Well the view wouldn’t be so unpleasant if Taswegians simply removed their second heads! 
[sub]I’m kidding, I’m kidding, my mother’s Tasmanian![/sub]
Woah-ho-ho! I guess things are waaaaaay different over there!
Or I don’t get the joke…
Prolly the second.
I love Life Support!! Those sketches described give you a good idea. It’s a satire on lifestyle shows, offering truly appalling tips on how to get things your way. Often illegal, usually immoral, frequently downright repulsive. The point about the sketch that suggested you take a black guy drinking with you is that you, the white guy, would make use of the stereotype that all blacks are alcoholics. Therefore everyone will talk about the black guy, and not talk about you.
Last week they had a couple of Asian actors in generic boy & girlfriend roles. This actually reminded me that our TV is probably a lot less ethnically diverse than our actual society. I don’t know if they intended that. This week they had another little go at racism - Dr Rudi’s art investment advice. He suggested you buy works by living aboriginal artists, qo your investment will grow faster… This is becaue a) everyone knows artworks increase in value once the artist dies and b) lifespans in the aboriginal community are much shorter than for the rest of us. This is true and terrible.
I think we do still have a lot of racism, but it works in different ways to the US. And less in younger people, and more variably directed, and we have plenty of anti-racism and just easy-going acceptance of other cultures, too. It’s not easdy to generalise about.
BTW, speaking of cutural differences, I’m quite amazed at people saying they think Aussie blokes are more sexist than Americans. I thought (from my experience living there and watching movies & TV & reading books) that the US was much, much worse.
I’m from Perth. I can provide support the view that it is (or was) quite possible to never see a (non-white) African or African-American in this city. The immigrants to this side of the country are overwhelming English, followed by the South-east Asians and white South African population. In the past couple years, I’ve noticed a few African people attending a university near my place, but that’s about it. The only African-Americans we see are US sailors on shore leave.
A few impressions on racism in this region:
Racism towards people of Mediterranean descent is a thing of the past. “Wog” has evolved from insult to affectionism. Southern European immigrants and their descendants have melted so effectively into our predominantly Anglo- community that their cultural heritage is notable only in passing.
Racism toward Asian immigrants still exists, to an extent. Most Asian immigrants can report at least a few incidents where they have experienced overtly racist comments in this country. However, with our huge South-east Asian population (over 30% of my high school graduating class was comprised of kids of Asian descent), this too shall pass. The childen born of the first wave of Asian immigrants have already reached maturity; their children will grow up in a society ever more tolerant to their contribution.
Sadly, racism towards Aboriginal people is commonplace. This may pass unnoticed to a visitor, simply because of the fact that Aboriginal people are a tiny minority in this country: less than 3 per cent of our population. However, it’s extremely prevalent and people get away with it simply because of the fact that they are unlikely to encounter an Aboriginal Australian in their day-to-day life.
Oh, ok. Then like I said, things are waaaaaaaaaay different over there.
Not according to a couple Greek-Australian friends of mine who told me … this is pretty much a direct quote: “It’s great being in Ireland because people don’t call us ‘wogs’. They don’t look at us as Greek, they just see us Australian.”
Ruadh I’d agree with your friends’s experience. My father’s Hungarian, works as a truckdriver and he’s constantly complaining about the wog ‘jokes’ and racist comments. It probably depends on the circles in which one moves though.
I can certainly remember racism against kids of Mediterranean descent when I was at school. Probably more so than against Asian kids because the Asian kids tended to hang out together more and were less assimilated.
My suburb has people from 159 countries living in it according to the last census. My next door neighbours are Somali. Aboriginal folks lived on the other side when I moved in. This is also one of the poorest areas economically speaking (particularly as many refugees are settled here) but you can’t beat the food or conversation.
I grew up in a very swish suburb but even so my friends came from all over the world, it was the wallet that mattered, not the colour or country of origin.
Do we have racists here, of course we do. Are they the majority? I don’t think so.
I hit submit too soon.
Of course people remember the negatives though, I recall every instance of having the word dyke spat at me much more clearly than the thousands upon thousands of times I have not had such a thing happen.
