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Connick Jnr. starts race row over tv skit in Australia.

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Gakatron, Oct 7, 2009.

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  1. Dan B.

    Dan B. Member

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    <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nqMc9B7uDV8&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nqMc9B7uDV8&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

    Sure Robin Williams has done some bad stuff. But then there's Death To Smoochy.

    As to Robin Williams, tastes may vary. But I firmly stand behind my original list of Richard Pryor, Mel Brooks, Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, George Carlin, Dave Chappelle, and Steve Martin. Chapelle and Ferrell are still too young, but the rest are all comedic legends.
     
    #81 Dan B., Oct 9, 2009
  2. aghast

    aghast Member

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    That's silly. Indigenous Australians were too busy having their children stolen by the government, which denied the Lost Generation(s) up until this decade, to be able to develop the kind of intricate timing and high-wire dance moves demanded by such an exemplary Jackson Jive-style blackface routine.
     
    #82 aghast, Oct 9, 2009
  3. zerhoe

    zerhoe Member

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    Dude I'm Australian and that was clearly racist and in horrible taste.

    If you don't see how blackfaced acts in the past - and in the present - ridicule and reduce a race, then you need to go read up on some history.

    To reiterate, if a tree falls without anyone seeing or hearing it...it still fell.
     
    #83 zerhoe, Oct 9, 2009
    1 person likes this.
  4. aussie rocket

    aussie rocket Member

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    There is no black and white that I see.

    There are only good people and bad people.

    My only prejudice of any kind is against Non - Rockets fans....Especially Lakers, Jazz, Mavs and Spurs fans....roughly in that order.

    Kum Ba Yah my lord.
     
    #84 aussie rocket, Oct 9, 2009
  5. Gakatron

    Gakatron Member

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    and Collingwood of course.
     
    #85 Gakatron, Oct 9, 2009
  6. professorjay

    professorjay Member

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    Relax. What I said was a joke itself. I thought it was 'clearly obvious' I didn't mean to 'offend anyone' but 'I guess people have more time on their hands to worry about such things. '

    'Why not laugh at each other instead of looking for any little thing you can to whinge, pull the country card...'

    I guess it's ok to make fun of people until it happens to you.
     
    #86 professorjay, Oct 9, 2009
  7. Surfguy

    Surfguy Member

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    Kanye West: "Harry Connick Jr. loves black people!"

    Amen. Good move, Harry. You handled it well.

    Sad that noone even thought that would be offensive. Someone wasn't thinking over there. Oh...well...we did it twenty years ago. So the f what? It is sort of funny that they had Harry of all people on the judge's panel with this skit. I mean...he is basically one of the main voices of New Orleans...and New Orleans has a rich black history. Should have tried it with Kanye West on the panel. lol
     
    #87 Surfguy, Oct 9, 2009
    1 person likes this.
  8. tracymac

    tracymac Member

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    People will claim these are isolated incidents and what not but these things combined with the "Curry bashing" of people from the Indian sub continent means there is little excuse for Australians to not be aware of racism.

    I've been to Australia a couple times and it's just a weird place. Great place to see. Majority of the people are great but the minority bigot population seems to be larger than in America. Is there anybody non white that has been to Australia and absolutely loved it? (I like going there, that's why I went a second time. I just can't ever see myself living there. All the white people I've met that have been there want to move there though.)
     
    #88 tracymac, Oct 9, 2009
  9. tracymac

    tracymac Member

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    ^^ There's countless incidents like the ones posted above btw...
     
    #89 tracymac, Oct 9, 2009
  10. VanityHalfBlack

    VanityHalfBlack Member

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    Michael Jackson jokes are getting too old for my taste... It was done on a talent show outside the U.S and from watching it I don't see anything talented or funny..
     
    #90 VanityHalfBlack, Oct 9, 2009
  11. Severe Rockets Fan

    Severe Rockets Fan Takin it one stage at a time...

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    Damn Straight...

    Signed,

    Russell Simmons
     
    #91 Severe Rockets Fan, Oct 9, 2009
  12. Gakatron

    Gakatron Member

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    I hardly see how that is fair, just like your country of course we have racists among us. Unlike you I am not going to say just because the KKK still exists that that means nothing has been done improve the way of life for African Americans. Just like the US there is still problems but like yourselves we are working on it.

    Have you ever been to Melbourne? it has one of the most deverse ethnic populations on earth. Things like the bashing of Indians will get worldwide media coverage as racist attacks by white Australians when a lot of the times it is non-white ethnic groups doing the bashings in that city. It is currently have a bad time with violence on its streets and no certain group of people gets bashed more, to the one Indian bashed in Melbourne probably 100 white people are but just because one Indian is it is called racist. The same thing happened with a murder in the city where aussie rocket is from with a poor Chinese girl getting killed and the Chinese community cried it was a racist act even though nothing has ever pointed to that being the case(that I am aware of).

    My point being don't always believe whats said in the media as gospel, being American I am sure you can understand that the media often portrays situations in countries to be worse than they really are.

    To your point on non white people liking the country. A visit to either Sydney or Melbourne will point to that they do as millions of non-white people live in these two cities. Just like your own country there are areas which are still mainly white and just like with you sometimes these areas may be less accepting of others but on a whole I can't see how you could visit this country and say we have a high % of racial bigots. Another example is in the small city I live in(population of 100,000) the white population is quite large yet we have in the last few years had a large number of Sudanese refugees move here and they have been welcomed with open arms, they have had no trouble getting jobs and all the ones I have talked to(there is a team of them we play bball against and another we play soccer against) they all love it. Oh and while they can't find a job our government supports them and no one is complaining about that. Yet if one of them is ever bashed or abused, even if it has nothing to do with race....that means we are racist right?
     
