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A cautionary tale…
Red Symons: …and then nobody laughed
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When god made the human race he first prepared the dough and then put it in the oven. When he took the first people out, some of the people were a little burnt and they are the black people, some were underdone and they are the white people. Some were a beautiful golden yellow and they are the Asian people. This Chinese fairytale underscores that xenophobia is universal. I thought that the “Red Faces about Blackfaces on Red Faces” BooHaHa had gone away but when I got up at 4:00 this morning to go to ABC Radio to do my real job, I discovered that it hadn’t. Sky News had a dedicated news channel, the ABC overnight guy was doing a live link to the BBC and my cab driver was African. “Are we racist in Australia?” I asked. He paused. That, in itself, answered my question. “I had a lot of trouble getting work when I first arrived here.” Turns out were just as bad as the Chinese. And the Lithuanians. Harry Connick Jr. was offended by a blackface Jackson Five caricature and voiced his objection immediately on the panel and at greater length, at his request, at the end of the show, an uncomfortable situation conducted with a degree of poise by the host Daryl Somers. “Offend” is a verb that needs both subject and object. Americans are offended by blackface. Australians are largely not. It’s culturally specific and we have no particular history in regard to minstrel shows and “the portrayal of black people in these shows depicting them as buffoonish, lazy, superstitious ‘coons’ who were thieves, pathological liars and lascivious devils”. Sure, we’re racist but in a different way. In the UK they’re loving it. The story has media traction, because it confirms that we are the ignorant rednecks from prison island. As one who is guilty by association, ( that’s me on the end, deflecting ) I’m now in the odd position of seeing the segment defended by people that I don’t want in my corner. There are a large number of implausible defences. The act was performed by highly educated and intelligent adults. The Michael Jackson impersonator was Indian. The show is popular. Harry Connick has appeared in blackface on American TV. We never had slaves in Australia. Transvestites don’t offend women. It was just a joke. When I got into the cab with the African driver this morning I had to suffer the ABC overnight guy linked to the BBC defend his country on the grounds that Australian TV is usually better than that. Good on yer. Nuh. Irrelevant and off-topic. Here’s my take. A psychiatrist, a urologist, a cardiac specialist and a plastic surgeon walk into a television show and paint their faces black. They are not depicting the history of the black man and his place in American society. They are pretending to be the Jackson 5. Nobody laughs. Red Symons is the nasty judge on Hey Hey’s Red Faces. He also presents the breakfast program on Melbourne’s ABC 774. |
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78 Comments
Sadly, Australia is racist, and what’s even sadder, too many people try too hard to convince others that this is not so. The whole white settlement was based on racism, murders, rapes, killing kids etc. I’ve read on many occasions, that while the newest settlers have a torrid time, those at the bottom of the ‘heap’ in this country are aboriginal people. I’ve been on sites where the ignorance, hatred and fear mongering shocks me - there’s till too many lies and derogatory comments and actions taking place in this country. Denying it hasn’t changed anything. I feel ashamed of it! I’m not a fan of MJ, but it was also insensitive so soon after he died. Those who made the decision to replay this skit should take a good hard look at themselves - they’re at best insensitive, and at worst, racist and ignorant!
More importantly: I don’t think African-Americans have ever been discriminated against in Australia. Lots of other people with a similar range of skin colour are discriminated against, but not African-Americans. And I remember hearing something similar from Aboriginal Australians who visited the US. They were considered exotic and popular and sort of heroic over there, not put down like here. Which just goes to show that even in the eyes of racists, skin colour isn’t everything.
You’re absolutely kidding us. Are you insinuating that you are totally ignorant of the history of blackface and of how offensive this would be to black people, including our indigenous population? Disingenuous!
The act was performed by highly educated and intelligent adults without a clue
The show is popular , so that makes it right
We never had slaves in Australia except for convicts, and Indigenous workers forced to work on stations, and South Sea Islanders in Queensland in the 1800s forced to work in the sugar plantations for nothing - but not slaves, oh no not us!
