who wrote a tell all book about his illicit affair with Princess Diana.
He pronounces the Pakistani cadet’s name correctly, with ‘uh’ sound prominent, instead of Aamed, Aimed etc. We have to credit him for that at least (compared to many who still pronounces Iraq as Eyeraq) 🙂
I had a colleague forward this to me, and he was also out of breath disparaging everything from the royal family to the
younger generation. But honestly, I dont really see anything wrong. Its almost like no one remembers that this is the MILITARY, the guys are in a shit situation, and theyre not exactly going to be all PC. If anything, the racism that permeates through thebrown` communities is an order of magnitude greater.And I can
t help agreeing with ShallowThinker that back at that age, it was a sign of good standing and friendship if you could jokingly make a racial comment about a buddy and he wouldnt care. In fact I`m going to go out on a limb and say that Harry would have no qualms in trusting his life to Ahmed and vice versa.We`re basically trying to make the military a PC organization, when the sheer fact that there exists a military should never truly be PC!! Oh, the hypocrisy…
For those of you who have no experience with the term Paki, it has the same connotation as Nigger. Having grown up in racist Toronto in the 1970s, I know it too well. Highly offensive; not used by anyone with any class.
So where did he make fun of Canadians, exactly??
9 · Captain Umrica said
Any reference to freedom is an insult to all Canadians.
@raghead- look closely at Harry’s nose and mouth, and even his eyes, he looks exactly like Prince Charles in some photographs. His mannerisms are a lot like Charles, too. Sorry, but those rumors that he is the butler’s kid are ridiculous.
Ah – So blue blooded people should not try to be real ? What’s the big deal with a royal prince saying words that every common man says ? Agreed, it may seem insulting to many but if one were to bring out the words said in private by many high ranking, rich or so-called ‘saintly’ people, you’d be shocked.
Diana and Charles with their affairs and torrid stories had already broken any noble ideas about royalty. It has been proved that Royalty is more like Shrek and not like those shown in Disney movies.
5 · Keralite said
I KNOW! Surely racist white people don’t waste their time learning how to properly pronounce a brown person’s name. and “Paki” is not really a racist if the person actually IS pakistani. It’s like calling a British person a “Brit”.
And for those of you who don’t know. this is what YOUTH DO. Make racist jokes, make dirty jokes, swear a lot, and take pointless videos. We don’t mean any harm ;).
This reminds me of the scene in “Bend it Like Beckham” where the desi girl takes offense on being called Paki
I’ve seen my pakistani british friends use the word for each other. It was kind of like the way black people use the N word endearingly for each other. The word does have a racist past and can be used as a slur, but I don’t think Harry meant it that way. Here’s the racist way: Scene from This is England.
yeah, mary ann always did seem more trustworthy
LOL @ “God save you”
OMG!!!! A Soldier having a foul mouth!!!, what a shocker! Jeez some people are really thin skined he’s just having a laugh. If I was there i’d be cracking the same jokes. Ragheads and hajis are common military slang for Taliban and insurgents. Is it nice? no, but if you don’t like it pick up a rifle, take a post, and go drop some knowledge and south Asian culture on them I’m sure they’ll be all ears.
I guess I agree with Anna, shallow thinker and crimson. This policing of language, even among the ribald, perhaps slightly racist (or completely racist, who knows who cares?) white youth, is a waste of time, and probably a misdirect of more institutional and dangerous bigotry, like, say, among our own uncles-jis in Tennessee:
http://porcupinery.blogspot.com/
Yeah, I agree with the preponderance of the above commentators–no biggie amongst mil. figures–see, e.g.,:
Sorry–maybe this will work–LOL, I love the way they call the USA “Unkill”–LOL!!
He should be made to feel foolish and laughed for the next few years as another joke racist Royal. This matter should never be ignored or even taken lightly, therefore the outrage is justifiable. His father came out with a great statement how we should be defenders of all faiths and not just the faith. That statement did more to help build relations between communities.
the dude is just having some fun. whats the big deal?
24 · Radman said
Oh yeah, good clean racist fun.
Are your pubes ginger too. Loved that!
I just thought he was having fun with someone who he has a close relationship with. Like if you called a close white friend “white trash” and she calls you back a “Paki”. It’s the way he said it and the environment and I don’t see this as much of anything.
Did anyone ask the people of South Asian origin who grew up with these slurs if it was racist to them?
25 · rudie_c said
You should try it sometime. You’ll like it.
Enjoying it, however, generally requires removing the stick from your butt. Unless you’re into that sort of thing.
Those who don’t know history….
…are condemned to repeat it.
Jef,
I agree with everything you said in your last comment, my point was towards scores of commenters here who think that Harry’s comment was in jest and was not racist.
