The Mocking Of Desi Culture and Religion In Kpop Aswell As Soceity (how its normalised)
made by: seulgism on discord
introduction:
what is sad is that many people and kpop artists fail to understand the difference between what is funny and what is completely disrespectful. People will often brush this off saying "tHey'Re jOkIng" - even if they are, its not meant to be a joke. Our culture is reduced to curry, the word namaste, & head bopping movements that are poor imitations of the mudras that dancers spend years learning. I've seen people bop their head and do 'bollywood' dance moves (usually its Bharatnatyam),
this is BEYOND disrespectful and to mock hindu gods is just inhumane. Making jokes about how desis eat w hands is not okay either. plus if u call it unhygienic, you may not have the common sense to realise that desis WASH their hands before eating.They also mock desi/indian accents which is rude, if you're not desi, don't do it. its disrespectful to us. Its sad bc its so normalised. "Both cultural appropriation and stereotyping under the guise of a “joke” feed into similar problems. It’s not just the fact that an idol wears a bindi or sings a popular song about curry — it’s another example of artists profiting off of cultures that are not their own, dehumanizing other groups of people in the process. Those actions erase the rich culture of various ethnic groups, turn those groups into a monolith, and generalize them into stereotypes that reinforce false perceptions." - teen vogueMany people often talk about the correlation between desis and cows, and they are right, cows are sacred to our culture and it is a sin to eat them (in hindu culture) . But there are still people making fun of this and sending offensive videos of people shooting cows to desis. this is not okay. this is discriminatory. PLUS people calling desis monkeys bc of our skin tone. The acts of rage and hate crimes taken against humans just because their skin is brown. People have messaged me about this carrd saying that i don't spread awareness, but they don't understand that I'm trying to get racist remarks and jokes about desis unnormalised, please go to irl scenarios after reading this to read my life experiences + my family friends. also idc if ur a poc, if ur not south asian/desi DO NOT argue w us on this topic, we are sick and tired of being mocked
"this is for the people (especially non south indian people) who discriminate agaisnt south indians. Firstly, who are south indians? south indians are people from tamil nadu, kerala, andhra pradesh (telegus) and karnataka. if u live in south india but do not have roots YOU ARE NOT A SOUTH INDIAN !!!! south indians are mocked through bollywood films and north indian languages. south indians typically have darker skin, hence most non south indians assume that we are dirty or ill behaved when this is not at all true. south indians are stereotyped to only eat curd (yoghurt rice), have an obsession with coconut and wear 'lungis' which is not true. infact, south india has an advantage in certain important things – in its relative lack of violence, its lack of anti-Muslim intolerance, its lack of indiscipline and delinquency in the Universities; in its better educational standards, its better government, and its cleanliness; in its far lesser practice of corruption and its little taste for Hindu revivalism. we've been stereotyped to be all violent, dirty while north indians are the complete opposite when this is a complete lie. ofc we r not trying to put down north indian people, we're all indian. I'm just saying that it would be nice of you all not to have superiority complex.south india exceeds in literacy rate, especially female literacy rate. crime and violence is to a minimum, poverty is to a minimum, south india makes up alot of indias revenue / GDP. the misconceived notion that south indians are violent is so funny as it comes from north indians who infact belittle our culture and make us seem what we are not, making themselves superior. we are also discriminated for our skin colour, most south indians are darker or more brown as the sun shines more in the south, this doesnt me we are villainous or dirty. " THIS WAS TAKEN FROM A TXTI, FULL CREDIT TO THEM http://txti.es/kvilg
alright this is for the desi people that belive bopping heads and mocking mudras is not offensive - please shut up. please don't go around spreading false logic. mudras are a sacred part of our culture.Bharatnatyam
when Bharatanatyam is and is one of the oldest dances in the world, invented in 2 century C.E. the "mudras" are collectively hand gestures that have spiritual meaning all tying back TO HINDUISM, we use mudras and facial expressions as well as jewellery and bindis to represent our gods. for you guys to be saying 'it isn't offensive bc its what they do in bollywood' no, its not. its bharatjnatyam, the poor representation of bharathnatyam in Bollywood is partly to blame. for people to mock these mudras is mocking hinduism, mocking our gods and everything we believe in.kathak
some mudras are also used in kathak - another one of indias 8 most recognisable classical dances
kathak mudras are used to describe hindu gods as well as include elements from Islamic text and belief, bharathnatyam and kathak are so deeply rooted in desi culture that its basically older than most civilisations, as yet its reduced to head bopping and poor imitations of mudras because people cannot think before they act.
yoga
yoga is hindu, buddhist and is a part of jainism if u are not either and are also not desi u are not obligated to have an opinion on this.
Yoga was invented in the 4th century BCE. and it has strong ties to hinduism and Buddhism. you may have heard of chakras, yoga is where it is from - ofc anyone can convert to hinduism but since yoga is indian any buddhist, jain or hindu who is not indian or desi is not obligated to have an opinion on this
whats not ok to do as a non desi person:
• mocking desi accents
• when an desi/indian person is mad shouting out "pooja what is this behaviour"
• calling us monkeys bc of our skin colour
• bopping your head and shaking it in a stereotypical way
• calling someone a curry lover
• saying someone is not "dark"
• saying we have poop coloured skin
• trying to do the mudras
• saying the term "curry muncher"
WHICH IS A SLUR.
+ just to point out that there is actually no such thing as curry, its an umbrella term for when the British colonised.
