Does everybody realise the bloke playing the part of Michael Jackson is an Indian? He had his face painted white, bloody wacist.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Oct 8^th, 2009 at 11:42am:

Yes, completely ridiculous. Comedy should be judged by the tone it intends.

Fakir, Mike Myers (a Canadian I believe) starred in a comedy as an Indian holy man... The Love Guru. Should be be condemned for his 'racial stereotyping' of Indians? Or is it OK by you only when Canadians take the piss out of race?

okay, one at a time:

1) abu_rashid: Australia is out of touch.  Black people find it offensive, and I don't need to understand why, I only need to understand that they do (find it offensive).  This news has gone global and non-Australians agree that the skit was offensive.  The fact that you're still scratching your head wondering "why?" is proof of Australia being out of touch with the world because you don't get it. 

You don't need to understand why something is offensive to stop doing something offensive, otherwise men would still be calling their girlfriends fat.

However off the top of my head, because you are forcing me to do your thinking for you, I would say it's based on history.  Perhaps a long time ago, white people made fun of black people and lampooned them, frequently accompanying their xenophobic jokes with shoe polish on their faces, ala "The Black and White Minstrel Show". (didn't I already give you that hint?  Geez.)

2) sprintcycle - again your argument about Mike Myers echos another sentiment made by a blogger calling Harry Connick Jr a hyprocrite because he impersonated a southern preacher on MadTV.  You white Australians don't get it.  Harry Connick Jr didn't paint his face black in the skit, and Mike Myers didn't paint his skin either.  For that matter, Mike Myers didn't even pretend to be Indian, he just pretended to be a Guru.  When Myer's movie came out, Hindus were offended, not Indians.

3) Happy - you're damn right.  I'm glad you're finally figuring out what the rest of the world outside Australia already knew over a decade ago.  But don't feel bad, you're in good company along with Mel Gibson and Michael Richards.

--
And the fact that three of the doctors were Indians doesn't make this any better.  There were 6 people in that skit, 3 of them were white.  But the problem is all of them were Australian, and none of the Hey Hey staff nor the audience found the act offensive - every Australian in that studio that day shrugged their shoulders like abu_rashid and didn't see anything offensive.  If that isn't a sign of Australia being out of touch with the world, I don't know what else is a bigger slap in the face.  In all cases that still makes the problem of racism in Australia endemic.

fakir - what a skirt.

You have the right to be offended. Others have the right to offend you. And vica versa.

Being offended is not an argument. Respect is earned. You can't just demand it on the basis of your pigmentation. And of course your colour is neither here nor there. It's the culture that comes with it that matters.

Do you remember the racial teasing of the west indian guy, Symonds, in the Australian cricket team when they were playing in India? The monkey calls? How funny is that? Tinted people racially taunting a tinted guy. Is that also an example of Indian colonial legacy, like the rail system?

Or more seriously, what are you doing about the Indian caste system? Or look up the Japanese treatment of the Chinese and the Koreans -  and whitey - during WWII. Or the history of Muslim enslavement of Europeans. Or the endless massacres of Africans by other Africans. Or the black on white violence in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Or the slave-like treatment of Asians in rich middle eastern countries. Or the black on black, black on hispanic violence in North America, for that matter. What are you doing about those examples of real, hardcore racial oppression and menace? Nothing.

Worrying about a TV skit on Hey hey it's Saturday is sooky in itelf but worrying about it whiel ignoring real mistreatment of tinted people by other tinted people is downright cowardly and pathtic.
UNHRC writ small.

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Come on, it's not all that unfair... We're not offended because we know it's true!

I am posting the following on behalf of another member.



"They made a whole movie involving black guys with their faces painted white, and nobody got offended.

It's black people's perception of THEMSELVES that's the problem, not white people's. We have every right to paint our faces whatever goddamn way we want. Black people just need to get over themselves"

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Another point raised there, perhaps unintentionally mantra is the fact that men dressing up as women is not perceived as sexist, so why is white people dressed up as black people considered racist??