Perhaps one of the reasons people think that Australians are more racist than they actually are is in a misunderstanding of the humour, which is heavily ‘taking the piss’ out of everyone.
Ironikinit There is an aboriginal bloke on a real lifestyle program - Ernie Dingo.
YEs, the media does not really reflect the racial/cultural mix that we have here, they tend to portray us as heavily anglo.
Another reason non-Australian get an impression of Aussies being racist is from our current government, which has pretty bad (IMHO) attitude towards refugees - I suspect this attracts a bit of overseas press.
From what I recall, the urban areas aren’t, but the rural areas can be. For some reason, this is especially bad in Queensland, producer of that great triumverate of Vince Gair, Pauline Hanson, and Sir Joh Blijek-Peterson.
It’s satire. The show is satirizing the racist stereotype that Aboriginals are drunkards. It’s rather ridiculous to think that someone drank excessively due to their skin colour, and the sketch shows how ridiculous it is.
I believe that some Americans stereotype Mexicans/Hispanics as being lazy. An analogous satire would see a white American suggesting that you hang around Mexicans at work, so that if you’re slacking off, the boss will blame the Mexicans.
In both cases, the stereotype is being satirised, not perpetuated.
Long time lurker, first time poster.
And i may step on some toes straight away.
Australians are no more racist than people from anywhere else. People from the country/bush/rural areas are less likely to be racist than people from the city. This is especially true towards aboriginal people. Why? Well when I go to the pub, play sport or go fishing or any other common activity in this town, there will more than likely be an aboriginal person doing the same thing. And yes, I may know them and even talk to them or even be on the same team, imagine that! People from the city or who have not had an involvement with aboriginal people are the ones that shit themselves when a person with darker skin tones comes along and asks for something simple like directions.
This small town is one of the most racially diversified places i have lived and I’ve been everywhere man, I’ve lived in or been to everystate in Aus, both large cities and towns tinier than a fly’s fart. Aussies are no more racist than the next bloke, that includes people from the bush.
antechinus, speaking of our current governement, which I try not to, our beloved Mr Tony Abbott used to be responsible for Comcare, where one of his first remarks as minister was “No-one had back injuries until we got all those Yugoslavians”.
Explanatory notes for non-aussies:
- Comcare is responsible for workplace safety, rehabilitation and compensation in the Commonwealth jurisdiction.
- The remark is implying strongly that ‘those wogs are all faking bludgers’.
- Yugoslavians were in a recent wave of immigration, many were political refugees rather than skilled immigrants.
- My source tells me that yes, they did tend to get back injuries. Now guess who gets the back injuries? Policy analysts and managers, do you think? Or maybe the haulage and packing guys?
lurksfromwork, are you serious? The most virulent racist comments i’ve heard come from country and bush people. I wonder where you do live, it sounds utopian. Yes, I grant there is an advantage in familiarity - but then what happens if you take those small town people to a big city and listen to them mouth off about the bloody Asians taking over everywhere?
I must confess this – plus ruadh’s friend’s experience – catches me a little by surprise. Maybe I’ve been overly isolated in my little white collar world, but I’ve honestly can’t recall an occasion where I’ve heard anyone express derogatory remarks towards people of Mediterranean or Slav descent.
(Ironically, because of my looks people tend to assume that I am Mediterranean, where in fact I’m half Chinese – so some dickheads have unwittingly uttered make derogatory comments towards Asian people while in my presence!)
cajela,
(sorry, haven’t worked out how to bold yet) I have had the privilege of living in both small towns and large cities and reckon that the instances of racism in the bush are relatively minor. I reckon the racial mix in this town (broome) is richer (considering the size) than Melbourne and definately alot friendlier.
Age may be a big factor that contributes to the perception that country people are more racist, older people generally have more staunch views than younger people now do, How many people from the bush do you know that have made racist comments? I think you may be painting people from the bush with a very broad brush. My experiences have shown that people in remote or rural areas promote interaction with people from different countries, i know of towns that promote student exchanges with kids from china.
