Posted by Sigismund on January 30, 2010, at 13:00:44
In reply to Re: Bored and a little lonely, posted by Verloren on January 29, 2010, at 23:37:34
Well all the negroes (not allowed to say that) in The Wire call themselves n*gg*r (nor that especially). It's like all the names for retardation (I'm probably not allowed to say that either) like cretin. (Aren't our waves of fashion something?) You're right. If I was American it would be ridiculous to describe myself as English-American given that my forebears (that is a word, right?) came from there (I think). There are all these cultural sensitivities about race that are specifically American, I think, probably mainly about keeping up appearances. Harry Connick came to Australia and was judging a variety show and there was some quite lame act which would have been not worth watching 25 years ago where these men dressed up in afro wigs and blackened their faces. It was just dumb and unfunny, but his reaction was interesting. He said he was shocked and offended and would have walked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DhNJsU2N6Q
(He loves this show! That's very nice of him to say that.)
America has been dealing with racism ever since its inception. Australia is light years behind us. Hmmmmmm. I think it's an important issue too, but I think it extends beyond symbolism, at which point I feel it is important to mention all those countries that have suffered from their encounter with the west, in particular Vietnam and Iraq. I'm more interested in armies than wretched TV, but even so, they were right, it was extraordinarily lame and I only became aware of it because it was on the news.
poster:Sigismund
thread:935357
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20100119/msgs/935405.html