TMP Online

Joseph Harker, TMP advisory board member and deputy comment editor of the Guardian, bemoans the lack of balance in cyberspace debates on race.

White men, are you all stupid? Before you accuse me of racism, or indeed sexism, let me say that I take the question from the book by Michael Moore, who is a white man (though probably not stupid; but is he alone?).

What got me thinking was reading the thoughtful piece posted on the Guardian’s Comment is Free site by Manish Vij, who believes the Simpson’s character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon to be a racist caricature. I’m not a regular viewer of the show, and don’t have any strong opinions on it, but he put across some cogent arguments.

The responses he received, though (now numbering nearly 400), repeated the by now wearisome onslaught faced by any ethnic minority writer flagging up the issue of racism. Overwhelmingly negative, it seems that nearly every commenter either didn’t understand his argument, or didn’t want to. Each (rare) comment expressing empathy with the writer was immediately drowned out by a welter of antis.

Now I don’t expect everyone to agree with him, and wouldn’t even want that - after all, the pages are supposed to be about a healthy debate. But it’s not healthy when every minority opinion is given such sledgehammer treatment. (I exclude Muslim-Jewish issues, on which both sides have well-established lobbying power.) It’s not that the individual comments are necessarily offensive (though there are many examples of these); it’s just that there’s no balance.

Debates typically do go along the following lines:
Is the N-word offensive? “No it’s not - what’s your problem?”
Is Bernard Manning racist? “No he’s not - what’s your problem?”
Is Jade Goody racist? “No she’s not - what’s your problem?”

Now, the Guardian is part of the British national press, which has traditionally been produced by and for white people (though things are slowly beginning to change). But it is at least supposed to be at the liberal end of the spectrum, so one would have thought there’d be a few progressive types out there prepared to come forward. But where are you? Have you all been frightened off by the bullies, the boors and the bigots?

Some time ago I wrote saying that all white people are racist. I didn’t mean in-your-face, BNP-style racism, but the subtle, unthinking, subliminal kind. Now I think I was being too kind. There’s nothing subtle about many of the views expressed on our comment threads.

Part of the problem, though, is the anonymity of the web, and the fact that we know so little about our commenters. If anyone wants to post on this thread, it would be good to know: who are you? Are you British? American? Or from some backwater of the anglosphere? Do you see yourself as left/rightwing? Progressive? Conservative?

And how old are you? Are you some old-style never-got-used-to-a-multicultural-society person? Or are you an adolescent schoolkid, making your first forays into political debate (in which case, I appreciate your youthful energy, but learning to listen is also a skill worth developing).

Or are you, indeed, just one person with a hundred pseudonyms?

Whatever, if we want to have a sensible discussion about race, or racism, is it possible on a general-access website such as Comment is Free? Or do we need to find a new corner of cyberspace, and boldly go where no stupid white man has gone before?

Joseph Harker is deputy comment editor of the Guardian newspaper.