It was just a joke. And so are you
Well said Red!
I saw an act that was so over the top, silly, and calculatedly inept that I fail to understand how anyone without a vested interest in being outraged on behalf of others could have taken it as a racial insult. If anything, the act was a pisstake of blackface - an irony that many people seem unablel to appreciate. (It did not surprise me to learn that most of the faux Jacksons have multicultural backgrounds.)
I have asked a number of persons of different ethnic backgrounds what they thought and they all agreed that the act was harmless fun. I did think that bringing Kamahl into the segment (via a cartoon) was in poor taste, and Daryl did not help things with his comment about ‘colour on the show’. However, the Jackson Jive was funny.
(You did omit the radiologist from your account, though, Red.)
Hey Hey is dated television with dated values for a dated audience.
Blackface is obviously offensive but causing offense is a sure way to grab media attention. If they think media attention will save the show I think they miscalculated.
Nobody laughs because it isn’t funny.
The act was gross, tasteless, charmless and passé. How it got past the rehearsal stage is an enormous mystery. (I for one, wouldn’t want to be operated on by any of these guys). But to scream rape on the account of America and her rotten track-record is symptomatic of the Australian business of kow-towing, first to England and now to America. Do we HAVE to think of America all the time?
I venture to suggest our own form of racism is just as ugly as anyone else’s. But, as with Oz itself, it is unique.
PAUL SHIRREN: I read a terrific comment this morning. “Hey, hey it’s Yesterday”.
It’s 2009 and there are still people who think it is appropriate to defend blackface ‘entertainment’. Wow. People who actually sit down and compose a rational defence of blackface humour. In Australia, in 2009. Sheesh.
An earlier version of this story was posted with several chunks of text missing due to a strange production glitch. It’s running above in its full form now.
It did offend the American who was one of the panel. And that was insensitive. And it clearly offended some Aussies too, and that is because we are not a single minded united nation of one idea - we never will be thankfully.
Personally, I thought it was a thoughtless, and out of date humour - but not racist.
It was done by people from various ethnic backgrounds, but I am not sure that is a good thing or a bad thing. It might mean that people from some other ethnic backgrounds are not as sensitive as we would like them to be about racial issues. Or it might mean others of us need to appreciate that humour is not always racist even when it might seem so.
But the host apologised - seemingly genuinely. And the offended American was good with that, and has even said he will come back and do more on the show.
So now it has become media hype.
Kebab Shop Pizza, the point is that the routine was not ‘blackface’.
I think Guy Rundle nailed it yesterday. Producers used to look out for this sort of thing. Do the current crop of Channel 9 producers even know what blackface is? Saddest thing is the “stars” of Hey Hey did not appear to detect anything wrong with it. Red Symons was normally alert to the cringe factor in this segment if Summers was not. Did the on-air staff know it was coming on? Why didn’t Red Symons “gong” it early? Surely he wasn’t giving Daryl enough rope…
“‘Americans are offended by blackface. Australians are largely not. It’s culturally specific and we have no particular history in regard to minstrel shows”.
What a crock.
The defenders of this blackface skit seem to want it both ways. If blackface is culturally specific to the US and not a part of Australian culture, why run it on Hey Hey? Why run it in front of an Australian audience? If it is so alien to Australian culture that we don’t understand the intent, then why would it be worth seeing? Why would it be funny?
It’s only funny if you enjoy laughing at people just because of their skin colour.
“When I got into the cab with the African driver this morning I had to suffer the ABC overnight guy linked to the BBC defend his country on the grounds that Australian TV is usually better than that. Good on yer.”
Australian TV is usually better than that, however it seems to me that under its new management Channel 9 is trying to unseat Channel 10 as bottom feeder, and I reckon it’s going to succeed.
‘Racism is a social construct.’ I heard this early in my three year stay in South Africa. I didn’t understand it. I needs some thinking about. I’m still thinking about it.
