Hard News: There's a funny bit at the end ...
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Did anyone else out there know that the Frank Black song "Hang on to Your Ego" was a cover? Of the Beach Boys song "I know there's an Answer"?
that's been a bonus track on quite a few of the countless Pet Sounds Anniversary issues...which still sounds best in Brian's original mono mix I think...
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The "ex-gay ministry" video may be viral marketing, according to sleuths in comments at Steve Gilliards place.
http://www.lovegodsway.org/ and the linked sites all suddenly appear about a month ago with no prior track record. All the domains are owned by http://www.domainsbyproxy.com/ and I'm getting the same IP address as Mike above when I trace the server. These sites are all hosted by http://www.brainfood.com/
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the main difference between here and oz seems to be that they've actively backed away from public policy that minimises or seeks to undermine racism, and we *tend* not to elect leaders who do so. and that backing away in australia is what (IMHO) is leaving plenty of space for nutters and boofheads to express themselves.
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Precisely and it's a calculated and deliberate approach. It galls me that at the very point in time that Howard talks tough on immigration, we're setting up the fibro's every other place to sell Australia to skilled migrants. I have no beef with increased migration, almost all research suggests that it's a net benefit, what frankly shits me (adopting the venacular) is the unbelievable hypocracy (oh and the stupidity of those that fall for it).
A story that's getting lots of airplay here is the initial refusal of the Tamworth local pollies to accept a small group of Sudanese refugees into the local community. They initially said that they didn't have the infrastructure - this from a town that every year opens its arms to damn-near 100,000 banjo-playing country folk - so what, they don't have not toilets for non-fiddlers?
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fstdt.com
greatest. site. ever.well so far this year anyway. I work in a space with about 20 other stressed out researchers and most of us easily 'wasted' the last 5 hours or so huddled around 1 pc lol.
Do ya reckon fstdt.com is bought us by the same witty folk as that other great fundy satire site discoverthenetwork.org?
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Did anyone else out there know that the Frank Black song "Hang on to Your Ego" was a cover? Of the Beach Boys song "I know there's an Answer"?
I heard it playing in a record shop one day and got stuck in a WTF warp trying to figure how why the song was familiar, but yet not.
Fortunately, Wikipedia was there to set the story straight.
[Written by Brian Wilson,] the song was originally going to be released on [the Beach Boys] classic 1966 album Pet Sounds. Mike Love however objected to the title of the song and some of the lyrics and insisted that it be changed.
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paul, an academic called andrew markus wrote a book on howards use of race called (not surprisingly) 'Race:..." a few years back. he points out the obvious, that howard adopted all of hanson's approach to the race issue to win votes. something hanson has happily verified.
and alex, those were my thoughts exactly on the ex-gay video. funny as all hell, but i can't imagine a born-again singing, "god hates fags". it must be a piss-take of some kind. if it's not, then god help us all.
speaking of which, if god says "a man shall not lie with a man", does that mean it's ok for girls to get with it? maybe the next video will feature something like, "GOD: keeping het men excited since 4000 BC"
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on the race thing. i think we need to acknowledge that racism is actually normal. doesn't matter whether you like it and practice it or not, it occurs in near any society that has contact with outsiders.
Perhaps not Che. In his book Nature Via Nurture (pp 284-266 in the paperback edition Matt Ridley describes a slightly more optimistic take on human nature.
While, on the surface at least, it does appear that human beings have a natural tendency to racism (or at the very least to view race as a distinguishing feature) reality appears more complex. Some ingenious research by a couple evolutionary psychologists seems to show that a tendency to distinguish by race isn't in our genes. Instead, what exists is a tendency to break human groups into 'us and them' (and when you think in terms of competing hunter gatherer clans you can see why this trait would be an evolutionary advantage). However, when people find themselves in (experimental) situations where people from other races are part of the 'us' rather than the 'them' they cease to distinguish (and presumably discriminate).
So what Howard was playing on was not Australian's latent racism. But rather their fear of the Other.
The optimistic thing about this assessment, to me, is that different races aren't forever destined to be at each other's throats. It's only when people convince themselves (or are convinced) that the other race is the dreaded Other that they become so repulsive.
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We simply do not endure the same kind of social conflict. We don't have warring racial gangs staging riots and mob beatings...
But we do have warring racial gangs; it's just that it's on a smaller scale. I'm pretty sure if we had the same population and as OZ we would see much the same occurring. I don't think we in NZ should be taking too much credit for what is a fluke of demographics.
I think there's something in Australians being brash and NZers being reserved that does influence the way racism is expressed in both countries. I've seen the subtle but nevertheless chilling racism in some of the older members of my family. Scottish Presbyterian reserve vs. Irish passion.
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First it's evolution. Then comes plate tectonics and the Big-Bang...I've seen it happen again and again.
Ignoring the above ordering of events, I wonder if we have found our 7 million year old monkey!
