During one of my English Literature module classes today, we discussed about race and feminism, and for some reason, we were having a debate about sensationalist journalism. One of the most controversial news broadcasts in Australia would be the tabloid current affairs programme, Todaytonight. Personally, I don't watch these kind of news reports, because they tend to be over the top or exaggerating for my taste; however, since we were also discussing about race, my teacher showed us a clip from one of their news reports. And my was I bothered.
When I returned home today, I searched for the video clip my teacher had shown us in class earlier; instead, I found the full-length news report. I don't usually get upset about this that easily, but for some reason, this particular news report is very disturbing to me. It seems like a direct assault at Asians. I know living in an Anglo-Saxon community is a little tough, but I never imagine myself to be viewing such a news broadcast and having to write a class report about this. Many of my friends are bothered by this report as well. It seems to me that this news report is generated out of fear than logic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo07_YajUug
I'm not ranting by the way. I'm just pretty bothered by what they are saying. Darn it, lol, I have to write a report about this, and I don't feel up to it. I find these reports ridiculously ludicrous and stupid at the same time.
Here's another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GkuYFk8Iqk...feature=related
Admittedly, reading those comments off youtube is killing me inside. Nonetheless, I have to say that I'm proud to be part of Australia despite what those people say. Here's an Australian vlogger, communitychannel, who I find very entertaining in her defense of being Australian despite her ethnicity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivkw27k9J0c
Well, it's not how you look that should matter whether you're Australian or not. It seems stupid to me to play a game of "spot the Australian".
Full Version: Sensationalist Journalism
No, it doesn't.
I'm from the United States, and I am American first before I am Chinese or Filipino.
I'm unable to watch the video (YouTube is blocked at work
), but I'm assuming it's a news report from a white Australian? Or maybe saying that Australians are Caucasian and not any other race? Am I correct?
If so, I sometimes find myself coming under attack from the other direction. I've met many Chinese and Filipino people who...look down on me or dismiss me because I consider myself to be American before Chinese or Filipino.
I'm from the United States, and I am American first before I am Chinese or Filipino.
I'm unable to watch the video (YouTube is blocked at work
), but I'm assuming it's a news report from a white Australian? Or maybe saying that Australians are Caucasian and not any other race? Am I correct?If so, I sometimes find myself coming under attack from the other direction. I've met many Chinese and Filipino people who...look down on me or dismiss me because I consider myself to be American before Chinese or Filipino.
Awwww *hugs* I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I hope everything is well for you. lol, you should be able to watch it soon. And yeah, the news report is gearing towards xenophobia and hyping up the negativities of people who are not of Anglo-Saxon descent, which I personally find off-putting. Just a reminder, only a handful of Australians are bigoted as these people in todaytonight.
It's most unfortunate, but there seems to be a problem in a lot of culturally diverse countries. We have the whites in Australia complaining about the influx of Asians just as we have the same complaints about Latins in the US. I don't think it's limited to countries with white majorities either. There have been similar tensions in Africa. The majority wants to remain as the majority. I guess that's human nature. So while I personally believe that ethnicity should not be a determining factor for nationality, but most people see it differently than I do. In the US, there is a fixation with race and nationality.
Certainly not !
Fortunately, I'm living in a country with a lot of marriages of swiss people and people of different ethnicities (Africans, Asians) and all the swiss children born from these marriages (with different skin colours !) are well accepted. We have also a political trend against foreigners, but it doesnt include the swiss, whatver their origins.
Fortunately, I'm living in a country with a lot of marriages of swiss people and people of different ethnicities (Africans, Asians) and all the swiss children born from these marriages (with different skin colours !) are well accepted. We have also a political trend against foreigners, but it doesnt include the swiss, whatver their origins.
Obviously, when your people have lived for millenniums on a land, you don't take in too kindly to waves of immigrants coming to invade your territory... 
OK, this kind of attitude pisses me off here already, but every time I read about the US or Australian citizens of recent European descent going into this type of BS, I even wonder if they have a brain to think with. Another example of people using others' various fears to promote their squalid bigoted agenda. They're frigging migrants themselves, for the Great Architect's sake!