You can tell someone is from the bush…they’re the friendly ones that talk to strangers without caring about what the colour of their skin is, how tall their mohawk is, or how many peircings they have etc
In my hunble opinion…
born and bred in Australia and lived firstly in a rural town and then moved to a capital city of Australia, I would be entirely suspect of anyone who would infer that Aussies are racist. Our cultural diversity is such that we bred a generation of multi- culturalism who now call themselves Australians.
(Greeks, Lebonese, Vietnamsese, Chinese, Japanese, Polanesians, Italian, Dutch, Iraqi, Indian, etc etc)
If you were to look closely at all white civilisations, there has been at one point or another in time where all nations have treated their indigenous counterparts with cruelty and subversion. What the government did to our indigenous peoples was atrocious and unforgivable. Yet this has been the trend in almost all other nations of the world encountering an indigenous people not like themselves. The American Indians for example, South Africa by the Dutch, many of the islands off Australia and America were treated cruelly by the roaming explorers in their big ships.
Our very ‘English’ government have been foolish and still are to a degree. There is a certain level of racism in every culture. I have witnessed acute racism from Japanesse and Asian culture, I have witnessed acute racism from the Moslem section of the larger cities. I am appalled at the ignorance and refusal to allow refugees into our vast land.
I grew up with indigenous people from this land and counted them as friends in my chidhood, it has given me an insight into the various degrees of abuse brought about through ignorance and a sense of righteousness over another culture different to our own. I am a 6th generation white aussie and proud to be one and am sympathetic to the cause of our aborignals.
Small towns breed a certain level of non acceptance to something that is new and different, yet the larger cities breed gangs with grudges. This is the case in most white culture, I suspect.
I suggest that there is a global level of racism that threads itself through every culture we know. It may not be so high in some countries and In my humble opinion Australians don’t suffer more or less from or because of racism.
Hi lurksfromwork
You bold as you would with html b tags except you use [square brackets]. Hmmm, how to demo without doing it? Umm, here’s a closing tag ** Now guess the opening 
I’ve never been to Broome and I’d love to, it sounds like the country round there is stunning. And now you say the people are great, too. I’ve heard similar positive things about the ethnic mix in Darwin. The nasty people I’ve heard personally, or heard of in reports from friends have been from country NSW and Queensland.
Mostly yes, it is older people, but the worst stories I heard came from a young teacher in a small country NSW town. Stuff like calling the local Aboriginals all sorts of names (boongs, niggers, gins), and boasting about hunting down black meat, and suggesting every time she spoke to a black guy that she was a slut. Calling the local doctor (Indian I think) a nigger and driving hundreds of miles to avoid him. And they wonder why they can’t get teachers and doctors to stay.
Probably some country towns are a lot more toxic than others… Gods, I hope so!!!
And I still don’t think Australia is particularly worse than anywhere else.
I honestly believe there is a difference between making the odd racist remark and being a dyed-in-the-wool RACIST. And from my long experience in urban and a short stint in rural Australia, I feel that your dinky-die racist is an endangered species. Sure, there are the stereotypes that are trotted out at times…the alcoholic aborigine, the lousy Asian driver who got his licence out of the Weeties packet, the Wog-Back syndrome adored by litigation specialists etc etc.
But for the most part, your average Australian yobbo does not give a toss where his neighbour or his mate or his work-partner comes from. He might complain about those ‘bloody wogs next door with the funny smells that come out of their kitchen at night’, but he will invite them over to his barby, and their kids will be welcome to come and play anytime. He’ll whinge about their driving habits, but will be the first to give them a hand when their starter-motor carks it. He’ll rant and rave about how his hard-earned taxes are paying for all of these ‘illegal immigrants’ to come over, but he’ll be pitching-in for the collection for Mustafa’s missus to buy a pram for their new baby. He might rail against those lazy, alcoholic aborigines, but he will cheer them on, and be waiting to get an autograph from one of them when they run off the ground after an AFL match.
We’re a weird mob. But I don’t think Australians are chronically racist…we come from too diverse backgrounds to be pointing the finger at any other nationality!!
What kambuckta said.