…because he’s in his hometown of Edison, NJ. Get it? EDISON IS THE HOME OF A LOT OF INDIAN IMMIGRANTS! And they have overrun the township, what with their red dots, and zany, octopus-like deities and of course, their cows! Indians worship cows! And Edison is full of Indians! So there are cows in Edison, and the cows take dumps, and this unfunny columnist named Joel Stein really stepped in it, because the nasty brown shit (and by nasty brown shit, I mean “Indian”) is everywhere! The brown shit is unavoidable! ISN’T THAT HILARIOUS? WHY AREN’T YOU LAUGHING? Don’t you get it? That paragraph is humorous! I have bludgeoned you about the head with my clever humor! And if you don’t “get” it, you are excessively thin-skinned, like…like…an eggshell plaintiff!
What’s that you say, Desis? You weren’t impressed with Stein’s comedic stylings? Why…if you’re outraged, then that’s GREAT because it means Stein’s humor is EDGY. That’s what great comics do! They challenge you! They inspire your eyebrows to raise up like they’re furry, arched extras in a Petey Pablo video!
You didn’t think it was funny, at all? Well, chin up, dear Mutineers. Neither did I.
And that’s because, it wasn’t.
When I first ventured online today, I had a dozen tweets, emails and FB messages waiting for me. They all contained the same link to TIME magazine, a publication I adored as a child. My interest? Piqued. I started to read.
Let me tell you what I liked about the essay which all of you wanted me to read, first: the title. I loved the B-52s in high school and I love lifting blog titles from song titles. Clearly, Stein was referencing “Private Idaho“, which was a bit before my time (released: 1980) and to my INDIAN ears, a bit annoying. I preferred a single from a full decade later– “Deadbeat Club“. I used to put it on a lot of my mix tapes. Sigh.
Now that we got THAT out of the way, let me tell you what I disliked about Stein’s “meditation” on immigration. See what I did there? Huh? Huh? INDIAN STUFF, AGAIN!
Every. Thing. Else.
Let’s get started, shall we? But first, to really do Mr. Stein justice, I’m going to light some incense, play a “Jai Ho” remix, and nosh on some curry– but daintily! I don’t want to stain my exotic silk costume, which I bought in…of all places…Edison. What are the odds, right? Oh, wait…according to TIME magazine, the odds are very good that my Indian garb is from Edison. The whole place is infested with Patels. Did I mention there’s a dot on my forehead? I’m a dothead! Wheee! Oh, but I am getting ahead of myself (I am waggling my head as I type that. If you’re reading this, switch to an “Apu” voice, would you? Thanks, you’re a doll. I mean, you’re an Aishwarya!)
I am very much in favor of immigration everywhere in the U.S. except Edison, N.J. The mostly white suburban town I left when I graduated from high school in 1989 — the town that was called Menlo Park when Thomas Alva Edison set up shop there and was later renamed in his honor — has become home to one of the biggest Indian communities in the U.S., as familiar to people in India as how to instruct stupid Americans to reboot their Internet routers.
HAHAHA! Stein just called Americans “stupid”. Doing this protects him from any accusations of racism or bias, because he made fun of himself! And he said he was pro-immigration, so he’s nice, too. See how that works? What are you saying? It DIDN’T work? Oh.
Hmmm.
Maybe that’s because it was made by an American! Ooooh, BURN! Like a VINDALOO! And you can’t get mad at me, because I’m an American, too! Huzzah for humor insurance!> My town is totally unfamiliar to me. The Pizza Hut where my busboy friends stole pies for our drunken parties is now an Indian sweets shop with a completely inappropriate roof. The A&P I shoplifted from is now an Indian grocery. The multiplex where we snuck into R-rated movies now shows only Bollywood films and serves samosas. The Italian restaurant that my friends stole cash from as waiters is now Moghul, one of the most famous Indian restaurants in the country. There is an entire generation of white children in Edison who have nowhere to learn crime.
Aww, more self-deprecation! It almost makes you miss the utterly bizarre reference to the mithai place’s “inappropriate roof”. How, may I ask, is a roof ever inappropriate? Did it forget to wear its knickers? Does it have the F-bomb painted on it? Better yet, is the roof fornicating with something? Perhaps a chimney? Oh, yeah…you’re a nasty roof, aren’t you? You’re bad. You need to be punished.
Or wait– did Stein mean inappropriate like that inebriated White parent who showed up to my conservative private school and slurred about what he’d like to do to all of us young girls in our pleated skirts? If so, that’s a TERRIBLE roof. A dangerous one, even. Also, you can’t get mad at me for sharing that anecdote which makes Whites look bad, because I was in it. Or it was funny. Or something. What? “Humor” is Stein’s excuse. He’s American, possibly Jewish, and he finds himself far too clever– just like me! STOP BEING THIN-SKINNED, EGGSHELL PLAINTIFF.
I called James W. Hughes, policy-school dean at Rutgers University, who explained that Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 immigration law raised immigration caps for non-European countries. LBJ apparently had some weird relationship with Asians in which he liked both inviting them over and going over to Asia to kill them.
