Racism row in Australia

Nach, the last sentence would imply that DD was making a wry joke.

I hope that’s the case. I’ve seen too many jerkoffs use the tone argument sincerely though, sometimes directly to friends of mine who are affected by racism or other forms of discrimination.

John Oliver – “Australia is one of the most comfortably racist places I’ve been in”

Contains the clip from the Bugle podcast from a couple of years ago that caused a bit of a stir…

The overt racism in Australia was immediately obvious as soon as we got here (3 years ago).

Most challenging is the use of the word “wog” which gets dropped pretty-regularly. Including once by an HR manager during an interview!

The dialogue around racism in Australia is just incredibly simplistic and naieve – people honestly do not understand why referring to somebody as a wog/”a bit woggy” is racist. They just see it as shorthand for non-caucasian – and they (being caucasian themselves) don’t find it offensive, so whats the problem?

Aboriginal people only got the vote in the sixties – before that they were officially classed flora-and-fauna. It takes a few generations to move past that.

How about this:

“Some people in Australia are racist”

You could make it simpler by omitting Australia from that sentence, as it’s clearly far from an exclusively antipodean trait.

Oh wait, that would have left pigface with nothing to say, which would probably have made for a better thread.

Claiming you’re only booing the black man because he doesn’t direct the negative energy created by you calling him an ape into improving his game.

That comes under “being a dick” even if you don’t think you’re actually a racist. Just stop it already…

😐

if you walk into a bar full of white people in South East Asia – the loudest most obnoxious idiot in the room is always an Aussie.

I don’t know if this is statistically true or not. In a similarly anecdotal vein, a high percentage of the sweetest, most positive and enthusiastic people turn out to be Aussies as well. Or possibly New Zealanders. Same difference. 😉

Lol also try walking into a bar in ibiza magaloof or benidorm and see what it’s like.

It is a very racist country

The attitudes seem very backwards to me. It’s like going back a good few generations to colonial times over here.

One young woman, a friend of a friend, had absolutely no qualms in telling me she hates blacks. I said to her how can you hate someone that you don't know or haven't met? to which she replied ‘I don’t want to meet them, they’re black’. Unbelievable

Not the entire country and sweeping generalisation don’t help. Most of the people I have met are tolerant and appreciate the massive multi cultural society we live in here. Again the backlash throughput community groups and leaders is showing a bigger appetite to change with individuals standing up when they see racism.

Seems your in the minority Zokes but you are a plastic Australian, keep listening to Cold Chiesel and one day you too could be a Bogan 😆

In Oz wog refers to Greek / Cypriot iirc

lol at zokes and mikewsmith trying to pretend Australia doesn’t have a problem with racism. Perhaps the reason you don’t see it as an issue is because you share some of those views?

http://www.truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/28572-john-pilger-interview-white-australians-would-like-aboriginal-people-to-disappear

Mostly positive comments on here. One from a total bogan.
http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?294683-Adam-Goodes-sook-or-wronged-man

Seems like those in zippykona’s link are just concerned about the poor sportsmanship of booing (I didn’t read beyond the first twenty or so comments) which to be fair, is far more important than some uppity professionally offended AFL player complaining about racism in a way which is hard for white folk to handle.

Are we reading the same thread zippykona?

Love people claiming all Aussies are racist. That’s beautiful.

Can you point out where anyone has actually said that?

Are we reading the same thread zippykona?

I was focusing mainly on the video. That guy seemed to sum it up nicely.

Yes grum.im pointing right now. Can you see? Might take a while to see as we are in a different time zone.

Your good self stated that others have a problem accepting Australia has a problem with racism which implies to me that this is your opinion too. Totally incorrect, Australia is a country and has no feelings, emotions and can’t talk. Some Australians are racist. Some British people are racist. I’m sure we agree on that. I’m not really sure where you’re heading but the popcorn is open.

Wonder if zokes will share his view of the welsh again?

Do you ever say anything remotely intelligent pigface, or is this about as good as you’re able to give: lazy stereotyping an entire foreign country, presumably to make you feel better about your own miserable inadequacy?

And as for you, grim, you did once upon a time contribute intelligent discussion. It seems those days are gone.

I refer you both (and others) to my previous post: there are some racists in Australia. There are also some racists just about everywhere else, apparently including this thread.

what do you call your cornershop or your Chinese takeaway

I call the former “the shop” and the latter “the chinese takeaway”. Why what do you call it?

Brits abroad are often the most disgusting creatures known to man. What is interesting is the change in the friendliness you get from people when you insist you are Scottish and not British or English. It’s like night and day.

anagallis_arvensis – Member
Wonder if zokes will share his view of the welsh again?
POSTED 1 MINUTE AGO # REPORT-POST

Aw bless, pigface’s little friend has come out to defend him.

