Brooklyn Library restricts access to Tin Tin book

[Riocaz]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

There is? Are you saying that libraries are locking up/getting rid of books that are popular? Sorry-but I don't think that's the case. Yes, the complaints might help them decide that a book isn't popular-but that's been a problem with democracy since ancient Greece. (How do you know whether or not something is popular? You either take a poll or you compare the number of compliments to the number of complaints. Or you can take it away & see how many complaints you get about that. Sort of an ex post facto poll, I guess.)

If it received a "number" of complaints that is. I will point out again that in this case the article implies that it was done on the basis of a single complaint.

Any "post facto poll" however is going to be skewed by the press response now anyway.

[ErwinOtten]

I myself am all in favor of bans

And because of that I want to propose a ban on Ahi

It is clear by the answers that he gives that he is a racist, and racists should be banned by his standards so let' s start with him anyway.

Why is he a racist you say? Well it's obvious, he thinks all european white people are racists. How else can you reply with:

Increasingly it seems to me that the only thing of consequence Europe is decidedly behind North America is acknowledging and trying to combat racism.

Although doubtless our Dutch friend, who no doubt has nightmares about spiralling Minarets every night, will explain soon enough why I am wrong and indeed downright ignorant for thinking so.

And in thinking so he is discriminating a hole race, aka he's a racist.

Hmmm where is the Tongue-in-cheek smilie when you need one

edit: Hmmm, I forgot.....I'm a racist too because I also grew up with Tin Tin and Asterix...

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by acidzebra

There is no "Flemish" part of the Netherlands. Could you have stayed here for 6 months without realising the difference between the Netherlands and Belgium? Or are you equating the Netherlands and Belgium in some way?

The Flemish/Dutch part of Beligum I think used to be a part of Holland but when Belgium was created they took land from France, Germany, and Holland and merged them into Belgium. At least that's how I understood it.

My husband identifies himself as Flemish and I never questioned and other people i spoke to there identified themselves as Flemish. I assumed it's the same as me identifying myself as Hispanic it's like an ethnic identity.

I know the difference between the Netherlands and Belgium since we had to drive out of Belgium to go to Holland to buy weed. They are different countries.

From what I can tell there does appear to be some friction still because my husband still seems to hate the French part of the country a lot and blames them for having his political party outlawed. But is more okay with the German part (maybe shared history?)

In high school we never got past world war 2 in history and in college after war world 2 we focused on the Vietnam War. European history (anything not England) is a specialized subject field from what I can tell. So what I know is based on my own observations, what little I read on wikipedia and what my husband tells me based on what he learned in school and his own environment where he grew up which was about 20 miles away from Brussels.

So yes, while I was there for 6 months total I only still saw a small fraction of the entire country.

It's like someone going to Rhode Island and basing their entire impression on the country on one state. But if that's the only impression they got they have to rely on others to tell them how the other parts of the country are different.

My apologies for assuming on the rest of the country.

Though at this website. http://www.123independenceday.com/be...emography.html

the ethnic group break down follows. '

Ethnic Groups
Fleming 58%, Walloon 31%, about 71.000 Germans, Mixed or other 11% (mostly Europeans, some Turks, Morroccans and Algerians.)

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I'm just saying what I saw in the 6 months I was there. In the Flemish part of the country it was very white compared to Houston, TX for example.

Where I live, you don't see a lot of non-original-Dutch persons. Why? Because this is farmer country. As I said before, in the '70's there was a boost in our economy and there were not enough people to fill the lower paid jobs. So, a lot of people (mostly from Morocco) came here to do those jobs. Those jobs were mainly in and around the major cities (in the west part of the country). Up north and east, they only had farm jobs and those were filled, or high technology (technical university and such). So, if you go to Amsterdam (for instance) you will see a lot of other nationalities, because people just stayed there or went there because of work (a problem that's still going on, work is being removed from the north and relocated in the west).

I presume something like that would also be the same in Belgium. Besdes, ethnic groups will always cluster together. There's safety in numbers and it's always nice to have somebody close that shares your culture.

The fact that you admit to your husband being a racist would also explain why you won't find any other ethnic groups in his group of friends, wouldn't it?

The world isn't perfect yet. We must respect each other, but sadly, it doesn't always work that way. I find that an action like the one the OP posted (the removing of a comic because of a complaint) works only against this. The people against this action will only be fueled to do something against the person (or persons) who started it. And repect for each other will go out the window...

[acidzebra]

I think we might have a small misunderstanding.

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I've been to Holland and my husband is Flemish. the richer areas of the country are white, white, white, and white. The only time I saw people of color was when I went to the red light districts.

From this I read that you saw zero people of color in the Netherlands except in the red light district. Which would be, well, weird.

Originally Posted by Amalthia

The Flemish/Dutch part of Beligum I think used to be a part of Holland but when Belgium was created they took land from France, Germany, and Holland and merged them into Belgium. At least that's how I understood it.

More or less, yes

Originally Posted by Amalthia

From what I can tell there does appear to be some friction still because my husband still seems to hate the French part of the country a lot and blames them for having his political party outlawed. But is more okay with the German part (maybe shared history?)

No, just the French being difficult buggers as usual. OH NOES I AM RACIST AGAIN.

Originally Posted by Amalthia

My apologies for assuming on the rest of the country.