Any Australian who thinks themselves not racist and who thinks that racism is like an infection you’ve either caught, or have avoided catching, should spend some time in a place like South Africa where you are confronted firstly by your own misunderstanding of what racism is, then in turn by your actual racism.
Australia should move beyond the question ‘are we a racist country?’. Yes we are. I am, you are we are… you know the tune.
I didn’t see the “show” ,I did see the TV News shots of the offensive bit about what used to be called “nigger minstrels”, it didn’t offend me, but then I am not an African American. There are a fair number of African Americans in this country, it would appear for example, that a large number of the basketballers in this country are.
Maybe someone should ask one of them how they feel about being lampooned in this manner, a sort of reprise of Al Jolson and similar.
Having said that I don’t believe that Australians are any more racist than say the British or the Americans, and certainly not the Japanese, nor do I think that the act was intended to be racist, it was just ill considered.
It’s a no brainer, really - like putting pictures of naked children in art galleries and magazines and wondering why other people object. You may or may not agree with the hysteria, but it is so obviously going to hit a nerve that you can’t be suprised when it all blows up.
Not a good look for Australia unfortunately. The irony is that we are surrounded by countries with overtly racist cultures and laws — like Malaysia, where companies can only be owned/fronted by Bumiputeras (Ethnic Malays), or Japan, where foreigners can’t naturalise — yet we have the reputation. Perhaps this whole episode explains it.
(Although perhaps I’m showing my ignorance of our own overtly racist laws and culture …)
Wikipedia puts the demographic at 13% in USA for AfroAmerican, 3% for Indigenous Australians. Is that the real difference?
I notice UK originated minstrel show was being shown here to the 7oies in regional Victoria. That’s not the 50ies we are hearing about. I think they were seriously weird.
Denying that there is a history of mocking indigenous people with blackface in Australia is a ridiculous lie. Take a look at the Henry Melville play Bushrangers in which a character called ‘Native’ is played by a white man in blackface and depicted as ignorant and greedy.
White people using blackface, even if the characters they’re playing aren’t somehow derogatory to people of colour, is white people thinking they have the right to personally depict the experiences of black people and the right to classify black racial identity through performance. This assumption IS white privilege which IS racism. (Not to mention that this was all done whilst denying those being depicted the right to be performing on that stage on in front of that camera.)
Australia has a racist history and a history of using blackface in an offensive manner, pretending that we don’t and pointing out that ‘“other people are racist too” doesn’t make that history or what happened on ‘Hey, Hey…’ any better.
Red is being too simple and therefore may be simply wrong.
1) We have a history of slavery in Australia.
2) Blackface indeed has been used to negatively sterotype in Australia.
3) Highly educated and ostensibly intelligent people do incredibly dumb things all the time.
OK, everyone just take a deep breath…
Yes, I was one of the many who was taken aback when the Jackson Jive trainwreck walked out on stage. Yes, it was inappropriate. No, it wasn’t at all funny. Yes anyone with a job title ending in -iologist should have know it would be offensive - then again, you would have thought that anyone whose job title ended in -elevision producer might also have though twice about it.
To bring back the Jive “20 years on” was always going to end in disaster. Bringing on any comedy routine last performed in a decade that brought us neon leg warmers, Chernobyl and Pee Wee Herman was always going to be a tough sell. What turned up on Wednesday night did a pretty good job of bursting the nostalgia bubble that has been responsible for hauling in a pretty sizeable audience.
But this public frenzy of pontification that has erupted gives me the absolute sh!ts.
Yes, the nation’s recurrent defence mechanism of trying to re-package an ingrained culture of racism up as “good-ol’-fashioned-laugh-at-ourselves-and-everyone-else-larrikinism” is nauseating.
Yes, a significant proportion of Australians appear to have a deeply ingrained sense of latent racism which, when mixed with Australians equally latent sense of patriotism, can be every bit as revolting as its deep south USA equivalent.
But what is truly nauseating is this habit that people have of jumping on the moral bandwagon every time something relatively trivial like this happens - and for goodness sakes can we all agree that in the scheme of things this is trivial.