CASE STUDY :
Lee Hyo Ri's white snake. here, they dance to gayatri mantra. The ones who are saying that there's no problem with this song or how its okay that she's dancing sensually to sacred Hindu prayer should really shut their mouth. This is one of THE MOST sacred and holy prayers for Hindus. And its just disgusting and downright DISRESPECTFUL for her to be using it in such a way. First of all she shouldn't be using it at all. People who are actually supporting this or saying that its okay, should know the gravity of the prayer. If you're not a Hindu and don't know the meaning of it, I understand but, seriously, don't support something you've absolutely no idea about. This prayer hasn't been sung for just the last few years or decades. Its been sung for centuries, generation after generations. Do you know what that means? Its as important as Bible for Christians, Quran for Muslims, etc. This is actually disrespecting a religion which has been going on for more than 5000 yrs and has at least 100 million people following it. This is disrespecting all of that. I don't care if she's your 'Queen or anything. She's disrespecting something really meaningful and our beliefs. I don't want anything but for her to apologize and remove that verse from her song. - this comment was posted on the white snake mv, all credit goes to them - I'm just sharing this
they apologised though??
giving a mere apology is the bare minimum. idols usually never apologise for mocking desis or doing cultural appropriation. + the apology is meant to be for desi people to accept, not non desis. if a desi chooses not to accept it, then they don't. the idol did not affect non desi people, they affected desi people, so for a non desi to be 'accepting the apology' is just weird.
how is this relevant to kpop?
I am just trying to show the mocking of the cultures throughout the industry, tbh I have seen many k-pop idols mocking indian culture. The tiktok song that's used to mock indians and the stereotypical dance to it from the curry song & more. Many people say this can be called a 'light-hearted' joke but It's really offensive and hurtful to the people of that culture. It can make people not feel proud of it and make it seem like their culture is more of a bad thing than a rather good one. we’re living in the 21st century, where it takes only about 30 seconds to google the significance of anything deemed “aesthetically pleasing” before using it. there is absolutely no excuse for idols to be doing this.
my friends/relatives desi/south asian and they do not find it offensive/they are ok w me stanning
racism/cultural appropriation is not an opinion, so if one desi person does not find it racist, then good for them! on the other hand, millions of other desis find it discriminatory. + ur one (or more) desi friends or relatives do not make up the entirety of the desi race!
can't i j hold them accountable?/what an idol does has nothing to do w the fans
unfortunately, it does. by supporting the grp that has mocked desis/done ca of desi culture, u are merely choosing to ignore what they have done, supporting their racist behaviour.
idols are human, they make mistakes
while this is true, idols are, as the name suggests, idolized. While there is a rational part of most fandoms that sees celebrities’ offensive behavior and calls it out, there is also a part that follows the monkey-see-money-do routine typical of idolization. So the argument that celebrities are just human and not meant to be educated, morally correct role models doesn’t fully hold up. Sure, no one is perfect and mistakes will happen, but idols especially have to make an effort to be good, inoffensive people who learn from their mistakes and spread that behavior to their fans. Otherwise, idols only perpetuate a toxic cycle of negativity and cultural insensitivity.
**what they did did not have any ill intention **
racism doesn't have to have an ill intention or a good one. all racism is racism. just because an idol did not have bad intentions, it does not excuse their racist actions.
non desi people using the term desi is wrong and weird, why?
the term desi is a word in sanskrit and one of indian subcontinents 201 languages. the term means "people of our country" the term is to only be used for desi people identifying themselves or other desi people. non desi people using this term to identify us is wrong as they're basically calling themselves the same ethnicity as us. please refer to us as south asians. keep in mind south asians are desis are different!!south asians are..
indians, bengalis, Pakistanis, afghans, sri lankans and nepalisDesis are...
indians, Pakistanis, bengalis.
lets also go over the word karma
karma is a sacred hindu and Buddhist principle and for people to use it in weird sentences saying that "karma will do her dirty work" is absolutely disgusting and disrespectful. using karma is obviously fine but don't white wash the principle and make weird jokes about it
slurs that we can reclaim
curry muncher - all desi people can reclaim this slur. THIS is a slur.
to give some bg info, this slur was made when the british invaded india so around 1609, this is not a slur that was coined from another or 'made in 2019 bc of a restaurant'daal khor - all desi people can reclaimapunene - a singlish slur used to describe an indian person, can only be reclaimed by someone who is indianp slur - can only be reclaimed by someone who is pakistanimadrasi - can only be reclaimed by south indians although this is not a slur its still a derogatory term which is not to be used by non south indians specifically non tamilianskling/keling - south east asian term to describe an indian person
dm me if u want me to add more!
some people are stupid enough to say "but what this idols wearing doesn't look the same!!!!" first of all, since when does all jewellery look the same? second, it may not look the same to u, a non desi person, but desis know what is apart of their culture, and what isn't.
If u arent south asian/desi, you have absolutely no right to speak on this, "but my friends said that.." is not an excuse to belittle our culture/have opposing views to what desis believe
bindis are not desi culture. bindis are a part of hinduism, if u arent hindu and u are desi pls don't speak about it.
these are only SOME of the millions of examples i could give for traditional desi jewellery. VISIT THIS CARRD TO LEARN MORE : https://southasianappropriation.carrd.co/
I've personally received comments such as "omg when i turn off the lights i cant see u haha!", "kling"- this is the k slur. My family friends have also been bullied, being called disgusting for having brown skin and "carrying the indian mutation of covid".https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/217018853.pdf
feel free to share this carrd, you do not need to ask me! :)) pls remember to respect other cultures! also if u have anything you want me to put/change on here pls dm me!! ** discord: seulgism**