- McLibel -

What is ethnicide?

In Reply to: Re: Freedom of speech is not absolute. posted by Angel Vae on August 02, 1998 at 21:32:50:

Freedom of speech is vital when it comes to standing up to multinational organizations such as McDonalds. You all mention the impacts it has on the environment, the cruelty to animals and their appauling treatment of workers, but let us not forget the largest atrocity that McDonalds has committed, and that is ethnicide.
"What is ethnicide?" you might ask. It is the killing off of a culture or society etc. Think about it. Next time you walk into McDonalds, take a look around and what you will see is a class of people who no longer have cultural values. If you are reading this from a First World country i.e. North American, European etc, then I challenge you to ask most of the patrons of McDonalds, those people mindlessly eating their burgers and fries, ask them - how often they travel abroad, whether they have a mixed circle of friends (different races, backrounds etc), whether they speak other languages, whether they hold good jobs (or whether they hold a job at all) and what their opinions are on topics such as immigration, abortion, multiculturalism or any other topic that stimulates debate. What you will find, in general, is a breed of 'people' that have no individuality, no identity, and more importantly, no culture! They are in a comfort zone, too afraid to explore what lies outside the confines of McDonalds - other cultures, other people and even other types of food. The same people that are accountable for most of the crimes committed in the Western World can be found ordering a Big Mac across the counter. It's a fact! If you don't believe me, next time you are ever burgled, mugged or assaulted, follow that person to their next meal.
Now for the Third World. If you live in the Third World and are of the ten per cent of the population that lives relatively well (different percentages for different countries, of course), can afford servants or overseas trips, studies English, lives much better than the rest of the population - then we'll see you at McDonalds! It's also a known fact that the middle class of the Third World is abandoning its local culture for the Big Mac, while the poor majority starves to death. The golden arch represents all things good in the Third World - McDonalds is a modern, Western novelty. Too bad for the other ninety per cent or so of the population who can't afford a Big Mac. These middle class people in countries all over the Third World, from Indonesia to Brazil, are turning a blind eye to their countries' problems and are abandoning their own cultures, which they associate with the 'poor people' (their servants, drivers and cleaners) in search of the Big Mac - once inside McDonalds they can, for a few minutes, forget about the reality of the poverty and misery in their own countries and instead, imagine that they are American. How sad. If only they knew, that in America, like other First World countries, poor people don't carry bags of rice on their heads and chickens under their arms - instead they eat at McDonalds!

Follow Ups:

• Djihad vs. MacWorld ronald mc ass October 27 1998 (0)