It was a 2 minute routine, it was pretty inappropriate on any reasonable view, Connick Jr probably over-reacted (although to be fair his stubble did suggest he was recovering from a 3 day bender so lets give him a break).
The current life expectancy of an Indigenous male in Australia is 11.5 years less than a non-indigenous Australian. THAT is worth being the topic of serious and sustained public debate.
The unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians is 20%. THAT is worth getting is worth being the topic of serious and sustained public debate.
A report released at the recent COAG meeting entitled Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2009, said that on all social indicators Aboriginal wellbeing have remained static or gone backwards since 2000. THAT is worth getting is worth being the topic of serious and sustained public debate.
5 blokes appearing in blackface on the tele for 2 minutes does not make for great viewing, its distasteful, its inappropriate, it shouldn’t have happened – it is NOT worth being whipped up into the sh!tstorm that is has become when there are REAL examples of REAL racial problems in this country which receives sweet F all discussion.
Would anybody have said anything if it had been a parody of a bunch of Scots in kilts and a massive p$$take!
Every country is racist. Some are better at lip service and masked hypocrisy. And some are better at labelling others as racist. I don’t know why we are wasting so much effort on this. It won’t change diddly?
@Imperator, you make a good point. But it’s broken windows theory isn’t it?
All of the items that you list are obviously far more important than blackened faces. But who is going to employ a non-anglo if it’s acceptable to treat them as bafoonish, lazy, oafs, purely becuase of the colour of their skin? You might as well say “let’s not blow theft and rape out of proportion, it’s murder that is the real problem”.
I think that Connick Jr hit the right note. No sensible person would have blamed him for giving the skit zero, calling the show racist, and walking out of the studio there and then. And Summers seemed to think that he had solved the problem by apologising to Connick Jr.
Summers and Red still don’t seem to understand why Connick Jr was (and we are) annoyed. And that is the crux of why people are so angry.
The problem isn’t anything to do with racism.
It’s simply that Australians are embarrassed about having their lack of sophistication exposed.
The stereotype of Australians as ignorant drooling boors has been given a new breath of life and all the locals are cringing in horror – apart from the wall-eyed peasants themselves, of course.
Rundle was more or less pointing in the right direction with his observations – a great contrast with Red Symons, who can barely string a sentence together, let alone construct a meaningful paragraph. I mean, fuck, he put spaces on either side of his parentheses like an illiterate sixteen-year-old text twatter. Technical glitches aside, does no one do any proof reading around here?
Nicely done Imperator. Nicely done.
IMPERATOR - Well said! I agree totally!
Ah yes but it took a HHIS imbroglio to get to here. And they are the same thing champ. Just facets of a many faced crystal. You can’t employ a Black buffoon, can you now. Those who are way ahead on the spiritual journey will just have to cop the runs, while the back of the group catches up. That’s what a nation is.
Yes indeed Imperator, but the two issues are not mutually exclusive, and this forum is discussing the “Jackson Five” show, certainly it is what one might call a storm in a tea-cup, and there are many more things of more importance, but it still is worth a discussion on racism perceived or real in this country and elsewhere.
And rightly the subject of aboriginal health, deprivation, and quality of life is a subject for discussion and hopefully meaningful action. Many are doing just that, whether they are doing it effectively is another matter. The Federal Government’s intervention in the NT is a case in point; it could be done in a better fashion one would think, but at least it is an attempt; time will show how effective it is, but at least it is an attempt to rectify the gross neglect of NT governments of both persuasions.
I agree that there are much more important battles than this to be won, but i think this is an important indicator of the racial undertones evident within Australia. Perhaps if this kind of thinking was more effectively scrutinised, rather than just putting it down to a trivial incident there wouldn’t be the wider problems that we are disgracing ourselves with currently.
The irony is that it is something like this which draws the worlds attention to the situation here and this is what highlights Australia for the racist country that it is, not the NT Intervention, alcohol reforms, stolen wages, the gap in life expectancy. However, i think anything which draws attention to the problem of racism and possibly causes people to re-address their stance is a good thing.
