When is Racism not racism.

[the_bob_delusion]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfpADBQZfUE

I've seen this ad a few times now. I don't think the ad gets its point across. How is it discrimination against just indigenous is a stretch? Just cause the person feel like they've been discriminated because they're indigenous doesn't make it so. You can look suspecious with your hands tucked into your sleeve regardless of your race. Plus that woman frankly just look white to me. And some women simply prefer not to sit next to man on a bus. The last guy just look mediteranian to me even though the only bit related to the indigenous is the "ab0" joke. 

I get the point they're trying to make on the ad but it just ends up mocking the indigeous for being cry babies. I don't like this ad. 

[***super_nova***]

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@*jimmy1717* wrote:

It's our first black President...ever! So of course we (both sides) are going to discuss how that will effect us. But when he was first voted into office we all wondered. So yes...how black he is would have an effect on everything he did/does. In the end, did it matter? Not really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4vfTYfnwhpw#t=132

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Yes, that is exactly the point!!!!!!   It should not be issue; his skin colour should be totally irrelevant .  If new US president was blond would that be widely discussed?  Or if he had green eyes?  Roosevelt was in wheelchair, was that the most important thing about him?  

[lionrose.7]

Solution, I think we should all intermarry and turn out a nice warm brown, then there would not be a problem.

Mind you knowing the human race, some one would have a problem against blue eyes or brown.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Two personal experiences stand out clearly in my memory.

1) Some yaers ago I did a series of creative writing workshops in a country school in WA. the kids ere encourged to read the pieces they wrote to the class. One boy, in his piece, described having to walk through "Vegemite Park" on his way to a mate's place. All the class laughed. I must have been a bit naive but asssuming it was an 'in joke' of some kind  I asked him why it was called Vegemite Park. He said "'Cause that's where all the Boongs hang out" Cue more laughter.

There were three Aboriginal childen in that class. I still feel a sickness in the pit of my stomach when I think about how they must have felt.

2) I was at Perth Airport, waiting to catch a plane to Geraldton and decided to get a coffee. i was on the end of the queue. As we moved forward I vaguely noticed an Aboriginal woman near the front, but standing back a bit from the counter. Everyone walked past her to order and assuming she was waiting for her order to be prepared i did the same. After i had ordered and stepped back to wait for my coffee to be made she finally approached the counter and placed an order.

I was mortified and immediately said "I am so sorry, I didn't realise you were waiting."

She smiled at me amd replied a little sadly and without a traceof anger or sarcasm "That's alright, I'm used to it.'

I didn't know where to out myself. By an immense stroke of good luck I discovered when I boarded the plane that she was on the same flight, and as the plane was not full I was able to change seats and sit beside her, with the result that we were had a good chat all the way to Geraldton and parted the best of friends. It turned out she was a social worker with the Aboriginal Medical Service

[the_bob_delusion]

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@bushies.girl wrote:

Most of the docs in my general area are from another country, mainly 'cause it's difficult to get Aussie docs to come and work in the "bush"

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Tell me if I'm racist. I do discriminate against foreign trained doctors from particularly regions. I don't discriminate against them because of their race but because many of them are incompetent because they're poorly trained and lack the communication skills. 

I discriminate based on their training/education and communication skills. If you're **bleep** you're **bleep** regardless of your race. 

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@tall_bearded01 wrote:

What I simply don’t get is, if were are so racist, and being indiginous is such a burden, why is that every person with even the most tenuous links, is claiming that somewhere in the family tree, there is a great great grandparent of aboriginal descent.

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You'd be surprised how many people have a burning curiosity to discover "Who Do You Think You Are?" They (and I am one of them) want to know where they came from, who their ancestors were, what shaped their history.

One of my ancestors was an Irish navvy named Frederick Ryan - one of the heroes whose labour built  the railways systems of Britain and America. He spent time in Canada building the Canadian Pacific Railwa, so If I ever get to travel on that Railway I will be able to feel a direct connection to my history.

Mr Elephant's andcstors were among the first settlers on the Hawkesbury - they were also convicts  and in 1718 one of his goodness-knows-how-many-times great grandfthers  is described on his marriage certificate as a lamplighter - isn't that something special  to know about your own history?

Target or no target, for someone born in Australia, tknowing you had a connection right back to precolonial times would be pretty awesome to my way of thinking.

[the_bob_delusion]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

I don't want to get into this thread (or even come back to it after this) because racism makes my blood boil and I don't want to be angry all week simply because I have read comments on CS from people that couldn't possibl;y understand what real racism feels like.

The odd remark here and there about your white skin or the innocent (in your case) act of asking to have your bag checked is in no way comparable to what our indigenous people face in their lives day after day.

And it is telling that you all categorically dismissed and in one case derided the comments that lobs (one of the only indigenous people on our board) made without any attempt at understanding the difference between even the simple every day things like an indigenous person being asked to open her bags between you and I being asked to get our bags checked.

Anyhow, keep on congratulating yourselves on having white skin and regalling each other with "a friend I know", "this happened in my town" stories of reverse racism or pretend empathy with indigenous people because you have also been asked to open your bags or had the same look from shopkeepers or show your indignity at an indigenous persons football team without understanding the history behind it - THAT is the crux of the racism problem towards our indigenous people in Australia and it simply saddens be beyond belief.

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I find your comments arrogant and naive. Your comment about that other people wouldn't have a clue about being discriminated  is utter bull **bleep**. I can almost guarantee everyone here has been discriminated for whatever reason and not necessarily related to race. I'm sure half the population know what it feels like to be discriminated because of their gender day in day out. 

My point is from the ad, just coz' someone is suspecious of you because you might be shoplifting or doesn't want to sit next to you doesn't automatically make them a racist if you're of a particular race. If you feel like you've been singled out because of your race doesn't suddenly make that so. Get my point. Racism does occur but when you start to say every single case and every single day. I start to think you're the problem. 

If you want to make a big deal out of it, think of the middle easterners and Asians who have a harder time in life. I don't see any Ads that promote better understand of them. 

[k0llectable5]

I was mortified and immediately said "I am so sorry, I didn't realise you were waiting."

Um I'm not really seeing the racism in this story.  Why didn't she just do what everyone else did and approach the counter when it was her turn?

[bluecat*dancing]

And, therein lies the problem.

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@secondhand-wonderland wrote:

I was mortified and immediately said "I am so sorry, I didn't realise you were waiting."

Um I'm not really seeing the racism in this story.  Why didn't she just do what everyone else did and approach the counter when it was her turn?

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Bedause clearly her life experiences had accustomed her to standing back while white people were served first. I'm not saying that is a universal experience for Aboriginal people, but it was obviously her experience and I'm sure Lobs could confirm that hers was not a unique case.

[k0llectable5]

Why does therein lie a problem? It's not like people were pushing her out of the way.  And she obviously wasn't in the line like everyone else. If your not in line at a busy cafe then expect to wait.  Or was she waiting for someone to let her in before them?  

Sorry but unless you can explain why you made that comment, I do not see how this is at all racist.