Racist Australia? …. Paradise Lost? …. Fear down under!! These are just some of the headlines making news these days… It’s also the topic of discussion these days in office cafeterias and chai tapris. I got in to a similar discussion today and that’s what led to this blog. Don’t take me wrong, like all Indians I am also hurt, upset and my heart goes out to the victims who had to face the brunt of these attacks.
But then I get more upset and angry, not on Australians but on ourselves, because the hypocrites that we are, all we can do is point fingers on others, without thinking, without considering that our actions can tarnish the image of a country.
“Indians are not hypocrites”, shouts my friend, “oh yes we are”. World’s most racist country, which discriminates between people, based on caste, religion, geographical region, language and what not, pointing fingers on others and calling them racist is the best example of hypocrisy that I can think of. We don't want our own countrymen to reside in our cities just because they don't speak the same language and we expect Australians to be extremely nice to us and let us stay in their country no matter what we do and how we behave.
“But how can you explain five attacks especially on Indians in 3 weeks? “ said another colleague. “Well, the same way that you can explain numerous cases of rape and molestation especially on foreigners in India”. If based on 5 cases of attacks you can rechristen a country RACIST, wouldn’t they use the same logic to call us RAPIST?
“We are not racist, we are victims of racism”, yeah right, sounds almost like “We are not terrorists, we are victims of terrorism”. If I don’t agree with this statement, I don’t agree with your statement that we are not racist.
What has happened should be condemned and sad. But then report them as crimes not Racist crimes. I have numerous friends who have studied in Australia and are studying in Australia right now and they have some wonderful memories about the place and the people there. On the contrary they have seen numerous cases of Indians misbehaving with people there, breaking laws and damaging public property. Does that still give us the right to call someone racist?
We cannot call a country racist, especially NOT US. We have no right to do that. These attacks are bad but like in all adversities what you have to do is look within and question yourself, before pointing fingers on others.
It’s just not fair mate!!!