Bogans. Bogans everywhere.

“A ticket to Nimbin please, one way”

Saying that Australia has a problem with racism isn’t the same as saying that all Australians are racist. You’d have to be pretty dim or being deliberately obtuse not to see that.

Read the Pilger article. He’s Australian by the way.

there are some racists in Australia. There are also some racists just about everywhere else

Obviously this is true.

Some of the generalisations about Australians in this thread are stupid.

That doesn’t preclude me making a statement along the lines of “Australia has a more racist society than that in the UK” and feeling pretty comfortable that it’s an accurate one.

Similarly I could say that the UK is less racist now than it was 50 years ago. There were racists then, there are still racists now. The difference is that there are fewer (though I’m not suggesting it’s a problem that’s ‘solved’ as it clearly isn’t) and that’s progress.

Trying to claim that because there are racists pretty much everywhere means things haven’t changed or everywhere has the same levels of racist issues is a pretty shallow argument.

Fewer racists and less tolerance for overtly racist behaviour is a good thing.

Zokes winning friends again!

you walk into a bar full of white people in South East Asia – the loudest most obnoxious idiot in the room is always an Aussie.

I don’t know. In Singapore the pink-shirted, white-trousered gob-shites I encountered were almost 100% British. Even in ex-pat bars I cringed at their behaviour which was pretty amazing given how crappy a lot of expats behave. May well have been the bars I went to on the last trip as TBH, I didn’t go into any bars where the patrons were mostly Singaporean to see if they were embarrassing too.

I would not brand Australia as more racist than here, what I would say is that people can be more overt about it there than they can here.
One of my closest friends is a closet racist, it’s something that I absolutely abhor and if he ever says anything in front of me I shoot him down. The thing is that he doesn’t just drop racial slurs into everyday conversation or make sweeping statements. Every so often he’ll say something and through knowing him a long time you can hear the underlying subtext of what he’s saying.
My opinion is that there is still plenty of racism out there and a lot of it is taught at home, we’ve just been through a cultural shift where there’s less tolerance to it being spoken out loud

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jul/30/adam-goodes-should-apologise-says-mother-of-girl-who-called-him-an-ape

Racism, frankly, is not that uncommon anywhere I’ve found. Luxembourgers, after very little time knowing you, will, at times, sound like Alf Garnett. Germans too. French people likewise. Ditto the Spanish and Italians. The British as well. Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Finns; undoubtedly. Belgians, uh-huh. Dutch, ya! And so on.

And that’s just personal experience.

Not to say everyone from those countries is racist but enough are that I’ve encountered it either socially or, more surprisingly, in a work environment. The question just comes to how acceptable it is to behave that way as to how “common” you feel it is (in my experience etc etc).

I,m so racist I can’t even eat Liquorice,still love my Ashley Williams tattoo though.

spawnofyorkshire – agree entirely.

‘rookippers are simply bold and unapologetic in an Aussie fashion. Un-reconstructed/outspoken supremacists/Nationalists who sound like my parents and certain of their friends think in public and speak in private.

Probably a certain element of truth to what you say spawnofyorkshire but better to live in a society where racist is less acceptable no? Certainly more pleasant for those who bear the brunt of it.

Sadly I think in the UK racism has become more acceptable recently.

I was talking to my Hungarian neighbour the other day and within five minutes of the conversation starting he was whinging about gypsies. Thing is, Hungarians are all fairly racist. Not as racist as Aussies though.

I think the distinction that needs to be made here is between personal racism and structural/institutional racism.
Of course racist idiots are going to feel justified if their government’s policies towards indigenous Australians and foreign immigrants are as negative and, well, racist as those of the Australian Government.
The stolen generation was only two generations ago and the Government continues to pursue aggressive policies against indigenous communities based on largely unsubstantiated child protection scaremongering, just as they did to justify the stolen generation in the first place.
Adam Goodes is a high profile indigenous Australian who is not afraid to remind people what has been done in their country, and what continues to be done in their name. A lot of people struggle to understand or empathise with indigenous Australians’ experiences, so resort to good old fashioned racism.

@Fin25 +1 – nicely put

Sadly I think in the UK racism has become more acceptable recently.

Unfortunately I’m finding that too, and I have the gut-feeling that there’s some nasty policies on the way from the government. No evidence to suggest it yet, it just feels like something will be coming in the near future

spawnofyorkshire – Member

No evidence to suggest it yet

Apart from the other nasty policies that they’ve already brought in! Public racism’s become less acceptable in the UK but apparently we’ll still vote for racist immigration policies

Apart from the other nasty policies that they’ve already brought in! Public racism’s become less acceptable in the UK but apparently we’ll still vote for racist immigration policies

I should have said, i think something REALLY racist is coming, not just the snidey ones we’ve had so far