Which is the least racist country in the world?

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yeah, the question i would ask is, "ok well what does a burning cross traditionally signify in poland?" was it some kind of protest against the papacy? or did a few million poles see "mississippi burning" and "like a prayer" and say to each other "yes, his holiness would totally love that shit"

g e o f f (gcannon), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:39 (nineteen years ago) link

ok this is going to sound totally ignorant but what abt uruguay? (i think i's uruguay... one of the 'guays) the whole country is bilingual spanish and guarani, the indigenous language. i think that's just cool.

g e o f f (gcannon), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link

The burning cross is a long-running Christian symbol, isn't it? This is what I mean about the rip-offs in KKK iconography. The flaming cross is Christian; it resurfaces in medievalist lore like Scott's; it gets picked up by the KKK as some proper old-school old-world Protestant-white-people imagery. It's pretty obvious, in terms of the Christian icons a person could dream up (especially given the flaming swords and such in the Bible); I imagine it has to have filtered out across Europe in a whole lot of other fashions, as well.

From what I know about Uruguay it's really hugely Iberian in makeup, compared to everything around it; It'd be a pleasant surprise to find that that's left it without racial animosity!

nabiscothingy, Friday, 10 June 2005 16:48 (nineteen years ago) link

when I first went to Bondi beach I was staggered to see a large road sign with 'WOGS OUT' sprayed across it.

TO prevent any UK misunderstanding there though, that refers to Italians and Greeks, not (as I understand) black or West Indian people. For what its worth. The term's been diluted into almost jocular use now by immigrants anyway, cf "Wogs out of Work" and "Wogorama" musicals/comedy shows of recent years (written and performed by Greek and Italian Australians).

Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 11 June 2005 02:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Australia's definitely out. Two words: Pauline Hanson. The response she got in my home town was downright creepy, to the point where my Mum was even trying to tell me that ole pinchy-face 'had a point'. Which is when you say "Mum, there's not an Asian within coo-ee of this fucking place, so how do you even KNOW that there's "too many"?" Many fights & slamming doors during those halcyon days. But as soon as I heard her talking, I knew she sounded just like every adult that i'd grown up hearing. I think it's partly to do with the isolation, especially in rural areas like where I grew up.

VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 11 June 2005 03:38 (nineteen years ago) link

i've never heard about this thing w/ poles burning crosses. i presume that the cross-burners were older poles -- i.e., those less likely to be aware of the american connotations of such an act. perhaps i should ask relatives over there, though that will be a pretty odd conversation i think :-o

as for my grandmother (who was born over there), she definitely never saw any blacks until she was sent to tanzania (that was where the british sent some of the polish POWs who were released to their custody by the soviets when the soviets entered WWII on the allied side). there weren't exactly lots of black people in pre-WWII poland, you know. i don't know WHAT she thought of blacks -- african or african-american -- that conversation never came up.

Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:27 (nineteen years ago) link

were the poles being racist?

I'm not sure about the cross-burning thing, but I was in Poland when the pope died and just walking around I was shocked by the number of racist skinheads walking around (despite the fact that there were no coloured people to be seen anywhere). This was Poznan, and you can see a photo of one the the skins, wearing a "White Power Poland" t-shirt, here. More thoughts on the subject in the radio program I made there, Poznan Radio.

Momus (Momus), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:58 (nineteen years ago) link

poland also has a rather nasty, hardcore old-school catholic radio station ("radio maria") that is rather infamous for its anti-semitism and general europhobia. i believe that lech walesa's former parish priest-cum-advisor had a hand in the station. at any rate, it's a nasty bit of business.

i'm also amazed that the "white power" thing has had any traction in slavic nations (not just poland, but also the czech republic and russia), given hitler's well-known views of the slavs and the general brutality of the WWII years not to mention the often-bigoted attitudes that modern-day germans have about eastern europeans.

Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:13 (nineteen years ago) link

despite the fact that there were no coloured people to be seen anywhere

Momus!!! You said the C word!

Gatinha (rwillmsen), Saturday, 11 June 2005 09:30 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm not sure about the cross-burning thing, but I was in Poland when the pope died and just walking around I was shocked by the number of racist skinheads walking around (despite the fact that there were no coloured people to be seen anywhere). This was Poznan, and you can see a photo of one the the skins, wearing a "White Power Poland" t-shirt, here. More thoughts on the subject in the radio program I made there, Poznan Radio.

