For those of you who live in Canada, you probably know about Bruce Allen and his rather controversal remarks about Canada and tolerance for immigrant values. I'm not going to rehash everything he said, he tried to make his talk about how Canada should be more tolerant, and then somehow he ended up contradicting his own points by acting like a bigot. 

I have noticed that there are many Bruce Allen supporters out there, being very vocal about their opinions, because I can see about 4 comments from them on the local daily and not even one protesting against his remarks. So who's overreacting? According to an article on the same paper, '"we're at that stage where we're trying to clumsily deal with difference, but at the same time there has been a huge backlash,' Berg (UBC professor)  says as proven by the support for Allen", I agree with Berg, on the surface it seems like he is merely stating what a "majority" of Canadians think. And sadly we see many people on the paper agreeing and congradulating him for having the guts to say it, many of them being white or at least not 'visible minority' Canadians. 

Why do they feel that he is brave for saying this, and feel so vindicated? Because there is social and governmental pressure not to express prejudices and discriminate against these minorities, so they don't feel they can voice their resentment. Well, in that case they are most probably habouring some repressed resentment and prejudice towards these minorities. 

Many people did refute what Bruce Allen said, and there was protest against the message he was giving, but that is to be expected! If there wasn't any protest against his remarks, multiculturalism and democracy would have been at an all time low~! In every country this remark would spark a debate, yet there are people who say in their emailed responses, "why are we surprised at what he said? He's only saying what many Canadians feel." Well! We come off as a very multicultural country yet as its citizens we are supposed to expect that immigrants need to drop their cultural values in order to 'integrate' into Canadian society? That is called assimilation NOT integration. That would be the American policy. Please get that clear. While some worries may be legit, I have a very strong feeling that we are not specifically addressing those issues, considering Bruce Allen's high handed comment about there being a door, and if immigrants don't want to want to confirm to Canadian values and culture, they can leave through it. 

What many people are not aware of is that Racism, is no longer the Racism we knew 10, 20, 30 years ago. Many would feel that Bruce Allen's message did not constitute Racism, and supporters of Bruce Allen are not practicing a form of Racism. Well, the vast majourity of people are very misinformed. It is quite official, and we spent an extensive amount of time covering Racism in social psychology,  that Racism has gone underground this day and age. Racism isn't just beating up minorities or calling them names, making fun of their skin colour and so on. People are not as free to express their prejudices or discrimination because of laws in place. There is societal and legal pressure against being *openly* Racist. Neo-Racism is what we call Racism that is more commonly taking place. Such as institutions not hiring minority groups, or preferring white Canadians over minorities even with similar creditials. Resentment of the concessions/advantages/consideration made for minority groups also counts. It's hard to explain these situations without referring to the textbook, but these situations occur frequently, more frequently than the more aggressive patterns that we associate with the concept of Racism. 

Racism in NOT dead in Canada. It's just coming out in more repressed ways, because people, Racists and all, have difficulty dealing with superficial differences. But unfortunately, white Canadians, or Canadians who are not visible minorities, don't understand that minorities don't always get equal treatment. In fact a lot of the time its just been blown out of proportion, exactly how free of discrimination Canada is. That is because people have trouble applying rules and the idea of multiculturalism to themselves. =_='  People have trouble thinking of themselves as part of humanity, especially when humanity is being criticized and therefore fail to curtail their own negative actions.

Also, we now have a situation where we know Racism is bad, as it says negative things about one's character, and as a result people who are Racists, vehemently deny being Racists, and in fact claim to 'hate Racists'.  Yet they are acting in bigotted ways. Sometimes they aren't aware of it, sometimes they explain it away, and all because it contradicts their self image of being a nice and fair human being. Canadians are sometimes very removed from reality, because they often times ignore 'actions' in favour of 'words', while we know that "actions speak louder than words". 

One can speak of being very open-minded, and democractic, yet behave in a visibly hypocritical and bigoted manner. 

If you apply the standards of Neo-Racism to Bruce Allen's message, he is acting well within the bounds of Racism. And people who support his words also are in danger of being Racist. 

Therefore many of these Canadians must get off their high horses, and start admitting to themselves that they are prejudiced. I know I am prejudiced, some times more than others, because it is almost impossible to say that one is not prejudiced and I can't say that I have never discriminated against anyone either because I'm sure I have. Those who believe themselves to be free of all prejudices are the ones who are at risk of becoming blatant hypocrites and Racists. In my opinion, being prejudiced doesn't mark you has a bigot or a Racist, but discriminating based on these prejudices might. People who felt strongly enough to write about supporting Bruce Allen have already stepped within the bounds of discrimination and Racism, be it due to ignorance or deeply rooted prejudice. 

One thing to take home with you, think about the things you say, whether it is in 'jest' or complete seriousness, are you in fact making racist remarks? Are you doing it regularly? Stereotyping minority groups? Well, if you are, maybe Racism and discrimination isn't as dead in this country as you assumed it was, and you should give protesters more credit. 



P.S. Bruce Allen should be allowed to say what he wants, because everyone has the right of free speech. Well, yes in general that is true, people are allowed to say what they think, but there is a limit, and that limit is that his words should not cause direct or indirect harm to someone else. Otherwise, anyone can say anything the hell they want, verbal abuse, slander, anything and not have to face legal consequences. We see this is not the case, therefore a line must have been drawn somewhere in the range specified by 'free speech'.