Was "The Australian" right to publish this?

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by MarkB, 5th Aug, 2016.

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  1. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    Having worked in a remote community for over a year I unfortunately don't have any solutions. I can tell what is not working though, imposing western housing, western schooling with western discipline on the people in the community I worked in.

    We see problems our way and we try to impose our solutions. I have not seen this work at all. At a guess, the people who can make the decisions would need to sit down with the appropriate Aboriginal representatives and let them identify the problems and start talking about solutions. Maybe work with the communities to figure out an education system that would be effective because imposing our education system on these communities is not working. I don't think that there are any simple solutions, but a good starting point might be talking with the right community representatives.
     
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  2. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    No they werent right to publish. Extremely racist cartoon.

    It is such a ridiculous argument that as tolerant people we should "tolerate" violations such as this.

    The rule of thumb is you shouldnt tolerate things that harm others. Thats why we dont "tolerate" pedophiles and murderers.

    And these racist cartoons do harm, a lot of it.

    There are better ways to bring attention to issues than to whip up racist emotional views.
     
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  3. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    Whites arent a minority.

    If there was a cartoon of single white mothers and it was saying they were all bad mothers. Then yes just as much outcry.

    If there was a cartoon of white blokes who are tradies and it was saying they are all illiterate idiots. Then yes just as much outcry.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 6th Aug, 2016
  4. ramblin72

    ramblin72 Well-Known Member

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    Most corporations incorporate social responsibility into their governance decisions. Typically it relates to the impact of its direct activities but I don't think deciding where to advertise is too far from the mark either. They make similar decisions when deciding which organisations to sponsor.

    Take it to the extreme and imagine they didn't think social responsibility was a factor and they advertised in the KKK Weekly or the Homicide Gazette.

    They aren't telling you what you should think as such, but instead telling you what they think.
     
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  5. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    Damn can't go back and edit my "than"s instead of "then"s...

    It's too early in the morning for this...
     
  6. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    Fixed
     
  7. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    Hahaha legend!
     
  8. Fargo

    Fargo Well-Known Member

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    Tim you are the racist concluding the cartoon represents all black people.
     
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  9. Skilled_Migrant

    Skilled_Migrant Well-Known Member

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    Care to elaborate what/whom does the cartoon represent ?
     
  10. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    But that would not the same as the cartoon in question.

    The "single mum cartoon" should also have a responsible white lady trying to help and the tradies should have someone offering to help them read.

    Seems everyone is rushing to the "right hand side" of the cartoon
     
  11. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    Brilliant logic...

    So it would be racist to think a cartoon about Asians being unable to drive was racist as the cartoon may feature asians but it is in the eye of the beholder to assume the racial overtones and the only way to assume the racial overtones is to be racist yourself.

    Clap clap clap. What a wonderful piece of acrobatics that back to front logic performs.

    Actually even better than the mind bending logic required there, is your ability to actually believe your argument holds water.

    I am impressed.
     
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  12. Skilled_Migrant

    Skilled_Migrant Well-Known Member

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    Agree
    They are not even telling anyone what they are thinking. They simply did not want to associate with the racist message, because it does not agree with their corporate ethics or maybe it was a business decision. But anyhow it was their money-their decision, and was not enforced on anyone.

    Fail to understand the faux outrage about socially responsible corporate disassociation with racist viewpoints.
     
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  13. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    The Mai Wiru Sugar Challenge Foundation |

    The gist:

    -Aboriginal community eating unhealthy food and dying prematurely.
    -Aboriginal elders come together and start their own community intervention focussed on education.
    -Intervention successful.
    -Government says they no longer want the elders in charge and want to take over the program themselves.
    -Elders refuse.
    -Government cuts their funding.
    -Community goes back to eating unhealthy food and dying prematurely.

    Now if only we could make a racist cartoon from that story so we could start focussing on areas that actually need attention.
     
  14. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    ReducingStereotypeThreat.org

    Another useful thing to take into consideration is Stereotype Threat.

    People are affected by the stereotypes that surround them. Hence the need for empowerment in order to affect change rather than further denigrating stereotypes. Mai Wiru is a good example of what an empowering indigenous led intervention can do. And what happens when empowerment is stripped away.
     
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  15. Guest

    Guest Guest

    There are plenty of cartoons showing poor parenting where the characters are white or where a tradie is doing something stupid. Have never seen a national outcry over it.

    How is this cartoon any more racist than numerous cartoons I can find in 2 seconds searching google images with 'cartoon bad parenting' where the majority depicted are white?

    I don't think the cartoon is trying to suggest that all aboriginals are bad parents. Leak explained in his opinion piece:

     
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  16. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Indeed, external aid (usually done in the name of improving the lot of the less fortunate) is often disempowering. Lots of examples of this in developing countries - well meaning wealthy folk doing more harm than good with their charity and aid work.

    It's never as simple as saying "let's give them more money" or "lets go and volunteer in a community who are less fortunate than we are" ... the real solutions are far more complex and difficult and require a lot more thought and sensitivity.
     
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  17. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    I hate arguments that something bad is okay to do because other people are doing something bad.

    Whats the point of arguing the degree of "badness"? Lets just agree that its all bad and we should expect better.

    I dont want to fall into the trap of demonizing the cartoonist. He probably had good intentions. He probably wanted to highlight an issue. But good intentions dont make something bad good.

    Remember the stollen generation was motivated by good intentions. There were lots of black kids that were getting neglected so the whites came along and took the kids to take care of them better.

    Good intentions didnt make the stollen generation a good thing to do.

    And just like in this situation, there is a better way to put into action your good intentions.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 10th Oct, 2021
  18. Tim86

    Tim86 Well-Known Member

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    The only way I could see the cartoon being permissable is if the cartoonists response was like this: "Yes I know the cartoon was racist. It was meant to be racist because this is an issue no one is paying attention to. Everyone is willing to get offended at the drop of a hat, but not everyone is willing to pay attention to real issues in our society. I wanted to offend people to get their attention. Now lets have a look at the issues and lets do something about it."

    If that was indeed his intention and his response and he follows it up with constructive talk around the issue now that he has the spot light, then awesome.

    However it seems like the guy was just trying to stir up **** and get a reaction that focusses on him. Happy to stand corrected if thats not the case.
     
  19. Guest

    Guest Guest

    I hate arguments where people use terms like 'racist' or 'sexist', when it's not the case.

    Given Leak's explanation of the cartoon, how can you consider it racist?
     
  20. LibGS

    LibGS Well-Known Member

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    Leak has a history of producing racist cartoons. But given that Bill claims he isn't racist, it must be true.

    [​IMG]

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    Last edited by a moderator: 10th Oct, 2021
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