TIME Columnist Dislikes Indians; Indians Not a Fan of Joel Stein Either

By Sanjay | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 | 22 Comments

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20100629 x672n581mp12wdxn5nijpd7s8y TIME Columnist Dislikes Indians; Indians Not a Fan of Joel Stein Either I don’t easily get offended; sure, there’s a lot of stuff for APAs to get riled up for this summer, but I always pride my self for being a good sport, finding humor in poor stereotypes, and understanding how a Hollywood casting process works. So, I usually give columnists the benefit of the doubt when reading opinion pieces, until one of my fellow 8 Asians pointed out Joel Stein’s TIME column, My Own Private India.

I was shocked, I was angered, I tried to find the real purpose of this “piece,” but then I was just plain offended.

Here are excerpts of Mr. Stein’s eloquently written reflection of his hometown, after being invaded by “dot heads:”

“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.”

“Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians “dot heads.” … 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.”

First of all, that’s “Gods,” not “gods.”

Second of all, this is the highest degree of editorial recklessness. Sure, I believe in the freedom of speech as strong as the next Berkeley-born-vegan-liberal-hippie –all of which I am, proudly — but this kind of tone and language is not acceptable just because you are a ‘journalist’ for TIME Magazine, and are reflecting on how your town has changed, for the better or the worse.

What if Mr. Stein took the word “Indian” and replaced it with “Mexican?” Would he be as brave to make such bold statements as, “we started to realize why Mexico is so damn poor?”

Obviously many people are not happy with this ‘article’ either: Google Joel Stein, and this shows up in his Wikipedia:

20100629 k7ij39bcr6m9ye5fn7xf69gbjp TIME Columnist Dislikes Indians; Indians Not a Fan of Joel Stein Either

Joel’s latest Tweet reads: “Didn’t meant to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing.”

Doesn’t really sound like an apology.

So what’s the moral of the story? THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE. Asian Americans, as polite and quiet as some may think we are, also have feelings — and we also have a voice. And Joel Stein’s attempts be funny ends up looking like a major league jackass.

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Facebook Comments (Beta)

http://www.facebook.com/eddlyhong Edward Hong

Inteeeresting. When you comment on how APA’s are getting riled up by several things going on this summer, are you saying that in the tone that it doesn’t offend you in the least because it doesn’t affect you? So when a columnist makes a grossly inaccurate portrayal piece of Desis, to which you are, THEN you get mad?Don’t take these questions as hostile pokes, just curious what you found so particularly offensive about this TIME piece that you weren’t able to do with other things that is going on…(IMO: This TIME piece is just as offensive as the Red Dawn Remake, the casting of Caucasians as lead roles in Asian-setting based films like Prince of Persia, The Last Airbender, Genghis Khan, etc.).
sanjaybay2la

AHHHHAA! I knew this was going to come up eventually )))

Housekeeping: I am happy to be ‘Asian’ culturally, and always get sad when others bring up the south asian/east asian divide. If I wanted to discuss this as an exclusive Indian issue, I would have submitted to The Sepia Mutiny.

To answer your questions: Im not getting riled up for a lot of this going on this summer- BECAUSE its just not my style. Simple as that.

Believe me, I have a lot of reservations about the casting choices in a lot of the movies coming out this summer. Trust me, I am just as mad as other APAs about the casting in The Last Airbender, regardless of the fact that Dev Patel is in it- I could care less about him. So, this is not a Indian vs. Asian issue for me.

THE REASON I AM MAD is the fact that this clown, this individual, chose such a horrible tone and crude approach to giving his opinion on a particular minority.

We can be mad at Shyamalan as much as we want- in the end, its not just him- its a studio, casting directors, investors, test audience, and americans in general: I agree, we should still speak up, but– THIS is a different animal.

This fool, as an individual, is pinpointing a racial group and making such comments as
“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.” <– thats being classist

"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.” <– thats making fun of religion, openly

Hes basically saying- "their country is poor, because they have working class merchants who are not educated like their doctor counterparts which we are comfortable with." and also "we should have come up with harsher racial slurs, because their religion is also funny as we are too ignorant to understand it."