-- Momus (nic...), June 11th, 2005.

no shit! i was in kracow, and there were, now i think of it, plenty of ominously shaven-headed guys wandering around at one point. it wasn't totally clear what the deal was, though, cos they all had football paraphernalia, and i didn't want to leap to 'east europeans = racist' conclusions. i can't read polish either. but i guess my original point was: my american cousin thought poles were racist because there are no/very few black people in poland. which might be bullshit, otoh, might not be; after all, there are very few jews in poland (?10,000?) and the record on anti-semitism isn't pretty.

Momus!!! You said the C word!

not the preferred nomenclature!

N_RQ, Saturday, 11 June 2005 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I've always felt that Eastern Europe is full of racists. Fucking Slavs!

Lovelace (Lovelace), Saturday, 11 June 2005 21:22 (nineteen years ago) link

..with all the fucking skinhead jack asses in Australia?

Tibet is the winner.

kiki ramone, Sunday, 12 June 2005 01:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, those Tibetans sure love the Chinese.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Sunday, 12 June 2005 07:05 (nineteen years ago) link

my gut wants to say li[b]e[/b]chtenstein, but i don't know anything about it. anyone been to liechtenstein?

yeah been there. The impression I got was that there were only tourists.

Ludo (Ludo), Sunday, 12 June 2005 09:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Look at the crap that's going on with asylum seekers in Ireland recently.

More an administrative probelem than a social one, was my impression. And the figures from NationMaster seem to back this up. As does the recent article in Time

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 12:12 (nineteen years ago) link

ten months pass...
The Spirit Country, where the formless spirit resides before its embodiment and growth. Where color is of no importance, nor habits culture, or riches and status. Just the soul and its desire to grow.

Bodie, Sunday, 23 April 2006 23:55 (eighteen years ago) link

How do you wank if you're a soul?

Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 24 April 2006 00:00 (eighteen years ago) link

I met one horribly racist man, in the czech republic

RJG (RJG), Monday, 24 April 2006 00:37 (eighteen years ago) link

So how is lack of racism ranked?

I'd say Iceland is the least racist country I've been to because I've never heard anything bad or stereotypical said about any other race in the country. Then again, 99.5% of Icelandic residents are, well, Icelandic or Scandinavian..(actually, many Icelanders move to the other three Scandinavian countries because Iceland is too conservative for them.), so do they get marked down for being sheltered or being very neutral about it all?

(Point being: "which is the least racist country in the world?" is a ridiculous question to ask...)

Also the "least racist" country could end up being the "most homo-bigoted" country as well, or the most misogynist, or the least. What's the context of the measuring stick in the first place? Thread length? (Hi! :D)

DOQQUN (donut), Monday, 24 April 2006 01:07 (eighteen years ago) link

nobody said america?

DEEDS NOT WORDS (vahid), Monday, 24 April 2006 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link

118 messages and nobody said america?

DEEDS NOT WORDS (vahid), Monday, 24 April 2006 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link

america was proffered at the very top of the thread. it just wasn't taken as a given that that was the right answer, which is ok with me. i mean, america is my answer, but i don't mind people thinking otherwise. they've got plenty of reason to. the cabbie who drove us to the airport when we left manchester told us, "you know what i like about america? you really knew how to handle those blacks!"

so, i mean, america means a lot of different things depending on who's looking at us.

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 24 April 2006 06:13 (eighteen years ago) link

America: good at handling the blacks. Not so much the arabs. Though obviously everything that happens there gets a lot more coverage.

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 24 April 2006 06:31 (eighteen years ago) link

the daily show is racist, quite often.

25 yr old slacker cokehead (Enrique), Monday, 24 April 2006 07:27 (eighteen years ago) link

like when?

J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 24 April 2006 07:34 (eighteen years ago) link

the daily show does a lot of "those goofy arabs" jokes. they're not as meanspirited as what you get some places, but it's still basically race jokes. i was thinking how much actual racist humor i've heard in my life, in mainstream stuff, and it's a lot. the first thing i remember hearing about arabs in america was eddie murphy's routine about the guy at the 7-11. i thought that shit was funny. white kid from the suburbs, wtf do i know? it's a black guy saying it, can't be racist. which is somewhat how the daily show slides on it, it's a jewish guy making fun of everyone including jews. but the jokes are still racist. it's funny that there's this always this fantasy that racism was something that happened in the past. every generation wants to believe that, right.

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 24 April 2006 07:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, AS I KEEP SAYING there is something wrong wherever you define other people as needing to be 'handled' or 'tolerated' by people like yourselves.

suzy (suzy), Monday, 24 April 2006 07:44 (eighteen years ago) link

but otoh tolerance (if not acceptance) of multiculturalism/other cultures (inc. religions) is seen as a good thing.

