What Do Racist Twit(ter)s About Indian American Miss America Say About America?

Buzzfeed is reporting that a "lot of people" are upset that Indian-American Nina Davuluri, a New Yorker who attended University of Michigan and majored in brain behavior and cognitive science, won the Michigan Merit Award, wascrowned Miss America last night. The "lot of people" consist precisely of 16 twitters (pun intended) out of a population of 300 million-plus who said the following:

"And the Arab wins Miss America. Classic."

"How the fuck does a foreigner win miss America? She is a Arab! #idiots"

"Miss Arab wins Miss America and the score of the Seattle/SanFran game is 5-0 at the half? What is life?"

"I swear I'm not racist but this is America."

"Asian or indian are you kiddin this is america omg"

"this is America. not India"

"Miss New York is an Indian.. With all do respect, this is America"

"Egypt dancing? This is America. #MissAmerica"

"9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?"

"@ABC2020 nice slap in the face to the people of 9-11 how pathetic #missamerica"

"Congratulations Al-Qaeda. Our Miss America is one of you."

"Miss America is a terrorist. Whatever. It's fine."

"So miss america is a terrorist"

"More like Miss Terrorist #MissAmerica"

"Miss America is brought to by their sponsors PF Changs and 7-11."

"Miss America, footlong buffalo chicken on whole wheat. Please and thank you."

Such remarks are unfortunate and show the utter geographical and cultural illiteracy of the commenters. But allow me to say as Reason's resident Indian American that this reflects nothing about real or unreal America and everything about the era of social networking. There always have been and always will be people everywhere in every age who prefer to live in the gutter. Social media does two things: It allows such idiots to spread their slime. And it allows entities like Buzzfeed etc. to dig in and quickly splash it across their website to generate traffic and earn brownie points (no pun intended this time) for their social righteousness.

But the fact that even the most nativist pontificator would never be allowed to say anything remotely resembling this in any publication with a gate-keeper says more about real America than a handful of ignorant remarks. This was not the case even a century ago when mainstream publications such as Wasp and the Judge were running cartoons like this:

Public Domain

So relax my fellow Americans who've been voicing disgust and revulsion at these ignoramuses in my twitter and facebook feeds. I appreciate your concern, but we've made progress.

Comments

[MJGreen]

"Miss America is brought to by their sponsors PF Changs and 7-11."

I don't know what this means, but it made me laugh.

"Miss America, footlong buffalo chicken on whole wheat. Please and thank you."

I'd bet this person makes far less than what Ms. Davuluri will be making in a few years.

[John]

Funny how racism against Indians is sort of yawned at. If those tweets were directed at a black Miss America, they would be a much bigger deal.

[Loki]

That's because Indians and Asians in general aren't one of the officially permenant victim classes.

[Zeb]

I don't know. I'm sure you can find just as many idiotic tweets about black people who have succeeded at something every day.
Who cares? I think that pretty much all racism of this unbelievably ignorant variety ought to be yawned at.

[John]

She is smoking hot. Works for me as Miss America.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, I have a thing for Indian chicks. Those twits can pound sand.

[John]

Me too.

[Death Rock and Skull]

I kind of got a bad taste in my mouth from this Indian chick I worked with. She smelled terrible and I could taste it.

[AlexInCT]

HEY NOW!

[General Butt Naked]

Are you fucking kidding me? She's a hideous cow!

First of all, look at her legs... THEY'RE FUCKING HUGE!!!one1! And where are the bruises?!

Also her skin is brutally healthy and unmarked by strange sores! WHERE ARE THE BAGS UNDER HER EYES, JOHN!!? WHERE!!

You fucking wierdo scum.

[JW]

She's hideous!!

In all seriousness, I, for one, welcome our new smoking hawt Indian beauty pageant overlords.

[General Butt Naked]

Gawd, I'm trying to eat my goddamn lunch here!

What is that nasty stuff covering her skeleton?

[darius404]

Yeah, she must not be very healthy if we can't even see the skelature on her.

[Killazontherun]

Is she just coming out of a phase walk? Seriously nice figure though.

[John]

LOL. She looks like a normal healthy, attractive young woman. I am a real sicko. I admit it.

[JW]

I miss being around GW university. I swear there were more hot Indian women there than in Bangladesh.

[Rhinonamous]

As an alum, I wholeheartedly agree. Also Persians.

[Invisible Finger]

Despite Ms. Dalmia's protests, we only let the ones with money or skills in.

