18 Sep
I’m watching this now — it looks like they’re going back and forth about “why” this movie was titled the way it was. Sure sure — I know that this title was chosen to generate “dialog” — but we forget about the untold masses of Americans who will never see the movie, will never think about ‘dialog’, but will just hear of the movie and then have a new word to call the Sikh boy in 4th grade. As Rajdeep clearly says, “it will normalize and legitimize the slur.” Sure, it will spur dialog, but only among the people who want to watch this movie. It’s sort of like the academic elite is like, “look, we’re creating dialog,” but what they’re actually doing is equipping people with a new slur. The author even admits that a lot of people didn’t know what ‘towelhead’ meant.
Update:
It is to be noted, however, that the director and author pair, Alan Ball and Alicia Erian, had a dialog with SALDEF and posted it on the official website. That’s something positive.
3 Responses for "Rajdeep of SALDEF Debates Author & Director of “Towelhead”"
It will only become a new racial slur if this movie is a box office sensation. The people who do use racial slurs do not see movies like these, unless Vin Diesel is crushing some skulls in it. We should definitely protest to some level, however making it an extreme controversy will only give it more publicity. I also wouldn’t worry about the Sikh boy in the 4th grade. What kind of reasonable classmates will disregard “diaper head” for “towel head?”
I think it’s important we voice our concern about this movie, as any good American would. Yes, we could ‘ignore it,’ but as you can see from the video, the Director and Author encourage this discussion and have even posted the video to their official movie website.
I’m definitely concerned about the Sikh boy in fourth grade. In fact, I’m attending a bullying presentation today, for Sikh children in schools. I’d rather both terms not be part of the vernacular.
1. One thing that wasn’t mentioned in relation to the nigger vs. towelhead slurs is that a sikh would never call another sikh a towelhead. That term is so dirty and full of hate that you would never hear that in a sikh dialog between two sikhs. It’s such a packed term that two dear sikh friends who are comfortable with each other wouldn’t even resolve to using such a term in a personal conversation behind closed doors.
2. The director mentions that he finds it constructive to repeat such slurs over and over so that you can arrive at a point that those involved become de-sensitized and they start hurting less. I disagree with this point of view because the “nigger” or the sikh will not become de-sensitized to the pain he feels when he hears it but the person using it might become de-sensitized about his responsbility.
3. Corporate responsibility is considered a joke in this country. It’s become acceptable that their responsbility is to one entity only - their shareholders.
Ns88,
I agree that those who use racial slurs will not see this type of movie, BUT they will see this poster and they will see the commerical on TV and from then on they have a new weapon. It’s very similar to the uproar caused by the recent cover page drawing of Obama.
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