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Assignment 3
- 1. The Language of Racism involving Celebrities in the Media With reference to Paul Henry Barack Obama “Dicksheit” saga “Asian” comment
- 2. Definition of Racism Hierarchical construction of groups Include appearances, cultural practices, customs, traditions, language or socially stigmatised ancestors Paul Henry- Trait: ‘Cultural’ Barack Obama- Trait: ‘Appearances’
- 3. Content of Texts Paul Henry www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl22ZUVdz9A&feature=related “There are a lot of folks in Hawaii from Asian ancestry who generally aren't as tall” Was the description ‘Asian’ necessary? Perhaps worded in an alternative way? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gHGqy5o0VQ Makes fun of Deli chief minister Shelia Dickshit Last name is made fun of “Its so appropriate because she’s Indian, so shed be Dickenshit” Barack Obama
- 4. Linguistics of RacismRacism and the Media Paul Henry Barack Obama Over-lexicalisation- unnecessary to relate unusual last name to the fact that the women was ‘Indian’ Indians reflected in a negative light- Racism Over-lexicalisation- Unnecessary to identify basketball players as ‘Asian’ and being their main identification Asians reflected in a negative light-Racism
- 5. Otherization- Paul Henry “ Culture first view” Paul Henry represents Indians negatively which indicates the ideology that his race/culture (white European) is more important and the ‘acceptable’ race/culture-powerful culture Making fun of her last name- weaker culture “Its so appropriate because she’s Indian” “her name looks like dick Sh*t”
- 6. Mitigation – Barack Obama Definition “Use of language designed to lower the strength of the statement being made and avoid sounding negative” –readings page 160 Present in Text ‘Generally’ “There's a lot of folk from Asian ancestry ‘Generally’ the teams aren't as tall” Reduces severity of racial generalisation
Editor's Notes
- The language of Racism which is present in the media will be discussed with reference to major television and media figures Paul Henry and Barack Obama. Both individuals participated in a form of racial comments towards people of a different race. Paul Henrys Comment involving the ‘Dicksheit’ saga was very controversial where he was forced to resign from his powerful television presenting job. Barack Obama did not cause as much media attention as his comment was not as severe but because of his high status as President of the United States of America this was hugely frowned upon.
- The best definition to describe Racism which both Paul Henry and Barack Obama participated in is the definition described by Reisigil & Wodak 2001 being that “ Racism is based on the hierarchical construction of groups of persons who are characterised as communities of descent and to whom are attributed specific collective, naturalised or biologically labelled traits that are considered to almost be invariable. These traits often include biological features, to do with appearances, cultural practices, customs, traditions, language or socially stigmatised ancestors. In the case of Paul Henry he is racist towards Indians which would come under the trait of ‘culture’ and Barack Obama indicates racism towards Asians height which would come under the trait of ‘appearances’. These traits are usually either explicitly or implicitly, directly or indirectly-evaluated negatively. I think also too Van Dijk 2001 definition of racism is also relevant where “racism is a social system of domination, that is, of a specific kind of power of one group over other groups, in our case of Europeans (‘Whites’) over non-European peoples. Paul Henrys comment supports this as they way he refers to Indians almost indicates that himself being white is the ‘normal’ race therefore representing him as more powerful.
- Televsion Host Paul Henry was frowned upon by the Nation of New Zealand when he made fun of Deli chief ministers Shelia Dikseit which Paul pronounced Dickshit, although at first he made a pronunciation mistake instead of moving on with the broadcast he continued to make fun of her last name along with a lot of laughter. Not only did Paul make fun of her name but also added a very racist comment being that her last name pronounced Dickshit is “so appropriate because she's Indian, so shed be Dickenshit” which automatically categorised her by her cultural suggesting that her culture is the reason why her last name is so amusing. Therefore making her less superior to his culture being white or European. People of Indian ethnicity were highly offended by Pauls comment as it was not only racist but very unnecessary. Barack Obama when referring to basketball players in Hawaii said “there are a lot of folks in Hawaii from Asian ancestor who generally aren't as tall” which is a huge generalisation of Asian people highlighting racial issues. This was particularly frowned upon as Barack Obama is a highly respected public figure within the media so for him to say something like this is not appropriate, but in his defence I do know what he is saying but perhaps he worded it wrong where he didn't need to single the Asian culture out rather he could have not included their race in the comment.
- The media can have a strong influence on reflecting racial attitudes on viewers especially people who have little contact with people of different ethnic groups/ minority groups. Media roles can include ‘Over-lexicalisation’ meaning that “the ethnicity of out-group’s is highlighted by the inclusion of words that are not strictly necessary, whereas references to people from the dominant group are not marked in this way”. Paul Henry participates in ‘over-lexicalisation with the quote “Its appropriate because she's Indian” –the fact that the women is Indian is completely irrelevant as to why her name was amusing and therefore classes Indians as different. In fact Paul was pronouncing her name wrong which again is rude towards the women as it is pronounced ‘Dickseit’. Barack Obama also participates in ‘over-lexicalisation’ by unnecessarily identifying the basketball players as ‘Asian’ and implies that they are short simply because they have Asian ancestry which is a huge generalisation and racist comment.
- Otherization as defined in the study guide is “used to describe the process that we undertake in ascribing identity to the self through the often negative attribution of characteristics to the other”. You could call it a culture first view. The way Paul Henry makes fun of an Indian women's name and the comment in particular made that “its so appropriate because she's Indian” reflects otherisation as he reflects ‘Indians’ as the inferior or less powerful culture between him and Indians. Not only is this racist but shows the power difference, where his culture is more powerful and at the same time the women is not their to defend herself. Paul is in the New Zealand Media eye so having a huge influence on how the women is being portrayed, including less powerful, unfortunate, un cool due etc due to her unusual name.
- Barack Obama’s comment indicates Racism in a semi-private discourse specifically under ‘mitigation’. Mitigation is the “use of language designed to lower the strength of the statement being made and avoid sounding very negative. In Obama’s statement about Asians he demonstrates mitigation with the word ‘generally’ in order to reduce the severity of the comment which is in fact racist. Even though he tries to dull it down with this word he did not need to include the fact that they were short because they were from Asian ancestry, although this may be true it is a generalisation and unnecessary.