Lonely Bull - I had to comment on your post...just here to educate and not criticize. Some facts about India:
- Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
- There are 3.22 Million Indians in America. 38% of Doctors in America are Indians. 12% of Scientists in America are Indians. 36% of NASA employees are Indians. 34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians 28% of IBM employees are Indians 17% of INTEL employees are Indians 13% of XEROX employees are Indians
- India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
- India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
- India invented the technique of algorithm used in computer science today.
- India invented the making of camphor (MODERN chemists know how important this chemical is).
This doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the contributions the Indian culture has made to the world. Go to www.sciforums.com to learn more.
I was referring to Joe Biden's comments as a senator:
Joe Biden Commits Racial Slur, Where's the Outrage? (2006)
With that in mind, as captured by C-SPAN, Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) recently made some comments concerning folks from India that were not at all flattering. As of yet, there appears to be no media outrage.Here’s what Biden said:
“In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”
So my reference was to having a vice-president with a history of...interesting statements, including this one.
In other words, the joke isn't on people of Indian descent, in the US and elsewhere. In fact, if people of Indian descent had contributed little to the US or to the world, the ironic contrast on which this joke rests (the contrast between their achievements and what then-Sen. Biden implied) would've been missing, and the joke would've fallen flat.
Instead, the joke is primarily at the expense of Joe Biden. Even if he was truly trying to praise them, he wound up speaking poorly. The joke is secondarily directed at a situation where someone with a history of odd blunders wound up becoming the vice-president, without much attention from a biased press.