[Tonio]

[M]ore hot Indian women there than in Bangladesh

One should hope so since Bangladesh is a seperate country from India.

[John]

But ethnically the same.

[Calidissident]

There really isn't one Indian ethnic group. There's a bunch. Indians in Bengal are, aside from religious differences, more or less the same ethnically as people from Bangladesh, but that's not true for the rest of India

[Tonio]

Thanks, Cali.

[JW]

Yeah, I was thinking of Bangalore, but got my bangs all mixednessed.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

If that's what "Miss Terrorist" looks like, I think I'll soon be buying a one-way ticket on the largest possible commercial aircraft I can find.

[John]

If that is the face of terrorism, I am on the wrong side.

[Loki]

If that's what the 72 virgins look like...

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Slightly off topic, but Sarah Silverman is also racist:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/l.....a-n1700572

[Hillary's Clitdong]

She occasionally manages to be funny. I think it happens by accident.

[John]

She is not racist. She is just stupid. I guarantee you she had no clue about the racist history of gun control or the absolute horrible taste her attempt at humor was. I will defend her on this one. She didn't mean to be racist. She is just not very bright and knows very little.

[Invisible Finger]

A distinction without a difference.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Eh I'm not so sure. It seems to me that her video implies blacks are dangerous with guns and cannot be trusted. We must disarm them and keep them helpless so they stop killing each other.

[John]

That is a good point. Well, at least she was being honest. That is what progs actually believe but won't come out and say. They all cower at the thought of the armed, scary negro.

[AlmightyJB]

Can't watch at work but she does stuff like that all of the time. I'm not so sure that she doesn't do it just to fuck with people. Who knows though.

[Zeb]

It is kind of hard to tell since her whole act is being stupid and a little bit racist.

[Loki]

This should be posted in every thread about Sarah Silverman.

"Shut that cunt's mouth before I come over there and fuck start her head!"

Who hasn't wanted to say that to Sarah Silverman at some point?

[John]

She is a pig. And she is not funny. I have never seen a single thing she has ever done that was funny. I cannot for the life of me figure out why she is famous. She is not good looking, she is not funny, she has never been in a really big hit movie, nothing. She is a second rate stand up artist.

[radar]

Neither here nor there, really, but she was in There's Something About Mary, which was a huge hit. Bit role, to be sure, but there she was.

Of course, this doesn't mean she isn't completely reprehensible.

[Loki]

She's actually made a career out of playing the bitchy friend of the female lead in rom-coms (There's Something About Mary, School for Scoundrels) and/ or the bitchy girlfriend (School of Rock).

I'm seeing a trend there...

[John]

She was in Something About Mary? I don't remember her in that movie.

[radar]

She was one of Mary's friends who was eavesdropping on Pat Healy's scripted phone call. Same group that was at lunch with Mary when she's describing her ideal man.

Yeah, I've seen it a few times. Never saw School for Scoundrels or School of Rock. I do remember that scene from The Way of the Gun fondly, though.

[Zeb]

I always thought she was very good looking. Haven't really seen enough of her performing to say much else.

[Les]

Professional comedians disagree with you by a large margin.

[John]

So

[GILMORE]

My niece ? my lesbian niece ? their whole family is very Jewy and she goes to Hebrew school, and loves it ? she called me up and she's like, "Aunt Sarah, did you know that Hitler killed 60 million Jews?" I corrected her, and I said, "You know I think he's responsible for killing six million Jews." And she says, "Oh, yeah. Six million. I knew that. But seriously, auntie, what's the difference?" "The difference is that 60 million is unforgivable, young lady." Kids. Try to figure them out, you can't: They're kids.

I actually think she's funny. not like world class (e.g Jimmy Carr) but still unique. Also, news flash = john is a little uptight.

nice little routine on the holocaust here =

http://www.historiography-proj.....silverman/

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the video wasn't at all funny, Sarah Silverman has a date with Madamoiselle Guillotine, right after Jim Carrey.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Using Twitter as a bellwether of the zeitgeist is a perilous endeavor. But more importantly, why is the reason staff otherwise so white? I blame the Kochs, I suppose.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Wow, she is gorgeous. Journalism is really scraping the bottom of the barrel if anonymous tweets count as news.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

It's your standard "Look At This Babe" story. The racism thing is just there to give them an excuse to publish pics. "It's serious journalism! We're not just oggling!"

[HazelMeade]

True.

If they didn't have random racist tweets, they would probably do a maudlin profile piece like they do for Olympic athletes.

