typical yanks

[jaycee]

because i find it offensive ... just like someone thinking offering kfc to an african decendant is offensive. nothing more and nothing less.

No that is you denying that racism is as bad a thing as it is.

I read it as one person cries racism and you immediatley dismmis it, throwing in their face a pthetic example demeaning their claim to the ridiculous.

It's telling the other peroson you don't beleive what they are complining about exists, or ir you'r enot, they have not right to complain about racism when they are not perfect in all trival aspects of life

 

[lizzie]

No that is you denying that racism is as bad a thing as it is.

no - i agree racism exists, it is very bad, i do not believe i am racist (so find it hard to understand why others are).

the point i was making is that the ad was made in australia, for the australian market, using australian humour, portraying the wi crowd as they actually are at crickets games (if you have ever seen them) and turning it into a humorous situation.

if the west indians see the ad as racists then fair enough, because it is their culture that is being portrayed. yet we are yet to hear anything from the west indians. perhaps that is because they share a similar british based humour and find the ad funny. what i find irritating is the americans sticking their boot in.

the americans are turning something that has "absolutely nothing" to do with them into a personal affront.

my point is that a portion of the american population appears to think the world revolves around them and cannot seem to grasp that not everything is about americans. they have a different culture,humour (i will not use the word wit because they do not have one), sense of irony and history than ours and the west indians.

it is one reason the americans do so poorly in prolonged theatres of war - because they try to impose their way of life onto the occupied countries rather than accepting that other peoples do things differently and assisting the locals to rebuild in their own manner and culture.

to use examples of shapelle corby et al as a comparison or australia being unreasonable about other countries is incorrect (imo). britt and shapelle are australians, the cases were about australians and had something to do directly with australia. i do agree that the local media slagging was inappropriate and wrong ... but the cases did relate directly to australia. what american is doing would be the same as our media slagging off about an ameican comedy movie portraying a hispanic as the bling covered drug lord (oh, whoops, they do that all the time!).

for the history buffs. the west indian africans were bought to the west indies as slaves by the british, from africa to work in the sugar cane etc plantations. some may have escaped from american hundreds of years ago, but the majority were transported over, in horrific conditions, under british rule.

 

[gg1965]

Hi Lizzie,

I agree with all of your posting except one minor thing...

to use examples of, britt ekland and shapelle corby et al as a comparison or australia being unreasonable about other countries is incorrect (imo). britt and shapelle are australians, the cases were about australians and had something to do directly with australia.

Britt Ekland Australian??? Wow - i better get out more...

 

[lizzie]

Britt Ekland Australian??? Wow - i better get out more...

sorry - wrong britt ...

 

[Perp]

the americans are turning something that has "absolutely nothing" to do with them into a personal affront. ... my point is that a portion of the american population appears to think the world revolves around them and cannot seem to grasp that not everything is about americans. they have a different culture,humour (i will not use the word wit because they do not have one), sense of irony and history than ours and the west indians.

it is one reason the americans do so poorly in prolonged theatres of war - because they try to impose their way of life onto the occupied countries rather than accepting that other peoples do things differently and assisting the locals to rebuild in their own manner and culture.

lizzie, but I can't help but think you're extrapolating from a media report about a few anonymous Americans on the internet, to making generalisations about "the Americans" (nearly 300M of them), and your conclusion is that it's offensive for "them" to extrapolate from our KFC ad and conclude that Aussies are racist.

In both cases, parties are making assumptions about an entire group of people, based on the actions of a few individuals. And in both cases, the conclusions say much more about the pre-existing stereotypes much more than the actions of those individuals.

Does anybody else see the irony?

for the history buffs. the west indian africans were bought to the west indies as slaves by the british, from africa to work in the sugar cane etc plantations. some may have escaped from american hundreds of years ago, but the majority were transported over, in horrific conditions, under british rule.

I agree, I'm not sure which books gg1965's been reading. There can't have been more than a handful who got to the USA from Africa via the Carribean.

 

[lizzie]

and so the thread dies ... but not unil after an apology has been made to black american leaders. spotted the article this morning, but can't find it again. too lazy.

 

[Aaron Sice]

all the whinging about slavery from folk of african-american descent is generally ... well, single minded.

if you were a slave, or a child of a slave, then my heartfelt condolences got out to you.

great grandchildren of slaves can go jump insofar as "right to claim" goes - making a ruckus now is called being a "cash-in".

lets not forget the chinese, irish, philipino, mexicans and spanish that were slaves as well - where's their compo?

interesting bit of trivia - the west coast of Africa was commonly known as "Slave Coast".

