I reckon this is the funniest thread I’ve read in GD for many a long year.
Do I really need to say it?
Say what? Did you miss the point being made?
No.
So what are you saying FinnAgain? You’re being a bit too cryptic for me.
Your point is lost on me, then.
No, I don’t get what you’re saying either.
At a guess: The white guy isn’t surrounded by African Americans.
Yes and Yes. I have already said I think there is a realistic level of advantage, and as far as the risk, I enter this thread in evidence. Apparently, it is very difficult to get people to admit that racial tension is still a significant issue, even in Australia.
If so, then the point really was missed. HINT: everything FinnAgain quoted was a mischaracterisation.
Racial tension is an issue here, but it has zero to do with West Indies supporters. The biggest issue is probably between Anglo-Australians and second generation Lebanese immigrants, at a guess. We really don’t have the black/white dichotomy that the US has, and so being surrounded by blacks doesn’t have the same connotations.
Incidentally, Fear Itself, doesn’t your little set-up whereby we’re all simply in denial strike you as a little bit intellectually dishonest? “Have Australian men stopped beating their wives?” should be your next question.
I suppose, if pressed, I might have to point out that the stereotypes aren’t about African Americans, but blacks, and that people from the Caribbean would generally qualify. (What, you think that American racists stop to see what country a black person holds citizenship in before holding negative attitudes? "What’s that, that negro isn’t African American, he’s a Brit? Well why didn’t you say so, maybe he’d like to meet my daughter!)
Perhaps I might point out that racism against blacks and Indians is still significant even in educated Australian populations. Perhaps that large portions of Australia are racist and while many may be ‘primarily racist’ against group X, that racist thinking in and of itself relies on the fallacies of composition and division and, as such, racists tend to not confine their racism to only one group. I might point out that Australians are hardly ignorant of American culture or racial attitudes, and that a commercial which offers even a very small bit of catering to some of the nastier emotions can be a marketing success simply for its emotional impact/brand name recognition.
Just like, if we had a commercial of filth-caked Aborigines dancing around a fire and someone distracting them with pretty baubles while someone else spirited away their children in a bus, followed by a scene of those children grown up into adults wearing Polo shirts and the slogan “Polo: a little bit more… civilized.”
Well… it’d be a little bit odd to claim that the Aussies were imposing their cultural chauvinism on us because obviously we have no history of brutalizing Aborigines.
Or I could just point out that I’m reminded a bit of the old SNL Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer skit: Australian Edition. “What are these strange racist ideas you speak of? These are strange and unfamiliar to me, I do not understand. But your fried chicken is delicious!”
What stereotypes? Are Zimbabweans known for their love of fried chicken?
Are people from Zimbabwe considered black?
Is the stereotype about American culture’s effect on people, or inherent racial attributes?
Just quoting this as my contender for the dumbest, most oblivious, most missing the point, most “I must swiftly google stuff to make it look like I know stuff to dig me out a hole” and most ham-fisted attempted deflection post of 2010. Congratulations, it’s only January.
This would be a real zinger if the analogy was even halfway decent, but it’s not. Why? Because in your hypothetical, the implied judgement is that Aboriginal culture is inherently uncivilised. There is no implied judgement against the people in the ad; rather, the humour derives from the cultural clash – neither is “better”, but there is awkwardness by being an outsider in a large crowd of people whose values (in this case, which team you support) are totally alien. Reverse the races/cultures/teams and the ad would function in exactly the same way.
I’m no expert, but I would submit that black people from Zimbabwe are probably considered black, yes.
Do tell!
How is this in any way, in any way at all, analogous to the KFC ad?