[Invisible Finger]

Miss America is no longer enough of an excuse?

[Jordan]

The bottom of the barrel? No, they haven't resorted to posting comments from Youtube and Yahoo Answers yet.

[Hugh Akston]

I still don't know how babby is formed.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

And we'll never know, because the Republicans have passed laws to do way instain mothers who kill their babbys.

[HazelMeade]

I have to ask: Is there actually a "How is a babby formed?" Yahoo answer's thread?

[Invisible Finger]

Journalism is really scraping the bottom of the barrel if anonymous tweets count as news.

Costs nothing but ratings.

The local Fox station actually spends 3 minutes per newscasts repeating viewer tweets. Yes, their ratings are miniscule. They actually got LOWER when they started this shit.

But SOCIAL MEDIA!

[CE]

We're hip and with it! Look at us! #sand

[DesigNate]

What you did there, I see it.

[Ron]

don't worry soon Congress' media protection laws will show all tweets, except for their's of course, are not up to journalistic standards and will hence forth be completely ignored or punishment will have to be given.

[Louis Cypher]

Such remarks are unfortunate and show the utter geographical and cultural illiteracy of the commenters.

And you are surprised?

[Bee Tagger]

Such remarks are unfortunate and show the utter geographical and cultural illiteracy of the commenters.

In some cases, it could also show where peoples' sense of humors lie. It may be tasteless to most (or on a level of irony too deep for strangers), but it should be separated, conceptually, from genuine expressions of racism.

[Finrod]

Before we ask what those tweets say about America, can we even confirm that all of them are from Americans?

[HazelMeade]

Personally, I think it's fucking awesome.
Of course, being Indian is fashionable these days (and has been since before Slumdog Millionare won Best Picture), but I still think it's great. I like the idea of welcoming India and Indian culture to the family of modern Western democracies (though it still has some ways to go on women's rights). Also the Hinduism meshes well with secular pluralism, in a way that Islam doesn't.

Naturally, the idea that someone could mistake an Indian for a Muslim is idiotic. Hindus are in direct conflict with Islam, and you can see that all the time in India itself. Kashmir, the Mumbai Massacre, the very fact that Pakistan separated itself in the first place. Why even bother listing things?

[Invisible Finger]

There are plenty of Muslim Indians.

[Calidissident]

Yeah, I was about to say that. A Muslim can look like anything and India has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world. Not all of them lived in what became Pakistan or Bangladesh. As I said below, however, it is idiotic to mistake an Indian for an Arab, and it's also stupid to assume someone's Muslim because their skin is brown

[MWG]

If I remember correctly, India actually has the largest muslim population.

[Timon 19]

Indonesia.

[Calidissident]

India is about tied for second with Pakistan behind Indonesia

[HazelMeade]

Yes, well, I assume if she was a Muslim, whe wouldn't be doing the Shiva pose in her dance moves.

[R C Dean]

Here's what those tweets say about America:

America is a place where anyone can open a twitter account and show their ass to the world.

[HazelMeade]

I think the tweets say more anout twitter than they do about America.

[anon]

That's about what I thought when I read the tweets. Then I sighed with relief since I don't use twitter.

[JW]

You kind of forget just how many blindingly stupid people there are in the world, until you get the latest tweet.

[anon]

Miss America is too skinny for John, but I'd hit it once for him too.

[John]

She has hips and breasts. She is a fucking cow dude. You wouldn't fuck that fat chick with Hitler's dick.

[anon]

Yeah, I'd fuck her with mine though.

[anon]

And THIS is why there are no female libertarians.

[HazelMeade]

No, it's not.

[Calidissident]

Damn she is absolutely gorgeous. WTF is wrong with anyone who has a problem with her winning? And do people really not know the difference between an Arab and an Indian? There are two entire countries between India and the closest Arab nation.

There also seems to be a trend where the racist idiots always come out on twitter whenever someone not lily white does something to somehow represent America. Like when the Spurs had that Mexican-American kid sing the national anthem for the NBA Finals or when Marc Anthony sang "God Bless America" at the MLB all star game

[John]

I wonder how many are actually American or how many others are just trolls posting racist shit because they just know America is racist and someone needs to show it so we can have a conversation.

Yeah, she is gorgeous and by all accounts seems like a smart, lovely woman. When you read her bio, she kind of is Miss America.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

"And do people really not know the difference between an Arab and an Indian?"

How many Sikh's were beaten in the weeks following 9/11? Because they wear turbans. And Arab's wear turbans. So....

