I think that most Australians are not very socially and culturally aware of other cultures.

Most people, especially outside the big cities, are very used to things being white, Anglo Saxon and blokey. They aren't necessarily racist, but their ignorance can lead to a lot of situations where people can get accidentally offended by stuff, even if the person wasn't intending to be racist.

For example, a few years ago when Hey Hey It's Saturday did the blackface Michael Jackson segments, very few Australians were aware at how taboo it was and how offensive that sort of thing was. In fact even after that some people said "can't we laugh about stuff any more?". The people who made the sketch weren't intentionally trying to belittle black people, but that's how it would have been heard.

This said, I still think there's a lot of outright racism around. My gf (she's Asian) says she cops shit maybe twice a year in Sydney, and she grew up in a very multicultural area. If that's her experience, I can only imagine what it must be like for Lebanese, Arabic or Aboriginal People at the moment.

There's also a hard core element of people here who are outright racists, and unfortunately they dominate the media. C*nts like Alan Jones and Tim Blair, for example.


Edited by lastbroadcast: 4/10/2014 03:21:57 PM

Edited by lastbroadcast: 4/10/2014 03:23:02 PM

Alan Jones is one of the biggest bigots around....and some of his audience isn't far behind.

That was a fucking joke, IIRC none of the people involved with the sketch were white anyway, pretty sure they were all 'brown'.

Harry Connick Jr's resulting hypocritical rant about Australia's treatment of it's racial minorities was just ridiculous, the whole 'We wouldn't do this in America' argument he made came in the same year Robert Downey Jr was nominated for an Academy Award for a comedic black face character portrayal FFS.

Edited by fredsta: 4/10/2014 06:20:23 PM

There are 2 guarantees in debates like this.

The first cab off the rank is this ............... "Australian's aren't racist."

When you point out examples of racism in Australia you get this .............. "other countries are worse".

And whadayaknow.....see the above and about 5 other examples. (And now below as well.)

Brilliant.

As if that makes it all right then.

"Well we are racist but not as bad as others".

Right!




Edited by MUNRUBENMUZ: 4/10/2014 08:01:22 PM

nope because when you are in another country you follow their rules, but in our country that's how we roll.....that's what makes us the characters we are, 90% of us take the piss for a laugh, not to hurt someone....it's the whole give as good as you get thing......otherwise go get you nails done with your wife...harden the fuck up

Relative to other nations, Australians rank very low on the racism scale. The local media, various political/lobby groups (when it suits them), and that ever-present self inflicted guilt about being white makes many people think otherwise.

I find it especially amusing when Australia is accused of being a racist nation by people from countries such as India, China, Japan, or anyone across the middle east.

Half of this country is stupid enough to vote conservative, so you can imagine how many stupid people can also be racist

I never said it was ok ](*,)

All I said that relative to the rest of the world, we are the least racist.



"People who don't think like me are stupid."

So how did you come to the conclusion that Australia is the least racist?

Look at the study...

Edit: Well It's not conclusive whether Australia is the least racist, but they are definitely near the top.

Edited by 433: 4/10/2014 09:00:45 PM

I think it depends on each person's experience.

If you take someone who is Black they might say that somewhere like Russia is a racist place and find that Johannasburg is a very accepting society.

But thats the fault of the west remember?

No shit.

But you can't base generalizations on anecdotal evidence - the studies as a whole show that predominately White, Western societies are the most accepting.

As an expat I've been asked on 5 different occasions by people of varying nationalities if it's true that Australia is a racist country. The first few times I felt the need to defend my country but after a while I feel that if that's the international communities view of us there is probably some truth to it. Expecially considering the current climate.

Maybe bigot is the word you're looking for.

Not overtly racist, but we shouldn't be padding ourselves on the back like 433 seems to be doing.

How many people do you think would be upset if their kid married someone from another race? I hear grown ups say it all the time and mates say im not allowed to marry a *insert race here* person.

How many people see an aboriginal going into a centreline and think "fucking abo's have drinking problems" but when a white person goes in they don't have that same visceral reaction, or might even think "they must just be going through a tough time"?

Business owners are more likely going to hire someone white applicants than non-white.

I'd say this is more how Australians are racist and while there aren't laws privileging white people, there is a white privilege that people should accept so we can move on.

There's that word again...

Just gonna ignore the first part of my post?

What utter rubbish.

Australia probably has one of the highest inter racial marriage rates in the world. I see white dudes with Asian girls on their arms all the time, and white girls with black dudes, etc. How many interracial marriages do you see in China?