    #92 Gakatron, Oct 9, 2009
  13. tracymac

    tracymac Member

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    And like I said in my post, the majority of the people I met there were great, it just seemed that the MINORITY racists have a larger population than in the US. (I have no statistical evidence to base this on. I might as well be pulling it out of my ass.)

    And the term "curry bashing" comes to mind. Do more white people really get "curry bashed" than people that actually make and eat curry?
     
    #93 tracymac, Oct 9, 2009
  14. saitou

    saitou J Only Fan

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    I lived in Melbourne for 4 years Gaka, and I found it really racist. I was openly called a gook at school (I'm not Vietnamese, lol), and get yelled at to "go home!" by people driving by. Is it more racist than other countries? Besides Australia, I've lived in a few different Asian countries as well, but as I probably don't get as much racism as a white/black person might as I look more like the local population, I can't really comment on that with authority. What I can say is that for minorities in Australia, open, really blatant racism isn't uncommon, and depending on exactly where in Australia you live, can be very common.
     
    #94 saitou, Oct 9, 2009
  15. saitou

    saitou J Only Fan

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    As for the video, I was impressed with the way Connick Jnr handled it.

    Gakatron: are you offended by what Connick Jnr said? He even qualified his statements as his opinions being American.
     
    #95 saitou, Oct 10, 2009
  16. Gakatron

    Gakatron Member

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    This public outcry since from your people has opened me to believe that perhaps the producers should of been smarter. My point remains however that sometimes people look for racism wherever they can and that is not healthy. Some races have been treated poorly throughout history, someone like me who is 26, white and a male throughout time has had a good run but also I have done nothing racist to any other culture, my generations and the generation above me have tried to make up for our ancestors. Instead of looking for 'racism' in everything perhaps we could be more liberal about such things. Instead of coming out and labeling these guys racists perhaps say to them 'look I find this is offensive..... and this is why'.

    This thread has proven people are too quick to pull the race card. I have always felt that while my ancestors in this country may have treated others badly.... I never have voted for a government that has set out to treat ethnic minorities poorly. Why should I be held accountable for things I had no part of? The time has come to where the majority of white folks these days are trying to even things out, I like a huge majority of my generation don't treat people different because of race. Sure there are some assholes who do....but every race and culture have people they are not proud of....my point always is instead of being so defensive all the time, why don't we help each other.
     
    #96 Gakatron, Oct 10, 2009
  17. Gakatron

    Gakatron Member

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    saitu. Thanks for your post. You would also admit that even if this was the case(which is unfortunate and sorry to hear you were treated like this) that Asian gangs are known to be the cause of many bashings in Melbourne. Does this mean Asians are racist against the whites in Melbourne? I don't consider it so and like the rest of the white population don't cry racism when these well known bashing happens at the hands of these groups. My point remains that in every culture there are idiots who degrade said culture but how about judging people on the majority instead of the minority? Perhaps if you praised the majority instead of condemning them that perhaps they would work that bit harder to work on the racist minorities?
     
    #97 Gakatron, Oct 10, 2009
  18. saitou

    saitou J Only Fan

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    Isn't this exactly what Connick Jnr did??? I don't know how much more tactful he can be without looking like he is ok with the act.

    I know that there are Asian gangs, just as there are white gangs. If they are specifically targeting people of a certain race to 'bash', then yes I would say that is racist, and they should be condemned for it. When I was there, I heard of gang fights, but it was usually between the asian gangs themselves fighting for turf. Illegal, wrong, but not inherently racist.

    In any case, what these gangs do shouldn't have any bearing on whether that black face skit should have been allowed to go on air. Even as a non-black person who didn't grow up watching 'black face' films I can see that it is at the very least insensitive to black people. To me it would be like... a national basketball team doing the slit eyed gesture in the mainstream media, and black people probably feel even worse about it than that given the history. So I'm glad Connick Jnr did bring it up. And the show Hey Hey might actually be lucky that Connick did as they could come up with some PR control on the spot, rather than letting criticism build up longer before they come up with an apology later.
     
    #98 saitou, Oct 10, 2009
  19. Gakatron

    Gakatron Member

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    I completely understand where you are coming from. However my point is my generation who on a massive majority have only tried to decrease the gap are always jumped on as 'racist' for the smallest thing. These asian gangs in Melbourne do not just attack other Asians gangs and anyone who claims otherwise should further their research. My point is even thought these gangs frequently bash white people, as well as those of other skin color and ethnic backgrounds we don't automatically claim they are racist against us. I feel some people need to step back and see that perhaps these guys were not trying to be 'racist' as opposed to being miseducated. You have had a fellow country member degrade my country and I have not taken offense against you as a group I just considered him an uneducated sad man, is it not more fair to judge these guys as such than as 'racists'? Instead of looking to attack and segregate how about looking to communicate and re-educate?
     
    #99 Gakatron, Oct 10, 2009
  20. saitou

    saitou J Only Fan

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    First, I don't see this 'asian gangs do bad things' topic furthering discussion. Yeah they do bad things, but it really has nothing to do with the painted face skit on tv. 2 totally separate issues.

    Second, I think you should rewatch the video clip you posted. Harry said exactly what you are saying, that he knows this was meant to be in good fun, but for him as an American, due to history/culture, he found it offensive and wouldn't have gone onto the show if he knew they were going to do that. He wasn't passing a direct judgement on the guys that did the skit, and even said he didn't think they had bad intentions! After basically saying the same thing as Harry, I don't know why you would find what Harry said offensive. :confused: Just as you accuse people of looking for racism that isn't there... it looks to me like you are looking for an accusation of racism that isn't there.
     
    #100 saitou, Oct 10, 2009
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