A long time ago, a good friend of mine told me that orange was the new pink. I didn’t really understand what he meant, till a few days ago when the meaning of what he said dawned on me. At the same time I also realised that brown is the new black.
For millennia, white and black have been pitted in a death struggle, the struggle of good against evil with each colour playing its defined role. Today a number of colours have been introduced into the equation, namely brown, red and yellow. Out of the three, none has grabbed the popular consciousness more than brown, it is the only one that rivals black in its’ association with evil and terror. Particularly terror; bearded and brown now almost define terror, to the extent that even Lucifer with his red skin, horns and tail pales in comparison.
The various shades of brown from a dirty-white-arab-brown to tropical-sun-kissed-south-east-asian-brown are all associated with terror by varying degrees. All none the less imply terror.
Brown as we are seeing nowadays is not the best colour to be while airborne. Over the last week, flights have been cancelled, delayed or diverted whilst mid-flight because brown men were behaving suspiciously. In the good old days, constant fidgeting, shifty-eyes and profuse sweating were among the indicators of suspicious behaviour. Now just brown skin and a beard are considered sufficient. Now I’m not suggesting some conspiracy to keep Arabs and swarthy hued Asians out of the air but I do believe conscious or unconscious racial profiling has gotten out of control.
The British police seem to believe in taking extreme measures, anyone not pearly white is considered a terrorist, as in the case of the Brazilian dude on the subway a few years ago. Being Asian I find offence in the confusion of a South American with an Arab/Asian. I mean come on we do not look even remotely look like South Americans, the only thing we have in common is that none of us are white or black, we are brown.
TV commentator Dean Jones perfectly illustrated my point by referring to South African cricketer Hashem Amla (who happens to be of Indian origin) as ‘The Terrorist’. In the media frenzy that followed his comments, many jumped to his defence, pointing out that he was good friends with members of the Pakistani cricket team, that he thought he was off-air and just happened to make an off-hand comment that he really didn’t mean. The fact that he considered it okay to call someone a terrorist because he is brown, bearded and Muslim is the main issue. Mukul Kesavan in the Hindustan Times points out that no one would refer to Tiger Woods as ‘The Nigger’ whether on or off the air, since that particular word is no longer socially acceptable, however calling an Asian a terrorist is apparently still considered acceptable.
It all comes down to fear, first Asians started to take their jobs then another group of Asians tried to bring down their planes, it all adds up. The mistrust, resentment and fear all add up, the media who feed off the fear multiplies them by constantly taking about suspicious brown men. A lot of people are scared of aliens, the extra terrestrial ones not the illegal immigrant variety. Aliens were typified as little green men, with a penchant for anal probing. Today our fears have changed but only slightly. From little green men to suspicious brown men and from anal probes to suicide bombs.
For millennia, white and black have been pitted in a death struggle, the struggle of good against evil with each colour playing its defined role. Today a number of colours have been introduced into the equation, namely brown, red and yellow. Out of the three, none has grabbed the popular consciousness more than brown, it is the only one that rivals black in its’ association with evil and terror. Particularly terror; bearded and brown now almost define terror, to the extent that even Lucifer with his red skin, horns and tail pales in comparison.
The various shades of brown from a dirty-white-arab-brown to tropical-sun-kissed-south-east-asian-brown are all associated with terror by varying degrees. All none the less imply terror.
Brown as we are seeing nowadays is not the best colour to be while airborne. Over the last week, flights have been cancelled, delayed or diverted whilst mid-flight because brown men were behaving suspiciously. In the good old days, constant fidgeting, shifty-eyes and profuse sweating were among the indicators of suspicious behaviour. Now just brown skin and a beard are considered sufficient. Now I’m not suggesting some conspiracy to keep Arabs and swarthy hued Asians out of the air but I do believe conscious or unconscious racial profiling has gotten out of control.
The British police seem to believe in taking extreme measures, anyone not pearly white is considered a terrorist, as in the case of the Brazilian dude on the subway a few years ago. Being Asian I find offence in the confusion of a South American with an Arab/Asian. I mean come on we do not look even remotely look like South Americans, the only thing we have in common is that none of us are white or black, we are brown.
TV commentator Dean Jones perfectly illustrated my point by referring to South African cricketer Hashem Amla (who happens to be of Indian origin) as ‘The Terrorist’. In the media frenzy that followed his comments, many jumped to his defence, pointing out that he was good friends with members of the Pakistani cricket team, that he thought he was off-air and just happened to make an off-hand comment that he really didn’t mean. The fact that he considered it okay to call someone a terrorist because he is brown, bearded and Muslim is the main issue. Mukul Kesavan in the Hindustan Times points out that no one would refer to Tiger Woods as ‘The Nigger’ whether on or off the air, since that particular word is no longer socially acceptable, however calling an Asian a terrorist is apparently still considered acceptable.
It all comes down to fear, first Asians started to take their jobs then another group of Asians tried to bring down their planes, it all adds up. The mistrust, resentment and fear all add up, the media who feed off the fear multiplies them by constantly taking about suspicious brown men. A lot of people are scared of aliens, the extra terrestrial ones not the illegal immigrant variety. Aliens were typified as little green men, with a penchant for anal probing. Today our fears have changed but only slightly. From little green men to suspicious brown men and from anal probes to suicide bombs.
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