As for abos going into Centrelink I never assumed they had a drinking problem, just they had a job finding problem. I also assumed the same about the white bogans going in there. If they're unkempt and unshaven and look like shit then maybe I assume they have some sort of drug/alcohol problem, but that's got nothing to do with race.

Perhaps business owners are more likely to hire a white person than non white because there are more white applicants. Also non white people depending on how long they've lived here might struggle with the language or have strong accents that aren't conducive to the job. It's not just racism by default.

There's defintiely an element of racism in Australia but it's no worse than in other countries and probably much less. We've resettled hundreds of thousands of refugees way more than most other countries but when we turn a few boats back we get called racist. We are one of those most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world but when some slapper goes on a racist rant on some bus people think that makes the WHOLE country racist.

If people looked at the positives and not JUST the negatives it's clear as fucking daylight we are one of the least racist and most tolerant countries in the world

Do you live in New Zealand?

x2 still an'undertone' of racism is evident, even 60 years after my grandfather first emigrated.

I'm currently overseas (in Paris) at the moment with my son (15) and my mum (68).

Mum has never been overseas before and is - in the most literal sense of the word - xenophobic. She is literally afraid of people that don't look or speak like her. I had to convince her to see Paris (my son and I were here in 2006 and wanted her to see how beautiful it is) but today she preferred (partly due to her reduced mobility) to stay in our apartment and read her book than see the City.

I know my mum well. She went to school in Melb in an age where there was only/predominantly white people. She barely eats anything (other than Chinese or Italian) that's not traditionally English/Aussie and she reads the Herald-Sun so only 'experiences' other cultures through that lens. I don't believe she is the slightest bit racist but she is quite ignorant and skeptical of other cultures.

My son on the other hand sees and speaks, eats and mingles amongst many cultures. He's very comfortable trying (and failing) to speak French etc and is not the least intimidated by those that look different.

Australia is not a racist country it's just run by a generation not exposed to other races on our doorstep and when we are many simply don't know how to react.

Our nation has always been one that asks our migrants to 'prove' their aussieness and that mentality filters through. So many of my Greek mates could tell me of their racist experiences growing up but do you think that makes them any less racist towards the 'Chinesi' at our club... no way.

We are not a racist country but we could be a lot less ignorant.

/rant

Paris looks lovely but only from a birds eye view.

I had three African males try and assault my wife near Sacre Coeur. He was obviously an immigrant because he didn't sound French at all.

I also saw an Middle Eastern man spit at two girls.

I stepped on heaps of dog shit in Paris. That shit is everywhere.

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that" - George Carlin

Is this topic about "bigotry" in Australia? No, so my point still stands.

Business owners hire people they can communicate with.

Have you ever tried to have a technical discussion with someone with an average grasp on english? Have you ever tried to convey safety issues to a person who understands about 1/3 of what you're saying?

Example: I went to a site in Springwood in Brisbane where they were carrying out auxiliary works on the pacific motorway. They were installing a large gravity wall to be able to widen the road shoulder. I was there to check the footings but noticed they had cut steeply next to the highway which in peak hour, is just careless. I have a duty of care as a 'professional engineer' to bring these sort of things up. The site foreman didn't understand english very well and did not understand my instruction to reprofile his cut. 2 days later the batter failed because the foreman did nothing because he wasn't sure what to do. Instead of it costing them a few hundred dollars they had to install micro piles and it cost them about $20,000 and they also had to pay liquidated damages to the government for screwing up. Old mate was lucky it didn't 1) affect the road and 2) there was no one in the excavation when it failed.

In a situation like this it's not white privilege and it's not racist. Then again left wing morons are too PC to understand this aren't they?

There are many non-white engineers who are great guys, they can also speak english.

At seminars i've been to the issue of diversity comes up a lot. We get some fucking tool from whatever organisation telling us we need to diversify and give everyone a go. We get told that our industry should not be exclusive etc etc etc. Tools like this who love to preach though usually aren't aware of the issues we face technically with this diversity.

I guess it's just easier to broadly paint every industry and every company as white exclusive xenophobes.

Edited by benelsmore: 5/10/2014 12:27:37 PM

I bet no one thinks of themselves as in the stupider half.

Did you just use stupider?? :lol: when did that become a word ?

It's recognised by a number of dictionaries, so I'd say it is a word.

And this is coming from a poster who has the grammar of a 2 year old. :lol: