OK, I’m just ranting here, and I know that the commenters (not members of the SDMB) whom I’m addressing are only a statistically unrepresentative sample of society, so here goes:
As many know, an airplane, flight GE235, recently crashed in Taiwan, and dozens of people have died. A video was shown of the airplane nearly hitting buildings before clipping a bridge and then going into the river.
The ridiculing response of many Internet commenters was, "ASIANS CAN’T FLY!"
Let’s look at the situation here: An airplane suffered an engine flameout. The pilot, faced with such dire circumstances right after takeoff (TOGA - Take Off, Go Around - is a time when you need a lot of engine power) - did what he could, steering the airplane clear of buildings before the inevitable crash. In fact, he is currently being hailed as a hero for having avoided hitting the buildings, which would have surely led to even more casualties.
Comments like “Asians can’t fly!” would only make sense if the pilot had been given a perfectly good airplane (no malfunctions) and had been flying stupid stunts on purpose, or somehow mishandled his aircraft and caused a perfectly functional airplane to crash into a river. But this wasn’t that at all. This was an airplane that suffered a critical failure - an engine flameout. You can no more blame an Asian pilot for his airplane behaving erratically during an engine flameout any more than you can blame a white Caucasian pilot for his airplane behaving erratically if the tail rudder snaps off.
When an airplane malfunctions, and the Asian pilot crashes as a result, saying “Asians can’t fly!” is as unfair as saying “white people can’t fly!” if an airplane malfunctions and a white pilot crashes as a result.
This post actually isn’t a rant about race. I’m not saying “racist!” here. What I find irritating is that people aren’t attributing the blame for the crash correctly. They are blaming the pilot when 1) the pilot had nothing to do with the mechanical failure, and 2) the pilot did the best he could, given the circumstances.
You should be saying “racist!” here. “ASIANS CAN’T FLY!” is absolutely a racist statement, even if it’s relatively minor compared to other racist things people often say.
The reason I’m not doing that is because if one says, “Hey, that’s racist!”, then the racist person gets the following impression: I just said something that was offensive but true. People object because it’s offensive, but what I said is still true.
When in fact, these Internet commenters are putting the blame incorrectly. They are blaming the pilot instead of the engine failure. If one says “Hey, that’s racist!”, then the racist people still think,* “The pilot was at fault, but they don’t want me saying that,”* when in fact the pilot was NOT at fault.
You can call something racist while also correcting a mistaken belief. They are not mutually exclusive.
The very fact that people have jumped to the conclusion of pilot error suggests the influence of racial bias.
Do you really believe that the incompetence of one Asian pilot would validate the notion that Asians can’t fly?
Racists be racist.
I question the extent to which people saying this actually believe that Asians can’t fly planes, and are instead riffing on the (racist) jokes about Asians not being able to drive. Arguing that Asians can, too, fly planes isn’t going to make an impression, because it’s not something they genuinely think. Pointing out that it’s racist might actually change their behavior, because they’re possibly riffing on the joke without thinking about the racist implications of the joke.
I would suggest it is simply sick humour inspired (if that is the correct word) by several recent crashes by airliners from the Far East including the GE235 crash but bolstered by the missing Malaysian (MH370) and the crashed Indonesian 8501.
The search for “humour” would make it worth tying in the Malaysian MH17 crash even though that was (it has been proved now?) shot down by somebody while flying over the Ukraine.
If three or four German planes (as an example) came down within a few weeks the joke would presumably be “Don’t get on a German plane.” Some people like to make sick jokes.
TCMF-2L
So, if in the span of a few weeks, a German plane went down, a French plane went down, and a Finnish plane went down, the joke would be “Don’t get on a European plane?”
I don’t think so. They wouldn’t think to lump people from these disparate countries into a single European entity.
That’s the difference. It’s not “Malaysians can’t fly” or “Indonesians can’t fly” but “Asians can’t fly”.
The latent racism is there, even if people don’t realize it at first.
Of course Asians can’t fly, the damned yellow runts’ arms are too short!
Until the investigation is complete, we actually don’t have an answer for either of these points.
I think the “Asians can’t fly” is idiotic and racist and only racist idiots would say it, but we don’t have a real answer yet on what caused the crash.
- Did the pilot accept a plane with weight/engine conditions made takeoff/rotate airspeed well below the engine out minimum control speed (Vmca1)?
- Did the pilot contribute to the flameout?
- If they were above Vmca1, did the pilot not put in enough rudder or bank angle to control the aircraft?
- Did he put in too much throttle, too quickly, causing the plane to develop an adverse yaw?
- Did he move the flaps, causing the aircraft to lose lift and settle?
I’m sure there are many other scenarios that would show the pilot as a hero, who overcame an engine out and saved as many people as he could. But I think jumping to a conclusion this early is just making a guess (full disclosure: I threw out a guess in an ealier thread, but it was definitely a WAG).
I think there is latent racism in casually suggesting all of the Far East is one, homogenous block. But when someone is making a sick joke I don’t expect much sensitivity to be present. Brevity is the soul of wit.
If a German, French and then Finnish plane crashed then I would anticipate the obvious joke comment - across Europe - would be simply “Don’t get on a plane.”
I am prepared to be corrected on this but I would not be surprised if SOME Americans would be prepared to make the joke “Don’t get on a European plane.” But obviously only the Americans who make jokes about mass deaths in the first place which may not be the typical Doper.
TCMF-2L
I can’t believe anyone could interpret such a comment as anything *but *a joke. Of course it’s a riff on the old “Nip Drivers” / Orientals can’t drive stereotype(the joke is so old they didn’t even us the term “Asian” when I used to hear it), which itself is definitely racist, but I don’t think for a second this new iteration is anything but an attempt at humor.
May I ask if the OP is Asian?
Ostriches can’t fly either. It’s not so bad.
Asians can fly as well as anyone if you launch them high enough.
Don’t forget Malaysia Airlines 17 that crashed in Ukraine. The pilot was obviously incompetent if he couldn’t land safely with a surface to air missile stuck up his tailpipe.
Don’t worry about me. I was so worried I would forget MH17 that I wrote myself a little memo and posted it here as post Number 7. :roll eyes:
TCMF-2L
I’m torn. On one hand, Asians can’t drive. On the other, they’re really good at video games. I think the stereotypes cancel each other out.
No, I’m pretty sure it would include the phrase “…into a bar”.
Aslan can’t fly.
I’ve flown with many an Asian pilot and am still here to tell the tale.
The fuckers sure can’t drive though, that’s fer sure.