Racist Cartoon in the Australian

MightyFighting

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Thread starter #1
The Murdoch Press have had their anti-aborigine agenda going for a while, and yet I didn't expect to see this:


It's playing on the idea that aboriginal men like to beat up their wives.


Has this sort of thing suddenly become acceptable? Will tomorrow's cartoon depict them as having tails and hanging from trees?
 

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evo

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#4
Yeah it does seem pretty poor form.

Is it relating to a recent piece of news or article? Or did the cartoonist just have a strange urge?
 

MightyFighting

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Thread starter #7
evo said:
Is it relating to a recent piece of news or article? Or did the cartoonist just have a strange urge?
I don't buy the paper, so I don't know. But on the website it's not attached to any article.
 

Leper

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#9
If it were two white people would that be racist?

I wonder if people cry "racist" over things like this because of insecurities they feel because there MAY be some truths in the generalisations being depicted.
 

feher

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#10
mantis said:
That's disgraceful, the cartoonist & the newspaper should be charged with racial villification. :mad:
Disgraceful yes, racial no, would we even be having this discussion (racial part) if they were both white?

Well said Leper (first part at least), just beat me to it ;)
 

afc9798

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#11
mantis said:
That's disgraceful, the cartoonist & the newspaper should be charged with racial villification. :mad:
I have looked at that cartoon a number of times today and can't see any justification for it. Am I missing something or is this the most offensive cartoon yet? If it is as blatant as it appears, it's a sure sign that the re-election of Howard has already started to show its' effects, with the press feeling that it is free to print this type of tripe and that the public sentiment will defend their right to do so. I for one am in the process of writing a complaint to the press council- for what it's worth.
 

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CharlieG

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#12
Leper said:
If it were two white people would that be racist?

I wonder if people cry "racist" over things like this because of insecurities they feel because there MAY be some truths in the generalisations being depicted.
Err, no, it wouldn't be.

Society doesn't have an unhealthy perception of white people stereotypically beating their wives. Some people do have that perception of aboriginal people, and cartoons like this feed those racist stereotypes.

It's quite simply wrong, Leper. Your (occasionally justified) what-about-the-poor-white-boys act doesn't cut it this time.
 

funkyfreo

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#13
You could possibly suggest that what the cartoon says is that years and years of "touchy-feely" policy has actually had a detrimental effect on Indigenous Australia, and has in effect by being too PC has actually turned a bling eye to issues like domestic violence, because no one has wanted to appear "racist" by seriously tackling the issue. So our "touchy feely" has led to much more "touchy feely" of the missus. So the advert is quite in your face saying "LOOK WHAT TOUCHY FEELY POLICIES HAVE LEAD TO."

Unfortunately I really had to try hard to come up with that defence, and most people will likely see "Yeah blacks like Jeff Farmer beat up their missus". I'm surprised he was not in a Dockers Jersey.

More likely a cartoon that appeals to the latent racist masses, but with a convenient "social comment" get out clause, that most of us do not get because we are oh so much more stupid than the cartooninst.

A very dissapointing cartoon.
 

CharlieG

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#14
afc9798 said:
I have looked at that cartoon a number of times today and can't see any justification for it. Am I missing something or is this the most offensive cartoon yet? If it is as blatant as it appears, it's a sure sign that the re-election of Howard has already started to show its' effects, with the press feeling that it is free to print this type of tripe and that the public sentiment will defend their right to do so. I for one am in the process of writing a complaint to the press council- for what it's worth.
Where do I fire my e-mail off to?

I'm not a regular reader of The Australian, but they deserve to be punished for publishing that.

Welcome back Funky. Don't disappear.
 

Lestat

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#15
What a disgrace!

We ALL, as a nation should be ashamed that garbage like this is allowed to be printed in one of our mainstream media outlets.
 

MightyFighting

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Thread starter #16
Leper said:
If it were two white people would that be racist?

I wonder if people cry "racist" over things like this because of insecurities they feel because there MAY be some truths in the generalisations being depicted.
Hopefully, you know full well that those two people are supposed to represent all aborigal people.

If the two people were white and were intended to represent all white people, then it would also be racist.
 

CharlieG

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#17
MightyFighting said:
Hopefully, you know full well that those two people are supposed to represent all aborigal people.

If the two people were white and were intended to represent all white people, then it would also be racist.
But it wouldn't happen. It wouldn't appeal, because there's no stereotype to help people get the 'joke'.
 

feher

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#18
CharlieG said:
But it wouldn't happen. It wouldn't appeal, because there's no stereotype to help people get the 'joke'.
Whites have never had to deal with racism have they, or sterotyped. I didn't like the pic, but I took it in the context of a man been seen as a man, not allowing themselves to show their emotions.
 

CharlieG

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#19
feher said:
Whites have never had to deal with racism have they, or sterotyped. I didn't like the pic, but I took it in the context of a man been seen as a man, not allowing themselves to show their emotions.
Sure they have, but not in this context.

Tell me, if I said the words 'drunk', 'dole bludger' and 'wife beater', and asked you to identify those terms with a certain race, what would you come up with? Don't dodge the question by saying "well, I wouldn't think of any..." What's the first one that comes to mind?
 

Freo Big Fella

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#20
CharlieG said:
Sure they have, but not in this context.

Tell me, if I said the words 'drunk', 'dole bludger' and 'wife beater', and asked you to identify those terms with a certain race, what would you come up with? Don't dodge the question by saying "well, I wouldn't think of any..." What's the first one that comes to mind?
Port Supporter?
 

WA ROO

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#21
I don't get it domestic violence is not a joke and to highlight one race is wrong.One problem of domestic violence is that is has no boundaries,All races,religions and sexes have people guilty of it.
Also if Murdoch press printed this cartoon in the US about Afro-Americans the lawsuit would be huge so what makes them think they can get away with this here
 

feher

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#22
CharlieG said:
Sure they have, but not in this context.

Tell me, if I said the words 'drunk', 'dole bludger' and 'wife beater', and asked you to identify those terms with a certain race, what would you come up with? Don't dodge the question by saying "well, I wouldn't think of any..." What's the first one that comes to mind?
Well I won't bother answering it then. It's obvious which one you would come up with as well, and I dare say most of the population.
 

feher

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#24
CharlieG, isn't the whiteman in this country sterotyped as baby stealers, racist, land grabbing theifs etc? So if The Aus came up with something like that as a Cartoon, would you object and see it as racist?
 

CharlieG

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#25
feher said:
Well I won't bother answering it then. It's obvious which one you would come up with as well, and I dare say most of the population.
The thing is, I'm smart enough to know that stereotypes are wrong. The majority of aboriginal men don't beat their wives - I'm quite confident of that. I'm aware of the stereotype, but I reject it because it isn't true.

Just because most people 'think' it - doesn't mean it's right.
 
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