Harry Connick Jr. Hates Racism. Australia, Not So Much.

The skit was a group of mostly NON WHITE persons impersonatoring a musical band by changing their skin colour (over done, yes) to look more like the original act is incidental to the impersonation’; it doesn’t make race the joke. The only possible ethnic commentary angle was that the person playing Michael Jackson – who is ethnically Indian – coloured his face white, a reference to the late entertainer’s fading skin colour. If there hadn’t been a Red Faces judge from the old slave-holding, black-lynching American south or if they had of changed their skin colour, worn dreadlocks and tea cosies on their heads and sung a reggae song, there would have been no ‘race’ controversy. Australia never developed blackface theater to perpetuate racist archetypes so we failed to realise that there is sensitivity to a near-paranoid state about white-black relationstthis and blackface. What we are quility of is cross-cultural misunderstanding, not racism by the performers or the audience that enjoyed the sketch.

 

Mark P neglects to say "Australians as a whole protested this murder, and refused to send troops" probably because the average Australian's response was apathic to say the least. I'm surprised he hasn't used the "slavery card", a tactic I see used on many blogs. Yes, every school kid in Australia and America is aware of slavery and the civil war in America, a deepfully shamefull thing that was addressed and not forgotten. It appears very few are aware of Australias shamefull slavery of the Kanakas, as no Australians fought to free their slaves, they simply discarded them when they could find no more use for the practise. Australia's use of slaves lies unaddressed and ignored and yet people such as Mark P accuse others of denial. I am personally glad of all this furore, it could have been solved with a simple "Gosh, we are embarrassed this happened", but Australians in their thousands are hitting the net, and ironically defending their racism with yet more racism and exposing their true national character. This is not to say that there are not Australians who understand the damage of racism in a increasingly globalized world. In fact a recent poll showed that 40% of Australians believe there is a racism problem in Australia. If we were to judge from Mark P's comments, eradicating the willfull ignorance of the other 60% will take time, but like slavery these are obselete ideas that will serve as a reminder of the depth of depravity humanity can attain in ignorance.

 

George Bush was on America's version of Nazism when a group called the neo cons came on featuring guys in twoface and one man in redface playing God. If reading those words didn’t make you disgusted, just watch the videos complete with a nation of Americans cheering along, and see where that gets you. History has the record, in which the rest of the world doesn’t even try to hide their contempt for the nation, giving them a 0 for their efforts. The UN even gave America a little chiding at the beginning of the war, not unlike an elementary school principle would give to a class of stupid 3rd graders. But, not unlike petulant children, the country as a whole didn’t seem to learn their lesson. The next 8 years America did nothing about it and decided their foreign policies and war wasn't racist. I’m not pretending to know anything about American relations, in fact, the only thing I really know about Australia is that killing people and interfering in other countries' business is their national pastime. Murder, though, doesn’t know national character, and the best thing you can say about an American politician is that 99.9% of the time it’s in poor taste. Maybe that kind of politics is still acceptable in certain parts of the world, but luckily in this case we all had the rest of the world to set the record straight on this American trash. (It works both ways American media inflamers. You want to say a nation is like a bad TV show, if we judged you based on your politics, as well as your Jerry Springer, Howard Stern, and the Man show you should all be ashamed. Americans don't have the grace to be ashamed.) I thought the show was racist, what I find interesting is that you focus on a two bit gong show from overseas and have never focussed on other Television shows from there. How about you focus on John Pilger? Nah. That would be too high brow and honest for most of you wouldn't it?

 

I am an American who has lived in Australia since 1972. In my opinion racism is rife in Australia, and I feel well qualified to comment because I have experienced it first hand. In the town that I live in we have asian tourists who come to harvest fruit. The general consenus is that "they don't spend enough money in town" and "they shouldn't be allowed to drive". I have heard comments such as "they are filthy dogs" and "they are less than human". It is little wonder then, that a "Blackface" act is acceptable to the average Australian, I'm surprised that there were no references to cottonpicking. Perhaps this is due to cultural differences. After all Australia was a convict colony, and survived on a social structure that depended on a heirarchy, Govenors,Troops,Overseers,Trustees and finally convicts. As such the system relied on restriction of individual freedoms based on inequality. How can such a culture understand the American principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, and that these values sustained armed rebellion against elements within and without their own society, Americans prefering death to oppression.

 

Does this mean we get to be in the Axis of Evil and you can blow us back into the stoneage too? While you're at it, don't forget to throw in the goddamn Muslims, the Russians and the Chinese, the socialist Europeans and the drug-running, illegal immigrant Latin Americans. In fact, fuck it, just put the whole outside world in there. You're an imbecile Mike.