my take on the curried eggs saga:
* to a ‘white‘ palette curried egg is a strong smelling food, a spicy curry smell is not a cultural norm for stereotyped bogan white Aussie with uk ancestry.
* on the other hand, to an Indian person (for example), curry is a totally normal delicious smell that is normalised as an everyday food in Indian culture.
* using a phrase ‘smelly curried egg‘ is implying that the smell of curried eggs is bad and ‘smelly curried egg boy‘ ought be teased, perhaps ostracised for eating something that smells like curry.
* it is casual racism to use the expression ‘smelly curried egg boy’.
For me that connection only just clicked
last night! And I really want to thank the follower that sent her that comment! Here is another unthinking form of casual racism that I can remove from my vocabulary. We can always learn and to better!
I don’t think Sarah’s original comment came from a place of maliciousness, it came from unthinking ignorance. But instead of demonstrating a willingness to reflect on her own language, she just doubled down on her own POV and unfortunately tipped into overt aggressive racism and ableism. A minor car bingle just before is NOT an excuse for her behaviour.
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