I’ll be damned. This hack was actually funny for a change. I’m going to agree with my colleague Amardeep and declare that this bit works. If only the ENTIRE ARTICLE worked as well. Also? EDISON IS FULL OF DOT-HEADED NERDS WHO WORSHIP PENISES. What? I was worried you’d forget. You suffered through that Stein piece, you’re probably used to being bludgeoned with such sentiments every 30 seconds. I’m just trying to be considerate, y’all. Why do you have to be so Indian about everything? Why can’t you be dishonest and White, and not change everything, and not take over the businesses where I learned to be a petty thief and…and…stuff? NOTHING SHOULD EVER CHANGE, DAMNIT. IT’S JOEL STEIN’S WORLD AND WE’RE ALL JUST LIVING IN IT.
After the law passed, when I was a kid, a few engineers and doctors from Gujarat moved to Edison because of its proximity to AT&T, good schools and reasonably priced, if slightly deteriorating, post-WW II housing. For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.
Sorry, Mutineers– I’m going to have to ask you to stop reading this blog and look away for a moment. I love you too much to let you watch what happens next. Tearing someone a new arsehole is a brutal, violent act and you shouldn’t have to see that. Now go. Study some maths while I take care of this, nah? Acha, beta.
Removes hoop earrings
Which are 22K
Smears vaseline on face
Gets to stompin’ in stiletto heels
“YEAH, you accidentally racist, hypocritical JERK! You pee sitting DOWN in MY HOUSE! And it IS my house! I’m Indian! THAT’S WHAT WE DO, MF! WE BUY HOUSES! WITH RESPONSIBLE MORTGAGES! WHICH WE PAY OFF EARLY! BIATCH!”
Oh, sorry, little ones. Didn’t know you were already back from mastering “Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos”. Drink some Bornevita, kozhandai. What’s that? You want Horlicks, instead? Why are you laughing? Because it sounds like “whore-licks”? Really? Well, at least that’s funnier than the pap Stein wrote. Now nom this Parle-G and get out ma face. Mama’s got WORK to do! That and the next part is ugly. I know. AGAIN.
Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians “dot heads.” One kid I knew in high school drove down an Indian-dense street yelling for its residents to “go home to India.” In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if “dot heads” was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose.
Joel,
though I’ve pretended to give you an episiotomy in this post, I want to say that I actually don’t care enough to mind that you exist. I could have overlooked this entire fustercluck if you hadn’t composed the paragraph above.
Why? Why did you write that?
Do you think it’s funny when someone talks about negotiating a great deal and they exclaim, “I jewed them down to almost nothing!” If you do think that’s funny, you’re pathetic because you know what? I find “Jewed” offensive. And I constantly call it out, just like in high school, when I’d wish people “Happy Holidays” whenever I was out shopping with my Jewish best friend, who wilted a little inwardly at the absent-minded “Merry Christmas”‘ wished at two young girls who, truthfully, looked more like a Hindu and a Muslim than an Indian Christian and a Persian Jew.
I don’t like the term “Jewed” because it’s ugly. It trades in the worst stereotypes and assumptions about an entire group of people who don’t deserve to be disrespected and diminished by what is, at best, lazy phrasing and at worst, anti-Semitic poison, casually slipped in conversations like a roofie in our collective drink. Joel, I believe in the dignity of all people. I understand that words are powerful and that stereotypes are the preferred weapon of the uninformed and uncreative as well as the malicious and bigoted.
You “question” the quality of Edison’s schools because you think “Dot Head” was a mediocre epithet? Would “dotbusters” have been more suitable? Yeah, I know, wrong place. They slaughtered a “Dot Head” for the crime of being Indian over in Jersey City, not your precious, quondam white Edison.
I don’t give a shit.
The biggest problem I have with your inane, imbecilic piece is that it isn’t funny. Not even close to it.
I don’t think you are a racist. I truly don’t. But I do think that you don’t get it. That you fancy yourself to be far more “edgy” and “hilarious” than you actually are, because this…this TIME article is not funny. And this paragraph is exactly why I maintain such a position. You failed.
Isn’t all comedy offensive? Sure, a lot of it is. See: Chappelle show. I laughed four separate times during that consummately offensive video. Do you know what the difference between your “race com” and Dave’s is? Dave is funny. He is deft, artful, smart but most of all– he is Funny.
Your neighborhood racists’ inability to devise a better slur “for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose” is neither funny, nor edgy. It’s disrespectful, ignorant and not even entirely accurate. What about a person with two arms and a prominent nose who lights a menorah? Because India has those, too. What thrilling invective should be hurled their way?
Unlike some of my friends in the 1980s, I liked a lot of things about the way my town changed: far better restaurants, friends dorky enough to play Dungeons & Dragons with me, restaurant owners who didn’t card us because all white people look old. But sometime after I left, the town became a maze of charmless Indian strip malls and housing developments. Whenever I go back, I feel what people in Arizona talk about: a sense of loss and anomie and disbelief that anyone can eat food that spicy.
This paragraph started off with so much promise; relatively speaking, that means you hadn’t stepped in shit up to your ankle. Then, you had to go there. Arizona, there. And no one even noticed your bizarre suggestion that “all white people look old”, because you had invoked the one state where your humor would play well.
So, the immigrants came and ruined everything, did they? With their “charmless” businesses which helped prop up Edison’s economy, even as they denied the township’s children opportunities to be junior thieves. I forgot to ask– what tribe are you a part of? You couldn’t possibly be the descendant of immigrants if you hold such exclusionary, retrograde views, so I’m assuming you are one of the only real Americans, because if you’re not an indigenous person, that would make you a giant, flaming hypocrite. And if you were an indigenous person and you held these views, well, I’d understand you a bit more but I’d still think you were a dick.