Konal Doddz (blueski), Monday, 24 April 2006 08:51 (eighteen years ago) link

i don't know that the racisms of different countries are necessarily comparable, but in a sense my answer to this question is America, too. i definitely think America is the best country in which to be perceived as part of the quasi-racial Muslim-y Arab demographic at this historical moment, bad stuff notwithstanding. whenever I affirm this, a lot of people get uncomfortable and rush to point out all the fucked up race shit in America, but I think that that reaction is part of the reason I prefer American race politics (especially to my perception of those politics in European countries), that there's an undeniability to the history of American racism, because so much of it played out within the country's borders from its inception. so reasonable Americans know it's a fallen racial world we inhabit, whereas I feel like the kind of idealistic "there's no racism here" ethos in some European societies makes it impossible to see the problems clearly.

of course I'm overgeneralizing, and there's tons of denial about racism in America, but still. I'm moderately committed to my answer.

horsehoe (horseshoe), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:48 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't understand the number of people picking the U.S. over Canada!

Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:02 (eighteen years ago) link

give me a better example of the daily show's quite often racism

s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Canada: In 2001, 13.4% of the population belonged to visible minorities

USA:

Hispanics comprise 13% of the population (2000 census) which include people from South and Central America.
African Americans, or Blacks, comprise 13% (2000 census) of the American population.
Asian Americans, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, are a fourth significant minority (4% of the population in 2000).

ETC

YOU ARE NEARLY ALL WHITE (ex machina), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Toronto is the most multicultural city in the world. In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Toronto second, behind Miami, in its "List of World Cities with the Largest Percentage of Foreign-born Population". Though ranking first, Miami's foreign-born population is mostly Hispanic, whereas Toronto's is significantly more diverse. Toronto also ranked ahead of Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York City, Singapore, and Sydney.

Toronto represents a multicultural mosaic. The 2001 Canadian census indicates 42.8% of Toronto's population being of a visible minority. In March 2005, Statistics Canada projected that the visible minority proportion will comprise a majority in both Toronto and Vancouver by 2012.

s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:33 (eighteen years ago) link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoriteam

I don't know whether this cartoon being produced in America is evidence for it being the least racist country in the world or not.

TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:47 (eighteen years ago) link

re: LA v Toronto

that percentage for LA almost definitely doesn't include "illegals", cuz id it did, those people in addition to naturalized Latinos, Koreans, etc etc would be over 50% easy

xpost

timmy tannin (pompous), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link

TORONTO IS NOT A COUNTRY

JW (ex machina), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:59 (eighteen years ago) link

also, arent they all just immigrats from taiwan & hk anyway?

phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:00 (eighteen years ago) link

"least racist" is probably the wrong metric, since the least racist country might well be one with only one race. "country in which racial minorities enjoy the greatest range of economic and cultural opportunity, recognition and achievement" might be a better (if considerably wordier) thing to look at.

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:03 (eighteen years ago) link

largest # of immigrants /= least racist

Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:11 (eighteen years ago) link

no, right, that's the thing, more races and cultures tends to produce more friction. but it also produces more hybridization, miscegenation, cultural interaction, etc. which is why i think "least racist" might be the wrong thing to look for.

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link

did you guys read the rest of the thread at all?

TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:13 (eighteen years ago) link

TORONTO IS NOT A COUNTRY.

JW (ex machina), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:13 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll second gypsy mothra abt the vaguely racist Daily SHow antics - specifically any time they use clips from a foreign broadcast and then do a goofy voiceover about how silly them crazy furriners are (which they do ALL THE TIME). It isn't KKK-style racism, but they're cheap and lazy laughs, and I don't really see any justification for them.

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:16 (eighteen years ago) link

MY FAVORITE COUNTRY IS LOS ANGELES

Haikunym (Haikunym), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:16 (eighteen years ago) link

los angeles is a continent or a hemisphere, i'll get back to you (or is it an hemisphere?)

timmy tannin (pompous), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:19 (eighteen years ago) link

T/S: LAZY COMEDY VS. DEFENDING COUNTRIES WITH HORRIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS

JW (ex machina), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:21 (eighteen years ago) link

YA ALL CAPS!

Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:24 (eighteen years ago) link

toronto is IN a country

s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Canada is in America

JW (ex machina), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:26 (eighteen years ago) link

america is in north america

s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 April 2006 17:27 (eighteen years ago) link


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