What's going on?
HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD
In mid-May, literally millions in India and around the world were introduced to what the two of the largest English language newspapers in India called a "racial slur and "alleged racial attack" on Hoboken's Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Similar articles appeared in print and online in hundreds of media outlets worldwide on several continents.
The subject: a "reader submitted" Photoshop on a Hoboken blog. The image depicts the Sikh mayor with a beard tethered to his turban, wearing the garb of a mock Arab dictator; the base image used is a screenshot from the movie, "The Dictator."
Fact: most Arabs are Muslim, and the Shia sect wear turbans. Buzzfeed has written about how Americans confuse Sikhs with Muslims, making them vulnerable to hate crimes.
Fact: most Arabs are Muslim, and the Shia sect wear turbans. Buzzfeed has written about how Americans confuse Sikhs with Muslims, making them vulnerable to hate crimes.
"Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, but remains largely a mystery to Americans... who frequently confuse Sikhs with Muslims The first victim of a deadly hate crime after 9/11 was a Sikh man named Balbir Singh Sodhi. The perpetrator mistook Sodhi for a Muslim, and would later justify his actions by telling police that he was a patriot. In 2012, a man entered a Sikh house of worship in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and opened fire, killing six people and wounding three. In 2017, at least three Sikh men have been killed and another wounded in apparent hate crimes. Wearing a turban in the United States means living with the weight of its fabric, and recognizing that it can all too often be turned into a target."
It appears that the Mayor Bhalla's turban has become a target of some political adversaries.
The publisher of the "racial slur" did not apologize; instead he defiantly republished the image and offered various "explanations" for it on social media.
NEW SLUR PUBLISHED ON THAT BLOG
Over the holiday weekend a reader informed me that a comment by one of that blog's fake screen names was in fact a "racist slur."
It appears that the Mayor Bhalla's turban has become a target of some political adversaries.
The publisher of the "racial slur" did not apologize; instead he defiantly republished the image and offered various "explanations" for it on social media.
"If you're explaining, you're losing."
-Ronald Reagan
NEW SLUR PUBLISHED ON THAT BLOG
Over the holiday weekend a reader informed me that a comment by one of that blog's fake screen names was in fact a "racist slur."
The racist slur appeared last Friday, same day as GA's interview with an American Sikh. I urge folks to read my interview to better understand the stresses American Sikhs face post 9-11, especially with regard to protecting their children from bullying and worse.
Not for nothing, the Photoshop rankled the Sikh world. If you are an arrogant narcissist and a bigot you don't care. You shrug, give the finger to the Sikh community and allow the publication of a new insult. See above.
GA Note:
I just have to wonder if the "unelectable" whisper campaign of 2017 has gone public. Incumbent ward council candidates are still using use this blog as their media platform.
Bringing its cultural cluelessness and/or malevolence about the turban to a new low, their latest breathless scooter crisis story criticizes Bhalla for not wearing a helmet in a scooter publicity pic.
ReplyDelete“Setting a bad example,” they say, conveniently leaving out the matter of religion.
If you expect better from Tiffanie, Mike, Jen, Peter and Ruben’s website, you’re expecting too much.
I am not going to defend the cluelessness exhibited on that other site, nor the seeming indifference to racial bias exhibited by sitting council members by continuing to post their meandering “press releases” on the site. But, I have met many otherwise well-intentioned and good people who, for whatever reason, are totally clueless about their innate racism and prejudice. Whenever they are called on their racially tinged statements, the usual response is “But I have friends who are ___________.! I can’t be called a racist!” But, yes you can and yes you are. Slips of the tongue and unintentional utterances can be as painful and hurtful as intentionally bigoted statements. Usually, mature, thoughtful and intelligent adults, like many people that I know, are open to a discussion of their insensitivity to others who don’t look like, talk like, wear clothing (turban or veil) like, or don’t celebrate the same religious holidays like them. The fact that the proprietor of that other site deals in racist alt right conspiracy theories only underscores his true nature. The fact that the council members are so blinded by their dislike for the mayor that they continue to use that site as an outlet for their communications to the citizens of Hoboken does not speak well of them. Clearly, their lack of empathy or self-awareness makes them, IMO, ineligible to represent the diverse city that I proudly call home. Collectively, they have shamed Hoboken on the world stage as an intolerant and bigoted place to live. Sad.
DeleteYeah- I saw that. Maybe he wants to create a Hoboken Turban-Police to ticket every Sikh resident on a scooter or bicycle without a helmet.
DeleteRoman's response: As an unregistered commenter via the third party software system, you are allowed to make polite and positive remarks about Mayor Ravi Bhalla. All such remarks about Ravi are of course welcome as the First Amendment is held high on Hobokenhorse.com. Political speech is held on the highest rung in the NJ Constitution but no popup screen name will be allowed to make any ugly racial attacks here against anyone, especially the Hoboken mayor.
