Beauty & Inferiority

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/being-comfortable-in-your-own-skin-tone/?sort=oldest&offset=2
New York Times
Comment #27
Ethical Democracy
New York
September 25th, 2011
1:50 am

Beauty & Inferiority

India is a vast crowded complex space where numerous, seemingly conflicting stereotypes (and ideals) persist.

That's Democracy -- thirty-one centuries in the making. Give or take a few.

Where else would you have Fair and Lovely makeup, side by side with celebrating the birthday, as a national holiday, of Krishna the dark blue God of Love?
I'm an atheist, don't use beauty products, just juxtaposing contrastive ideals by way of illustration.

The author (see her article below) claims and I quote \"Over a decade of living in North America – where tans are pursued and Halle Berry is a beauty icon – helped that. Far away from the subcontinent, obsessed with Victorian ideas of beauty, it was refreshing to be part of a society that embraced a wider spectrum of skin tone.\"

Really? Even Aretha Franklin and more recently, Beyonce pretty much went blond, or do you think their hair color and skin tone are a happy accident? To uphold the US, the epicenter of racist ideology of Whiteness, is just plain ignorant and a gross distortion of racialized discourse in the US.

And, yikes, have you never heard of the racialization of the Black Irish?
Yes, they have white skin. But black hair! A Black Irish woman at London's Heathrow airport was detained, (she claimed to me), because she was Black Irish. That was in the mid-1980's, so, way before Islamist hysteria following 9/11.

People use many strategies for constructing The Other.

Suck it up , Suryatapa, you really speak from class privilege and therefore Power (dark brown though you may be), so stop being superficial, focus instead on maternal and child malnutrition in your writings, make fewer blow-dry (you have a hair problem too?) visits to the beauty salon (most Indians, including me, and I live in New York, have never been inside one) get over it, live your own life, think your own thoughts be receptive to disparate perceptions, misguided though some obviously are, be HUMYN and don't blame it on India and Indians.

Please don't let your next article be about the big boobs of Indian goddesses and how inadequate that makes you feel!

Take responsibility for constructing your own mindset.

It's not that you \"do not compute.\" You cant compute.
Or rather, you choose not to.

Harsh -- but sometimes truths are inconvenient.

Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran

City University of New York [CUNY]

Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice

http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com

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http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/being-comfortable-in-your-own-skin-tone/?hp#preview
The article follows:

New York Times copyright

Being Comfortable in Your Own Skin (Tone)

By SURYATAPA BHATTACHARYA

Suryatapa at the age of six in her childhood home in Siliguri, West Bengal.

I am Indian – but after more than 15 years of living abroad, some aspects of Indian life feel fresh, if not new or altogether welcome.

Three months ago, I wandered into a salon in Kolkata with my mother and came face-to-face with a prejudice I hadn’t had to deal with in all the years abroad.

The beautician insisted she could remove my “deep tan.”

But my dark skin was not the result of a tanning bed disaster – I was born with it.

Lady with pink talons and bright pink lipstick: I can lighten you up by several shades.

Me: No.

Lady: You are roaming in the sun too much.

Me: Don’t touch my face.

No one in India seems to think it unusual to try to slap some bleach, or a herbal equivalent, on my skin to reveal a whiter me. It is mildly irritating when it comes from my beloved aunts, and maddening when strangers suggest my dark skin is something to be “fixed.”

Being dark made me feel self-conscious.

As a kid I had several nicknames that stung. Darkie, Blackie and Kaalia (pinched from the title of a Bollywood film, about someone with dark skin). My color defined me and it stuck. A friend from school sent me a message on Facebook recently. It read: Kaalia, remember me? When I pointed out that it was insulting, I was called out for being “too sensitive.”

“We called you that with love,” he said. Like that should justify the hurt.

In Bengali, the word phorsha (fair) is used interchangeably with beautiful, and with family it was no different. Well-meaning aunts and their neighbors worried about my marriage prospects. Perhaps, they suggested, a little less sun exposure, or maybe a few extra layers of sandalwood paste or a homemade concoction that the neighborhood swore by?

But I was a problem child. You couldn’t drag me home from playing outside and even back then, I wouldn’t let anyone touch my face. The aunts sighed but never really gave up.

To be dark in India is not necessarily to be invisible. Instead, in this country, it is everyone’s business to correct it or cover it up. The personal is open to public opinion, whether it makes you squirm or not.

Few Indians seem to be comfortable in their dark skin. The matrimonial classifieds every weekend ask for or offer prospective brides who are never described as dark; at best (or worst) they are “wheatish.”

So it is no surprise that a multi-billion rupee market in fairness products thrives in India. Bollywood superstars such as Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra are complicit in the act, appearing in airbrushed, whitened versions of themselves, urging you to pick up a tube or two of the latest product. From lotions and soaps to whitening underarm deodorant; every body part it seems is could be a few shades lighter.