But enough about you, let’s talk about– you. Your piece, and specifically, those housing developments. Ugh. Who wants those. Better to have urban prairie, like Detroit or something. Also, you forgot to mention “curry”. Because all Indian houses smell like it, so surely these residential developments which you regret all exist under a puff of garam masala, yes? No? Head waggle, so? The whole reason the food is spicy is because of that curry cloud of powdered spice, wafting overhead, a reversal of the filth which orbits little Pig Pen’s feet.
You feel a “sense of loss” that your neighborhood isn’t a shrine to your memories of it? Join the damned club, accidental racist. The rest of us just accept that such evolution is a part of reality; we understand it, we don’t blame immigrants for it. And finally, what were you thinking, writing a column on Immigration and invoking “Arizona” within it, with your sympathies? Oh, right. Edgy.
Unlike previous waves of immigrants, who couldn’t fly home or Skype with relatives, Edison’s first Indian generation didn’t quickly assimilate (and give their kids Western names). But if you look at the current Facebook photos of students at my old high school, J.P. Stevens, which would be very creepy of you, you’ll see that, while the population seems at least half Indian, a lot of them look like the Italian Guidos I grew up with in the 1980s: gold chains, gelled hair, unbuttoned shirts. In fact, they are called Guindians. Their assimilation is so wonderfully American that if the Statue of Liberty could shed a tear, she would. Because of the amount of cologne they wear.
Okay, at this point, it’s 1am and I’m exhausted.
What the blood clot? Skype has been around for all of seven years. My parents arrived over thirty years before that. They didn’t have Skype but they did give their kids “Western” names because the “West” doesn’t have a monopoly on Christian nomenclature, you fucking fuck. And plenty of those immigrants who came in the late 60s DID assimilate, probably because they were 35 years ahead of Skype, but that’s irrelevant. You have TWO ethnic groups to insult now. The sad thing is, the whole “Guindian” phenomenon merits discussion and could spawn a whole other post, one which explores identity and emulation and NOT bad, racist attempts at wit.
And speaking of the “R”-bomb:
-despite your (apparently) being a member of a “minority” group
-just because you are not usually, actively racist
-even if it wasn’t your intention to sound so racist
-though you may have an Indian friend or three, who kissed your ass and boot-licked their way through some compliment of your…work…
IT WAS RACIST.
It was also ignorant, small-minded, cringe-inducing, embarrassing (for you) and classist. So please, in the future, just…desist.
I’ll let some of my beloved friends and readers school you as to how and why you stepped in it.
Erstwhile guest blogger (2006!) Maitri let Stein HAVE IT, in a missive to me. See?
Even if this were a simple observation on Joel Stein’s part of how his town has changed economically through the decades, he could have done it a bit differently. Case in point: “In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if ‘dot heads’ was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose.” Like these attributes of Hindu gods are insult-worthy. With this, Stein gave up the protection of self-deprecation and crossed that line. Why is it still so easy to do so?
Time Magazine ought to know better.
Said Brian, who was the FIRST of 26 of you to contact me about this:
To write an article in a publication such as TIME, that highlighted epithets (which the author himself thought weren’t creative or offensive enough) used to degrade children growing up in a country already feeling different is in bad taste.
Mimosa wrote:
Stein…starts to delineate how his town has fallen from a supposed “good old days” nostalgia, a place that was allegedly superior to the present. The associations made with Indians – their food, culture, and other ethnic practices – are framed as inferior to the ways of the gloried past. Racism is the belief that “race” itself determines human traits and capabilities, and that this quality is what pre-dates what is superior vs. inferior. By focusing on the way these “invaders” have deteriorated in the interim (strip malls filled with Indian grocery stores, movie theaters featuring only Bollywood films, gods and goddesses with their multiple arms and elephant noses), he takes a position of dominance, a position that there is only one narrative to be spun out of this hometown. Such a position is allied with the “raghead” comments stemming from the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial race, whereby GOP primary candidate Nikki Haley and President Obama were attacked for their supposed religious affiliations (nevermind that the rhetoric was completely flawed and ignorant).
But really, what bothers me about this piece, why it didn’t strike me as satire, is that it seems to assume that there really is a dominant narrative out there, i.e. that “white” culture is where it’s at. Assimilation is not an option, it’s a requirement for these rude new aliens – but of course, that assimilation is on the dominant narratives terms.
So…if any of your friends missed this hullabaloo in the Sepia orchard, just send them Mimosa’s thoughts. That way we deprive this fucker of page views. Our outrage has made this…uh…”story”…both the “Most Read” and “Most Emailed” links on TIME.com. Ugh. We are rewarding his stupidity.
Mihir buzzed this:
…so basically he is saying Indians are ok if they fit into his neat little white upper middle class template, and maybe stay under, say 20% of the population. In other words he’s ok with Oak Brook or perhaps Naperville but hates Devon Avenue. It’s unfortunate that he believed that Edison would forever be like 1989…the race/class-infused nostalgia just seems immature to me for a supposedly educated writer.
