Soren wrote on Oct 10^th, 2009 at 8:37am:


What?  You truly are deluded.  Why would I expect black face to be offensive to a racist white Australian?  What's your point?  My point is, having been told by the entire world that it IS racist, are you going to continue to think it's okay to do it?  70% of Australians polled still think it's okay even after being told by the rest of the world it is not okay.

Look, I know you don't respect me, because you believe you're the only true Australian and I'm only "Asian" to you.  I know you don't even respect the TRUE Australians (Aboriginals), but if you want a lesson in racism, then hear it from a TRUE Australian.  I am sick of listening to you smug white Australians with a sense of self-righteousness and entitlement to do or say whatever the hell you want with total disregard to how it is perceived:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/09/jackson.australia/index.html

And here is a statement from a non-white Australian:
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,26185534-10229,00.html

And you already know the rest of the friggin world now thinks you're all backward and stubbornly racist.  Here's an example:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/a...



So you heard it from a non-white Australian, a true Australian, and the rest of the world.  And here you stubborn white Australians are still jabbering 4 pages later thinking there's nothing wrong.  She'll be right mate, just take the pisstake because we said so.

Racism is a small issue when you look at Muslims killing Muslims, Africans killing anybody they like, revolutionaries that become worse than the people they overthrew. Whatever happened to you Fakir, it was most likely your own people that did it to you. I dont give a rats arse about refugees, if the country is trouble, stay and fight, dont run away like a little girl, better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

Just because I dont like what other race or religion does doesnt make me a racist, it just means I dont like what they do. Lets stop people from drinking black coffee or buying black paint or coloring their hair white, I would use a white pen if I could but what color would the paper be, I wouldnt want to offend anybody

fakir wrote on Oct 11^th, 2009 at 1:20am:



You are confusing North American media opinion with people's opinion elsewhere. North Americans know next to nothing about Australia. So they imagine it in their own context. That's orml. But that does not make them the arbiters of what Australians should think. The skit would have had a different MEANING on New Orleans TV than here. A different meaning. You think the only context imaginable is the context you perceive. It is not.

You should stop and think - why do decent Australians say, in good faith, that they do not find the skit racist? Your only explanation is that they do not even realise they are rcist. You, being a 'minority', think that you know better. You can't even imagin that thy genuinely do not see the racism, do not mean it offensively but simply see it as good fun in poor taste.

Like all PC people, your indignation is the most precious tghing for you and you will not let anything to allay it. You have decided some time ago that Australians are racist and now seize every opportunity to justify yourself. You will rather dispute what ordinary decent Australians tell you in order to maintain your rage.

About your right to be offended - my point, inconceivably, is that your being offended is neither here nor there. Whether you think Austalians are racits is neither here nor there. Australia can point to it record, to it past and present eforts and can safely say that you that you are wrong.
And move on  - unlike you.

abu_rashid wrote on Oct 11^th, 2009 at 8:18am:


Strictly speaking, you're right.  I actually teach EEO to my team at work among other things. It's not the basis of prosecution, but it's a good practice to defuse a situation if the other party is obviously offended.

From a business point of view, you have to be very mindful of vicarious liability, so we tend to go overboard slightly.

Soren wrote on Oct 11^th, 2009 at 8:47am:


I've seen examples of people using their race, their sex or their sexuality as a means of getting what they want at work. I agree that it goes on. However to simply deny that discrimination is a major problem is fallacious. If a person of a particular ethnicity (or religion) is in the minority, then discrimination can potentially take an enormous toll on psychological and physical health.

I remember an anti-discrimination case in Central Queensland where a guy complained that his workmates were swearing at him and abusing him because of his religion, and his workmates took out a counter case because he was preaching to them from the Bible very loudly during lunchbreaks.   The magistrate threw it out of court.

Just so.

Soren wrote on Oct 11^th, 2009 at 8:39am:


What don't you get?  Black people find it offensive, and it marginalizes them.  Therefore it's racist.  You're telling me that you white Aussies are the gods that determine what is racist or not?  Hell, living geographically apart from the rest of the world really has made you out of touch.

As for telling me about Daryl's apology and that supposedly I don't want to hear it, I've ALREADY addressed this earlier!  I said again and again, that we all KNOW the doctors didn't mean to offend so stop apologizing for it!



For the record, abu_rashid and muso are the only ones on this thread who have shown the right attitude.  The world would have forgiven Australians a lot sooner if you just get your heads out of your arrogant asses and show you are willing to join the rest of the world.

ps. any time the topic of racism and Australians comes up, this thread is a perfect example to link to.  You guys really don't know how you look to the rest of the world do you?