Re: <nettime> racism, documentation and comparison

[Jeffrey Allen Gandy <jeff@mindspear.com>]

> I have found this comparison tiring all my
> life, it is the reason for which in the the name of our "country" we are
> not allowed to report crimes. Treatment of immigrants in Greece is
> criminal, I can provide anybody with evidence for that, treatment of
> immmigrant by the media is racist I can provide evidence of that also. ( I
> am not doing that now, but try renting a house as a foreigner in Greece
> and you will find most adverts state " no foreigners")

>
> But I am to think that Mumia's penalty erases the above situation because
> after all American's are worse and that comparison is all we need to be
> Greek!

Hardly.  You would be hard pressed to find any of the situations you
mention above present here on a wide scale.  Certainly treatment of
illegal immigrants can be questionable at times, but the vast majority are
simply deported.  However, you are not speaking of illegal, but rather
legal immigrants. 

Regarding Mexican immigration (the primary headache-type immigration issue
in the US), more and more Spanish speaking media sources that are entirely
Hispanic owned and operated are becoming available on a daily basis in the
United States.  Their treatment of Hispanic issues can hardly be construed
as racist, irregardless of whether they agree with mainstream US media or
not. 

My girlfriend is in the United States legally, and she is Chinese.  And I
have been cautious and sometimes worried about her having some sort of bad
experience with a racist, but so far she has been fortunate and nothing
like that has occurred.  It is also worth noting that the only harshness
regarding any type of racial/national issues has come towards me from the
Chinese community.  This is also understandable, as I happen to be quite
vocal about different issues ;-) 

Racism and negative feelings towards immigrants are something that is
present in all countries.  At least one measure of a society's strength is
it's ability and willingness to control the oppression of one group's
rights, while still maintaining the other side's inalienable right to
speak it's views. 

> Finnaly I have to mention that "madness" is a term that can not cover
> racial hatred, there is nothing "mad" about being a fanatic.

I disagree with this.  Racism is in itself not madness, but rather what? 
Perhaps ignorance, fear...... they all walk hand in hand. 

However fanaticism is a different story entirely.  It may not be a
"madness"  in the sense of a mental illness, but what of group madness? 
Hysteria in the streets, large groups of people assaulting others with
words and violence, incited by a few espousing their belief in hatred. 
Growing worse by the day, until entire groups which are deemed
"undesirable" are subjected to forced migrations, or even slaughter.  Is
this not madness?  If not, then surely it is a sickness, of society. 

Best regards,

Jeff A. Gandy
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