posted
So, to sum up: The leader of the Free World appears to have made a mistake over the term for inhabitants of Pakistan. Those people here apt to support said President contend that:
a) It was a perfectly natural mistake to make, b) it's a legitimate term for said inhabitants given naming conventions of other counties in the region, and c) it's not an insult in the USA so it soesn't matter anyway.
Meanwhile, people who don't like Bush very much say:
a) He should have known better, b) his staff should have known better, and c) it is an insult regardless.
I'll make a mental note to ask some Pakistani friends what they think. . .
posted
Um... if neither involved party thinks of it as an insult, how, praytell, can it be?
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
One of the things about working in pizza delivery is, you tend to work with a great deal of people who have recently come over from other countries.
So, anyways, I asked three Pakistanis about being called 'Pakis.' Two of them have been in the U.S. less then five years (and Ahmed's English is pretty far from anything close to good). I don't know about Ayudin's educational background (I do know he served in the Pakistani Army, if that means anything), I know that Ahmed has a degree in the engineering field (and was laid off from that job after 9/11). The third (Rehman) came over when he was about three (this is the guy who gave me my grey hairs when I was a manager at Domino's and he worked for me). He's got a degree in accounting from Penn State and works for a firm in Towson.
Rehman said that 'Pakis' was an insult.
Ahmed and Ayudin both said they didn't think of 'Pakis' as an insult, but I don't know how much faith I can place in their answers, since they've both shown a high willingness to be very accomidating to anyone who has either been in the country longer then them, or speaks English better then them (Ahmed especially). So, it's sort of iffy.
posted
I ask several of my "brown" friends (this is not intended as a insult). They mostly agree that although "Pakies" in general is an racial term toward "brown" people, but under this perticular circumstance, Bush probabaly means no harm since he was addressing both India and Pakistan (both country are occupied by vast majority of "brown" people). It does not make sense to insult Pakistanis alone.
But, they also agree that Bush, while being the president of supposingly one of the most highly educated nation, who also attended one of the ivy league university, is an dumbass for making this mistake.
My friends also question what kind of a lousy job his "public relation staffs" are doing to let this one slip by them.
-------------------- "George Washington said, 'I cannot tell a lie.' Richard Nixon said, 'I cannot tell the truth.' Bill Clinton said, 'I cannot tell the difference.'"
-- comedian TOM SMOTHERS, from his latest stage act with brother DICK SMOTHERS.
Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged
-------------------- "George Washington said, 'I cannot tell a lie.' Richard Nixon said, 'I cannot tell the truth.' Bill Clinton said, 'I cannot tell the difference.'"
-- comedian TOM SMOTHERS, from his latest stage act with brother DICK SMOTHERS.
Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