Of course he’s saying that. There are even Desis who say that. They just have the good manners and education to know that they are elitist douchebags and they keep that shit on lock. They don’t clutter up a once venerable magazine with their snobbery. Also? EDISON IS LIKE, FULL OF INDIANS! And you thought I’d forget…
Said Aditi, whose family, like mine, has subscribed to TIME for years:
Reading it made me feel defensive and frustrated at how mocking Indians has become such an easy target–the SNL skit a few months ago, Text ‘n’ Talk for PCS, Sanjeev the web designer in some insurance– without requiring anything to be actually funny. Just mock the accent, our immigrant ambitions and our gods….the Arizona reference was straight up Ridiculous.
And lest you think this is a bunch of minorities whining about getting their feelings hurt, read this, from Rachel Kipp, an editor in Philadelphia.
“If it’s satire, but nobody laughs, then it’s not satire.”
Maybe since Rachel isn’t Indian, Joel will value her words more! I know one thing– don’t ever change, Rachel. No, seriously, don’t. Because if you do, Joel Stein will write a bad column about it, for TIME.
My friend RR did an excellent job of conveying how many of us felt after reading this, via my FB profile:
I have to wonder, if a similar article was written about Latinos or African Americans if TIME would have the balls to publish it? If they did, wouldn’t all hell break lose? Wouldn’t this be something that NPR and everyone else would be talking about? Is it because Indians are too small a minority and too “passive ” to actually fight back? Some how I feel like the nerdy Indian kid in high school all over again.
Meanwhile, over on Twitter, AngryBrownGirl drew my attention to the next phase of this drama:
Did you guys check out Joel’s FB post? Apparently not expecting such a reaction? Give me a break!
It’s true; his Facebook page was updated with a status message which…wasn’t helpful. See for yourself:
Didn’t meant to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing.
Someone in the bunker thought that was so amusing, they felt sorry for Stein. I just gloated over the “stupid”, since his entire column was. Also? Edison. Indians. Lots of. Oy, I’m tired.
I’ll let Maitri fire off some parting shots for me, because she’s a hot geologist with a way with words and her ire isn’t just aimed at Stein– she’s gunning for some of you. Watch out now:
Yet, still, hitherto, even at this point, I can dismiss the whole article as noise. What really cooks me here is not Stein’s provincialism or even how easy it still is to use Indians as the butt of jokes. It’s the Indian-Americans, the ones who keep their heads down, “adjust” and don’t make waves, who will tell us not to be so sensitive and to shrug it off. “Let them say what they want. We should not internalize these things and let them bother us. Grow a sense of humor.” Because of their being doormats, it is easy for the Steins of the world to give ink to the Wholly Unnecessary. They make it so easy to do so. No more. I’m an American. The residents of Edison have been Americans for longer than Stein’s had a column. They don’t need this. Fuck you if you CAN take a “joke.”
Word. This born-American citizen is over and out. Let the wild rumpus begin.
@browngirl “get over it and stop the stupid rant mail to time magazine. it is embarrassing.”
This is precisely the kind of selfish spinelessness that one of the posters -jagr721 has so eloquently pointed out. There is nothing to feel embarrassed about and nobody needs to get over anything when they perceive slight to their self respect.
I like George Carlin and all but Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor are not Niggers they are black. Not to harp on this more but look what else came out of Micheal Richards mouth he also said “we hung you from trees and stuck a fork up you a$$”. So don’t equate black with nigger again thank you.
Passerby and others. Lets stop with the name calling. We can agree to disagree. We may need to more strictly enforce the comment policy. If you can’t be polite and make your points then don’t comment.
“This is precisely the kind of selfish spinelessness that one of the posters -jagr721 has so eloquently pointed out. There is nothing to feel embarrassed about and nobody needs to get over anything when they perceive slight to their self respect. “
exactly what is the slight to your self-respect?
I think you missed the point. Carlin was doing a standup act, and he said this to get his point across that saying the word is only offensive depending on the context. Carlin put it in a funny context, Michael Richards did not, although his jokes about being lynched and burned alive were more offensive than his use of the word nigger. Russell Peters, when doing an act on Def Comedy Jam, even showed how it could be used as a one-word answer, depending on the question being asked. The audience laughed. Now, if Peters was hanging out at a bar afterwards, and used it casually, he would be unlikely to get the same response.
OTOH, Stein sarcastically complaining that some white people in Edison could do no better than coin the term “dot-head” is of much poorer comedic quality. Is the joke that white people in Edison could have done better, like “dune-coon”? Is it that it is tough to slur a group that is relatively recent in town?
Another example, in the 1980’s, Jesse Jackson was caught calling NYC “Hymie-town”. Not funny, given the context. Eddie Murphy parodied him, and sang a song called “Hymie-town” on SNL. Funny stuff.
Thanks, Joel, for bringing back bad memories. Like the time my desi friends and I were fired from AT&T for showing up drunk at work and stealing money from petty cash.
Nice headline: Edison-raised writer Joel Stein has a talent for ticking people off
@brown girl “exactly what is the slight to your self-respect?”
please refer to the original bloggers post where she has dissected the article inside out and then some.
more appalling than anything is the fact that this disguised racist rant has been carried in an established and well-regarded(not anymore i guess) news magazine that is read the world over. just for that I think it is OK and not embarrassing to register a protest. This is a mainstream magazine and lampooning of our ways, beliefs and condition, that do not cause harm to anybody, should not become a mainstream pass time.
From Joel Stein’s piece:
Not to pour more ghee over the agni, because the issue is inflammatory enough, wasn’t anybody outraged by the blatant sacrilegiousness of Stein’s “humorous” references to Hindu gods?
Is nothing sacred anymore? Is it civilized behavior to denigrate somebody’s god in the name of creative license? We should thank the same gods that our schools are doing such a poor job or else our children would have been called “elephant face” or worse.
Shameful, Mr. Stein! I caught the self-deprecating part about our American school system but your punch line crossed the line. By a mile. Try doing that with the Prophet and there would be a fatwah on your head. Ask Salman Rushdie. Try it with Jesus and you will probably lose your gig with an already-starved-for-ad-revenue Time magazine. But Indians are less than 1% of the US population and Hindus even less. So you got away with it.
But Indians are less than 1% of the US population and Hindus even less. So you got away with it.
It’s the small population and the fact that Indians are statistically wealthy and I suppose by some considered privileged. Sorry but that didn’t work for other minorities that held perceived “privileged” minority status in other countries from being killed and dispossessed…German Jews come to mind; and yeah I’m invoking Godwin…but there are so many good lessons to be learned from WWII and also I was steeped in this Western history growing up in the West.
I don’t want for pc to override the humor in life. From what I’ve heard of Russel Peters I think he’s pretty funny. I can laugh at a lot of things about desis or Indians or Hindus or certain caste communities…but there was so much in that article that wasn’t funny, was inaccurate and smacked of xenophobia and essentializing the poor as deserving of their fate. Kindof reminds me when I see in some Hindi movies the buffoon comedian being a “low” caste person, and everyone is supposed to laugh it off.
what was unfunny was Anna’s attempt at humour or “satire” as folks would like to inflate it to appear to be.
the article by this guy at TIME is not terribly funny either, just an attempt at satire, where the guy’s nostalgia is overrun by his fears and almost-rage about a changing world he will not be able to control (midlife-crisis?). i agree with him though that desis make for aesthetically unappealing immigrants. boston_mahesh talked of Devon ave… yes, what a dump that place is, unkempt, chaotic, no regard whatsoever for aesthetics, neither inside the stores, nor out on the street, nor the stuff they sell.
the commentator here who’s missing a Pizza Hut and a Dairy Queen – i’m so sorry for you, that you had to grow up in a deficient environment of strip malls and depressing town-planning based on the principles that drive commerce in this country, and that you miss it, like this TIME guy is missing his own youth of multiplexes & A&Ps.
bad aesthetics replaced by bad aesthetics, juvenile attempt at “satire” in response to a sad attempt at humour.
One of my favorite sections of TIME was the essay at the very end. Typically Joel Stein wrote them and I actually liked his previous style of writing. This is just embarrassing and offensive. Did he really run out of ideas for topics that he thought it was time to pull out the “ridicule a minority except for latinos, african americans or even Muslims (because we all know that all Hell breaks loose if there is anything negative said about Muslims)” card? I’d be happy if he never writes for TIME again.
@Brown girl
“i totally don’t get this whining about “why don’t you make fun of the jews who got gassed” crap. there is no parallel. that is truly a moronic comment. nobody, but nobody, can laugh at themselves better than jews.”
As the author of that statement – I’ll agree it is about as moronic as Mr. Steins article. Enough with the hypocrisy. Let’s see TIME publish an article that mocks Auschwitz or calls African Americans the N word.
Something like that is rude. Rude isn’t funny. Stein’s article is an epic fail.
I see everyone making a big deal about any racist comment that is made about a person who is black/african american or Jewish, but no one seems to care when words are used to offend Asians/Indians. In this case that no one is “Time Magazine”. Racism is racism no matter what color, creed or country its referred to. It’s unacceptable for Time magazine to even endorse a person who writes an article of such nature. If you look back at holocaust, the fuel that ignited the nazi soldiers to commit the inhumane acts were the propoganda letters and videos created by the Nazis. Stirring up any such feelings among the readers towards a specific race or group of people is just as despicable as what the Nazis did. I feel sorry for Joel Stein, did he forget his forefathers moved here from europe somewhere, may be he doesnt realize that his forefathers were immigrants and they perhaps created the same kind of feelings among some native americans?!?!? I don’t think Joe Stein is a Native American, as anna mentioned he is most likely Jewish, does he forget the fact that his forefathers migrated to the US and probably lived in poorer conditions to survive so that their future generations(Joel Stein) can see a better day. Negative propaganda showing a group of people in bad light is and has always been the tool to ignite racism and one group did it the best, The Nazis! And you can see what followed.
i like the passion with which anna has expressed herself. unfortunately it is overheated and i don’t get what all this outrage and violent imagery is all about.
like abhi said, let’s get outraged over real racism and real bigotry. by writing to Time all outraged over a silly comic piece you make all desis look like stupid hicks who don’t get it. that is what is embarrassing.
the Time magazine issue was about Thomas Edison and how his ideas changed america. stein decided to riff on that by picking on Edison NJ. everybody likes to pick on NJ. just saying NJ makes one want to laugh. or gag.
he is not mourning the passing of the great town of edison, for god’s sake. have you visited edison before the desis took over? it was ugly then, it is ugly now. that is the joke.
Actually Stein didn’t miss any racist stereotypes. “Guidos”? Dude.
I’m not sure if you’re used to the Internet and the Web, but it’s considered polite and almost de rigueur to include a link to whatever the hell it is you are ranting about.
Is there a link somewhere?
@brown girl
if denigrating somebody’s beliefs and making fun of their poverty is comic to you then there is no point even having this discussion, you are the polished and assimilated post-modernist liberal and I’m that stupid hick still clinging on to old-age values and beliefs.
Joel Stein is a fucking wanker. Not only was the article stupid, offensive, and not even close to funny, it was incredibly poorly written. what a douche. Dude makes me embarrassed (again) to be white. On behalf of white-people-who-are-not-fucking-racists, please accept my apology.
Adding, with a name like “Stein”, Joel should know what it’s like be marginalized. shit, I’m only half-jewish, and I remember being harassed and beaten up by a 6th grade bigot on a nearly daily basis until I finally snapped and gave him a much deserved ass-kicking.
(Deleted)
Stein’s piece was a total fail.
You cant say that this is satire, because the whole point of the article was how his boyhood town was perfect, until Indians who were not rich moved in. The whole “joke” is how a race of people ruined his memories. It is the epitome of “rich white guy crying like a spoiled baby” syndrome. “Ohhhh my god!! The place where I used to buy pizza is not there anymore! Where is my pen?” His anger isnt based on anything real and when a person spends this much energy writing about something that is in his head and totally imaginary, his anger comes from something deeper.
Then he has a facebook comment about his thoughts on how all Indians were supposed to be “Gandhian”.
These are not the comments of a intelligent writer trying to blow your mind. This is the stuff racist say when they get so mad, all they can say is “You people smell and eat watermellon!” When a black person does something violent, they sarcastically say “Well so much for the MLK dream.”
The Stein piece is stupid. But the roof of the candy shop is inappropriate because it used to be a Pizza Hut (which have funny red roofs) and is now no longer a Pizza Hut.
According to wikipedia:
“Edison was ranked the 28th most livable small city in America by Money Magazine, and the 2nd in New Jersey in 2006 in Money Magazine’s “Best Places To Live”.[7] In 2008, Money Magazine ranked Edison 35 out of the top 100 places to live in America.[8] Edison Township was not on the 2007 list because that year’s list included only municipalities with a population of 50,000 or less. In the 2006 survey of America’s Safest Cities, the township was ranked 23rd, out of 371 cities included nationwide, in the 13th annual Morgan Quitno survey.[9] In 2009, Edison was ranked as one of “America’s 10 Best Places to Grow Up” by U.S. News and World Report. The rankings focused on low crime, strong schools, green spaces, and abundance of recreational activities.[10]”
Also:
Edison is primarily a middle-class and upper middle-class community with more than 75 ethnic communities represented. Edison has a large Jewish community next to Highland Park, with multiple synagogues located in Edison. Edison also has a growing Indian community and a number of temples serving the religious needs of the community. Reflecting the number of Edison’s residents from India and China, the township has sister city arrangements with Shijiazhuang, China,[15] and Baroda, India.[16] There is also a large Muslim population in Edison, with several mosques serving the community.
Wow, the movie theater is still showing movies. The towns where I grew up that are all shut down. Shops are open and small businesses are still operating? Out here in the Midwest all of our small town shops are 3/4 vacant. Houses are occupied and mortgages are being paid? Holy moly, ours are vacant and foreclosed. What are those Indian people up to there in Edison?
Now, that is how it is done. Care to give writing lessons to Stein?
1) There was no “humor” tag on this post. It wasn’t an “attempt” at anything. Joel Stein was the one who made the “attempt at humor”, not me.
2) No one is inflating anything, except for maybe these nice people. This post isn’t up for a Pulitzer, it’s a cri de coeur which was banged out at 4am. I never said it was literature. I will say that it is an authentic, angry response to an utterly disrespectful and inappropriate pile of cliches, stereotypes and insults served on the platter of what was once a venerable magazine.
And as for this drive-by shitting:
I’m not sure if you’re accustomed to being courteous or detail-oriented but did you read the part of the “rant” which mentioned not wanting to give more page views to this train wreck? I’m not down with rewarding his ass. If you disagree with that point, in the time it took you to hiss anonymously, you could’ve just googled it. But that wouldn’t have afforded you with the opportunity for risk-free confrontation, I know. Yes, there is a link somewhere.
To the rest of you, thank you for being 95% civil. While many of you are still heated about this, let’s remember that we get nowhere by attacking others, whether they be other minorities or other mutineers*. If you want to disrespect Joel Stein, feel free. He threw the first punch.
*For some of our newer readers, who may be unaware– if you’re here, you’re a Mutineer. That term is not reserved for Bloggers or contributors to this site. 🙂
Well said Anna. Hey Stein, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I am a Jew. I am married to a Desi. My child is a HinJew. Joel Stein is a turd. Honestly. No reason to think that crap was even dipping a pinky toe in the pool of acceptability. I think he was like “hey, I am a minority, I have brown friends, let me be a giant douche and see if it flies”
ugh.
His stupid little trotting out of Gandhi was proof positive that people still misinterpret the hell out of what Gandhi meant. And he also thinks that desi = doormat. Unacceptable. Fail. And Time is just as culpable for letting it fly.
And hey Joel, I think the Nataraj in my living room just flipped you the bird. Just sayin.
