So you’re fighting homosexual stereotyping by stereotyping Australians? Odd methods you have. Is one type of stereotyping ‘better’ than another?
–Tim
No, he was observing an aspect of the culture with which he is surrounded. As he said, he lives in Australia. I would accept that he is qualified to judge what sort of jokes are often told around him.
I have to say, though, that his descriptions of Australian attitudes towrds homosexuals (tolerance but also crude jokes at their expense) sounds a lot like my experiences with being in a fraternity. On the other hand, that’s in an entirely straight (well, to the best of my knowledge, at least) male environment. Presumably we wouldn’t be the same in the real world. At least I hope not.
I believe if he was religious he would think that Australians were anti-religious. I know my friends and I have a good laugh at the fundamentalists (of whichever religion). I think that half of my friends make jokes about homosexuals because they are trying to decide if they want to be, and it is one way to gauge the reaction. There is a big difference between ‘You dream about him’ and ‘I dream about him’. We actually have side bets as to whether or not they are going to come out.
It is also something that Americans are not comfortable with. I have annoyed a lot of Americans as I mock them, even after knowing them for 10 minutes. They don’t like that. But that is probably just the Americans I have met. (note, this was not in Australia). But I know that there are some Americans who can deal with it.
So when do we discuss the Tall Poppy syndrome?
My WAG is that every Aussie here is going to say something along the lines of “To the extent that it’s real rather than just the whining of the privileged at the scepticism of the public, it’s probably healthy on balance.” And that would make for a dull debate. I could be wrong. Maybe there is a regular poster here who reckons Lawsie’s got the rough end of pineapple.