As an isolated event, it could possibly be perceived as trivial by some, but, in the scheme of things the incident and the subsequent views presented of the incident are the epitome of the situation in Australia.
Well said, Imperator.
It really gets my goat when isolated incidents are hijacked to further personal political agendas. The very same thing was done by hysterical elements of the Indian media with regards to the student attacks in Melbourne.
Yes, we do need to have discussions about race in this country, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to improve opportunity and standards of living for black Australians, but this circus is not the way to go about it.
I realise it’s all moved into the echo chamber now, where it will bounce around for months and months, but wouldn’t it be great if we could just call the skit what it was - a piece of buffoonery - and get back to reality again.
I doubt anyone at Channel 9 would have given a second thought to the skit - the show’s on a budget, the Jackson Jive were remnants of yester-year and the format of this Hey Hey production centres on ‘Reunion’. So if this turned everyone into a lather why aren’t we outside theatres and TV studios protesting Sacha Baron Cohen’s repertoire of Ali G, Borat and Bruno who do a clean satirical sweep of sex, race and religion. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and One Foot in the Grave poked fun at mental illness, the doddery and aged and Effie Stephanides, Con the Fruiterer and the bogan, gum-chewing Kylie Mole were singled out as jokes of Aussie society. Laughing at human nature and the nuances of ethnic culture is a fine art that Australian’s and Americans are yet to finesse.
I enjoyed reading Mr Symons wriggle and squirm, I could even see him remove his glasses and squeeze the bridge of his nose. He has a vested interest in this blowing over quickly, so it was a valiant attempt at excusing absolute stupidity. Maybe the Hey Hey crew are as seriously dumb as they appear.
^ “Maybe the Hey Hey crew are as seriously dumb as they appear”
They aren’t really, but they are expected to appear dumber than the compere, which requires some effort.
It really gets my goat when isolated incidents are hijacked to further personal political agendas. The very same thing was done by hysterical elements of the Indian media with regards to the student attacks in Melbourne.
Yeah, you’re right. Can’t those IRRATIONAL Indians just shut up about their citizens being bashed up in countries where they’re paying exorbitant prices to access their right to education.
Only a person who doesn’t experience racism could describe it as being a personal political agenda.
James McDonald: Actually there is an older type of Ocker whose nesting place is the nearest pub, go and stand next to them and mention the word ‘black’ singers, tennis players, whatever. Coons and niggers would be two of the least offensive words used. If you don’t strike lead the first time round, try leaving the city. The nearest pub in the Dandenongs would be a safe bet.
I have, in the past, been told to go back where I came from. All I have is olive skin, hazel eyes, and light brown hair. In fact I get my colouring from my maternal grandmother who was Corsican. I would hate to know what the first Italians who arrived in the sixties, were called.
WE NEVER HAD SLAVES IN AUSTRALIA !!!!!!!!!! talk about a white wash of the history, that says it all. And white Australians may not find this offensive but what about the black and Indigenous ones? And these tasteless antics have a history in Australia - I seem to remember the video of an off duty NSW policeman, blacked and and with a rope around his neck as a “joke” about Black Deaths In Custody………yeah white Australian tasteless and offensive humour. Who is laughing?
Has mainstream Australian culture always been that overtly racist? While being genuinely ignorant about our history of slavery, and the reality of the Indigenous situation here? I used to be proud to be Australian - until I got to know more about the place. It’s really no fun looking foreigners in the eye and having to say “I feel shame for my country and my culture.”
@NB - Thank you for illustrating my point beautifully.
It’s one thing to report or draw attention to a serious incident like an attack on a minority. It’s another to tar an entire nation for the actions of a few criminals, or pursue long held grievances that are completely unrelated to the matter.
And yet there you are, attempting to tie instances of thugs attacking students to the completely unrelated problem of educational institutions who overcharge overseas students.