The Stein article was hilarious, and fairly on-point regarding the changes in Edison over the past 25 years. If anything, Stein is lampooning the knee-jerk reactions and ignorance of people who actually are racist, as much as he’s making fun of immigrants. His point is that immigration comes with both good and bad changes, and that people aren’t necessarily going to love those changes (feelings to which they are completely entitled, IMO), but that there’s a real, substantive difference between disliking those changes and racism. And before I’m accused of being whatever the South Asian equivalent of an Uncle Tom is, I was born and raised in Edison, and I’m Indian, so I probably have more feelings at stake in this than the average commenter.
I am so glad that I wasn’t the only person who found Joel Stein’s latest column both unfunny and obnoxious. I (used to?) really like Stein and look forward to reading his column every week. I really tried to interpret his words as satire, but they really came off — yup — racist. Really mystified that Time’s editors felt this column pass muster. Fail!
There’s a difference between being entitled to one’s feelings and spewing them via an international platform which legitimizes whatever they may be, no matter how indefensible.
To some, the article may be “fairly on-point” about a changing Edison, but it is indefensible to blame some of the most impoverished people on this planet for their considerable, agonizing misery and to attribute their circumstances to stupidity. People from Edison may have more of a stake in this than I do, but all people should condemn such a barbaric attack on the most vulnerable of our distant cousins.
Thanks, PS – it’s actually the first time I have written anything in response to a MSM publication.
@ brown girl #199 – On the point that we should stop whining – I do disagree, if only because that mentality – that complaining is ‘whining’ or that it is best to shut up and be a spectator when insults are thrown at us – is exactly what has made us an easy target as a community. That is why the comments about daring to make similar jokes about other communities are relevant. One of the things that I admire about the Jewish American community is that in so little time, they have garnered so much respect. The reason for this is because they have DEMANDED this respect. And speaking of Jews in America – yes, they make fun of themselves (and with amusing results, I may add), but most of their jokes have to do with cultural practises and behaviours of Jews – the point being that even they have limits as to what is fodder for self-deprecation. Lastly, brown girl, what happened to basic individual freedom – if I want to write a letter, I’ll write a letter, and I don’t understand how that’s embarrassing to you (or maybe I do, since, arguably, I could find your desire to ignore the implications of this article equally, if not more, embarrassing).
The thing is, it’s not clear from this article that he has no genuine ill will towards Indians, or that he’s not racist against them. This is reflected, partly, in the fact that this piece lacked any humour (i.e., it really is confusing as to what his intent is, because it was so poorly written). It is also reflected in the fact that the article indicates, in no way, any positive connection that he has to ANY Indians. Yes, he may write that they have succeeded, but he doesn’t reflect that that is something that he actually admires as applied to Indians.
Indian americans are finally discovering the double standards of jewish americans. Steven spielberg’s Indiana jones movie, David mamet portrayal of indians in glengarry glen ross or joel stein’s portrayal of indians and indian americans in edison are part of a pattern. Southern whites are used to the depictions of southern whites in Hollywood movies as stupid and racist. The reverse is never tolerated. American critics of Israel are routinely dismmissed as anti-semitic. Jewish american groups in the US and Canada always demand laws against “hate speech” which is any speech that criticizes jewish interests.
The pattern you see is about guys in show business. It bears no relation to say, how a Jewish doctor, business-owner, or accountant views the world.
Ha ha, it is always on threads like these the bigots come out. 232 is a classic example. Also, I am not sure why everyone has to feel about this piece one way or the other. The author of this post definitely didn’t ask everyone to be as outraged as she so I don’t know why some commenters have to ridicule everyone who doesn’t agree with their point of view.
I didn’t say Stein was racist, he’s more racially insensitive. Racial insensitivity is fair game in my mind as long as its funny. Unfortunately for Stein he isn’t funny. His level of humor is on the same rung as Carlos Mencia who thinks a funny punch-line just means saying “beaner” in a stupid voice at the end of a story illustrating some random Mexican stereotype. There’s no joke there.
In that sense, Stein’s article offends me not as an Indian, but as a guy who enjoys comedy.
But anyway, back to the point. Being exposed to racially insensitive humor does desensitize you to a lot of things. I grew up in the Bible Belt around friends who didn’t hesitate to use racial slurs (including that which shall not be printed). It was a very irreverent style of humor that had no regard at all for being politically correct. It wasn’t actually until I went to college in the midwest when I noticed people being visibly uncomfortable with those kinds of jokes that I started to realize what was acceptable in my hometown was way over the line in other places.
Anna’s rant gave me a headache. That’s offensive.
Vanity Fair: Time‘s Joel Stein tries to fit all known Indian stereotypes into single column
Well, he left one untouched…so he’s not that big a dick.