This incident, coupled with that nazi uniform Harry wore to a costume party a few years ago, makes me think that he is doing this stuff because he’s a racist, not just having a joke.
cold-blooded, anna. my son’s half-ginger.
“Let’s save our outrage for something we might have a chance to change; to aim it at Gingers is a waste of our precious time.”
Hey! Hey! Hey! As a long time reader and a “Ginger”, I take offense at that! Don’t dump Harry in with the rest of us! 🙁
get in line, buddy – the canadians have had the worst time of it on south park 😉
35 · AR said
That makes him a daywalker. See? You’re fine.
Jeff Costello you need to spend some time around desi youth the same age and you will here alot of the same things. I have lost count how many times I have heard teenagers or early 20’s punjabi youth call each other the N word like it there name and I have heard the term Paki thrown around alot.
The sad thing is that in England, the pakistani community leaders will probably spend more time wanting Prince Harry to say sorry, then they will deal with the problems in there community, which are too many to count.
Sorry, that was a typo. Should have read: “They’re cold-blooded, Anna. I know because my son’s ginger.”
I kid, I kid. Some of my closest offspring are gingers.
and in response to ping pong, here’s another history lesson
The swastika thing was a farce — poor young do-gooder English boy decides to wear an ancient symbol of well-being on his shirt sleeve and immediately a bunch of politically correct reactionaries start shrieking hysterically about Nazis, so much so that the poor young English boy couldn’t even find words to explain the well-intentioned gesture.
He was then driven to the dark side by the forces of political correctness, and called some people “Paki” and “raghead”, but again he gets roasted by journalists. There’s no justice, I tell you.
At what point does a kid grow up and either learn to screen themselves or edit their videos or hire a frickin’ publicist/bodyguard who doesn’t let their videos show up on the news? In P. Harry’s case, not at 24.
Here’s an indian oreo, Dhillon, defending Harry from the charge of racism. Whats funny is that he himself is called “sooty” by Harry and his pals on account of his black complexion:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7826701.stm
I can’t believe someone tipped y’all off on something like this.
What is this world coming to?
It’s coming to this
A so-called “landmark case” in which there is no victim!!!!
Yes, a lady claims she heard someone yell out a politically incorrect statement to someone, somewhere, and a Desi by the name of Taha Idris took up the cause and WON!!!
NO FRIKKIN VICTIM PEOPLE!!!
And now he’s so happy that he’s hoping more victimless cases will come to light!!!
I am crawling under a rock in embarrasement. Desis need to stop.
Just stop.
47 · Femidesi said
Yes. Desis need to stop telling other Desis what to blog. We completely agree.
46 · Big Mac said
he is defending Charles.
If Harry wasn’t born a royal, he would be a working class white male without college education, (he didn’t go to university). So he would be the British equivalent of the crowd seen at McCain – Palin show, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he did identify himself with the redneck crowd.
51 · Samir said
No university eduction doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the best tutors money can buy to educate him.
He probably didn’t get the socialization that comes with a university education, but is that really do bad?
Banning a word doesn’t really make the sentiments behind it go away, so what’s the point? Anyway, if Paki is equivalent to Nigger, then I’ve heard plenty of college and high school boys (albeit kind of douchey ones) use it towards their black friends who don’t seem to feel particularly oppressed by it. PC-ness is sometimes just a cover for all the racism underneath.
The PC police are getting out of hand. Before you know it the only people we will be allowed to jest will be women and fat people. Oh wait, that’s already happening! That’s considered ok. But anyone else, we have to mind our p’s and q’s.
I am least surprised if Prince Harry is mildly racist. He was raised and is currently surrounded only by upper class white people and royal family members. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Here in the USA, everyone is given fair and equal treatment and there is equal opportunity for tan gents like Jindal to be as racist as the next KKK guy. (Just my sarcasm, I have only read allegations & rumors about his supposed racist views. Not sure if they have any merit or not.) Sorry to go on a tangent in this comment. Next time I’ll stick to the topic.
I have only just picked up a comment by femidesi about the “landmark case”. Does femidesi really know what the ins and outs of the case was, other than what he has read in the national/international media about it? Does he have any idea for the way some people, who are not blue eyed blondes, have to whimper and escape the daily racist overtones of everyone around them. Not everyone is a qualified university professor to defend themselves with words of wisdom. I would like to see femidesi walking the streets of Swansea and come out in one piece after a Friday night out on the town. He has absolutely no right in criticising the honourable deed performed by ‘Taha Idris’ in ensuring that peace is maintained by apprehending those who spout out racist (not just some ‘politically incorrect) statements. Most people in Wales are aware of Taha Idris’ stance on ‘political correctness’ which he does not condone. I say bravo Taha Idris, keep on prosecuting the raicsts in our midst even if they happen to be brown or black.