OK, this kind of attitude pisses me off here already, but every time I read about the US or Australian citizens of recent European descent going into this type of BS, I even wonder if they have a brain to think with. Another example of people using others' various fears to promote their squalid bigoted agenda. They're frigging migrants themselves, for the Great Architect's sake!
Whenever I have to fill out something that asks my race, it's usually a multiple choice thing like this:
What is your race?
I always pick "other" because I can imagine a room full of eggheads looking at the same printout and going WTF!?
Besides- when you are huge, blue and furry, it's hard to find the right category.
What is your race?
- White
- African American
- Hispanic
- Native American
- Asian
- Pacific Islander
- Other
I always pick "other" because I can imagine a room full of eggheads looking at the same printout and going WTF!?
Besides- when you are huge, blue and furry, it's hard to find the right category.
I've stopped watching the current affairs programs on TV (eg. Today Tonight[/] and [i]A Current Affair) because they are so often a beat up and have things taken out of context, or exaggerated to an obscene level. They are still watched, unfortunately, but I don't take them seriously.
This issue crops up all the times. There are often letters to the editor in the newspapers about why do journalists feel they need to add ethnicity (or religion) to a description. eg. Lebanese rapists*, Islamic terrorists. They don't report say Caucasian rapists or Christian terrorists.
There is still, unfortunately, an undercurrent of the old White Australia policy (that policy from several decades ago promoted immigration of whites over others). Pauline Hanson tapped into that with her hysteria about being invaded by Asians. But that episode also showed how much the typical Australian rejected that view -- there was a widespread outcry and the political party she subsequently formed struggled. It did better that I would have liked, but the majority of Australians recognised the racists nature.
Bondwriter -- as an aside, while thirty years ago some European groups were on the outer in Australian society (eg. Italian and Greek), that is no longer the case. The current 'target' of racists in Australia tends to be Asian or African, not European. I expect that will change again in another twenty years -- it seems to take about a generation for new waves of immigrants to merge into the wider Australian society.
Part of the assimilation requires new immigrant groups to merge in with the rest of Australian society. When they first arrive, they tend to form groups and stay in particular areas, because they're comfortable with others of the same original nationality. This helps them get settled -- they have support -- but delays the assimilation because they tend to be fairly insular. It is the next generation, which has grown up with other children, that tends to mix. As an example, I grew up at the end of the era where Italians and Greeks were the ones to vilify, and I have two (Caucasian) friends who married Greek girls. The heavily Italian area around Lygon Street in Carlton is no longer a ghetto for Italians, but a mini-Italy area that is very popular with a broad range of people. The Italians have been assimilated, but still have their culture as shown by places like Lygon Street. The same will happen with the Asians immigrants.
Australia has a very diverse ethnic mix. I have to be amused when most people talk about "White Australia", because it is obvious that they are including our large Italian and Greek communities in that group, when forty years ago, they were the ones that "White Australia" was supposed to be worried about! There is a large Asian community in Australia, too. As with any community, there are bad elements and good elements. Overall, the good elements very much out-weigh the bad elements, though it is the bad elements that get the publicity.
* This was not a random example. There was a small gang of rapists in Sydney a few years ago that happened to be Lebanese, and identified strongly as Lebanese. The news reports always called them Lebanese rapists and a number of people objected to that.
This issue crops up all the times. There are often letters to the editor in the newspapers about why do journalists feel they need to add ethnicity (or religion) to a description. eg. Lebanese rapists*, Islamic terrorists. They don't report say Caucasian rapists or Christian terrorists.
There is still, unfortunately, an undercurrent of the old White Australia policy (that policy from several decades ago promoted immigration of whites over others). Pauline Hanson tapped into that with her hysteria about being invaded by Asians. But that episode also showed how much the typical Australian rejected that view -- there was a widespread outcry and the political party she subsequently formed struggled. It did better that I would have liked, but the majority of Australians recognised the racists nature.
Bondwriter -- as an aside, while thirty years ago some European groups were on the outer in Australian society (eg. Italian and Greek), that is no longer the case. The current 'target' of racists in Australia tends to be Asian or African, not European. I expect that will change again in another twenty years -- it seems to take about a generation for new waves of immigrants to merge into the wider Australian society.