ReplyDeleteYou are chastised and hereby warned as a popup unregistered screen name from any additional attempts to insert ugly racist comments again Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Your attempt at doing so here is BLOCKED!
This is your final and last warning. So, Vijay, Allen, and co., nice try. #FAIL
Dawn Zimmer was better. Always will be and no nasty attempted political operation will succeed here. As her budgets were flat for eight years, she will never be outdone nor outclassed by the Bhalla Administration and the office of political hacks and quackery. (Juan Melli and Dan Bryan were outstanding public servants who treated their roles in the Office of Hoboken mayor with honor and dignity.)
Unlike you clowns and your big fat hypocrite of a lying paid political operative.
Have a nice day losers!
Hilarious. You do realize he writes all the comments over there - with the exception of perhaps four actual screen names. Yes, he spams his own site to create the perception that his incomprehensible gibberish spurs conversation. He believes he is influencing public opinion, speaking in multiple voices supporting his whackadoodle narrative. He talks to himself in the comments (refers to himself as "Horsey"- a tell), responds to himself, and in this case chastises himself.
DeleteFor arguments sake, let's say a third party did write that racial slur.... Well, it sat there for 3+ full days on a site that didn't receive a comment in 3+ days. It strains credulity that he did not "discover" the slur sitting in his barren wasteland of a blog-desert before this blog called him out today. Dontcha think?
Note, he did not delete the slur. But he does censor and edit comments that he doesn't like. Which means he likes the slur. He wants it there. That's why he wrote it.
Now, in the future... please do not post cyber-horse manure here. Now I must disinfect this page!
Great catch on the oh so clever racist screen name.
DeleteThe post Scott quoted can be summed up in a single word:
Snagged!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100546568564260&set=a.610918452610&type=3&theater
ReplyDeleteomg... too funny.... check out the bigots argument with some guy named ed on facebook....
"your pals, likely running another race-baiting plan out of the taxpayer paid mayor's office tried to push through a racist attack in a comment against mayor bhalla over the holiday weekend. i stopped it but allowed another comment praising ravi bhalla as they claimed him a friend. "
oh and ga, he called you fat like 4 times. on top of all his other issues he's a misogynist oinker. oink oink oink
The racist Fox News watching unemployed windbags need to get jobs already.
ReplyDeleteNancy in America everyone has a 1st Amendment right to speak their mind, no matter how disgusting. Remember when I defended you over your Nazi imagery? It's not his job to delete comments that you or anyone else finds offending, but not to use a screen name that is slur.
ReplyDeleteScott- You are off-base, and I don't need a First Amendment lecture. I never suggested he take down the racist slur- it is his choice. What I said was he does censor comments that he does not like (generally critical of politicians whom he likes) and people that he does not like (he's blocked me from commenting.) Therefore, given that he picks and chooses what speech he allows on his site, the fact that he allows a racist slur to remain is a de facto endorsement of the slur. That is what I said. Sure, he has a right to speak his mind. That's his mind. He's the 4chan of Hoboken.
DeleteIn my cyber-house, racist and homophobic slurs are not welcome because I don't tolerate bigotry.
Just because a person has a right to say whatever he or she wants, that doesn't mean they get a free pass on saying disgusting things. We all have a right to call them out on it.
DeleteSS1959... MSV's pointing out Mayor Bhalla not wearing a helmet was a backhanded racist remark.
DeleteThat site knows very well that Sikhs wear turbans and that the military also allows exemption from helmets. The Mayor was hardly speeding in that photo and was more or less demonstrating the scooter. Helmets are OPTIONAL. To a devout Sikh the Turban is not!
No it 's the hypocrisy of your side. When you did the Beth Mason Nazi piece I stood by you and I guess so did the other hypocrite posters. I always stand up for the 1st Amendment, but why didn't the others attack you when they attack Roman? Roman changed his phone number and won't give me his new one. So it has nothing to do with whether he's a friend of mine or not. It's not about the individual but his rights. The same goes with Perry when had Ravi in a turban. I find him disgusting but would stand behind him when it comes to free speech. If you are deleting speech you don't like, then shame on you.
ReplyDeleteMy "side?" You mean Dems?
DeleteYour moral equivalency argument is all wrong because when I realized I'd hurt folks, I apologized immediately, took down the image and tried to make amends. By your rationale, I should have left the image up (like Roman) republished it (like Roman) and called folks who were upset "idiots" (like Roman). Do you really think people would be giving him shit if he apologized? Scott, this is not a "free speech" issue but you clearly don't get that point. It is a civility and non-racial discrimination issue.
And by the way, who are you to criticize my/our First Amendment right to pronounce him a bigot and an a-hole-- which is protected speech? Shame! If someone gets on here and calls you a "kike"or a "hebe" you bet I'll delete it. If someone falsely accuses you of a crime like "assault"-- which is actionable defamation, you bet I'll delete it. You think that's a "shame?" Too bad. Go read Stormfront or 4chan if you want to read hate speech. It's not welcome here.