No one is defending what happened on Hey Hey, and everybody involved has apologised. What more do you want?
@Venise,
“Do we HAVE to think of America all the time?”
They sat an American down and said, “Watch this.”
And Connick’s reaction was based on his knowledge that if he didn’t react he’d be vilified once he got back here.
@Christine,
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and One Foot in the Grave poked fun at mental illness…”
The rhetoric on this thread and in the media in general seems to be reaching DEFCON II.
@GEFO5 yep…you would think the media was responding a US high alert measure when it turns the ludicrous into the farcical. And you and I joined the frenzy.
@Christine
Keeps us off the street.
@GEFO5. @ CHRIS : Oz television and the people who run it have the IQ of ten year olds. That Oz audiences want this tripe is our problem. The fact that Oz viewers need an OS judge to help their cringe factor= our problem. The fact he had to do his own cringing for the folks back home, was his problem.
An American entertainer who hoped to boost his ratings by appearing on a retro show like Hey, hey, must have been desperate.
Seems like everyone got exactly what they deserved.
@Venise - I love humour. There is nothing I like more than laughing but I think we all decide what cheers whether its politically correct or supposedly offensive. What tickles our fancy is all subjective?
What sort of moron producing a TV show thinks a “blackface” routine in front of a high profile American entertainer who then has to judge and pass comment on the routine was a good idea?
Ever heard of youtube and the internet?
Once upon a time high profile figures could do stuff overseas with little consequence in their home markets (eg American movie stars doing Japanese commercials). Most of the world realises those days are past. Unfortunately the dinosaurs of Channel 9 and Hey Hey are still living in the past.
Big Momma’s House screened tonight on NBN TV and no doubt Harry C jnr is hot-footing it back to LA to deal with the producers.
Negro actor, Martin Lawrence dresses up as “a big fat black woman for a bunch of laugh-out-loud scenes and jokes as he make us laugh by making goofy faces”.
Harry said he was offended by the reappearance of aged Red Faces act?
“We’ve spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that, we take it really to heart … if I knew that would be part of the show, I probably, I definitely wouldn’t have done it.”
Harry - where have you been all these years. The Big Momma’s House series is 9-years old.
Quite frankly - pull the other one.
This show is so so outdated on all levels. The skit was a 20 years old routine anyway (so in that sense it fitted in perfectly). Cant Channel 9 think of something NEW to produce? Theres got to be SOMEBODY in Australia who has a NEW variety show concept out there with FRESH (funny) jokes for starters. Theres just got to be. Please say Hey Hey is not the best we can come with. PLEEEEEEEEASE NO! And Red nobody laughs because its not funny on so so many levels eg. YAWN
It all goes to prove the old saying ” never go back”
@Venise
“An American entertainer who hoped to boost his ratings by appearing on a retro show like Hey, hey, must have been desperate.”
Ah. It was his own fault.
Red Symons: “…Australians are largely not. “
Who died and made you our spokesman, Red?
I do like your summation at the end, but think that it’s wrong. They think they are impersonating the Jackson 5, but are not thoughtful enough about it to see the place of this skit in the wider history of blackface. The fact that they are highly trained people with responsibility for delivering care to people in vulnerable situations makes their poor judgement all the more concerning.
Given the recent history of poor judgement in Australian media - e.g. Chaser, Sandilands - where have the producers of HHIS been? We shouldn’t have to rely on an imported “personality” to provide an ethical compass for an Australian TV product.
Andy asked: “where have the producers of HHIS been?”
The real question is: where has Daryl Somers been? He is the unrestrained ringmaster of his own circus.
The answer is: locked in a time capsule along with his massive ego, dreaming of turning back the clock to the days when he could blather on for 2 hours each week, and sack anybody who he worried might possibly be upstaging him.
It’s not inconceivable to me that Somers will end up like Gloria Swanson’s character in Sunset Boulevard.
IMPERATOR: Having read your excellent comment several times there is, however, a question which seriously worries me. Neon leg-warmers?
