NEW RACISM IS NOT NEW RACISM

8/2/2019 NEW RACISM IS NOT NEW RACISM

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‘’NEW RACISM’’ IS NOT NEW RACISM

by janzbizzare

‘’Take up the White Ma n's burden,

The savage wars of peace,

Fill full the mouth of Famine,

And bid the sickness cease ...’’

poem titled ‘’The White Man’s Burden’’ by an English poet

Rudyard Kipling (1899) illustrates Western Imperialistic

slogan where they declared people from the Western

countries are far more well-educated and civilised than people from

other parts of the world, thus they believe they are the sole saviour to

civilise and salvage Eastern people from poverty and holocaust.

Racism is not a new issue it has become headlines and main topics

covered by mass media. Racism is the belief that all members of each

race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race

or group of people especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or

superior to another race or group of people. The blatant manifestation

of this ‘old racism’ by White people to the people of South Africa

through Apartheid was seen as unjust and perceived as racial

discrimination imposed on them by people who claim themselves as

highly cultured and civilised nation.

The notion of New Racism is not widely covered by mass media but

in reality they embed this type of racism through their texts subtly.

New Racism gradually increases partially because of power control

which exists in constructing and delivering news or information to the

public. As opposed to the old-fashioned racism, where it is commonly

related to slavery, segregation and systematic discrimination, New

Racism occupies distinct forms of racial discrimination.

New Racism uses derogatory term or disparaging expression but in

a more subtle and implicit manner. New Racism is not a new racism

any longer as it is broadly practised by mass media by focusing on

negative issues with regards to minorities, immigrants or people with

less power of difference races. Headlines of Malaysia’s newspaper such

as ‘’Illegal immigrants Arrested for Various Crimes’’, ‘’Malaysia is a Pot

A



of Gold for Criminal Immigrants’’. This suggests that, illegal immigrants

especially from (Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia etc) are the main

perpetrators which escalate crime rates rapidly throughout the

country. These bias reports are unfair towards them as there are still

(legal) immigrants more or less contribute towards Malaysia’s

economic growth. The social problems amongst Immigrants can be

highlighted but it has to be in proportion with their sum of

contribution. As New Racism employs unobvious discrimination as one

of myriad forms to oppress others but it is much performed on racial

basis, however discrimination can also be imposed on people belong to

a different or similar group in everyday life. Critical Discourse Analysis

(CDA) was first introduced by Norman Fairclough in (1989). In general,

Critical Discourse Analysis is concerned to examine the way in which

meaning is socially or politically constructed in a text or talk.

CDA is beneficial to reveal inapparent expressions or rhetoric

devices used in formulating numerous number of bias texts. There is

vast number of principles which can be applied to conduct Critical

Discourse Analysis, thus scholars do not stipulate certain principles are

better than the others. The use of special code-word such as (Mat

Rempit) in today’s written/spoken discourse by mass media enables

audiences to interpret this word in terms of minority and the problem

attributed to them. Implied or presupposed meaning such as ‘’Business

Slow Due to Students Protest’’ is another technic of reporting news to

convey indirect illocutionary act/indirect speech as mentioned by

Searle (1975) which is used for reason of impression management. The

examples discussed earlier are new methods of discrimination

associated with social basis which means discrimination is not bound to

race we belong to but it is also imposed by majority against minority.

In CDA, New Racism discourse can also be detected through the

use of implied sarcastic device. For example, a non-government

television channel in Malaysia has arisen viewers’ uneasiness especially

Muslim viewers where the public-service message about the Muslim

holy Ramadan which was broadcasted on that channel had depicted

implied sarcastic racism. That public-service commercial showed a

Chinese girl wore vest-top was acting in a rude manner while saying

‘’Do not wear tights and revealing clothes’’. Eventhough the mentioned

public-service commercial has been withdrawn due to Muslim viewers’

complaints but it has promoted provocation and inconvenience

among them.

New Racism as discussed above is mainly disseminated

inapparently by mass media. As responsible news disseminators they

should be more aware and sensitive of the consequences of New

Racism where it can cause political and social unrest in a multiracial

country.



Fairclough, N.(1989).Critical Discourse Analysis .Longman.

Holliday, A.,Hyde, M. & Kullman J.(2004).Inter-cultural Communication.Routledge .

John, R.S. (1975). A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts .Günderson.

Kipling, R.(1899). The White Man’s Burden.McClure’s Magazine.

Documents

NEW RACISM IS NOT NEW RACISM