Blog against racism meme

[lizwilliams]

This post comes with the proviso that: I am a white, middle class Brit. Pretending that I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of racial violence and discrimination would be fatuous in the extreme.

I'm not even sure whether this is a post about racism per se or about something else.

Like matociquala, I've been accused of being too PC in my writing. I take this as a compliment, given the sort of people who do the complaining. With those novels that are set on Earth (POISON MASTER, NINE LAYERS OF SKY), I've chosen to write about other cultures because those are the ideas that grabbed me at the time. In the case of Nine Layers, I lived and worked in Central Asia and wanted to write about it. In part, it's because of this: there are a lot of people in this world who don't give a shit what the West does. They have only a vague idea of where America is (I've met several people who were surprised to learn that the UK was not part of the N American mainland). They don't like what the US does in regard to its foreign policy, but in general they're just as pissed off, and probably a lot more so, about the Russians or the Indians or the Chinese or the Israelis or the Arabs, depending on who you speak to. And not everyone wants to emigrate to the West, either: I also know several people who were granted green cards and then decided to go back or not go at all, because they didn't like what they saw of the West or because they just didn't want to leave home after all.

There is a general Chinese view (correct or not) that America's economic dominance is just a temporary aberration and during the course of the 21st century, Chinese economic hegemony will once more be restored, particularly when oil starts to run out. Recently, on the other side of the planet, a friend of mine who is a well-respected historian did a programme on ancient Orkney, for the Discovery Channel. He couldn't front the programme itself, because he's British, so they had to scour the country for a possible American presenter and came up with someone from the engineering department at Cambridge.

When I asked him if he objected, he laughed and said that the States is in exactly the same position that Britain was in a hundred years ago: there's the same ebullience and sense of self importance just before the empire crashes. So his view was that they should just be allowed to get over themselves. Under the circumstances, he's entitled to be a bit patronising, IMO.

I'm sure some people will take this as an attack on the US. It isn't - it's a great country and I am in many ways very pro-America - but it is an attack on the Western (American and, tagging along, British) perception that everyone else sees everything we do as Terribly Significant. Maybe that's the case. But it's not a global perception and I think that's why I like writing, as far as I can, from the perspective of other cultures.

Comments

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Actually, most of the people I've met have said, at one point or another, 'It's not the American (or British) people: they're just like us. It's their government.' People are much more tolerant than one might expect.

The British abroad can be mortifying. I've pretended to be Russian before now. And a German friend used to pretend to be Dutch.

[ianmcdonald.livejournal.com]

If I'm ever stuck in that kind of situation, I just play the Irish card. Works every time. Like the Australians, the Irish believe (rightly, or, I suspet, wrongly) that the world loves them.

[garunya.livejournal.com]

It's easier being Scottish. A lot of people overseas don't realise we're British. Not that we're any better than the English, but people don't always realise that either ;)

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I also sometimes tell people I'm Welsh (which is true, but I have an English accent! Plus half the world hasn't heard of Wales either).

[ohilya.livejournal.com]

Oi! I've heard of Wales. Worry ye not, Wales. You're not forgotten!

[ohilya.livejournal.com]

You've pretended to be Russian?

That's actually the first time I've ever heard of someone doing that. Which is very neat. Could you paint a picture in words for me, of what the scenario was, and what you'd said?

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I can't remember where it was, but it was somewhere in western Europe (I don't think I'd get away with pretending to be Russian in eastern Europe and it might be a bit silly to try, given how the Russians are regarded by their former satellite states). I think it was Crete, actually - my friend and I booked into a resort which turned out to be one of those ones which get overtaken by hordes of young, drunk, shrieking Brits every year and I was so mortified that when some Greek spoke to me, I said (in Russian) 'I'm sorry, I don't speak English; I'm from Russia.' And then fled.

We lasted two days and after that collared the person from the holiday company and insisted that we be moved. We ended up in a lovely, isolated family hotel up the coast.

[ohilya.livejournal.com]

Ti znaesh Russkii yazik? Kleva.

I can quite understand the sentiment. All too well. Feeling embarassed about one's culture? I think that's a good sign. I think.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Da, ya znaio Russki yazik na, sozhalenyo, nyet ochen xorosho! Potomuchto ya rabotaio v Kazakhstane v 1996.

My tenses have gone all to pot and they were never very strong... Been too long!

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I have a little Russian (two years at school); it seems to be a very good language for apologetically pushing through crowds with (skadzhitiye minye padzhalousta!)

Thanks for Nine Layers of Sky without horseradish; I hadn't seen much done with that sort of Central Asian mythology.