Had this piece been about Korean Americans, Vietnamese Americans (or any other APAs), I would be EQUALLY mad and outraged– the fact is that this individual went on the attack, and wrote carelessly without understanding the importance of being socially responsible for your work. The goal of this piece was to remind people to think before they wrote.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/SLGFOB5WOHA6SICTV3OUEKQTQQ VishalP

I hope you sent this to the editor to Time. That person should lose their jobs for letting this get published.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/SLGFOB5WOHA6SICTV3OUEKQTQQ VishalP

I hope you sent this to the editor of Time magazine or higher up on the corporate chain.
http://www.orientalsharpton.com/ tiennguyen

So, why is Africa so poor?
http://www.facebook.com/eddlyhong Edward Hong

Good point
csc3

http://www.thejoelstein.com/thejoelstein.com/Bio.html

“Joel Stein is desperate for attention.”

well…
sanjaybay2la

YAY- Wall Street Journal (*blog).
=)

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/06/29/indians-unamused-by-times-edison/
http://twitter.com/findingnimesh Nimesh Patel

If Joel Stein traveled back in time, he probably would’ve written this.

http://findingnimesh.com/?q=node%2F15

-nimesh patel
sanjaybay2la

Thats sadly 100% true.

Replace:
Indian==> Black
Dot Head== Nigg*r
India==> Africa

Had this been the case, Time Magazine would be shut down by complaints and lawsuits, NOT BY African Americans– but by outraged white people.

But do it with Indians/Asians, and they say “why are you being so touchy?” & “you are over-reacting.” and “all minorities think they have a right to be offended; its just a joke, lighten up!”

Sick.
mc202701

I’m writing this in good faith and respect the original poster and the other commentators. But I think you’re all mis-reading the article, which seems satirical to me — with Stein adopting the point of view of the ignorant, oblivious nativist. You can certainly argue that he didn’t do it very well and did so in an ambiguous way that opened it up to Sanjay’s entirely fair interpretation. But based on Stein’s other articles, written in the same tone (and not, in my view, particularly funny), I don’t think that’s the correct one.

Adopting a point of view other than the author’s own is a classic satiric technique. See Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal)
sanjaybay2la

Satire is a powerful writing device to convey a message- I am a fan of satire.
But when does the veil of satire become a shield for racism? Maybe he is a racist, maybe he is not?

I always consider myself a good sport, and looked desperately for the purpose of the piece. It took me a few reads and some meditation on the article to realize that this piece even had a P.O.V. I agree with you, he failed and his tone was horrible. But I walked away from this experience learning that a piece is considered satire when people laugh; its considered slur when people are appalled.

I stick with my original argument: what if he replaced ‘dot heads’ with ‘nigger’ and ‘Indians’ with ‘Blacks.’ He would have thought twice before taking satire as far as it went. And THATS why I am mad. People don’t think twice about messing with ‘the model minority’ because they think we will be polite and grin along– but we too will not tolerate it.

He even said so in his twitter: “Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow the Ghandi non violence thing.” And how wrong he was….
mc202701

You raise an excellent point about ethnic/racial humor, and I’ve gone back and forth on it a lot over the years. With the Sarah Silverman contretemps, where you stood boiled down to whether her excuse — that she was playing a satiric character onstage who made bigoted and idiotic remarks (in turn designed to mock people in “the real world” who make such remarks in such ways) — was simply a cover for the audience to laugh at the stereotypes without registering the satire at all. I think the conflict is often unavoidable, and I was reminded of it when Dave Chappelle stopped doing his show and gave some interviews later on why. During one taping, a white cameraman had laughed at a stereotypical character he was doing in a way that made him feel very uncomfortable and made him wonder whether white audiences were really just laughing at black stereotypes rather than seeing the satirical effect.

This all said, though, I think the problem with Stein is in the execution. He obviously did not do a good enough job at making clear his satirical intent — to mock “yellow peril” sentiment — since so many smart people who frequent this blog appear to have taken the article at face value. Still, I think it’s not quite accurate to lump him with, say, people from Hollywood who have no satirical intent and who do in fact just score cheapshots off Asian stereotypes with nothing beyond that surface. Stein’s intentions were not bad and quite different.
sanjaybay2la

This is what I sent to the [apparent] editor, via their online submission:

I am shocked and appalled that a publication of this stature has allowed the work of, blatantly racist-Joel Stein, reach your website.
I have lost all respect for your publication as an Indian, an Asian, and a minority.