Part of the assimilation requires new immigrant groups to merge in with the rest of Australian society. When they first arrive, they tend to form groups and stay in particular areas, because they're comfortable with others of the same original nationality. This helps them get settled -- they have support -- but delays the assimilation because they tend to be fairly insular. It is the next generation, which has grown up with other children, that tends to mix. As an example, I grew up at the end of the era where Italians and Greeks were the ones to vilify, and I have two (Caucasian) friends who married Greek girls. The heavily Italian area around Lygon Street in Carlton is no longer a ghetto for Italians, but a mini-Italy area that is very popular with a broad range of people. The Italians have been assimilated, but still have their culture as shown by places like Lygon Street. The same will happen with the Asians immigrants.
Australia has a very diverse ethnic mix. I have to be amused when most people talk about "White Australia", because it is obvious that they are including our large Italian and Greek communities in that group, when forty years ago, they were the ones that "White Australia" was supposed to be worried about! There is a large Asian community in Australia, too. As with any community, there are bad elements and good elements. Overall, the good elements very much out-weigh the bad elements, though it is the bad elements that get the publicity.
* This was not a random example. There was a small gang of rapists in Sydney a few years ago that happened to be Lebanese, and identified strongly as Lebanese. The news reports always called them Lebanese rapists and a number of people objected to that.
QUOTE (Graeme @ August 15 2008, 08:25 AM) 
I've stopped watching the current affairs programs on TV (eg. Today Tonight[/] and [i]A Current Affair) because they are so often a beat up and have things taken out of context, or exaggerated to an obscene level. They are still watched, unfortunately, but I don't take them seriously.
This issue crops up all the times. There are often letters to the editor in the newspapers about why do journalists feel they need to add ethnicity (or religion) to a description. eg. Lebanese rapists*, Islamic terrorists. They don't report say Caucasian rapists or Christian terrorists.
There is still, unfortunately, an undercurrent of the old White Australia policy (that policy from several decades ago promoted immigration of whites over others). Pauline Hanson tapped into that with her hysteria about being invaded by Asians. But that episode also showed how much the typical Australian rejected that view -- there was a widespread outcry and the political party she subsequently formed struggled. It did better that I would have liked, but the majority of Australians recognised the racists nature.
Bondwriter -- as an aside, while thirty years ago some European groups were on the outer in Australian society (eg. Italian and Greek), that is no longer the case. The current 'target' of racists in Australia tends to be Asian or African, not European. I expect that will change again in another twenty years -- it seems to take about a generation for new waves of immigrants to merge into the wider Australian society.
Part of the assimilation requires new immigrant groups to merge in with the rest of Australian society. When they first arrive, they tend to form groups and stay in particular areas, because they're comfortable with others of the same original nationality. This helps them get settled -- they have support -- but delays the assimilation because they tend to be fairly insular. It is the next generation, which has grown up with other children, that tends to mix. As an example, I grew up at the end of the era where Italians and Greeks were the ones to vilify, and I have two (Caucasian) friends who married Greek girls. The heavily Italian area around Lygon Street in Carlton is no longer a ghetto for Italians, but a mini-Italy area that is very popular with a broad range of people. The Italians have been assimilated, but still have their culture as shown by places like Lygon Street. The same will happen with the Asians immigrants.
Australia has a very diverse ethnic mix. I have to be amused when most people talk about "White Australia", because it is obvious that they are including our large Italian and Greek communities in that group, when forty years ago, they were the ones that "White Australia" was supposed to be worried about! There is a large Asian community in Australia, too. As with any community, there are bad elements and good elements. Overall, the good elements very much out-weigh the bad elements, though it is the bad elements that get the publicity.
* This was not a random example. There was a small gang of rapists in Sydney a few years ago that happened to be Lebanese, and identified strongly as Lebanese. The news reports always called them Lebanese rapists and a number of people objected to that.
This issue crops up all the times. There are often letters to the editor in the newspapers about why do journalists feel they need to add ethnicity (or religion) to a description. eg. Lebanese rapists*, Islamic terrorists. They don't report say Caucasian rapists or Christian terrorists.