[Timon 19]

Except that Arabs almost entirely don't wear turbans.

[GILMORE]

but the cartoon pictures of Mohammed do, and most people's understanding of ethnicity is a cartoon picture stereotype anyway, so they're kinda screwed that way. Just like how a cartoon picture of "Americans" around the world likely features a cowboy hat, even though they are generally out of fashion in the modern populace. So it goes.

[Death Rock and Skull]

"Miss America, footlong buffalo chicken on whole wheat. Please and thank you."

Winner.

[Rasilio]

Yeah, I was gonna say that one was actually kinda funny and even if intended to be was not actually racist as it is accusing "Indians" of being industrious and entrepreneurial

[Mike M.]

I don't even get this one.

[Tonio]

Because many Subway franchises are owned or operated by emigres from the Indian subcontinent.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Not a big fan of Subway, but I am a big fan of the employees at the one down the street from where I work.

[Acosmist]

Twitter is disproportionately popular among minorities, so, ceteris paribus, I'm going to assume those tweets were tweeted by blacks and Hispanics. You could feel free to refute me by actually linking to the accounts.

Also, GO IMMIGRASHUN DERP

[Irish]

Twitter is disproportionately popular among minorities, so, ceteris paribus, I'm going to assume those tweets were tweeted by blacks and Hispanics.

Quite the assumption you're making there, idiot.

[Calidissident]

"Twitter is disproportionately popular among minorities, so, ceteris paribus, I'm going to assume those tweets were tweeted by blacks and Hispanics. You could feel free to refute me by actually linking to the accounts."

Well looks like you assumed wrong, jackass.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanha.....ican-woman

[JJ Thompson]

After the Boston attack, an Arab man was beaten up by two Hispanics. You can guess how the mainstream media reported it.

[lap83]

Racist tweets are news? Btw, who gives a shit about Miss America?

[Anonymous Coward]

Shikha Dalmia, in her rush to publish/post accidentally post the wrong picture of the current Miss America.

Here's her official picture.

[Mike M.]

Wowza.

[a better weapon]

Eh, what can racist idiots really say about an Indian woman that hasn't already been said by the progressives about Nikki Haley?

[Irish]

The best picture of Nikki Haley.

[anon]

Gives new meaning to "The South will rise again."

[John]

Nikki is a babe.

[Tony]

Much?

[Irish]

"I swear I'm not racist but this is America."

This is the dumbest sentence I've ever read. I don't think this person is smart enough to actually be considered a racist. Can the mentally challenged really be racists?

[anon]

Americans are by far the -least- racist people you'll meet on average, in my experience.

Brits, Spanish, Germans, et al are racist as fuck compared to even a random hillbilly.

[Tommy_Grand]

gosh what horrible, ignorant racists.

In other news: navy yard shooter is a 50-year old white male repeat white male.....

[anon]

Wait, wasn't it 3 black guys in the initial report that was "wrong?"

I smell coverup.

[JJ Thompson]

What are they ignorant of? Nothing, they just disagree with you and anyone who disagrees with you must be ignorant right? Redefining words. Classic cultural marxist tactic.

[Calidissident]

Ignorant of the fact that she's not Muslim, Arab, a terrorist, or a foreigner? Just for starters

[JJ Thompson]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

[Calidissident]

Yeah sure, American. You were totally being sarcastic there. Totally your style to mock racists and people who accuse others of being cultural Marxists

[Hillary's Clitdong]

You can have your own opinion, but having your own facts makes you a crank.

[Tonio]

JJT, you're new here, or at least don't post very often. We get trolled a lot so you might want to establish cred here before dropping the sarcasm.

And go through the pledge ritual.

[Calidissident]

I'm pretty sure it's American. He's the same guy who was here on the education thread a few days ago spouting Americans standard racist arguments on that subject

[Tonio]

Thanks, again, Cali. Yeah, I should have figured it was Merkin.

[Flemur]

In other news: navy yard shooter is a 50-year old white male repeat white male...

Guess again.

[anon]

OT: How the fuck does Tim Tebow get paid to not do work while not being a politician?

I guess he probably is a part of the players union...

[JJ Thompson]

That picture is a great illustration of the ignorance and shot-sightness of nativism, both today and a hundred years ago. They seemed to think the immigrants would turn America into some kind of socialist country. That clearly did not happen. The traditional American institutions were strengthened by the influx of immigrants, who supported the same polices as the native-born did. There was no movement for socialism coming from the immigrants. Wages were not decreased as well, for American workers enjoyed higher wages throughout the gilded age and only after immigration was reduce did Americans see their wages decline.