@ brown girl #199 – On the point that we should stop whining – I do disagree, if only because that mentality – that complaining is ‘whining’ or that it is best to shut up and be a spectator when insults are thrown at us – is exactly what has made us an easy target as a community. …
The thing is, it’s not clear from this article that he has no genuine ill will towards Indians, or that he’s not racist against them. This is reflected, partly, in the fact that this piece lacked any humour (i.e., it really is confusing as to what his intent is, because it was so poorly written). It is also reflected in the fact that the article indicates, in no way, any positive connection that he has to ANY Indians. Yes, he may write that they have succeeded, but he doesn’t reflect that that is something that he actually admires as applied to Indians.
what are you complaining about exactly? that stein is not funny? that he says india is poor? that he says not all indians are geniuses – doctors and engineers – and that some are not so bright? that thing about “we started to understand why india is so damn poor” i agree is mystifying. i can only surmise that what he is trying to say connects with the paragraph a little bit above – which is actually quite witty and shows a bit of home-work- wondering why they all would choose edison of all places in the whole of USA to come to. that they are so unimaginative and crowd inot one place? i don’t know. badly thought through.
on the whole the column IS positive – as positive as a satirist such stein could be.
as for the gandhi comment – my guess is he’s getting a lot of hate-mail offering to do more episiotomies. not very non-violent eh?
LOL! Actually that’s the one that an editor deleted. Time does have standards, you know.
really?
I am one of the original desis who came in 1970. I did not find it quite funny. Not offended at all.
May be I live too far from Edison.
Sorry, meant to write I did find it quite funny.
You criticism is overwrought. I would understand if it came from a recent immigrant, but apparently coming from someone who was apparently born and brought up here it is quite mystifying to me.
Abhi,
That’s cold comfort. My guess is someone like yourself doesn’t have the antennae to gauge effectively whether others are making prejudiced comments about the Indian community unless they actually call us a macacca – and at that point, we hardly need any rallying. This is nothing more than the blind leading the blind. In fact, in this particular case, it appears that those siding with Stein can label the rest of us as “overly sensitive” “Indian nationalists”, but the minute we respond back and question the loyalty of others, you raise the specter of “enforcing the comments policy” which is thinly veiled censorship against those who disagree with you while permitting you and those who share your view to continue to be condescending to those of us who have issue with Stein.
If in fact we ever do develop the kind of leadership necessary to combat this kind of subtle bigotry, he/she will need to have copious social awareness and emotional intelligence. Concepts such as race and bigotry aren’t binary matters and the information around these subjects aren’t highly structured like chemistry or calculus. It is not for the faint of heart or for those who are used to doing a calculation and getting a definitive answer. Deconstructing prejudice is one of the hardest things to do because our emotions cloud our judgment and instinct instructs us to avoid what is hurtful, to justify it in order to get past it. We can let our political partisanship, our own painful life experiences interfere with our sense of what’s best for our community.
The simplest thing in the world is to deny racism. Those arguing that Stein did in fact engage in bigotry have laid out their arguments. The deniers have chosen not to engage these arguments. They simply repeat ad infinitum that “they themselves weren’t offended”, thus no racism, no bigotry. This is why in the history of civil rights, those who refused to admit the racism before them, were not begged and pleaded with indefinitely. They were pushed aside because those who are willfully blind cannot be made to see.
anon @ 217
I’ve posted a link to the article in message 89. Here ya go http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html
I think it’s more offensive for someone who was raised in the US, as it kind of brings back the whole “not real American” because of our ethnicity vibe..
That we are “foreigners” who’ve taken over an American town, and made it unrecognizable to the ‘real Americans’ like Joel who grew up there..
I know it is meant to be satirical, but it was a little too close to how i suspect many ‘white Americans” may really feel.
Just wanted to add my vote for the “not racist” crowd. For starters, let me nit-pick about one of the jokes here. The inappropriate roof joke had to do with the fact that the building was a PIZZA HUT before it became a sweet shop, with typical Pizza Hut architecture. If the building had become a post office, you’d expect the same comment. I love all the bloggers on this web site, but I’ve had it up to here with oversensitive Desi rants. And honestly, my visits to Edison have brought me to the same conclusions that Stein has, viz a viz Guindians.
SAALT (and sometimes I agree with their positions and sometimes I don’t) has issued a response with an option to sign a petition; sign the position if you are offended with STein’s crap article:
http://www.saalt.org/
SAALT responds to TIME article, “My Private India” by Joel Stein. Read letter to the editor from SAALT’s Executive Director, Deepa Iyer, here. Also, please sign the petition to raise your concerns here.
Stein’s satire is definitely less racist and offensive than the many references to ‘little eyed’ people and ‘kallos’, uttered without even a blink, that I hear many Indian gatherings, especially if they have recent immigrants.
Grow up.
…but I’ll admit it cuts a little close all the same. I didn’t particularly LIKE the column, but I didn’t dislike enough to think it warrants being up in arms about it.
(1) First, thanks to anna for quoting me.
(2) I lean towards the Abhi/Amardeep angle on this
(3) What GujuDude said (again, along Abhi’s & Amardeep’s lines)
(4) It was a monstrously failed attempt at satire/humor, and there is zero excuse for Time Magazine not having properly edited this horribly mangled, slapped-together pice
(5) If there was any “ism” I felt offended at, it was the classism (which is why I said he’d be ok with Oak Brook/Naperville (or if we wants to stay in NJ, maybe Basking Ridge)). Or to put an wealthy, gentrified urban spin on it (since he’s now seemingly into the Manhattan/LA elite media bi-coastal lifestyle), I find it irritating that a Tawa Tandoor in Chelsea would probably be ok with him and his probably largely white social circle (and maybe a small “acceptable” number of yuppie Indians of his choosing), but God forbid if less fashionable Indians striving for the middle-class American suburban dream (and yes, whose kids may be some of those “Guindians”) enjoy a few samosas at Sukhadia’s under an old Pizza Hut roof.