Society/Culture SBS: Is Australia racist?

[douglyzia]

Decided to watch "Is Australia racist?" on SBS.

The first few scenes was with a Mauritian girl dressed in African garb being racially abused by another young girl. At first, I was completely appalled by the clearly unacceptable taunts:

• "Where did you get that iPad? Did you steal it?"
• "Did you get here on a boat?"
• "How do you say your name?" *makes clicking noises*

One of those quotes was used to show "Australians at their worst".

But then, lo and behold, it was just some stupid actor pretending to be racist to get a reaction from nearby bystanders. * off!

Decided to stop watching this rubbish right then and there.

 

[Gough]

Brilliant!! The perpetually outraged strike again, why did you even watch this? It's like me reading Bolt, and then getting pissed off by what he says.
That said, this is worthwhile conversation, unfortunately you're not the one to have it with though.

 

[douglyzia]

Brilliant!! The perpetually outraged strike again, why did you even watch this? It's like me reading Bolt, and then getting pissed off by what he says.
That said, this is worthwhile conversation, unfortunately you're not the one to have it with though.

Well, at first I was outraged that the "racist" girl could be such a complete bitch, then I was outraged that she was just an actor.

But I agreed with the program. "Australians at their worst" is when an Australian actor has to pretend to be racist to prove that Australia is racist.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

Everyone is probably somewhat racist. As long as you don't consider racism to be binary, it makes perfect sense. You only have to be prejudiced toward your own race, even if you never act on it and know that it is inherently wrong. We're less racist than most nations are, but that's a natural consequence of being a more multicultural nation, and perhaps, that we haven't faced much discrimination makes it easier to accept other people. Our generation would also be less racist than the generation before, which highlights the benefits of progressiveness in society.

So in closing, yes, Australia is racist, all nations are, however, we are less racist than before.

 

[douglyzia]

Pretty sure if they didn't get an actor to act completely out of character with the vast majority of Australians, that Mauritian girl would still be walking around in her African outfit trying desperately to get a reaction.

 

[Reynolds Number]

What about the indigenous man getting pinned to the ground by the WA coos whilst trying to cut the chain of his own bike.

As opposed to the non-indigenous person cutting the chain of his own bike in the same location and nobody even cared.

And some of that abuse the Afghanistani girl copped whilst wearing a full niqab, some of that was appalling.

There are still some good points raised by the program that are worthy of discussion.

We still have a racism problem. It is not as bad as many nations but it still exists to an extent. Thankfully it is worst amongst middle aged and older people and not so much a problem amongst under 35s which shows it is improving. But there's evidence that society should continue to improve and eradicate the problems that still exist.

 

[WA ROO]

Decided to watch "Is Australia racist?" on SBS.

The first few scenes was with a Mauritian girl dressed in African garb being racially abused by another young girl. At first, I was completely appalled by the clearly unacceptable taunts:

• "Where did you get that iPad? Did you steal it?"
• "Did you get here on a boat?"
• "How do you say your name?" *makes clicking noises*

One of those quotes was used to show "Australians at their worst".

But then, lo and behold, it was just some stupid actor pretending to be racist to get a reaction from nearby bystanders. **** off!

Decided to stop watching this rubbish right then and there.

Silly boy
Did you expect anything else from SBS?

 

[cartwright]

Well, at first I was outraged that the "racist" girl could be such a complete bitch, then I was outraged that she was just an actor.

But I agreed with the program. "Australians at their worst" is when an Australian actor has to pretend to be racist to prove that Australia is racist.

I bet you were.
The point was pretty clear. It was in response to one of the questions asked in the survey.

What about the indigenous man getting pinned to the ground by the WA coos whilst trying to cut the chain of his own bike.

As opposed to the non-indigenous person cutting the chain of his own bike in the same location and nobody even cared.

And some of that abuse the Afghanistani girl copped whilst wearing a full niqab, some of that was appalling.

There are still some good points raised by the program that are worthy of discussion.

We still have a racism problem. It is not as bad as many nations but it still exists to an extent. Thankfully it is worst amongst middle aged and older people and not so much a problem amongst under 35s which shows it is improving. But there's evidence that society should continue to improve and eradicate the problems that still exist.

I felt it was a bit light -- but there were some good points.
The footage of the Sudanese (?) man standing at Flinders/Swanston holding the sign, brought no surprises in that pretty much all the people who felt need to comment and abuse him were old.

