…via SAJAforum. This ran in the WSJ today, as we were still discussing caste on this blog. What excellent timing for a barely-mediocre cartoon.
What do you think? Over at SAJA, commenter Sendhil had the following to say, which left me giggling:
If this is from the WSJ’s “Pepper… and Salt” spot, it’s not unusual that it’s not funny. Those cartoons are funny less often than “Fred Bassett”. I have concluded that they must serve some other, hidden, purpose, like sending coded messages about tomorrow’s Dow performance to the members of the Trilateral Commission.
Fred Bassett? Ouch.
Wow, DJDP! You’re a whiz. Will you, or Anna, or someone also post it to the SAJAForum? Thanks again!
you are right red snapper and bytewords if nothing else this film does inspire some awe inspiring criticism =)
Rupert, save us all!
Well Chachaji, with the “I’m going to tell him we sold the car” bit, the joke is clearly at the expense of the white guy…and his attitudes…it makes the white guy look bad. But in the caste version, the joke is still at the expense of Indians (and their attitudes). It’s designed to make Indians look bad.
Amitabh, you’re right, the ‘caste version’ is designed to make Indians ‘look bad’. I guess I was trying to say in #50 that the premise of the WSJ cartoon is not merely improbable, it is farcically ridiculous. The only joke is on whoever wrote it – thinking it was going to be funny – they were just projecting their own prejudices on to Indians, thinking Indians would behave the way the guy in the ‘car version’ behaves.
Yes, and non-desis are more likely to find it funny.
How many of you laugh out loud at New Yorker cartoons?
Yassah! Best!! (and I avoid opinion columns of all papers anyway). Neale, rehne de yaar. Sabko hota hai!
I don’t understand the appeals to Murdoch. As far as I understand, the WSJ reporters are all normal god-fearing Adam-Smith reading social liberals; it is the editorial board that is still holding out against global warming, and generally is the sounding board for the less nutty among the right wingnuts. This cartoon, offensive as it is, is a reflection of the Journal’s editorial policies, which is markedly different from their reportage and financial analysis. Getting Murdoch is going to turn the Journal into USA Today meets Businessweek. I am hoping the shareholders hold out before the Journal sinks into the putrid cesspool of mediocrity that most financial journalism is.
Long live NPR!
How does that even make sense??
Manju, I like your alternate captions. 🙂
The cartoon isn’t funny. The caption-writer doesn’t “get” (or has a very hazy notion of) the caste system.
How about this alternate caption:
“Honey, the tech support guy speaks with an accent — does this mean we’re not the master race anymore?”
I can’t believe that the commentrs on this forum can get their underwear in a bunch over a cartoon…maybe the American cartoonist has more of an insight in the real india than a bunch of latte sipping,upper caste progeny living the yankee dream on the backs of their priviledged brahmin/landowning caste dad’s success… I agree spoilt brats in the US of A cannot be expected to have an idea of what goes on in hot filthy streets of rural or urban India, maybe reading news reports will be a good way to start?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/08/wsurv208.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/08/ixnewstop.html http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/nov/15amber.htm
My vote goes to Chachaji’s caption.
Funnier by far.
I like a good “Indians are racist/caste-ist/chauvinist” joke but the WSJ one just didn’t do it for me. Real life experiences are almost always funnier (and cringe inducing).
Jakob, funnier maybe but misses the complexity. …in Nagercoil the fight might be seen as one between two extreme ideologies – the right wing BJP and the left wing CPI(M). Some may even call it a clash between a Hindu Pon Radhakrishnan and a Christian A V Bellarmine. But it is also between two Nadars. Though the selection of Radhakrishnan, who is the sitting MP and a Union Minister of State, is a natural one, the CPI(M), after the seat was allotted to it by the DPA, is said to have taken several factors into consideration before picking Bellarmine as its nominee. However hard the left party might try to pooh pooh the charge that it too plays caste politics, the fact remains that Bellarmine, a devoted district level comrade, had his opportunity to be a candidate for the Lok Sabha election just because he was born a Nadar and a Christian to boot. The DPA being a formidable alliance and the local Protestant and Catholic churches backing him openly, the prospects of Bellarmine winning have brightened but it is doubtful if the chances of his victory could have been so good if the party had gone in for a non-Nadar. Despite being a Hindu, Radhakrishnan would have cornered even a considerable number of Christian Nadar votes if his rival had happened to be from another locally less-influential caste. Electoral districts in India are very large – too large. Roughly, one MP (out of 542 in the LS) represents ~1.75 million people and ~1 million voters. In urban areas (~40% of the population) there is a lot of diversity, and possibly no single group has the numbers to swing a contest. But in rural areas it is very different, as some communities dominate entire districts. In TN if you want to get the Christians on your side (or if the Christians want to organise their vote as some non-Catholic bishops such as Ezra Sargunam try to do) it has to be pitched at the right caste level as above. Now this pitch may not work in North Arcot or Coimbatore where Christians are not so numerous. Caste is why there is not much of a Hindu vote bank, and which is why the Congress, Commie, and Caste parties try their darned best to sustain casteism. Now imagine what would have happened if in the Nagercoil constituency, all Hindus had voted as Hindus rather than Nadars? Unfortunately persuading people to vote as Hindus is supposed to be non-secular but getting Hindus to vote according to their caste is secular!