 

[Aaron Sice]

As a side note - America wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't for it's history of severe rascism and division. how many other countries can say they specially imported a different type of people just to do manual work in order to build up and develop the newly born country?

g

hmm.

starting from Egypt and the Hebrews and moving forward?

or starting from Dubai and the Indians and moving backwards?

there's Egypt, Italy, Persia, China, Indonesia, Greece, Russia (name 'em...Stalin, Lenin...) South Africa, North Africa, Great Britain, Canada, United States, Australia, Germany (Nazi), Hong Kong, New Zealand, Phillipines (Spanish), Dubai, Wall St...

 

[Hooray]

As a side note - America wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't for it's history of severe rascism and division. how many other countries can say they specially imported a different type of people just to do manual work in order to build up and develop the newly born country?

Australia and convicts? England and people from the subcontinent?

 

[jaycee]

Is that all that was used in Australia in that vain, just convicts and Indians ?

 

[jaycee]

all the whinging about slavery from folk of african-american descent is generally ... well, single minded.

if you were a slave, or a child of a slave, then my heartfelt condolences got out to you.

great grandchildren of slaves can go jump insofar as "right to claim" goes - making a ruckus now is called being a "cash-in".

lets not forget the chinese, irish, philipino, mexicans and spanish that were slaves as well - where's their compo?

interesting bit of trivia - the west coast of Africa was commonly known as "Slave Coast".

I think it's cause they feel that times ahve changed slowly and remnants of this still exist. Like civil rights campaigners who pushed for end of segregation and all that petty stuff....

Doesn't you're way of thinking mean that all the African Americans are being quite silly, how likely is it that ?

 

[jaycee]

What compo did the African American slaves get exactly bluecard ?

 

[Aaron Sice]

What compo did the African American slaves get exactly bluecard ?

they didn't get anything - old articles abound, but still raging in the US - esp in the military.

http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/jkh/slaveclaims/index-links.htm

i'm not tarring all African Americans witht he same brush here, just ones that think because their great grampappy was a slave in the civil war, that somehow, they are entitled to some sort of compensation.

 

[lizzie]

my great great grandma worked her fingers to the bone in a workhouse before being shipped out to nz ... can i get compo too please?

unfortuately no convicts in my line, so no money there ...

 

[natmarie73]

My maternal grandparents had all their wealth (10+ rental properties) taken by the Nazis and my father was prisoned in a work camp by the Nazis. Where is my compo?

 

[Fudge]

Its just in poor taste.

I dont think the makers knew they were being offensive (I think they were like many of the posters on here who just havent lived o/s in a place were this would cause genuine offence), but we live in a globalised world and its pretty bad in many markets (US, UK, Carribean, etc.) to make such an ad.

Having lived in Central London where in the very poor areas they are majority immigrants from the Carribean and African nations, and there are literally fried chicken shops on every single corner (think very downmarket KFC) this would hit a raw nerve. Ditto US, etc.... Cross over to the "safer" parts of town and you'd really struggle to find a single such store anywhere. The inference is massive inescapable class divide caused by race. You wouldnt understand or know (and would be forgiven for not understanding) unless you've lived in such a place.

Many Australians are not really racist, but boy are we culturally unaware / insensitive of what goes on elsewhere - and what can really offend others!!

Hey Hey's come back skit also springs to mind....

Having spent a good bit of time in London, I was called racist after calling a Pakistani a Paki. Didn't know what the hell they were going on about. It was in relation to a cricket match.

I think the world has gone to airy fairy on itself and people who get offended by this sort of stuff should (As stolen from another thread).............


Take a sip of some concrete and harden the f*%$ up!!......................(maybe should be cement, but you get the picture)

Cheers,

F

 

[Aaron Sice]

PC = Political Correctness....?

no.

PC = Personal Censorship.

 

[Strannik]

i wonder why all african-americans who want compo don't go back to their homeland from which they were exported...

 

[Aaron Sice]

but that's xenophobic, Strannik ..... remember?

 

[Perp]

i wonder why all african-americans who want compo don't go back to their homeland from which they were exported...

Wow, where to start pulling that apart?

1) I'm not aware of any large scale/mainstream call for compensation by African-Americans, anyway.

2) Those calling for compensation would be doing so on the basis that their ancestors were enslaved and made to work for no wages, moreso than being relocated, because most slaves were born into slavery.

3) It's ridiculous to say that just because their were peripheral benefits relating to the unquestionably immoral act of enslaving people (ie their ancestors ended up living in a more economically prosperous country), that calling for compensation for that act means they should have to give up those peripheral benefits. It's a bit like saying "When I hit you with a car and paralysed you, you ended up falling in love with your personal carer and marrying them. If you want me to compensate you for paralysing you, you have to divorce your spouse."