Message to India-haters: Five reasons we don't give a damn

By Lakshmi Chaudhry and Sandip Roy Here we go again. Some dimwit has once more insulted our national pride, calling our nation a “shit hole”, and taking aim at the Ganges, no less. President of the Council of Indian Australians, Yadu Singh, has described radio host Kyle Sandilands’ comments as “insensitive, insulting, hurtful and unwarranted”. And so they are. But it is not good cause, however, for the rest of us back in the homeland to jump into the fray. Let’s not get ourselves into high national umbrage as we did over Jade Goody’s antics on Big Brother or replay the diplomatic row sparked by that loathsome Kiwi TV commentator during the Commonwealth Games. [caption id=“attachment_51998” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“People like Kyle Sandilands are equal opportunity haters. Gaye Gerard/Getty Images”]  [/caption] We have a tendency to get extremely worked up when some racist nitwit shoots his mouth off about India or Indians – more so if he (or she) is white and Western. It’s unhelpful, counter-productive, and unnecessary, and here are five excellent reasons why: One, it’s just what every shock jock wants. Kyle Sandilands is a shock jock. His job is to shock people with his motormouth. And every time we get up in arms about it, he can pat himself on the back for a job well done. After the 2004 Christmas tsunami, the morning DJs at New York City’s Hot 97 sang this to the tune of We are the World:

“… There were Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away you could hear God laughing, ‘Swim you bitches, swim’. So now you’re screwed, it’s the tsunami you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head and now your children will be sold to child slavery …”

The show’s producer Rick Delgado who penned the song was fired. Delgado soon landed a job with a radio station in San Francisco, a city that is one-third Asian. Fired for being offensive looks good on a shock jock’s resume – it’s what he gets paid big bucks for. Every outraged reaction is more money in the bank. Two, it’s not us, it’s him. People like Kyle Sandilands are equal opportunity haters. They say reprehensible things about all sorts of people and with little excuse. This is a guy who has previously made headlines for falsely claiming a radio rival had “full blown AIDS”, was suspended first for subjecting a 14-year old rape victim to an on-air lie detector test, and then again for suggesting that a Polish actress be put in “a concentration camp” to make her lose weight. Sandilands is so loathed in Australia that he made a local magazine’s 50 “most loathed” list, right alongside Osama bin Laden. That he is every bit as nauseating on the subject of India is hardly surprising or noteworthy. This is just who he is. Three, our izzat is OK. This is an Australian ignoramus shooting off his mouth in Australia. Every stupidity uttered by foreigner doesn’t require resurrecting the Azad Hind Fauj to defend our national pride. Paul Henry’s comments about Sheila Dikshit turned into a diplomatic row after India protested to the New Zealand High Commissioner. The Indian Minister of State decided to step in to save Shilpa Shetty from bullying in Celebrity Big Brother. Surely, our external affairs ministry has better things to do than spank crass loudmouths around the world. Let us not give these jokers way too much bhaav by making their bad jokes a matter of our national honour. Let the Australians — and that includes the Indians living down under — take him on. This kind of speech points to a problem in their society not ours. Four, would they care? Let’s reverse the roles and ask ourselves: would the French media care if some Radio Chili DJ described them as smelly frogs? Will the US consulate file a complaint if a TV commentator described Americans as a ’nation of fat pigs’? Not likely because – unlike us – they don’t really care what what some Indian says about them. Sure, the Delhi correspondent may file a story because there isn’t much else going on. But it would elicit very little reaction. Maybe we too need to cultivate such regal indifference. And oh yes, find it hard imagine that any Indian DJ or commentator would be so obnoxious? Excellent, think then what it says about us – and more importantly, about them. Sandlilands’ outrageous comments say little about India, but speak volumes about a culture that produces guys like Sandilands and offers them an environment where they can thrive. Five, let’s not beat ourselves up either. The guy is just an ignoramus who makes his living by pushing people’s buttons – which includes blurting out every offensive thought that comes to mind. That’s hardly reason to indulge in routine self-flagellation – as some commentors on the Times of India seem to think. “Truth hurts,” writes one commentor, “Explore the conditions in India and then comment on the Aussie’s statement. We must fix our house before we call others insensitive.” “And what’s wrong in calling Ganga a junkyard when that’s what Hindus have made it out to be, to dispose of the dead bodies,” writes Anil in Bangalore. “Before you unfairly target others, introspect. Grow up.” Please. India has many problems and the Ganga has its share. We have plenty of reasons to “introspect”, but the half-baked comments of some Aussie redneck isn’t one of them. Our advice: change the channel, turn the page, move on. Rabid dogs bark at each passing caravan, but we don’t need to bark back.