@GEFO5: Not totally. He was merely doing the right thing by the American press. The fact that he really meant it not isn’t germane to my points. So I’ll briefly re-state my points.
1. Australian television commercial stations are programmed for an audience of 10yr olds by ten year olds. Any arguments thus far?
2. Oz TV is sponsored by big commercial companies who with endless market research know their audience to be a bunch of half-wits, sponsor half-witted programs. Questions?
3. Darryl Somers is a yesterdays man. Questions?
( I make the point that as a seldom user of TV-I don’t happen to have the mind of a 10 year old and therefore watch as little of it as possible- I haven’t seen the program. I saw the film clip.)
4.Australians suffer from a desperate cultural cringe which used to be directed towards England. As England’s power declined and America’s power increased we switched to cringing to America. Questions?
5. Oz has its own form of racism. Questions?
6. Therefore we need to ignore imported racism and concentrate on the evil which exists here. Questions?
7. I don’t know if the egregious Darryl Somers runs to dress-rehearsals. Questions?
8. But somewhere along the line someone should have asked themselves..”Hang on, Minstrel shows are no longer done in America-and the country we love is America-I wonder why?” Having asked themselves this question I can only assume the act would have been dropped. Questions?
That’s about it. On a personal note: From my various travels I venture to suggest that the only country whose television is worse than Australia is Portugal!
@Bullmore’s Ghost - your comments are quite teasing, there appears to be genuine inside knowledge. Who dared unlock the capsule and unleash the cursed Somer’s egomonster, did they think there was treasure inside the capsule and there would be no price to pay if it escaped. Perhaps Channel Nine should employ the services of an Exorcist next time, as time capsules are too easily compromised.
Red, perhaps “Australian’s are largely not” racist in your view because you, your colleagues (your bubble) are generally apathetic to the negative effect racisms, subtle or otherwise, have on community over time. Could it be that this issue’s general irrelevance to your usual life has possibly shaped that opinion? There’s a larger Australia out there. Many of us actually do care.
Agree Red, shouldn’t be a big deal, and wouldn’t have been if not for Harry Connick. It would have gone unnoticed if not for him. Sure it wasn’t offensive to Australians. But not very funny either…..speak to Darryl about that.
Who are speaking for when you say that it wasn’t offensive to Australians? I’m an Australian and you don’t speak for me.
Venise asked: “7. I don’t know if the egregious Darryl Somers runs to dress-rehearsals. Questions?”
Somers is a control freak. He rehearses everything. All his spontaneous “off the cuff” banter is scripted and/or rehearsed (as was Graham Kennedy’s) and most of it is so old that long dead vaudevillians would recognize it.
The Red Faces segment “acts” are auditioned by producer Jack Strom. I believe in the case of the subject Jackson Jive act auditioning was done via a DVD of a recent performance of said act at a Uni Revue.
Venise asked: “7. I don’t know if the egregious Darryl Somers runs to dress-rehearsals. Questions?”
Red Faces segment “acts” are auditioned in advance by HHIS producer Jack Strom. I believe in the case of the subject Jackson Jive act that auditioning was done via a submitted DVD of a performance of said act at a recent University Revue, in which case the offending act approached the show for revival, not vice versa.
I note that my attempt to reply to Venise’s point number 7 above is annotated “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
What’s the story? Mr Symonds becoming a bit touchy?
My first response to the act was they were taking off the Jackson 5. I never saw the racial overtones. Mainly due to the fact that it was the Jackson 5 and they are black. The funny part was that they were taking them off badly which had nothing to do with thier race.
In my opinion the only ones that see racial overtones are people who have issues with other races within themselves and don’t feel comfortable outside there own racial group.
Political correctness causes racial problems, as it highlights the visual differences between people instead of celabrating the differences.
Yeah, Red Symons. I agree with everything you have said here. Honestly I don’t understand why this has been an international news story. There are real problems out there.
*Problems more deserving of news coverage.
