- ‹ previous
- 1732 of 7881
- next ›
Journalist Martin Bashir Calls Female Writers 'Asian Babes'
UK journalist Martin Bashir, son of Pakistani immigrants, is best-known for wringing titillating stories from celebs like Princess Diana and Michael Jackson. He's also kind of a doofus when it comes to racial comments.
At a July 31 address to the Asian American Journalists Association, Bashir said he was "happy to be in the midst of so many Asian babes." As if that wasn't bad enough, he continued: "In fact, I'm happy that the podium covers me from the waist down." A good speech, according to Bashir, should be "like a dress on a beautiful woman—long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep your interest—like my colleague Juju's." Juju Chang, by the way, is an Emmy-Award-winning 20/20 correspondent who has won national awards for her groundbreaking reporting on transgender and women's issues and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
I may be only half-Japanese but I'm more than half-offended by Bashir's comments. The guy has experienced racism in his life, both as a person and a journalist. He knows better. He knows how hard people of all colors work in the field to get to where they are. Perhaps he felt that he was among friends, and that Asian women wouldn't mind if he threw in a little sexism with his "ha ha, Asians are short" joke. At least he apologized: "Upon reflection, it was a tasteless remark that I now bitterly regret," he wrote the AAJA. He also apologized to Chang for his "boorishness."
While it's admirable that Bashir apologized, Chang's comment to the audience at the AAJA dinner says it all: "See what I have to put up with?" It's funny 'cause it's true.
Digg
Reddit
Twitter
Facebook
Buzz Up!
StumbleUpon
MySpace
LinkedIn
Delicious
Furl
Google
Yahoo
What is wrong with calling a group of asian babes, "Asian Babes"..? You think that they would like to have compliments thrown there way, since they are girls at heart, right..?
Bill
oh have a cry. To think, such a small violation of PC got a 300 post. Sensitive much? This type of whining about the smallest issues stunts progressive advancement in America.
When you gonna spill 300 words about the new growing muslim honour killings in the US/West? Do you have the balls to touch islam? Or only gonna replay the old wars of the past?
While I agree that Bashir's remarks were gauche, anyone who is familiar with his writing would not be taken aback to learn of his lapse in good taste and lack of maturity.
As my grandmother would say " You must consider the source."
I guess to define it as a small violation of PC is a matter of judgement, but what about the GIANT lack of professionalism that such a comment belies? I think this issue has worth well beyond a paltry 300 word post... I think most men think sexual harassment is harmless because they can't relate- when they think of being sexualized or objectified by women it is titillating, not threatening. But, most men are extremely uncomfortable at the mere thought of being sexualized or objectified by a gay man- someone who could potentially be equal in power and/or physical prowess.
Of all the things that could be posted in relation to the status of women in America, the most safe and most worthless is a minor breach of PC. Be brave and challenge the reader. Be brave and challenge the orthodoxies of our society, and the various "lefts". MoJo is widely read. Use it properly.
Might I suggest Heinlein's Stranger In a Strange Land for a refreshing, insightful look at the relationship of the sexes?
Refreshing and insightful, even if it IS 47 years old!
But, most men are extremely uncomfortable at the mere thought of being sexualized or objectified by a gay man- someone who could potentially be equal in power and/or physical prowess.
===========================
Hey,
If a room full of men were refered to in a sexual way, by some guy, the people in teh room would shout him down by calling him a f****t, and kick his ass as he left the building...
By the wommen sitting there and taking it, they just reinforced what he was tellign them.
BIll
Bill, provide recent examples of that situation/outcome or I'll just assume you're full of hyperbole shit.
i thought by the "asians are short" comment that he was referring to the Asian-size condoms now available and the fact that there would be no need for him to stand behind the podium, nobody would notice...
There's no doubt that Martin Bashir is an idiot, for many reasons.
However, to take offense is a personal choice - you also have the choice to write off his remarks as nothing more than verbal diarrhea from a world-class twit.
To make note of it only brings this clown extra attention.
mojo pc watch
I don't get it. He's speaking at a gathering of the Asian American Journalists Association. Why is it racist to refer to the women in the audience as "Asian babes"? Sexist yes - I guess - but not racist. And doesn't he get a pass because he is Asian? Like a black comedian who uses the "N" word? Or are Pakistanis not considered Asian because Pakistan is not as far east as Japan? Who is more Asian? A Brit whose parents are Pakistani immigrants or a chick who is half Japanese? And by using the term "chick" am I being sexist? Someone needs to enlighten me on the rules of political correctness before I embarass myself again. And why is it acceptable to have an Asian American Journalists Association? Were Asian American journalists historically subjugated, forced to write obituaries and edit the sports pages? As my favorite source of journalistic excellence says, inquiring minds want to know!
GO SVEND
I live in S.E. Asia, I'm white and I LOVE being surrounded by Asian Babes but I would never, ever state so in a speech. Maximum lack of tact or maybe just too much cocaine before hand. He was hoping to get laid, I'm sure. Idiot.
The episode is so pathetic
it needed neither publication nor comment.
tomedgar@halenet.com.au
lawyerfan: Actual thinking may be beyond your purvue. Maybe you should start with sympathizing.
FYI: calling a roomful of Asian female professional journalists "Asian Babes" is racist because it plays to the time-honored stereotype of Asian women as sexually overblown playthings for lecherous Occidentals. They are "sultry sirens," assumed to be proficient in the "love arts," no matter what their actual backgrounds as persons. You are right, however, that such a comment is sexist as well.
Such a comment had as much place at a professional gathering of Asian journalists as a shotgun at a quail convention.
svend: The towering edifice of intolerance in the world is composed of just such bricks of "harmless" and "minor" putdowns, inuendo, and "jokes." I submit that the test of whether a comment should be considered harmless, is the feelings it occasions in those who are the butt of the "joke." If they take offense, who are you to say they shouldn't?
If svend is a swede, and I make a joke hinging on the classic (and false) saw of swedish thickheadedness, am I exempt from svend's opinion on my comment? Sure, maybe he has no right to shut me up, but that doesn't make my comment harmless. By engaging in behavior that offends, and by defending my right to offend, rather than taking in and applying the criticism, I'm making the world a more unfriendly place -- not just toward the swedes in my example, but toward me for such behavior, and toward the well-meaning people who take me to task for my comments.
Putting people at each other's throats, even if metaphorically, works against harmony. And we need as much of that comodity as we can lay hands on.
(lastly) to Mr NIgh, the resident troll: Typical.