Oh please do explain what "your side" means. Do you mean the side of people who find racist bigots disgusting? Or do you mean the side that supports honest governance? Or perhaps do you mean the side of people who have jobs and lives and don't spend all day on the sofa watching Fox News, concocting insane conspiracy theories and engaging in online conversations with our pseudonyms online?
DeleteYour side: The Ravi reform side, the other the Bi Partisan Reform side. I listed 3 things that I stood up for regardless of whether or not I liked them. Can all your poster's say the same? I doubt it. In America your have the right to an idiot and a racist. It's like Facebook banning a token liberal, Louis Farrakhan. He not only a racist but an anti-Semite, even though he is friends with Bill Clinton and Obama, yet I believe he has a right to speak his mind. When I ran my Patch blog, I never deleted anyone's comments, except once, accidentally. The only time I ever did it was when people would make a comment about their business, not related to the post. There was a 411 poster with the moniker, Stan's blood diamonds when Stan is a honorable businessman yet I never objected. Either you embrace all free speech, even that you detest or you are a hypocrite when it comes to the 1st Amendment.
ReplyDeleteSo basically you support racists and bigots and think they shouldn't be called out for their disgusting behavior. Got it. You are an enabler.
DeleteAh, got it. "Ravi reform side" is code for progressive Dems like me. "BiPartisan reform side" is code for Trumpers like you and Roman. Well then, take a look at the "other side's" blog where recent comments were EDITED-- content removed and changed--and IPs are blocked altogether. How does that fit into your "sides" theory? It doesn't. Scott, not all speech is protected by the First Amendment- ever hear of libel, slander and defamation? Well, its true that insults are protected speech. But on your Patch column, your failure to hold commenters to any standards of civility does not make you a First Amendment champion, and probably why the Bajardis were able to pull comments from YOUR Patch blog into their SLAPP suit. Please take your self-righteous lectures and pomposity elsewhere. Go lecture the Trumper, who will most likely edit your comment if he posts it at all.
DeleteRadical Farrakhan-nists and Fee-Palestine bigots:
ReplyDeleteDo Brown, Black matter...if they're Israelis?
BLACK, BROWN, WHITE, YELLOW ISRAELIS
Since color has become a language somehow, and anti Israel bigots distort, then let's remind, most Israelis are "brown," in terms of stats. You have also many Ethiopian Jews.
No wonder the propagandists will never show democratic multiracial Israel in day to day lives.
Or elaborate on anti-black racism in the Goliath Arab world. Though all non Arabs have been through racism in that world.
SECURITY VS RACISTS
But of course Israeli security concerns are just that. Unrelated to any "color" or "race." Actually, speaking of racism, yes, Arab Muslim attackers target only Jews. Talk about real racism.
BACKGROUND ON HIJACKING TERMINOLOGY
True, hijacking of term 'it's racism," is as old as Palestine propaganda emerged by holocaust denier Issa Nakhleh who began in June-17-1949 the "like the Nazis and worse than nazis" line (and by Nov-14-1972 said all 6,000,000 were alive and Hitler "didn't" kill, and represented 'Muslim Congress' at Holocaust deniers convention in 1981), then picked up in 1960 by Nazi Tacuara saluter Ahmad Shukairy who by Oct-17-1961 added that garbage-touch apartheid slur too and questioned Catholic Uruguayan rep. Enrique Fabregat's loyalty, stating because he's (supposedly) a Jew. And both, of course were Hitler's ally ex-mufti Islamic leader al-Husseini avid fans. With Shukairy his aide.
Speaking of ex Mufti's admirers... Sufi Abdul Hamid, infamous 'Black Hitler' in NY who called to drive out Italians and Jews in the 1929-30, was also his admirer.
RE FARAKHANNISTS & FAKE "PRO-"
One might begin to argue there is such a thing as "pro Palestine", (only) when Farrakhan linked Ilhan Omar / Linda Sarsour / Rashida Tlaib will have a routine of decrying Arab Muslim suffering when it's not in context of Israel (who has been facing existential threat ever since) but suffering when by Arab Muslim entities. One would then hear about a real en-masse massacre. Such as hundreds of thousands in Syria, current example. And if they begin to do anything along the line, then no lip service please. But with that same "passion" as in fake "sympathy" played at the 'other' case.
The absentee reason is clear. Self explanatory. Because pro Palestine is a cover for anti Israel and often anti ALL Jews.
A note re L Farrakhan, that guy with his "blue eyes are the devil," when he uttered his "termites" venom, his genocidal hint was clear under the veil. For more about Dehumanization in radical Islamic Arab or even mainstream racist "Palestinian" education and sermons, search for "apes and pigs, Palestinians". Or see PalWatch and MEMRI.