“Does separate but equal work for you, Farangi?”

Cute :)

Seriously,though. I have been mulling this over. One of the great things about blogosphere is that if you want to talk about issues that are personal to you and discuss things from a certain standpoint, then you can. The bad thing about this is what Lapata says in jest (or maybe not)- that it can also allow people to group themselves in separate spheres,consolidate that, and rarely go beyond that. For example, if you look at the blogroll of some blogs, they might be “community” focused and what not. And though I try to read a wide variety, I don’t regularly read, say, the KKK’s website (sadly).

But think about the big name political blogs and political bloggers in this country…

Farangi:

“Farangi say fuck race consciousness, unless it gets us somewhere. ”

I love you for saying that, and I wish I could say fuck race consciousness too. Except it’s not so easy when people keep labeling you and MAKE YOU CONSCIOUS OF IT. As such, I would like to say- “Fuck those who make me race conscious.”

Let me give you real life examples. I have noticed as of late that everytime someone meets me initially or is getting to know me, Indian food will inevitably come up: “Oh, I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE Indian food! And, like, I LOVE saag pUnIr!!!!!” and “I learned how to make CURRY– how much CURRY POWDER do you put in your lentils?” Some folks have taken to show me that they know about “Indian traditions” and “Indian culture” by discussing wedding saadis and crap they’ve read in books, gleaned from TV, or from whereever. And nowdays, for some reason, people keep assuming I’m Muslim (probably because I talk about Pakistan so often), and anytime any issues about Muslims and Islam come up, people will turn, look at me,and ask me for my opinion, then backtrack and ask me if I’m Muslim. And just yesterday, someone said, “You’re obviously Middle Eastern. From whereabouts? I LOVE FALAFEL.” I ain’t Middle Eastern, I’m originally from the East Coast, and I love falafel too, but I don’t care that you love falafels.

At first I thought I was being sensitive and maybe reading this the wrong way. But then I asked myself whether I say, “OH MY GOD, I LOVE APPLE PIE!!” when I meet white folks for the first time, or during the introductory phase. Or, tell white folks how much I understand and love Thanksgiving. I never brag to new Arab acquaintances that I know what maqluba is, I know what goes into the making of muhammara, and that I know how to make hommus. I never jump up and down upon meeting a Mexican and squeal, “Oh Lord, I LOVE GUACAMOLE AND BURRITOS!”

Is this multiculturalism gone all wrong? Or maybe people are socially inept and can’t find anything better to say?

Usually I’m gracious and will go ahead and make small talk with rubbish like this, but now I’m really irritated. The next time someone tries to show me that they know about “Indian culture,” or they mention naan just one more time, I will say, “Do you want an effing prize for ‘Most Informed in Indian Culture Award?!”

Then, if you’re a minority AND a woman, you have to contend with things like, “You should really apply to Yale- you’d totally get in, because you’re smart, a woman, AND a minority.” Now, why would race and gender come up? And why would this person have to pull out the race and gender card?

You see where I am going with this…*

*In the interests of full disclosure, all of the experiences I am talking about is not from a young, “uninformed” cohort. All these people are in their early 30’s, 40’s, and 50′S. This is also San Francisco. We are also in the 21st century, year 2007. But you still come across this stuff.

Does separate but equal work for you, Farangi?

No bigotry here :)

What I meant to say is that according to whatever surveys/papers/research we have on the topic of blogosphere and political net movements (which actually makes up a small slice of internet activity, ie the number of people who reguarly read blogs is very small, and even smaller are the number of political bloggers), the political blogger profile indicates:

1. has had graduate education
2. earns above the median salary
3. tends to be more liberal, and though the blogosphere sector for radicals is comparatively smaller than the liberals, there seems to be more of a flourish of radical politics
4. is male, but that is changing with women catching up
5. is white, but others are making their own space

So when we are taking about netroots politics, the framing and discussion of issues tend to be translated by the writers…

And I was interested in what others had to say about this; but it may be going off topic.

I will never, ever, tire of saying that General Mush is milking the Islamic Peril Myth :) If it were up to him, he’d have every single Pakistani attending madrassas so that he can then turn around and tell his benefactors that he’s the only hope.

On another note, I applaud you for making Obama supporters squirm in their seats.

“In general, YearlyKos reminded me of all the tech conventions that I attend – white, middle-aged with suitable floral printed attire, and hair that defies treatments known to humanity.”

Tell me about it! I’ve got opinions on the net movement (the American political blogosphere, “netroots” and so on) and the demographics of the people who are most actively engaged in it. If you could say more about/expand on your thoughts about the demographic profile of these folks and how that translates into politics (if it does at all), I’d be very interested in hearing it.