Re: Harry and Megan
Reply #212 –
So just to clarify, I'm racist for having suffered the WASP culture which was by your own comments was a 19th century superiority complex that actually persists today not to all people, but only against indigenous and other minority groups but doesn't apply to anyone of European ancestry?
Sorry trying to work out what point your making because arguing against anglo saxonism, and then stating its been around as a superiority complex since the 19th century doesn't discredit it really. Whatever the history of the brittish peoples DNA might be, when they became the dominant thalassocracy of the world British imperialism reigned, and exploited others.
Call me racist if you like, but I dont think that applies to me:
characterized by or showing prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
I dont think the people im referring to are a minority, or marginalised and I don't treat others as anything based on anything but their own behaviour. Thing is, when I left my last job, I did so having been one of the Greek boys from IT. Name used interchangeably with my colleagues, because you know who really cares which one of them we are speaking to, people asking me how the kids are (i dont have any, that was my team leader) and just generally feeling invisible.
Anyway, I'm one of the privleged ones I guess. At least I'm not from Africa or Asia or indigenous because I'm not its ok to treat me as inferior and I should have no complaints?
There you go again!
WASP culture! What exactly is that?
As I have explained previously, the term WASP was used to describe an American ethnoreligious group who are the white, upper-class, Protestant historical elite, originally of British descent but broadened to include people of northwestern European descent. There isn't and has never been an equivalent ethnoreligious elite group in Australia. I have no doubt that some folk of northwestern European descent gave you a hard time but I bet that they weren't all upper class or Protestant.
Just to reiterate, the term Anglo-Saxon is used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, annals compiled by monks and clerics to document the achievements of the ruling elite of southeastern England. It is believed that the original manuscript was compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great but the story commences in 60BCE, the date they believed Caesar's invasion of Britain occurred. Of course, there were no Angles and no Saxons in Britain when Caesar invaded. The Angles and the Saxons and the Norse and Normans, Bretons and Flemish all came much later and, rather than replacing the original Britons or Celts, simply supplanted the ruling elites. Anglo-Saxon is not a culture or a race but was a literary tool used to reinforce a ruling elite.
In the 19th century, some British and American intellectuals, politicians, and academics developed a racial belief system based on the mistaken idea that there was an Anglo-Saxon people. These white, upper class elites were tagged as WASPs in America and your continued use of the term to describe Australians of northwestern European descent is wrong and racist, as is your categorisation of people who you claim weren't welcoming as Anglo-Saxon.
Racism is "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalised." Being a minority group or marginalised is not essential. Your continued reference to Australians of northwestern European descent as Anglo-Saxons who made you feel unwelcome is racist. Please stop!
A former colleague went for a holiday in Greece, partly to catch up with family and partly to have a good time. George is blonde with blue eyes and speaks English with the faintest of Greek accents. He went into a shop on one of the Greek islands and the owner ignored him. When another customer came in, the owner went to serve him and the following conversation occurred, in Greek:
Second customer: "What about him? (pointing to George)
Owner: "The fecking foreigner can wait!"
George: "Who are you calling a fecking foreigner?"
Owner: "I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were Greek."
George didn't expect to be subjected to racism in his ancestral homeland and was horrified to think that "foreigners" could be treated so badly.
I had lunch with one of my oldest friends recently and she was telling me about her first experiences after emigrating to Australia from Egypt. Like many Egyptian Greeks, her family fled Nasser's persecution and arrived in Australia with next to nothing. She said that she and her family experienced nothing but kindness and help from Australians. She went on to carve out a very successful career and her daughter is a famous singer-songwriter. I wonder why the "Anglo-Saxons" treated them differently