Racism in Wrestling

There is a letter on the Observer page talking about a double standard when it comes to racism. It's basically asking for a response. Dave I don't think will. And while it references me specifically, I just don't feel like writing out a longer response to run on the website. But I will give my thoughts briefly here. And it's this: not all discrimination is created the same. Some forms of discrimination are a lot more real, and create a lot more harm than other forms of discrimination. And we should rightfully be more sensitive about the discrimination that creates more harm. Anti-Irish discrimination was once very prevalent. Now, it's not a view that many people in this country hold. Thus, it's okay to make fun of it or play off of it. Likewise, if there were a group of people that legitimately felt that blue eyed people are bad and should be removed from society, that would be bad. But given that belief is not held by any group of people, it's not something we need to be terribly concerned about. Whites are the majority in this country. There is no danger that angles portraying them negatively are going to lead to any demonstrable harm. But angles portraying historically demonized minorities can exacerbate that discrimination and lead to real harm. And it's thus perfectly rational to be more concerned about the portrayal of some forms of discrimination than others.