Now why didn’t I think about how the cartoonist obviously grokked India more than second generation desis did when I saw this; oh right, it’s because he doesn’t. Your rant has nothing to do with the cartoon, the unfunny joke or anything. You just wanted to spew.
Maybe you should read a few thousand posts on this site before you assign us anything, since you obviously haven’t been here or done that. You’re the one with your knickers in an anti-ABCD twist. My condolences, it’s obviously very uncomfortable for you.
Another cartoon crisis!!!!
Delhiite – apart from what others have already said in response, which I agree with, your comment shows that you are not thinking about the “joke” or “criticism” made in the cartoon in relation to its intended audience of non-Indians. Those of Indian/South Asian heritage who live in the US (whether first or second gen) see such references to India in the media, made by outsiders for outsiders, primarily in the light of what they say about perceptions of India and Indian-Americans by the rest of American society. Because we live in the US, we care about how our segment of American society is perceived and treated by the rest. Sitting in India, this is obviously of little concern to you, but since you don’t understand our reactions, I’m trying to explain it to you.
Not jealous, more like in love with her. She is absolutely my girl-crush, and I looooove listening to her voice — sooo soothing. I also really appreciate that she has a bawdy sense of humor.
Even the portrayal of prostitutes is somehow beneath the dignity of the professionOh, and this was my favorite line from the movie review 🙂
Oh caste has come up again, can some wise and amazing desis from the desh (DFDs) enlighten all us latte swilling clueless diasporic second/third/fourth gen’ers? Desi, please.
Paging SM Intern: Can you delete # 48 please .Thanks
“It’s designed to make Indians look bad.”
All jokes that perpetrate stereotypes, especially racial and ethnic ones, are designed to make the receiving end look bad, but end up reflecting quite poorly on their originator. In this case, the “joke” pours fuel on the They’re Stealing Our Jobs sentiment (which is quite alive and well in the IT departments of several firms I’m familiar with).
“I agree spoilt brats in the US of A cannot be expected to have an idea of what goes on in hot filthy streets of rural or urban India, maybe reading news reports will be a good way to start?”
This type of comment is naive and getting really old, so kindly keep it to yourself. Second and third generation subcontinent-Americans have an experience unto ourselves and this forum is one way, one outlet for navigating our way through it. As if you know what occupies our minds and, more importantly, happens on the hot, cold, filthy and clean streets of rural and urban America. The world, including America and India, is not so black and white, cut and dried. Besides, the cartoon was made for an American audience, you know, for us to spew that latte out our noses while we contemplate how we’re viewed by some non-Indian-American counterparts.
A thought that this cartoon and comments from the uber-desis (the ones in India) brought up: As persons born and raised in nations outside India, we’re made to feel like we’re diluted or not “whole” to some degree. From one end we have “you never lived in India so you can’t be Indian” and from the other there is “even if you were born here or outside Indian, you’re not white or black, so you can’t be American.” Again, I’m aware that not everyone views us as such, but the topic of this post and its comments brings up that aspect of our condition (which, thankfully, I don’t contemplate on a regular basis or I’d call myself insane).
I reject this diluted or fragmented identity that is pushed on us and state that our experience is whole albeit a very different one. Even in India today, we see people of various communities and nationalities coming together. As we go into the future, the world, its people and their relationships change. The only constant is that change, and it’s high time we got comfortable with the concept of principled adaptation, i.e. hold on to the core of who you are and go forth and metamorphose.
Just my loose change.
For a country where manual scavenging is still prevalant : where untouchability is still an issue : me thinks the cartoon raises relevant questions…India shining notwithstanding…..
Sure. India is 3 for 295. Mangoes are 10 for 35. And the weather in Houston is just nice enough to play local Boy Johnny Nash’s Guava Jelly. You couldn’t go wrong w/ Marley version either (he wrote it). The truly masochistic can go w/ Barbara Streisand version.
I’m amazed, infatuated —- so she’s even more perfect than I though she was. There’s nothing better than a lady who likes dirty jokes. I bet she’s even not ashamed to burp in front of her boyfriend after drinking a glass of beer wit him, that’s also how gorgeous she is. So, beautiful, sexy, hyper talented multi million selling award winning singer and musician, acclaimed actress is art house genius movie, gorgeous, and even the ladies seem to love her.
“For a country where manual scavenging is still prevalant : where untouchability is still an issue : me thinks the cartoon raises relevant questions…India shining notwithstanding…..”
OMG…REALLY???!!! Thanks for pointing that out, I’m sure none of us knew about that….idiot.
Are eco and delhiite both prema? ONly sm intern call tell.
I meant can tell
haha! very clewer
This cartoon is obscenely ass-backwards. Exactly the opposite happens:
http://www.warprofiteers.com/article.php?id=12813
“While irate calls are a mainstay of customer service work in any country, many Indian call-center workers say they regularly face particular abuse from Americans, whose tantrums are sometimes racist and often inspired by anger over outsourcing.
