political correctness (2 Viewers)

[Planck]

I had expected the ad to end with all the west indies guys holding up kfc with picatinny smiles and asking the massuh for wattymellun

 

[skyline]

want some kfc? you seem a little bit uncivilised...

lol, that kfc add was funny, the yanks thought that cricketer guy was being racist, because hes the only one white guy there, they all thought it was racist to African Americans, and the thing was, they weren't lol.

honestly, people in america are politically incorrect, this is all because the president is negro, or should i say dark skinned lol, remember that time they made a big deal of hey hey its Saturday, when those guys did an act on red faces being the Jackson 5, who the hell found that racist? honestly, the bloody yanks are making a big deal of everything, i don't think they know what the difference of being racist to humorous really is?

the Americans really need to lighten up a bit and take things less seriously...

 

[violentdelights]

I agree. America is currently having a cry about the movie Avatar being racist. They need to stfu imho.

 

[BlackDragon]

I agree. America is currently having a cry about the movie Avatar being racist. They need to stfu imho.

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Why do people try to create racism out of nothing? Its like that movie "Seven", people can convince themselves of patterns in anything if they are crazy enough.

 

[philphie]

now their is this whole crazinees surrounded by what US Senator Reid said about Obama being admitted into public office because he was light skinned

 

[Phoenix Fury]

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Why do people try to create racism out of nothing? Its like that movie "Seven", people can convince themselves of patterns in anything if they are crazy enough.

+1

Imo this whole "racism" shit has been blown way out of any reasonable proportion.

 

[skyline]

I agree. America is currently having a cry about the movie Avatar being racist. They need to stfu imho.

LOL! how is that being racist, they are completely different species anyway, plus its all fiction bullshit, who believes in that, hah! its coz they're blue isn't it? lol

honestly, yanks havent made this much of a deal about racism since jimmy carter was president lol.

 

[kaz1]

LOL! how is that being racist, they are completely different species anyway, plus its all fiction bullshit, who believes in that, hah! its coz they're blue isn't it? lol

honestly, yanks havent made this much of a deal about racism since jimmy carter was president lol.

They sort of resembled Africans though.

 

[skyline]

They sort of resembled Africans though.

colour is not the answer.

 

[philphie]

the ad would have recieved a much better reception if it was just a bunch of monkeys, chimps, baboons and gorillaz eating some live chickens being thrown out by tom wolfe or some kkk

 

[skyline]

the ad would have recieved a much better reception if it was just a bunch of monkeys, chimps, baboons and gorillaz eating some live chickens

gee man, i always thought they were vegetarians?

dont they eat shit and plantains? lol

give that kid a MANANA! LOL

WEEEE!!!

 

[violentdelights]

No, apparently, it's 'racist' because the theme of the movie "rests on the stereotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic. It rests on the assumption that non-whites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades."

It has been deemed racist because a white man saved the day.
ffs.

 

[skyline]

No, apparently, it's 'racist' because the theme of the movie "rests on the stereotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic. It rests on the assumption that non-whites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades."

It has been deemed racist because a white man saved the day.
ffs.

pfft hahahaha, who the hell sits down and speculates about it that way?

just watch the freaking movie and enjoy it already, if you dont like, dont watch, its that simple.

but its interesting seeing where the interpretation of racism derives from, haha, i never thought of that myself, and i watched this fucking movie lol!!!

 

[BlackDragon]

No, apparently, it's 'racist' because the theme of the movie "rests on the stereotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic. It rests on the assumption that non-whites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades."

It has been deemed racist because a white man saved the day.
ffs.

And besides, 'the white man' was drawn in a negative light.

 

[Phoenix Fury]

Yeh, so fucken ridiculous, it's a creative work, nothing more. I can't understand how a sane thinking person could possibly see it otherwise.

 

[yoddle]

There are some instances of it being a problem, HC and the KFC affair being two examples that come to mind but for the large part far from political correctness being a problem, advocation of more tolerance or criticisms of rank bigotry are written off as "political correctness gone mad."

While alot of the positive and progressive eventualities for tolerance of race, sexuality, gender etc fall under the politically correct banner, and sometimes the tabloid media wrongly chastise this, i think the bigger problem is still the PCness seeping into public dialogue and everyday life. You just have to listen to anyone from the Rudd government speaking in public to realise what overly politically-correct, spin-driven language does to political dialogue. e.g. sucks it of any meaning or direct relevance or honesty. This is why people enjoy reading/listening to journalists like Alan Jones (oops did i just call him a journalist) and Annabel Crabb, cos they cut the crap.

Didn't Foucault write something about how the growing danger is changing from overt social control from the top down to self-censorship? Self-censorship, like ashie0 pointed out, is manifested in political correctness.

People who otherwise have a lot to contribute are forced to dilute the directness of their message.

 

[Slidey]

OH cmon I'm against Avatar but not in this way. It's a hollywood and american (yes redundant but the sentence needs it) movie, what were they supposed to use as a main character? An Inuit? Hardly any of them even apply for the entertainment industry.

It's funny because the main character is Australian.