You can find my disgust, and that of many others at the following post:
http://www.8asians.com/2010/06/29/time-columnist-dislikes-indians-indians-not-a-fan-of-joel-stein-either/

Next time you choose to allow such ‘satire’ and ‘humor’, please consider the racial sensitivity of the group which it is attacking; had you have allowed this piece to be published, if Mr. Stein had been addressing African Americans as ‘niggers’, instead of Indian Americans as ‘dot heads?’

My self, and all of my South Asian, and Asian friends and family, are officially boycotting your publication, as a direct response to your reckless practices and lack of journalistic integrity.

Thank you.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/GDU3D3OJGEDMY6KUD45M2YTJLM prashanth

I was trying to read the article couple times to understand Joel and what is he trying to do….Isn’t it so funny….What are his intentions ?…Does he want’s to be recognized or wants to become popular by this stupid statements…..I totally agree with the approach and comments of Sanjaybay21 below…We will not tolerate this anymore….
http://twitter.com/rubyseeds erika h

I was going to point out the same thing as Edward, but I read your reply, and I understand now.
Using poorly written “satire” to be racist doesn’t make one any less racist. I bet Jonathan Swift is rolling in his grave.
sanjaybay2la

because their freeways don’t redirect them to the YOO-ESS-OV-AYE! (apparently, according to Mr. Stein)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ram-Ramaswami/100000212490692 Ram Ramaswami

Hit where it hurts. The editor of Time is more to blame than the writer. Here is a copy of what I have sent to about 200+ people in India:

Please read the above racist article attacking Indians published in the Time magazine. My self respect as an Indian will not allow me to buy another copy of that magazine unless due apologies and a retraction are made.

Time has a big business in India. You and many others may want to teach Time that if they want our money, they need to show due courtesy and sensitivity, if not love and respect. If you do, please join me in this worthwhile educational effort and pass on this mail to as many fellow Indians as you can.

You may also want to show your displeasure to the editor for publishing the article by writing to
letters@time.com
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/YNQTYWRZAJDBUTS7MAWIM57HHM Angry Chinese

totally agree with edward.
everythingpolice

“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.” That sentence made me mad. India is poor because it is populated with less-bright people?

Like what a lot of people have been saying, after re-reading the article several times, though I didn’t actually find the article to be racist except for that sentence, I failed to fully understand the author’s point, which shows that this so-called “satire” was badly executed and I can see how it can be construed as being racist.

Interestingly, I somewhat identified with the sentiment of his article. I grew up in a town north-east of Toronto that consisted of mostly middle-class immigrants. My middle school and high school was 2/3rd brown and 1/3rd Chinese. We had a handful of caucasians and blacks, who all eventually moved away by the time I graduated. It’s been over seven years since I graduated from high school, and my family moved away after I started university. Most of my friends have also moved away because their parents complained that the neighbourhood was becoming increasingly brown. A mosque was built right next to the high school, and all the stores in the plazas were all replaced with Indian or West-Indian stores.

Growing up, I enjoyed learning about different Indian cultures from my friends and eating lots of Indian food. What is sad, however, is that I have learned, after going back to visit, talking to former teachers who no longer work there, and friends that are now working in my old middle school and high school as teachers, that the community has gone down-hill since. According to them, many new Indian-immigrants, to save money, all live together in one house. You often find that several families with low-income all live together and their children do not get the attention needed for whatever reason. Most of the teachers who work in the schools now often feel helpless because the families are often too poor to care about what the children are doing in school. One of my friends who is teaching the elementary school I went to, called a parent because her child didn’t show up to school for a week but the parent knew and didnt care. Another kid came to school without shoes because the parents just couldnt afford shoes. What used to be a higher-middle-class neighbourhood with 3000 sq ft houses is being seen as low-class and what used to be seen as a neighbourhood with great schools is being seen as a neighbourhood to avoid if you have children.

Nevertheless, it’s important to distinguish between a neighbourhood being taken over by a large number of uneducated and near-poverty immigrants who are making the neighbourhood less appealing vs. a neighbourhood being taken over by a bunch of Indians who are making the neighbourhood less appealing for certain groups of people to live in. My old neighbourhood deteriorated in some ways not because Indians took over, but because people who grew up with less advantages in life took over, and they happened to be Indians in this case. I’m sure we can all find many examples of neighbourhood deteriorating because populations of less-advantaged groups from any developing country moved in.

It’s sad to see all the stuff in your neighbourhood change not always for the better. But to say that he understands why India is poor because of some small group of people who are less educated moved into his old neighbourhood is just unacceptable.
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