There is still, unfortunately, an undercurrent of the old White Australia policy (that policy from several decades ago promoted immigration of whites over others). Pauline Hanson tapped into that with her hysteria about being invaded by Asians. But that episode also showed how much the typical Australian rejected that view -- there was a widespread outcry and the political party she subsequently formed struggled. It did better that I would have liked, but the majority of Australians recognised the racists nature.
Bondwriter -- as an aside, while thirty years ago some European groups were on the outer in Australian society (eg. Italian and Greek), that is no longer the case. The current 'target' of racists in Australia tends to be Asian or African, not European. I expect that will change again in another twenty years -- it seems to take about a generation for new waves of immigrants to merge into the wider Australian society.
Part of the assimilation requires new immigrant groups to merge in with the rest of Australian society. When they first arrive, they tend to form groups and stay in particular areas, because they're comfortable with others of the same original nationality. This helps them get settled -- they have support -- but delays the assimilation because they tend to be fairly insular. It is the next generation, which has grown up with other children, that tends to mix. As an example, I grew up at the end of the era where Italians and Greeks were the ones to vilify, and I have two (Caucasian) friends who married Greek girls. The heavily Italian area around Lygon Street in Carlton is no longer a ghetto for Italians, but a mini-Italy area that is very popular with a broad range of people. The Italians have been assimilated, but still have their culture as shown by places like Lygon Street. The same will happen with the Asians immigrants.
Australia has a very diverse ethnic mix. I have to be amused when most people talk about "White Australia", because it is obvious that they are including our large Italian and Greek communities in that group, when forty years ago, they were the ones that "White Australia" was supposed to be worried about! There is a large Asian community in Australia, too. As with any community, there are bad elements and good elements. Overall, the good elements very much out-weigh the bad elements, though it is the bad elements that get the publicity.
* This was not a random example. There was a small gang of rapists in Sydney a few years ago that happened to be Lebanese, and identified strongly as Lebanese. The news reports always called them Lebanese rapists and a number of people objected to that.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I believe it takes time for one to assimilate. Boy, I still remember what Pauline Hanson said. Ugh! Thank God for parodies of her if not I would have hit the ceiling hehehe
If you're Australian, you're Australian no matter what. Like I said previously, I hate it when people play "spot the Australian". I remember I used to get racial taunts in school or when I'm at stores lol. I just hate it when storeowners speak really slowly to me or search me on my way out - out of everyone in the store - just because I'm Asian. Oh and the person who searched me on my way out once, happened to work at a tv store. LOL, I wonder how someone who is handicapped as me could steal a 14" television away on crutches? My dad had it worse once. One time this skinhead guy from a red vehicle next to my dad's pointed the middle finger at him and told him to *very strong explict bad word* off back to his country. I find that very imbecilic and childish. Of course, my dad didn't take that too seriously. He let those words slip off his back.
Alas, these incidents still happen at times, but I guess I've become a stronger person. I just hope my ethnicity won't be a problem when I start my career as a teacher. LOL. I dont think it will.
In theory I think the upward limit would be that the two most unrelated people on earth could be 2000th cousins. But I bet the reality is that the two most unrelated people are much closer kin.
As for ethnic consciousness, we Caucasians have not got that involved in the war in the Caucasus. We got more excited about the Iowa caucuses.
As for ethnic consciousness, we Caucasians have not got that involved in the war in the Caucasus. We got more excited about the Iowa caucuses.
Hmmm, well let me just say that race and nationality are both almost completely irrelevant to me. A person is a person and I decide whether or not I like them without worrying about where they're from.
Personally speaking I'm quite happy dating or befriending anyone of any race and as far as where I want to live, well as long as the quality of life is good and so are the social freedoms I'm not particularly picky about that either.
Honestly, to me race is just an arbitrary set of physical features and nationality is just a bunch of lines on a map.
While we're on the topic I don't find gender or religion to be particularly compelling ways of identifying and categorizing people either.
Just my thoughts
-Kevin
Personally speaking I'm quite happy dating or befriending anyone of any race and as far as where I want to live, well as long as the quality of life is good and so are the social freedoms I'm not particularly picky about that either.
Honestly, to me race is just an arbitrary set of physical features and nationality is just a bunch of lines on a map.
While we're on the topic I don't find gender or religion to be particularly compelling ways of identifying and categorizing people either.
Just my thoughts
-Kevin
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