{"id":126782,"date":"2014-06-24T06:31:29","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T01:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=126782"},"modified":"2014-06-30T11:46:08","modified_gmt":"2014-06-30T06:16:08","slug":"what-is-the-color-of-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-is-the-color-of-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Color Of Racism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Before you speak let your words pass through three gates.\u00a0 At the first gate, ask yourself \u2018is it true?\u2019 At second, ask yourself \u2018is it necessary?\u2019 And at the third, ask yourself \u2018is it kind?\u2019<\/i> \u2013 Sufi saying.<\/span><\/p>\n

Social media is for some a stress reliever. Facebook and Twitter are sounding boards for some and for others Agony Aunts or even shrinks.\u00a0 That\u2019s at the personal level. There is by definition a social element to it too of course.\u00a0 That\u2019s why there are groups, followers and followed on these sites.<\/p>\n

Social media is not all that it is claimed to be and neither is it the nothing that others claim it to be.\u00a0 Has its uses, has its pitfalls.\u00a0 It steps in when mainstream media steps back and this is a good thing.\u00a0 The flip side is that even as there are responsible posts where people don\u2019t say \u2018any old thing\u2019 there are utterly irresponsible statements made without verification and without corroboration.\u00a0 These are re-posted and re-tweeted as though it\u2019s all fact.<\/p>\n

It is argued that the lie gets called quite fast in social media. This is true.\u00a0 It\u2019s faster of course than in mainstream media such as newspapers.\u00a0 On the other hand not everyone on Facebook and Twitter are actually listening to the counter-argument, there being enough people who dismiss any counter to believed \u2018truth\u2019 as conspiracy, lie, obfuscation etc.\u00a0 Moreover, within \u2018groups\u2019 (of all \u2018faiths\u2019) the counterpoint is absent.<\/p>\n

\"racism<\/a>By and large the in-your-face commentator intent on thrusting his or her opinion down your throat is easily recognizable.\u00a0 They win the day, most days, but sometimes one wonders if it is they that are mostly to blame for hardening of positions, the whipping up of racial hatred and the sweeping vilification of an entire collective for the crimes of a few.<\/p>\n

\u2018Aluthgama<\/span><\/a>\u2019 generated horror and disgust, condemnation and fear, excuses and justification, accusation and counter-accusation.\u00a0 There was also sanity.\u00a0 There were the pragmatists who got down to the hard and not fashionable matter of providing relief to the displaced.\u00a0 There were others who pleaded for restraint, patience and calm.\u00a0 \u2018It should not be allowed to spread, things should not get worse,\u2019 they argued even as others were indulging in wild claims such as \u2018It\u2019s 1983<\/span><\/a> all over again\u2019 not as warning (legitimate) but as fact (erroneous).<\/p>\n

And quite reminiscent of the profile pictures that many picked up during the agitation by FUTA (Federation of University Teachers\u2019 Associations) where the legend \u20186%\u2019<\/span><\/a> became signature statement of position, many changed their profile picture to \u2018Stand Against Racism\u2019 or versions of this sentiment.\u00a0 We will get to that presently.<\/p>\n

\"Racism<\/a>There was also an FB post with a link to John Lennon\u2019s \u2018Imagine<\/span><\/a>\u2019, that all time favorite of anti-war demonstrators and other peace activists who promote non-violence.\u00a0 The lines are lovely: \u2018Imagine there\u2019s no countries, it isn\u2019t hard to do; nothing to kill or die for and no religion too.\u2019\u00a0 What\u2019s interesting, though, is that those who sing that song and spread the sentiment around aren\u2019t putting their money where their mouths are.\u00a0 There\u2019s never been a note accompanying such posts of the following kind: \u2018I hereby drop my religion, I will hereafter be faithless and I denounce country, race and all other identifiers of collectivity\u2019.\u00a0 So it is almost as though they want others to drop their religion while keeping their own faith.<\/p>\n

