Cannot believe this thing has gone as far as it has.
Thanks to this Harry Connick Jr nobody (who the fuck is he anyway? is he even famous??) the rest of the world now thinks we are all a bunch of backwoods hillbilly racists who laugh and spew bile on people of colour.
For Jimminy’s sake it was just a little fun on a family variety show!! Get a life you Americans!! Stop taking life so damn seriously. Stop being so damn cynical and uppity. So damn full of themselves - it’s hilarious. Clean up yer own backyard before you start hurling shit at ours. Really. Klu Klux Klan, right wing conservative bible belt, millions of coloured folks living below the freakin poverty line and you have the audacity to label us as backwards and racists. Hello??
Australia is one of the most racially tolerant and multicultural nations on earth - a place where everyone who pitches in and does their bit and tries their best is given a fair go. If you do yr best to fit here and don’t rock the boat and act like an ass you will be accepted. End of story. Usually I’m not that patriotic but this has really bolied my blood.
All because some American showbiz fancy pants putty head was offended by some light hearted entertainment. Of course they had to paint their faces black - they were dressing up as the Jacksons. If I were to dress up as Dolly Parton I would basketballs down my shirt and stick a mop on my head. And no one would complain. We’d have a laugh and then it would be forgotten. I didn’t find it in the slightest bit mocking or derogatory and I honestly pity those who did.
Have we all really become SO politically correct?!?!?
When I read about this, it reminded me of this past summer when I was visiting my fiancee in England. We stopped at a little shop in Cheddar (Somerset), and found that among the shoes, cheese, and gifts, they also had a fine selection of golliwogs for sale. She was duly ashamed of her country… but it was still pretty funny. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwog
Australia is one of the most racially tolerant and multicultural nations on earth
While I think the notion of a post-racial America is baloney and that the reaction to this Jackson 5 skit is ridiculous (I can’t see too much wrong with a little lighthearted blackface minstrelsy, my policy on humour is that nothing should be off limits), to say Australia is one of the most racially tolerant places on Earth is also a bit ridiculous. While I’ve never visited the country I have two close relations living in Aus and have heard feedback from others who have visited who are far from presenting Aus as an utopia of tolerance. The issue of aboriginies is one glaring example. Before any response comes forth of the negative traits of some aboriginies what must be understood is thay have been systematically and intentionally fucked over for centuries and the lack of capability of some of them today is a result of this. You can only adapt to changes if you have the means to (and are granted the proper rights). http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25989795-421,00.html
But the main point I want to make here is that I think people should resist from being self appointed representatives for their country, like Connick Jr. did because no one can speak for all of their countryfolk. Nationalists are usually ignorant/racist shitheads who don’t merit attention so more moderate “patriots” should be reserved about making sweeping generalisations of their country.
who really fucking cares? i mean, there are so many things going wrong that people could be focusing their energy on, and this is what’s making news? again, not surprised, but sometimes i can’t hold back the rage.
to say Australia is one of the most racially tolerant places on Earth is also a bit ridiculous.
A bit ridiculous?
I’d say it’s completely insane and that Peligro must have his head in the sand.
It does seem a bit strange that America (or Harry as it seems) should point the finger at Australia though.
I imagine when they accuse “Australia” of being racist they’re actually just accusing these entertainers of a racist act…which I imagine was probably in bad taste and unintentionally racist…even though it was.
skits that deal with politics are (at this point) OLD.
you pelligro are angry. about something.
get over it. i don’t think any serious discussion should involve harry connick jr. who by the grace or whim of weather has managed to keep his inherited act together.
not many people here give a rat’s ass about him. or even know who he is. and as an american born here in 1958, i don’t get enraged about australian politics. i listen and process.
That piss water is brewed in Canada!
Harry Connick Jr is a shitty Jazz player and only has a career cause of his daddy. However, he was protesting the Black face (from what I read) which in his defense, He’s right, that act never woulda made it on the air over here and all that he’s known is that black face was born out of racism. ( that’s all I’ve ever known too. ANybody else ever hear of blackface being used for anything other than to signify racism?)
But in defense of Australia I HATE when foreigners come here and DEMAND their customs be resepected/catered/put above all else. So I would be pretty pissed too if I was Australian and some American came to my country brinigng with him his racial overtones and acting so superior.
I feel your pain Peligro but snickered at your claim of Racial tolerance in Australia specificaly as others have pointed out with the aboriginees.
Late,
grmpysmrf
More bewildered than angry. As I said, I really don’t see how this harmless little skit suddenly became worldwide discussion and all of a sudden Australia was ‘the pits’ and it’s simply not true. We are racially tolerant. We don’t give a rats ass who you are or where you come from as long as you don’t go around with a big head on yr shoulders proclaiming you are better than everybody else. There are certain minority groups who come over here and REFUSE to integrate - that kind of thing pisses us off - and when we say something about it, suddenly we are horrible racist people.
I found the skit humourous and not in the least bit offensive. I don’t see what the big deal is…If some coloured guy dressed up as me, I wouldn’t care. Eddie Murphy donned a fat suit for a film role, nobody complained. Isn’t that offensive to fat people?
It’s just annoying that people start making assumptions about us (“the land that time forgot”?!?!?) before you’ve actually lived here.
As for Harry Connick…holy cow, I had no idea he was so successful. Did a little googling and whaddya know, he’s actually in the top 50 biggest selling artists of all time and had his first No 1 at age 20. What does he even sing?!? I had heard the name Harry Connick before, but that’s about it. I didn’t even know he was famous. Obviously he’s big in the states…?
Peligro, it wasn’t funny, not in 1985 not now. If you think Australia is racially tolerant, why not spend a day speaking to my Indigenous/Lebanese cousin who gets abused and told to ‘fuck off to where she came from’. She’s not even 5.
But please, everyone remember, Peligro is presumably a white male between the ages of 19 and 49. Everyone listens to him and he doesn’t get discriminated against.
People get discriminated on for all sorts of reasons - not just because of race. Plenty of people get picked on/abused/told to fuck off people because other people find them unattractive. ‘Ugly’ people cop it worse than just about anyone. I know of some obese people who can’t even leave the house because of how cruel everyone is to them. It’s not just skin colour - but that seems to get all the politically correct attention.
Growing up, I saw MUCH more prejudice against ‘the ugly people’ than I ever did towards ethic minorities.
How many ethnic/coloureds have come to Australia with nothing and then worked hard and made xomething of themselves? How could that happen in a ‘racist’ country? What about China? You can’t even own land in China unless you are Chinese…and don’t get me started on what they are doing to the Tibetans.
A silly, harmless skit on tv and suddenly we are the worst nation on earth. Sure, we have our fair share of dickheads…
Are you a member of an ethnic minority? Surely even you could grasp the idea that just because it’s not something that happened directly to you it still happens.