Peter Matthews, I just want to clarify your train of thought… If I was to watch a documentary on women and young girls being beaten up (hospitalised) for refusing to perform sex with complete strangers every day and further more they never see a cent of the money generated by their “work” and I was to reflect on society’s gender inequalities that are still real in todays world; Inequalities that affect lives for generations after - would you tell me that this reaction I was having, this sadness, this outrage, was because i only feel comfortable among my own gender? That i have deep issues inside myself with people of the opposite sex? Or would you recognise that i am aware of a social injustice that exists and doesnt just disappear when the next round of kids are born. Would you assume that I recognise the world as being global or would you assume that my compassion for communities far and near was some kind of glitch in my own personality. Some problem I have deep in my psyche?
What if someone were to put a symbol on a tragedy in history? Say 卐? (swastika) In time would that symbol become funny?
@Venise
That’s an awfully long response to dodge the point.
@BULLMORE’S GHOST: Thanks for your reply. I suspected this might be the case. Thanks
Cheers
Venise
PPS: Is this the first time the moderator has flashed you? I think the shortest comment I’ve written was ‘bollocks’, the second shortest was ‘Thank you”, Both comments were moderated.
GEFO5: And some fell on stony ground.
Venise: I believe it is the first time and frankly I’m at a loss as to why. I have no issue with the principle of moderation, and I’m up for judicious editing, too, as at least that gives an indication of what “rule” has been breached, but silent deletion without feedback (they do have our email addresses) is pretty un-Australian to my way of thinking.
LIZ45 opened the bidding and wrote….”I’m not a fan of MJ, but it was also insensitive so soon after he died.”
Insensitive to whom?
Bullmore’s Ghost: They would have to have a machine which is a proof reader, highlighting potential trouble spots, or names!!!! It’s names. Ah ha! The answer Kerry, is that you are mixing with the wrong people, the likes of me.
I can’t see it as being un-Australian per se but it is annoying. Still it is their air-space we inhabit. Isn’t it?
Venise: Yes it is their space and as I said above I have no issue with moderation per se.
It may well be a machine that flips the “moderate this post” switch, based perhaps on some word hotlist, but I expect that a person then actions the suspended posts.
For instance, my previous post above (about moderation itself) was held up for moderation, too, and this one that I’m typing at 12.57am Wednesday Sydney time may well be, too. Monty Pythonesque.
I say un-Australian because we don’t tend to have secret police in Oz. On most boards/forums/lists the moderator will chime in and comment on stuff that is a problem, rather than simply deleting it without feedback.
I still have no idea why my post in answer to your point 7 was deleted.
Anyway, onto other things.
BULLMORE’S GHOST: Yesterday there was an editor going through comments and making notes which was very interesting. I can’t remember which section it was under, possibly the article about The Greens by Bernard Keane. Random thoughts I saw were “Edit: Too much nattering between commentators”. Not the exact wording, of course. “Edit: Very rude description”. And “Edit: You’ve gone way off topic. ” And, ” Edit: (to me at some stage-I was telling the world what I’d like to do to John Howard.) : We won’t tolerate violence”. “Edit: Delete some of the adjectives”.
Please understand, there is no way I am suggesting that you would be guilty of doing these things, I am just trying to remember so I can avoid such crimes.
Cheers
V.
Venise,
As someone who works in a commercial television and the father of an adult son with a mental illness (who really does has the IQ of a 10 year old) I’m offended by your comments. Next time you need to pass judgement and make generalisations about others perhaps think about who you’re hurting first.
I wont pass judgement on you, as I’m assuming you didn’t deliberately mean to be offensive. But I guess that puts you in the same boat as the Hey Hey performers, doesn’t it?
Louis
PS Louis: the last line should read: commercial television audiences having an IQ of ten year children are delighted by the fact that the people who produce these shows have an identical mind set.
Louis, my original reply to you was deleted. I resent the fact that you attempted to make me feel guilty by lumbering out the Political Correctness line. I have no intention of apologizing. My comment stands.
Venise