In a moment of adolescent weakness, I too was convinced to go on a regimen of drinking milk with crushed turmeric. Urban legends abound of how turmeric and milk, with their blood cleansing properties, had turned someone’s friend’s sister into a fair maiden – so I gulped down this vile concoction, gagged and never touched it ever again.

As an adult I’ve become much more comfortable with the color of my skin.

Over a decade of living in North America – where tans are pursued and Halle Berry is a beauty icon – helped that. Far away from the subcontinent, obsessed with Victorian ideas of beauty, it was refreshing to be part of a society that embraced a wider spectrum of skin tone.

So when I moved back to India, I was surprised and offended all over again, as I confronted people who still think porcelain skin is the epitome of beauty.

The last time I visited my parents in West Bengal, I paid a visit to the hairdresser. As I instructed the hairdresser on how to blow-dry my hair, the lady in the chair next to me seemed intrigued by my conversation. After several furtive glances she could no longer help herself and asked: “Do you do tanning?” I was dumbstruck and could barely stammer out a surprised “no.”

In retrospect, her assumption says a lot about how Indians equate skin tone with beauty, confidence and social standing. To her, my dark skin was incommensurate with me – a confident professional in a fancy salon.

I do not compute.

Suryatapa Bhattacharya is the India correspondent for “The National” newspaper.

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Who Nuked Innocent Civilians?

My NYTimes Comment #55.
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/world/middleeast/02nuke.html?sort=oldest&offset=3
EthicalDemocracy
New York City
October 1st, 2009
6:58 pm


EthicalDemocracy
New York City
October 1st, 2009
5:23 pm

\"Iran Agrees to More Nuclear Talks With U.S. and Allies\"

It's commendable that Iran is trying to defuse the heated and aggressive response by the sanctions-crazy US.

Hey let's not lose sight of the fact that BOTH Israel and the US have their nuclear stockpiles. So of course Iran must have nukes too.

Why not?

I totally agree with India's position: The International Nuclear Order cannot be discriminatory. That statement recognizes Iran's quandary and is implicit support for Iran. India has steadfastly refused to become a signatory of NPT, while maintaining an impeccable non-proliferation record.

I didn't see that extremely well-reasoned position reported in the NYTimes or any US mainstream newspaper. .

What Iran needs to figure out now is how to strategically withdraw from the NPT, without the US going totally nuts and invading Iran, OR sending in the CIA to destabilize Iran as the US did with the popularly elected Mossadegh government in the early '50s

Chithra KarunaKaran

Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice

http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
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NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/world/middleeast/02nuke.htmlIran Agrees to More Nuclear Talks With U.S. and AlliesBack to Article »
By STEVEN ERLANGER and MARK LANDLER

The talks in Geneva on Thursday included the highest-level bilateral discussions between the United States and Iran in many years.
---------------------------------------------
My NYT Comment #18.
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/world/middleeast/27nuke.html?sort=oldest
EthicalDemocracy
New York City
September 27th, 2009
11:19 am
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EthicalDemocracy
New York City
September 27th, 2009
10:20 am

U.S. to Demand Inspection of New Iran Plant ‘Within Weeks’

How about:

U.S. to Demand Inspection of ISRAEL Nuclear Plant[S] ‘Within Weeks’

Now that would be eminently newsworthy. That's the only \"roadmap\" that makes sense to me.

Addl notes: the US wd not dare to mess with India coz we are the world's largest democracy and we simply wont let you. We are not a signatory to the NPT. We did not make that mistake.

And the US is not calling for inspection of Pakistan's nukes, coz Pak will not let you either, Pak is also not a signatory to NPT. SmartPak, despite subjugation by the US since the 1950's.

Unfortunately Iran signed on to NPT in 1970 under duress while US was blatantly interfering in Iran's domestic political affairs. Now Iran has to time its strategic withdrawal from NPT.

So long as US and Israel have nukes, Iran must have them too.

Let us never forget that the US is the ONLY country in the world that has actually used nukes against innocent civilians.

I like to base my opinions on hard evidence. Show me new evidence and I'll readily modify my opinion.

Chithra KarunaKaran

Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice

http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
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NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/world/middleeast/27nuke.html
U.S. to Demand Inspection of New Iran Plant ‘Within Weeks’
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD

The Obama administration plans to tell Iran this week that it must soon open a newly revealed nuclear enrichment site to international inspectors, according to senior officials.
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The Debacle Decades: US and NATO in South Asia

My NYTimes #62. October 3, 2009 10:01 am Link

When US MEDIA becomes part of the US WAR Machine

The language deployed by the NYTimes reporters, as well as the language of the US war apparatus etc are EQUALLY troubling. They are similar. They became embedded in the US War Machine in West Asia in Iraq and now they are in South Asia Afghanistan and Pakistan

“Chosen” Company? That should go down really well with the Afghans, just about as well as it would be received in Gaza.