Another, more subtle, version of the same hypocrisy was evident on FB.\u00a0 There were people who changed their profile picture to an image of a hand with a tiny map of Sri Lanka in the middle.\u00a0 It was the classic \u2018No!\u2019 sign, fingers spread out.\u00a0 The caption was \u2018Stand against racism\u2019.\u00a0 The trick is in the color.\u00a0 The background was yellow, clearly the color associated with Buddhism and Buddhists.\u00a0 What\u2019s the subliminal message here?\u00a0 Buddhists are racists (extremists, religious fundamentalists, what have you?)?<\/p>\n

\"Racism<\/a>There is blanket dismissal and vilification here of an entire collective.\u00a0 It was picked up by many, Buddhists included, one has to assume more in innocence than with any conspiratorial intent.\u00a0 It is doubtful that Muslims who put this image up were all thinking \u2018Buddhists and only Buddhists are \u201cracist\u201d\u2019.\u00a0 But you can\u2019t get around the assumptions embedded in the color-choice.\u00a0 Not only are all Buddhists vilified, there is a simultaneous claim that Buddhists and Buddhists alone are to blame.\u00a0 No one else. The facts on the ground rebel against this position.\u00a0 No, it is not that Buddhists and Muslims are equally to blame, but no one is entirely blameless here.\u00a0 Provocation and violence were not the preserve of \u2018Buddhists\u2019.\u00a0 So is it that \u2018Racism by Buddhists\u2019 (shouldn\u2019t it be religious intolerance and not \u2018racism\u2019?) is the only kind of \u2018racism\u2019 people are ready to object to?<\/p>\n

Interestingly some who preferred the yellow-sign are also people who not too long ago said \u2018don\u2019t conflate LTTE and \u201cTamil\u201d\u2019 (even as they said \u2018The LTTE is the sole-representative of the Tamil people\u2019).\u00a0 We see an easy slip from BBS to \u2018Sinhala Buddhist\u2019 and to \u2018Sinhala Buddhist State\u2019 and \u2018Sinhala Buddhist hegemony\u2019, almost like how \u2018Buddhists\u2019 were ready with petrol and matchbox to meet \u2018stone-throw provocation\u2019.\u00a0 It\u2019s a habit, then?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s sanity too, fortunately. Azmeer Mohamed had put up a \u2018Stand against racism\u2019 profile pic. It had yellow and it had green. Chameera Dedduwage has the same profile picture. That\u2019s rising above it all.\u00a0 One might objection to the proportional split considering the fact that it was the Muslims who had to bear the brunt of the violence \u2013 it would be a travesty of justice to say \u2018both communities suffered\u2019 when in fact what the Muslims suffered dwarfs what Buddhists did, but still, it\u2019s better than the blanket dismissal of single-color (mis)representation.<\/p>\n

There are no all-green signs, by the way.\u00a0 There is nothing to stop anyone from going for a neutral background color.\u00a0 White, for example.<\/p>\n

But why quibble about a color, one might ask, when there are shops being burnt and when Muslims legitimately feel threatened?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s no reason to go overboard in any direction. Whatever is done should help because the slightest slight can make things dramatically worse.<\/p>\n

These are not easy times. Frayed tempers, perceived grievances, real threats and real fears are all elements that can cloud and blow away reason. This is the hour or the rumor-monger. This is the hour of the extremist. This is the hour of the passionate. This is therefore the hour when reason must \u2018come to the party\u2019. Big time. And there has to be reason in both the big and the small.\u00a0 A spark, after all, is not of gigantic proportion.<\/p>\n

Azmeer Mohamed gives a clue. He posted the Sufi saying quoted above. Azmeer Mohamed asks himself \u2018is it true, necessary and kind?\u2019 It cannot hurt to follow his example.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is The Color Of Racism? - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-is-the-color-of-racism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is The Color Of Racism? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-is-the-color-of-racism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-24T01:01:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-30T06:16:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-is-the-color-of-racism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-is-the-color-of-racism\/\",\"name\":\"What Is The Color Of Racism? 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