This vitriol has fueled a “searing anger” among the Indian employees, says Vinod Shetty, a Bombay lawyer who has formed a collective for call-center workers. “A lot of trauma is caused.”
Debalina Das, 22, a computer help-line agent in the city of Hyderabad in south India, punched the button last winter for a call from the United States.
The caller greeted her with a torrent of racial and sexual slurs, accused her of “roaming about naked without food and clothes” and asked, “What do you know about computers?”
“Das, who quit the job after four months, said she learned to dislike Americans. “Rarely, there are people who are good,” she said by e-mail, “but then others remind me that all they believe in is cursing, and they don’t have respect for others.”
Her opinion is not uncommon among many workers in India’s burgeoning call-center industry.”
“On the Web forum Is Your Job Going Offshore? (isyourjobgoingoffshore.com/forums/) contributors variously describe India as depraved, as a haven for terrorists, a “giant leech” and a nation of “back-stabbing cowards.”
It is this kind of commentary that has shaped a perception among India’s customer-care workers that Americans are intolerant. “Everybody thinks like that,” said Samik Chowdhury, assistant manager at an IBM office in northern India. “Every time, it’s racism only.”
“Indian offices have taken measures to thwart such attacks: Agents typically adopt anglicized names, undergo “accent neutralization” and U.S. cultural training, and sometimes claim to be located in the United States. They are taught to suffer attacks politely and try to calm customers. Failing that, many offices now offer callers the option to be transferred to agents in the United States.
These humiliations, say observers, are tolerated by a labor force that savors the opportunity to join India’s growing middle class. With monthly incomes of about $200, call-center employees live well in a country where many are poverty-stricken.
“They feel like it is their duty” to swallow insults, says labor researcher Babu Remesh.”
“A group of SBC call-center workers, also in Noida, sat recently on the clipped grass in front of the silver-glassed office building where they field Americans’ Web connection problems. Callers often dismiss them the moment they detect their Indian accents, they say.
“A whole lot of the time, people are yelling,” says Kapil Chawla, 23. “They just want to talk to an American.”
Saurabh Jha, a 22-year-old in blue jeans, says a woman phoned from Texas recently and told him that, thanks to outsourcing, “You are getting money, food, shelter. You should be starving.”
Maybe thats the “joke” here? Racist americans refusing to talk to indian call center workers are given a taste of their own medicine by casteist indians…
Which is always fun. 🙂 But it is unlikely to be the point of the cartoon since, as is also the case with people all over the globe, many Americans do not recognize their own racism.
Saddening anecdotes in #80, by the way. I probably drove some voters away when I made calls for a local candidate a couple of years ago…got lots of people yelling and hanging up on me until I realized they probably thought I was calling from a call center in India. So I just picked a common American name to give and got a better reception thereafter.
“They feel like it is their duty” to swallow insults…
Insults never hurt anybody, they just expose people who have no power to change anything and indulge in that kind of nonsense. It’s not about “swallowing” insults, it’s about being wise in a given situation.
Obviously a lot of customers also giving vent to frustration at customer service levels in general and of course intrusive marketing calls. It’s funny that the do-not-call registry was announced with such fanfare, should have been the other way around (people shouldn’t have had to add their numbers to any list unless they wanted to be called).
This cartoon sucks. Yet another example of searching for something messed up in some far corner of the world and flogging it in order to feel better about oneself. The response from whomever the man is talking to could easily be:
“That’s nice… did you already give that little macaca money for the pizza or should I pay him?”
substitute derogatory epithet of choice for “macaca”
The fact is that the accents and fast paced speech of these call-center workers is very difficult for most Americans to understand. Right now I’m watching a documentary on Akrit Jaswal and they have subtitles for him — he’s speaking English.
Those accent neutralization courses just take off the hardest edge, that’s it. Especially older people in America have a really, really, really difficult time understanding these call-center folks. That makes them frustrated and makes them wonder why these “American” companies are not employing people who can be understood.
High IQ link to being vegetarian: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6180753.stm 🙂
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2007/05/21/caste_of_mind.html
Metro Now, Delhi’s tabloid, today has a front-page story about how in the country’s top medical school lower-caste students have been shunted into hostels away from the higher-caste medics.
“Fuck off or we will throw you out of the hostel in ten days” was the charming note slipped under the door of one low caste student’s door.
In rural India the situation is worst. Dalits are killed for daring to fall in love with someone from a higher caste. Countryside schools have segregated classrooms. Just to complicate things in villages it is muscle from just one rung up the caste ladder that perpetuates most violence on dalits.
Maybe the (white?) cartoonist has a better idea of indians than you ABCD brats?
Interesting. Link 1. Link 2.
Of course in typical hollywood fashion she falls for the white dude and ditches Ramamurthy.
I kept reading the summary of the film and thinking “She must be the blind one, right?”
Stupid idiot who wrote it. doesn’t make any sense at all. racist.