Re: Further proof of unscrupulous racism in Spain
- From: Alexandre <totaltrek2000@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 06:56:30 -0800 (PST)
On Feb 23, 9:15 am, Mark <s...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Alexandre <totaltrek2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You just made my point. You pointed out the fact that the same thing
means different things in different cultures. Just reading the answers
to my post I realize that you are the only one that has enough culture
in this group to realize that those are RELIGIOUS PICTURES FROM HOLY
WEEK IN SPAIN. All the other people that responded called them KLAN
PICTURES exactly the reaction I was expecting.
Whilst I may have made a point you find interesting, I disagree that
these are equivalent or make the earlier controversy any less
controversial.
The holy week picture is of Spanish people in a Spanish celebration
wearing traditional dress. Sure, there is room for confusion for
outsiders, but most contexts in which outsiders come into contact will
also set the context for the dress. What you did only works because you
deliberately took a picture from its natural context and inserted it
into a debate on racism when you knew at least some would only have the
racist connotation associated with the dress. It's deliberately
leading, and that was my point.
Of course my pictures were leading. The same way that the Barcelona
picture posted in papers all over England was leading too. They never
bothered to explain that it was carnival time in Spain the same way I
didn't bother to explain that my pictures were taken during Holy Week
processions. The British press simply made sure that people saw what
they wanted the people to see. Manipulation at the very best. Exactly
what I did in this group.
(In fact, much of the discussion on
this group is deliberately leading rather than an honest appraisal.)
If a foreigner having visited Spain and witnessed the procession had
complained of racism, I would accept that they were wrong and it was
their ignorance of local custom that had misled them.
The photographs from Barcelona are different. The context is that
within an international sport (if not an international event, per se) a
group of people from one country were goading/satirising/upsetting
(choose your own word) a competitor from another. This is no longer a
local context, so you can't be surprised if you can't (solely) apply
local convention. Secondly (on this point), blacking up is fairly
widely viewed as being a fairly strong statement, and that's not
restricted to a single country. I think if the individuals did not at
any time think they could court controversy, there were at the very
least naive. Equally, your point explains their intent but not their
effect. Finally, your point compares two different actions (dressing up
for Holy Week compared to dressing up for a racist organisation) seen
from two cultural perspectives to the same action being viewed from two
different cultural perspectives - it's not equivalent.
As you will know (if you've been paying attention), the knowledge that
this may have been done (at least in part) as a carnival celebration
doesn't greatly reduce the offense it causes some internationally.
It does if you are familiar with carnival in Spain. I couldn't have
explained that picture if it was out of a carnival context. It would
have looked racist to me too. The same way that somebody walking
around with the Nazareno costume druing summer away from a Holy Week
procession would also look suspicious. The fact that it was carnival
and the fact that that it is Holy Week gives an entire different
meaning to those pictures. That's my point.
If
it were to be intentionally repeated, you will understand that it will
be viewed as though that offense were 100% intended. This is different
to the clothing which, as you will also have seen, immediately changed
the perspective for all. You might think your example was clever, but
it didn't actually address the issue at all. It address *an* issue, but
not *the* issue.
I still think it's Hamilton's view that matters as he's the target. No
matter what the group's intent - if he was upset by it, they were in the
wrong. Arguably, anyone else has the right to object, but I feel his
view carries most weight.
He can be upset because he doesn't understand the context of the
situation but that doesn't mean he is right. The same way that if a
black person takes a look at my pictures he is probably not happy at
all because he doesn't know what's going on in those pictures. But
once he is informed of the meaning he'll understand. Hamilton should
have been informed that it was carnival and that it's tradition for
people to "switch races" (black people paint their faces white too) at
that time. I t simply looks odd on the stands of a Formula 1 circuit
the same way my pictures look odd in a newsgroup.
Mark
.
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