Indians playing Indians:
An organization called Toronto Friends of Sir John A. Macdonald toasted the former PM at the University of Toronto with 250 invitees, many dressed in period costumes. At one point, organizers chose winners for best costume.
The pair on the left are wearing what is called “redface.” Similar to the term “blackface,” redface involves people who are not of indigenous ancestry appropriating the dress and symbols of indigenous cultures for the sake of a costume or a look. It’s also worth noting the couple clearly weren’t aiming for authenticity.
You don't say? The incriminating photo is here. One of the guys in the back looks like he's hanging out at a bar. He looks pretty damn cool actually. Both of the girls look very pretty. I have no idea what the dork in the stove pipe hat was thinking. The only crime here is against fashion. The tableau does not show anything comparable to "blackface." No one is wearing any special face coverings or painting that I can discern. Just costumes.
The terrible picture in question shows two South Asians dressed in pseudo-aboriginal garb, the kind of stuff kids used to wear during Halloween, at least before much of the humour and charm was drained out of that holiday. This is what passes for a hate crime in modern Canada. Completely unmentioned is that the fellow playing John A Macdonald, or some other Victorian eminence, is South Asian. No one has yet called him out for playing "whiteface" by appropriating European dress. So for those keeping track:
Brown guy pretending to be a dead white guy is perfectly fine.
Brown girl pretending to be a dead red girl is a crime against humanity.
Like I've been saying for years, there are no real problems in Canada. The rest of the world is shooting and stabbing each other for racist, sexist and superstitious reasons, we get into high dungeon because of a costume party with tacky outfits. If only the rest of humanity had our problems.
The outrage, predictably, comes mostly from WASPs eager to prove their PC credentials. The hate fests that occasionally sweep the land have very little, if anything, to do with helping ethnic and racial minorities in Canada feel more comfortable and integrated. They are overwhelmingly about WASPs trying to get their smug on.
What's interesting is that the racists in questions are not white. In the last few years we have seen a shift away from the old understanding that only white people can be racist. Now because South Asians have been so successful in Canada they are no longer part of the victim class. Once they were the benighted, whose very ships were turned away from Canadian ports. But that was some time ago. I spent much of my university career being one of the few, sometimes the only, white student in a sea of brown and yellow faces.
WASP Leftists hate this. Part of the psychological "high" of being a WASP Leftist is being paternalistic, making yourself feel superior and noble by helping the underdogs of life. This is a modernized and distorted version of the old notion of noblesse oblige. But Canada has never had, at least outside Quebec, anything like an aristocracy. Instead the WASP Leftist must "help" the only nearby groups that are close to downtrodden, i.e. recent immigrants. Helping actual aboriginals would require leaving downtown Toronto. No matter how noblesse nothing is going to oblige these people to travel north of Steeles.
Once upon a time the WASP Leftists displayed this patronizing attitude toward the Italians and the Portuguese. But those gosh darn Southern Europeans are terribly self reliant and not very much concerned with playing the part of victim hood. Let other groups whine about what a rotten deal history has dealt them. After centuries of superstition and oppression the Dagos and WOPs were too busy improving themselves.
Annoyed the WASP Leftists moved onto the Asians, both southern and eastern. The pity flowed. The government subsidies flowed. This lasted for a few years. Very sadly for their WASPish patrons the Asians were far too ambitious to play the victim racket to any great extent. Oh, sure the odd one does play the race card, I've seen it happen, but most are too busy trying to make a living and educate themselves. So up the Asians went. Most live better than the WASPs now.
Since the Asians are no longer members of the pitiable class, that makes them fair game in the racism sweepstakes. Their very success means they are now part of the oppressor class. This is a good thing in that it exposes the absurdity of the racism game. When racial minorities can now be called racists, that means the word has lost its sting. Even the duller wits begin to understand that the racism game has more to do with maintaining the influence of the WASP Leftists, than it does with helping those suffering from legitimate discrimination. It's just a con.
I eagerly await a costume party where a Chinese man plays John A Macdonald, a black man portrays George Brown and an Indian Indian dresses as George-Etienne Cartier. We can have an aboriginal woman playing Queen Victoria too. A nice neat little package. Everyone can take offense or pride and then move on with their lives.
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