A “hostile frontier village” in Eastern Afghanistan, writes Thom Shanker. Who is the hostile entity? the people who live there or the US and US-led NATO who are droning and killing?

I could go on and on. picking examples out of both Shanker’s reporting as well as the document on the Wanat Battle.

“Winning” is now being being cosmetically configured to fool the US public. No point trying to fool the Afghans. History shows they don’t tolerate occupiers. Your firepower is nothing compared with their staying power.

In fact, many thousands of NYTimes readers over the past several months have questioned what the US military means when they use the word “win.”

McChrystal and his propagandists undoubtedly are Times readers,. They see there is tremendous US public opposition to the Army’s notion of “winning” in Afghanistan.

The Army understands that our unemployed and underemployed, our millions wihout healthcare and our tens of thousands saddled with foreclosures, think that "winning" is not warfare in South Asia but means — bring the troops home NOW.

McChrystal and his hawks are incapable of learning any new lesson in Afghanistan, despite their claims of lesson learned from Wanat. Why? Because the US military premise is mistaken.

The US does not have any role in Afghanistan except at the negotiating table and in humanitarian efforts to undo the damage already caused by US/NATO deadly use of firepower.

Http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
GOATS — for Social Justice article
— Chithra KarunaKaran

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NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/world/asia/03battle.html?ref=global-home
Report Cites Firefight as Lesson on Afghan War
By THOM SHANKER
Published: October 2, 2009

Wanat Battle Cited as Lesson in Afghan War
By The New York Times



My NYTimes Comment # 46. September 22, 2009 8:46 am Link

The military presence of the US and US-led NATO is a continuing mis-step by the West in the South Asia region.

The US created the Taliban who once were the Mujahideen, that the US paid and trained in their invented Cold War against the Soviets.

If history is any guide the Afghans will continue to be unassailable.

Unfortunately the US has (temporarily) gained what is has sought -- strategic depth in South Asia. The US has accomplished this mainly through a long (since the early 50's) subjugation of a weakened post-Partition Pakistan.

It will be a while before South Asia's sovereign nation-states can muster the solidarity needed to kick the US and NATO out of the region.

We South Asians are not there yet for reasons of our own long oppression under Brit colonialism.

Our own postcolonial dependency mindset, manipulated by our own homegrown political, military and feudal elites,
prevents us in South Asia from freeing South Asia from the US and Europe.

The Debacle Decades are with us at this time.
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My comment to the NYTimes Public Editor
Should'nt NYTimes Readers know who "The Editors" are? (see link below)

Today's Room for Debate is written by "The Editors"

"The Editors" reads like a subterfuge for some paleo-policy with a distinct subtext, which i prefer not to name,in response to your own chosen anonymity.

Where's the transparency?

Where's the authentic Room or Debate?

Who are (the white males?) with AIPAC creds.(?) who wrote it?

--
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
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http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/fending-off-failure-in-afghanistan/#comment-157167
NYTimes copyright
September 21, 2009, 7:06 pm
Fending Off Failure in Afghanistan
By The Editors

ETHICAL DEMOCRACY: NO NUCLEAR DEAL WITH BUSH REGIME

In the interest of promoting Ethical democracy both in India and the U.S. and noting that several miles of text and thousands of pixels of digital images have already been expended by the media and the respective governments in disseminating information on the India-US Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement, it is important that India NOT sign this agreement AT THIS TIME.

Why?

Because the Bush Government is a state sponsor of terror. Can the country of Gandhi be allied with a regime that purports to fight terror with acts of terror? "Shock and awe" is terror.

India's role in the Agreement should not be allowed to become part of the disastrous and ethically repugnant Bush "legacy". What if Bush and Cheney are impeached? The movement to accomplish this is gaining momentum.

Perception is reality. Signing with the Bush regime (which will end anyway in late 2008) will be viewed by much of the world as a deal with a regime that invaded Iraq, killed tens of thousands of Iraqi children, women and men and continues to issue threats to Iran. Such a perception would weaken India's strategic and ethical objective of continuation of "civilisational ties" in the long term with nation-states of West Asia, South Asia and Africa. Notice I do not use the term "Middle East." It is an invention of the imperial Brits in the early 1900's a term that has been strategically affirmed, accepted and promoted by the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon.

Middle of what? East of where?

To meet its energy needs India must fully explore solar and wind power and other important sources of renewable energy. Natural gas imports are a real option since it is proposed to be made available by neighboring Turkmenistan via pipeline running via Afghanistan and Pakistan. Not the easiest route but India must continue to persevere in building alliances with its neighbors.

To meet its energy needs India can and must conclude bilateral and multilateral agreements on civil nuclear energy not only with the U.S. but with many other nation- states.

There will be time enough for India to sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with a new U.S. regime in 2008, after and only if that newly elected U.S. regime has publicly committed to withdraw its occupying troops and acted upon its intention by actually withdrawing troops from Iraq.

http://www.EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com