 

[Lentern]

While alot of the positive and progressive eventualities for tolerance of race, sexuality, gender etc fall under the politically correct banner, and sometimes the tabloid media wrongly chastise this, i think the bigger problem is still the PCness seeping into public dialogue and everyday life. You just have to listen to anyone from the Rudd government speaking in public to realise what overly politically-correct, spin-driven language does to political dialogue. e.g. sucks it of any meaning or direct relevance or honesty. This is why people enjoy reading/listening to journalists like Alan Jones (oops did i just call him a journalist) and Annabel Crabb, cos they cut the crap.

Didn't Foucault write something about how the growing danger is changing from overt social control from the top down to self-censorship? Self-censorship, like ashie0 pointed out, is manifested in political correctness.

People who otherwise have a lot to contribute are forced to dilute the directness of their message.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle (atleast the good ones) speak the way they do because they are in a cutthroat competitive industry where they gain an advantage by doing so. When effectively every Australian citizen is your employer it is only natural you do not polarize or alienate. Notice for all Kevin Rudd's pc he still paid great tribute to John Laws when the troublemaker retired?

There are also a number of journalists who don't want to be written off as biased who speak in the same tentative way as our politicians but the frank and fearless public figure is far from an endangered species. You mentioned Jones who is ofcourse not unlike Hadlee, Laws, Gibson etc. Crabbe job is a bit unusual so I'll put her to the side for a moment but people like David Marr, Clive Hamilton,Greg Sherdian and Andrew Bolt are positively culture warriors.

 

[yoddle]

But will more direct and genuine language really polarise or alienate the electorate? I think politicians underestimate the public's thirst for seeing the real side of their politicians, like how they talk when they get home and throw the pots and pans around the kitchen as opposed to their rehearsed selves. Everyone totally loved it when Bob Hawke called that guy in the shopping centre a stupid old bugger (I think, i wasn't actually born).

When i mean PC, i mean just avoiding saying anything controversial, norm-breaking, not-party-approved, not necessarily everyone running around being like "kill all Asians".

I don't really get what you're saying with your last point about the journalists, are you agreeing with me? Because I agree with your provided examples.

 

[Lentern]

But will more direct and genuine language really polarise or alienate the electorate? I think politicians underestimate the public's thirst for seeing the real side of their politicians, like how they talk when they get home and throw the pots and pans around the kitchen as opposed to their rehearsed selves. Everyone totally loved it when Bob Hawke called that guy in the shopping centre a stupid old bugger (I think, i wasn't actually born).

I suspect there is a lot of rewriting of history involved in the Hawke legacy and indeed that of any prime minister to win an election in the past seventy years whereby their success is attributed to their unorthodoxy. Far from delivering him victory, Hawke's occasional crudeness was an electoral hindrance.

Before talking about the cause of any prime ministers long term success one should examine the individual wins in isolation with a fine comb. In 1983 Bill Hayden was well positioned to win the next election before the last minute leadership change. Hayden was very much a labor leader in the Kevin Rudd mold, a cheerful, articulate and moderate Queenslander who was keen on disciplined campaigning and small targets when in opposition.

History has been cruel to Hayden, for the large party suggesting he lacked the political ability to actually defeat Fraser. In actual fact Hawke's landslide victory over Fraser in 1983 was a smaller win that what opinion polls had suggested Hayden would win throughout most of 1982, admittedly his polling dropped late in his leadership but this was amidst vicious attempts by Hawke's faction to remove him from the leadership. Obviously it is a very brave claim to state Hayden would have won a larger majority than Hawke but not so brave to suggest that a drovers dog could have won the 1983 election.

A quick glance over the history books and we will see that no prime minister in post war history and then some has lost his first re-election attempt which it should be noted saw Hawke's majority reduced. A closer glance at the 1987 election will show that John Howard demonstrated many of the Hawkish traits that you suspect were very popular, the straight talking, tell it like it is, cut through the bullshit was on display for all to see. Even if you think that was an asset of the opposition what certainly was not was the public denunciations of Howard's leadership by both Andrew Peacock and Joh-Bjelke Petersen, the latter would actually make a clumsy attempt to role Howard's leadership in the lead up to the election.

Those were the three big wins for the Hawke government which win his political abilities so much praise. The1990 election although a labor victory saw a large swing against labor and Hawke failed to win the popular vote. The legendary brutal honesty of Paul Keating didn't actually do him any great favors. The 1993 election result was a reflection on John Hewsons ill run campaign, Keating was not well liked by any stretch of the imagination. Footage of an incident when he told a protester to "go get a job" was actually one of the main themes of the liberal party campaigns and featured heavily on their televised commercials.

So I would say the "no bullshit" style of rhetoric which has been favored by some successful politicians could well have ended their careers in less favorable conditions.

When i mean PC, i mean just avoiding saying anything controversial, norm-breaking, not-party-approved, not necessarily everyone running around being like "kill all Asians".

Now that Tony Abbott is leader of the liberal party you can probably see a test run of a frank, straight talking leader of a major party and how it compares to a mild mannered vanilla bland Kevin Rudd in the polls. It will polarise and it will alienate just as it when Mark Latham tried to adopt it in 2004.

I don't really get what you're saying with your last point about the journalists, are you agreeing with me? Because I agree with your provided examples.

I thought you meant Jones and Crabbe's were exceptions and that for the large part you felt people in public life were afraid to be frank and open. If you were suggesting journalists do what politicians are afraid to do its because journalists are only required to interest people, politicians are required to win the trust of people. Not a "I believe you" kind of trust but a "I don't think you are going to do something irresponsible and jeopardize my lifestyle" kind of trust.