The other day, researching the subject of racism, I was thinking about the Duke of Edinburgh, who was reprimanded for making a comment to the effect that the Chinese, or possibly some other Oriental people, were ‘slitty-eyed.’
Typical, you might think. And worse.
Anyway, this made me think of the fact that we Westerners have changed the deaf-sign for Orientals; the sign is no longer made by pulling the fingers up to the corners of the eyes and narrowing them.
Just try this for a minute. Go to a mirror and do it for yourself.
Hmm.
But think about this a bit more. The Chinese, as far as I know, have not changed their deaf-sign for Westerners, which is made by opening the eyes wide. That’s because they don’t think that making a reference to our rounder eyes is offensive.
They don’t think that having rounder eyes worries us.
They’re right. It doesn’t.
So why do we think that having narrower eyes worries them?
Might it be that us Westerners, in our patronising way, have made an assumption that eyes any different from our own are a deviation from the norm? And that, therefore, referring to them is offensive?
Can we really believe that they are worried about the shape of their eyes? Now think of the Duke of Edinburgh’s comment. Still sounds offensive, doesn’t it?
This is going to take me a while, I thought.