Don't worry about it; I should also apologise for being on edge and responding in a rather rude fashion, that Ahi guys rubs me the wrong way with his racial hangups and constant insinuation.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

Why is he a racist you say? Well it's obvious, he thinks all european white people are racists. How else can you reply with:

Increasingly it seems to me that the only thing of consequence Europe is decidedly behind North America is acknowledging and trying to combat racism.

Although doubtless our Dutch friend, who no doubt has nightmares about spiralling Minarets every night, will explain soon enough why I am wrong and indeed downright ignorant for thinking so.

But... How do you explain my brother then! He has married a dark-coloured woman... (and their kids look magnificent! One has blond hair (straight), dark brown eyes and a suntan all year round, the other is just like his mother with dark curly hair, almost black eyes and a dark skin)

Originally Posted by acidzebra

No, just the French being difficult buggers as usual. OH NOES I AM RACIST AGAIN.

But, that part is true!

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by acidzebra

From this I read that you saw zero people of color in the Netherlands except in the red light district. Which would be, well, weird.

I may have exaggerated on the zero but it was definately a lot less than I'm used to and much less than what I saw in Berlin, London, and Paris. But I figured since I wasn't in Brussels but 20 miles away living in the "country" you'd get what you'd find in othe small towns not a lot of ethnic diversity.

[acidzebra]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

But I figured since I wasn't in Brussels but 20 miles away living in the "country" you'd get what you'd find in othe small towns not a lot of ethnic diversity.

?!?But Brussels is not the Netherlands - Now I'm confused again

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I may have exaggerated on the zero but it was definately a lot less than I'm used to and much less than what I saw in Berlin, London, and Paris. But I figured since I wasn't in Brussels but 20 miles away living in the "country" you'd get what you'd find in othe small towns not a lot of ethnic diversity.

Wait... Brussels is not in the Netherlands... I think acidzebra was thinking about Amsterdam. And it would have indeed be very strange if you hardly saw any people of colour there. Every time I go to Amsterdam (and I try to avoid going there!) I get the feeling I'm not in the Netherlands anymore... You will find a lot of people from Turkish descent, Maroccon descent, some-other-place-in-Afrika descent and people from the West Indies and Suriname...

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But... How do you explain my brother then! He has married a dark-coloured woman... (and their kids look magnificent! One has blond hair (straight), dark brown eyes and a suntan all year round, the other is just like his mother with dark curly hair, almost black eyes and a dark skin)

Yeah I'm baffled that my husband married me sometimes based on what he says, however I may be attributing more racisim to him than he really deserves. In Houston, his best friend was a guy from India. English isn't his first language and I don't think he realizes how some thing sound to me. I'll admit I'm more sensetive after that one time I got kicked out of a resturant in Rhode Island for being Hispanic.

Generally my husband hates on French people more than any other ethnic/language group on the planet. But I think it has more to do with politics than anything else.

I'm a result of mixed races myself. Dad is white and my mom is mexican, gotta say the results were rather nice.

[pshrynk]

Coming in abit late to the heated part of this, but let's just step back and stop the name calling, please. The topic of the thread is NYPL removing Tintin book from the shelves because of the possible racism displayed therein. Shall we keep it on topic? Thanks!

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by acidzebra

?!?But Brussels is not the Netherlands - Now I'm confused again

I think I'm confused too now.

Brussels is in Belgium and rather multi-cultural. Outside of Brussels...not so much. I think that was the point I was trying to make. the netherlands outside of Amsterdamn felt similar to the parts of Belgium I visited and stayed at.

I think at some point either I used netherlands or you did and the quotiing stuff got mixed up.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

Generally my husband hates on French people more than any other ethnic/language group on the planet. But I think it has more to do with politics than anything else.

Yep, the Flemish part of Belgium generally feels the Wallonian (French) part holds them back. Part of the problem is that most of the money comes from the Flemish part... So, it's mostly politics.

[ErwinOtten]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But... How do you explain my brother then! He has married a dark-coloured woman... (and their kids look magnificent! One has blond hair (straight), dark brown eyes and a suntan all year round, the other is just like his mother with dark curly hair, almost black eyes and a dark skin)

Oh no, they are cursed............... They are never allowed to read Tin Tin and Asterix by Ahid's standards

And no Sjors and Sjimmie either.........Luckily Ahid has never heard of them, else he would start a crusade right away

edit: Sorry pshrynk, I was typing my reply while you wrote your comment... I won't say the A-word anymore :-)

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

The fact that you admit to your husband being a racist would also explain why you won't find any other ethnic groups in his group of friends, wouldn't it?

The world isn't perfect yet. We must respect each other, but sadly, it doesn't always work that way. I find that an action like the one the OP posted (the removing of a comic because of a complaint) works only against this. The people against this action will only be fueled to do something against the person (or persons) who started it. And repect for each other will go out the window...

According to my husband he never had a person of color in any of his classes at school, not sure about college, but everything leading up to college there were no people of color anywhere. I think it's rather challenging to find friends of a different ethnic group if you dont' actually meet anyone of a different ethnic group. Especially at your school which is where most kids form friendships as they are growing up.

contrasted with my experience of going to a high school near a military base there was a lot more diversity at my high school and as a result I had a more diverse group of friends.