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by Kieran Healy on November 10, 2003

I dropped by NRO’s The Corner a minute ago. I know, I know. John Derbyshire carries the conservative banner of civility-in-blogging by casually stereotyping jews and blacks in the service of a bit of backhanded homophobia. But I’m sure this is just more evidence that the left has no sense of humor. Meanwhile, Rod Dreher runs something under the headline “Pakis Against Bobby.” I hope Rod is just being pig ignorant here. And Kathryn Jean Lopez produces a one-sentence post. (Scroll down to “Bring the Cots.”) Parsing it is left as an exercise to the reader.

{ 8 comments }

1

shrinking violent 11.10.03 at 3:09 am

That Derbyshire NRO bit is incredible. It’s a wonderful exhibition of the perfect compatability of ignorance and prejudice.

2

dmn blog reader 11.10.03 at 3:23 am

Dreher is a total waste of time. I’ve read and contacted him through the Dallas Morning News blog. He’s totally blinded by ideology and assumes everyone else is as well.

3

Keith 11.10.03 at 5:03 am

I’ve seen a lot of Americans refer casually to ‘Pakis’, so I have a feeling that it’s only has racist connotations here in the UK. But I could be wrong.

4

laura 11.10.03 at 5:52 am

I can’t speak for all americans, but I can’t remember hearing the term “paki” anywhere but in british movies etc. and obviously then only as a racist term.

5

Keith 11.10.03 at 5:57 am

I’ve seen it a few times on Usenet (including rec.sport.baseball in the last week), and I’ve actually had a debate on IRC about it, when I and another Brit complained when one of the Americans used ‘Paki’. He’d never heard of the racism implied by the usage in the UK, and saw it as no different to ‘Afghani’ or ‘Uzbeki’.

6

Doug 11.10.03 at 7:35 am

Went to high school with a lot of people from S. Asia and don’t remember Paki at all, much less as a term of abuse – and as teenagers we were likely to find and use any and all of those that we could.

7

drapetomaniac 11.10.03 at 4:59 pm

I’ve seen a lot of Americans refer casually to ‘Pakis’, so I have a feeling that it’s only has racist connotations here in the UK.

BWahahahahaha. Because of course, epithets Americans use casually are unlikely to have racist connotations.

I’d have some of what you were smoking if I smoked.

But hey, I Went to high school with a lot of white people and remember Paki pretty clearly, as a term of abuse.

8

Matt Weiner 11.10.03 at 5:02 pm

(1) I’ve never heard “Paki” in the U.S. (except when listening to U.K.-imported culture). But there was a flap a ways back when Bush himself said, “We are working hard to convince both the Indians and the Pakis that there’s a way to deal with their problems without going to war.” So Dreher need be no more pig-ignorant than the Only President We’ve Got to use that phrase! Sighs of relief. (Well, except that the flap should have put Dreher on notice.)

(2)The Lopez post is actually the most cogent thing I’ve seen from her; in a sop to its right wing, Republican senators are holding an all-night debate on judicial nominations, so they’re bringing cots into the chamber.

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