Today, nativists have not learned their lesson. They seem to think that immigrants will turn America into some kind of third world socialist hellhole.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Had we only listened to the nativists and kept the immigrants out, the US would still be a free-market paradise like Sweden or France.

[Kurbster]

They seemed to think the immigrants would turn America into some kind of socialist country

look at Sweden

[Paul.]

I didn't know they still had a Miss America pageant.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

It's really just an audition to find out who will be the next wife of The Donald.

[DWC]

While I fully accept that at least half of all Americans are below average intelligence, I don't think some imbecilic tweets from a relative handful of jackasses means much of anything.

[Beezard]

Not sure how Miss America works but if the pageant picked her because of her race (to show how open minded they were or to guarantee more ratings), than that's more racist than some un-PC comments from the peanut gallery.

[Calidissident]

Unless you actually have proof of that, I don't really see how that's relevant. This girl is drop dead gorgeous and seems smart and interesting, and she can dance too!

[Beezard]

That's why I said "if". It's hypothetical.

I'm sure she's great. And I'm sure she ,more than anyone else, is hoping she won on her merit within the confines of the competition and not identity politics of pageantry and TV ratings and producers trying to "make a statement"

But seeing as the Nobel Prize and presidential elections are susceptible to these sort of earthly considerations, I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility for a beauty show.

[Calidissident]

Honestly, it's pretty hard to declare any beauty pageant winner completely deserving solely on merit, because beauty, and to a lesser, but still significant, extent their performances are very subjective. Personally, I think this girl is absolutely stunning and I find her more attractive than the runner ups, and her act was good IMO (didn't watch it when it happened BTW, I didn't even know about the pageant till today when I saw this story)

[Flemur]

brain behavior and cognitive science

You're missing a comma (i.e. cut-pasting from other media); it's actually "Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science", a subject that anti-science Dalmia has previously claimed to disdain.

[GILMORE]

You're being pedantic. Which is a sign of some defects in like one of your lobes or something. SNAP!

[GILMORE]

confusing an Indian as "arab" utterly undermines the twitterers attempts at proper racism. Hoist by their own petard, as it were. The only message conveyed is, "Me is monkey stupid". "terrorist" is like an even deeper projection into the depths of ignorance.

I hear people referring to Iranians as "arab" all the time too and don't bother even trying to explain wtf Persian or Kurdish or . The other one is when you reference 'arab jews' and people look at you crosseyed. Words like Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Diaspora do little to help untangle their cartoon understanding of ethnicity vis a vis religion.

That said = the 'successfully' un-PC (aka "RACIST!") comments (e.g. Subway, 7-11 references) were mildly amusing. I have always believed that a society can only transcend racism when all races can tell each other the worst versions of racist jokes about 'their people' and everyone laughs. Jews are the best at this. They conquer anti-Semitism by telling the best Holocaust jokes of anyone (see above)

[Vincent Milburn]

Everything's turning into Huffington Post. Half their articles are "Somebody, somewhere said something racist or politically incorrect: now get mad!" People love blowing up comment sections with banal finger-wagging.

[4thaugust1932]

Most Racists Exist In India.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....countries/

[Joe Francis]

Tell me, what is the possibility that a regular American can immigrate somewhere else on the planet? Tell me, what is the possibility of a Muslim being able to immigrate to Russia, or Japan, or Mexico? How many Africans are allowed to immigrate into South Korea?

And you call America "racist"? Good job. Let's just lay down and let all other other cultures on the planet flood into America and wipe out white culture so we don't come across as "racist".

These groups immigrate as a survival strategy, bringing an ideology with them, with the intention of spreading that ideology, an ideology that had no hand in creating the conditions that attracted them to America.

Calling people "racist" for questioning the wisdom behind these immigration policies is pathetic.

Hypocrites. Morons. Cowards. That's what you are.

I've seen plenty of non-white people somehow pass immigration checks, and then continue to act exactly like they did in their former country. Littering. Misuse of public restrooms. Rapes. Indentured servitude. Mafia-style businesses. Stupid music, traditions, and clothing. Obsolete religions.

Let's import some text-book trained Indians to build some crappy software at poverty wages, that is, when they aren't busy flying back to India to marry and rape little girls.

America is among the least racist countries on the planet.

[Michael Ejercito]

People said the same things about Irish, Italians, Poles, Chinese, etc.