 

[Maggie5]

I particularly liked the section where they discussed 'the framing effect' that bends facts in the direction that will attract the most views to a particular story. Martin told the audience not to accept the media’s version of events at face value.

Murdoch Press anyone?

 

[Malifice]

Martin told the audience not to accept the media’s version of events at face value.

Fake news!!

 

[Scotland]

The most racist and least racist tend to come from the same groups. It's a curious phenomenon.

In the most racist camp you have people who actually suffer the negative consequences of immigration/multiculturalism (ie live in s**t suburbs where migrants are lumped or there is a large Indigenous population and have negative first hand experiences from this) and people that don't but are stuck in their ways due to being old, reading too much tabloid press etc. Racism in Australia isn't limited to white people who were born here before the wogs or the Asians or the Africans or the Muslims arrived, either. If you think baby boomer meat pies & Vegemite Aussies are bad, spend some time with some post WWII European migrants.

In the least racist camp you have people who live and work with a significant number of people of different backgrounds on a daily basis and don't make a big deal of it because that's life, and then you have people that don't and do. The most vocal anti-racism folk are typically white people who live in middle class white suburbs whose only exposure to non-white people is sharing Waleed's latest piece on social media.

Smack bang in the middle you have the majority of the population (white, brown, yellow, black or otherwise - everyone regardless of skin colour has racial prejudices like any other prejudice to some degree and anyone who denies this is full of s**t) who range in racism level from minimal to moderate but rarely say anything remotely controversial because society is apparently healthier when racism is repressed. Good that the debate is happening on TV, even if the narrative is partially set from the outset.

 

[tandino]

I particularly liked the section where they discussed 'the framing effect' that bends facts in the direction that will attract the most views to a particular story. Martin told the audience not to accept the media’s version of events at face value.

Said with no hint of irony, no doubt.

 

[aCunningPlan]

Said with no hint of irony, no doubt.

He did say to even question the show's perspective as well; so I find it strange you made that comment unless you didn't watch it, in which case why spread lies?

 

[Maggie5]

Fake news!!

He also added, 'including his and the program' to be fai

Silly boy
Did you expect anything else from SBS?

You better not watch this then, stay uniformed with Fox.

 

[WA ROO]

You better not watch this then, stay uniformed with Fox.

Subject of the show doesn't interest me so yeah why would I watch it
I will stick to re runs of Breaking Bad and Dexter

 

[Gough]

He also added, 'including his and the program' to be fai


You better not watch this then, stay uniformed with Fox.

View attachment 340551

I've just finished reading Cleve Hughes' book. Really looking forward to this.

 

[tandino]

He did say to even question the show's perspective as well; so I find it strange you made that comment unless you didn't watch it, in which case why spread lies?

I didn't watch it, and didn't say otherwise.

 

[Malifice]

Subject of the show doesn't interest me so yeah why would I watch it
I will stick to re runs of Breaking Bad and Dexter

Meth and serial killers.

Yep, sounds about right.

 

[quotemokc]

Seems to me that institutions like SBS seem to care more about peoples race than the so called racists.

 

[Maggie5]

Seems to me that institutions like SBS seem to care more about peoples race than the so called racists.

Seems to me that SBS seems to care about the issues that matter than some who just want to be racists.

 

[quotemokc]

Seems to me that SBS seems to care about the issues that matter than some who just want to be racists.

So using an actor to create fake racist situations is helping the issues?

 

[Maggie5]

So using an actor to create fake racist situations is helping the issues?

Actor or not, the reactions were real.

 

[quotemokc]

Actor or not, the reactions were real.

I always take any sort of content like that with a grain of salt. Who knows how much footage they have of reactions that wouldn't have benefited their story that they opted not to use.

Its like those impressive shot videos. Yes great shot, but how many attempts did it take before you got the right one?

 

[Maggie5]

I always take any sort of content like that with a grain of salt. Who knows how much footage they have of reactions that wouldn't have benefited their story that they opted not to use.

Its like those impressive shot videos. Yes great shot, but how many attempts did it take before you got the right one?

50? Who knows but all you need to do is look at some videos that have been uploaded on social media and reported in the press or even walk around the Northern and Western suburbs of Victoria to see some it happening. Unfortunately, it is real.

 

[quotemokc]

50? Who knows but all you need to do is look at some videos that have been uploaded on social media and reported in the press or even walk around the Northern and Western suburbs of Victoria to see some it happening. Unfortunately, it is real.

It is real all over the world, all races both give and take it.