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Terence, the evolutionary explanation for the phenomena of racism is by far the most convincing I've read. Matt Ridley's books are great. Our species has an extraordinary ability to create in-group out-group conflicts.
Are you familiar with Peter Singer's book - A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution, and Cooperation?
Left wing thought on why things are lot worse than we would like them stagnated after the failure of socialism, people like Singer are offering a new and more productive approach.
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Ok not relevant but what the hell is this:
http://www.guidehorse.org/photo_page.htm -
What Neil said. Although if racism is an expression of an innate tendency, that doesn't mean we can't take steps to suppress it or steer that tendency into more constructive channels, just the same as with other anti-social behaviours.
And also, Ben said:
"Perhaps this is the true value of political correctness, that people aspire to being polite and courteous and veil their obnoxious or odd views?"
I think that is very true. And the best thing is, a younger generation grows up with a little less built-in prejudice than their predecessors, because they don't hear these things said.
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Stephen,
Particularly when the innate tendency is not racism but 'us and themism'. This is something that can be overcome (or at least minimised) through social and political conditions, constructive dialogue, positive engagement, peace building etc.
Neil,
Thanks for the book ref (link doesn't seem to work, but that's fine). I've got Singer's book on globalisation and global ethics lying around here somewhere and I enjoy his writing. It's always interesting even when I don't necessarily agree with it.
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But we do have warring racial gangs; it's just that it's on a smaller scale. I'm pretty sure if we had the same population and as OZ we would see much the same occurring. I don't think we in NZ should be taking too much credit for what is a fluke of demographics.
We also have warring gangs that are of the same race, a feature that is not apparent in media reports about Australian gang violence.
I don't think we have a "fluke of demographics" at all. Instead, we have an ongoing and determined project by Maori to deal with institutionalised racism in Aotearoa. It has taken generations to achieve, but we now have the foundations for a bicultural society - in which Maori and Pakeha approaches are beginning to be incorporated into the State.
This was not achieved by some kind of political takeover, it was developed after years of research and dialogue. The key mechanism was discussion, not confrontation (although confrontation was used as a mechanism to spur disccussion).
Unlike Australia, we have a mainstream acknowledgement of our historical deeds and misdeeds. And the State is able to say sorry for past wrongs, which appears to be politically unthinkable in Australia.
It's not that we have fewer racists here, it is that we have an entirely different social context - one in which racist comments much more likely to be seen for what they are.
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merc,
Mikaere, yup I agree with you.
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a quick note. rival white motorcycle gangs warring in australia is relatively common.
back in 99 there was spate of bombing of gang HQs in SA and Victoria.
also, italian gang warfare ("mafia") warfare is pretty entrenched too.
likewise vietnamese rivals in the heroin trade.
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But we do have warring racial gangs; it's just that it's on a smaller scale. I'm pretty sure if we had the same population and as OZ we would see much the same occurring. I don't think we in NZ should be taking too much credit for what is a fluke of demographics.
Do you have to cringe quite so much, Neil?
It is not purely a "fluke of demographics", it's a different social environment. It's a difference in kind.
Yes, we have white racist groups. Do we see them leading thousands of ordinary citizens in race riots? No, we don't.
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Russell, I don't know what or where the "cringe" is, I'm just stating my opinion that we in NZ don't experience the level of gang based ethnic conflict as in Oz because we have a smaller population - there's less critical mass for skin heads to lead riots. Another reason, a difference in kind, is that Oz has far more large ethnic groups than NZ from which this sort of thing can arise.
I might be wrong but I can't see how these views are all that controversial.
Mikaere, I agree that there are major differences in how NZ and Oz have dealt with the legacy of colonisation, and NZ has done better, but that's a different issue to the urban ethnic gangs at the BDO. Maybe your reasoning is that had Oz dealt with its colonial history better then there would not be the rival gangs but I think that's unlikely.
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merc,
Why unlikely?
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It's always worth remembering, of course, that, with racism as with everything else, Australia is not homogeneous; some parts of the country are much less racist than others. Sydney's pretty bad, Melbourne (which is an international city like none here in New Zealand) not so much.
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merc,
Hey, Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world!
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Why unlikely?
I think the problem is not that Oz doesn't have a treaty but that guys have testicles.
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It's not to be forgotten that in the 1950s, Australia actively sought low income, ill-educated people from southern Europe to work as manual labourers. According to John Pilger, potential immigrants were vetted to exclude anyone with an education because they would be "uppity". Not the best way to build stable communities.
On a lighter note, Josh's reference to Waltzing Matilda reminds me of Bill Bryson's alternate lyrics:
Forgetting hot liquids are better stirred with a spoon,
The swagman stuck his dick in his tea,
and he sung and he stirred while he waited while his willy boiled,
"I can't bugger you so will you bugger me?"Well I found it funny!
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I think the problem is not that Oz doesn't have a treaty but that guys have testicles.
Heheh! Does anyone know of reputable studies that analyse bigotry in relation to gender? Not feminist theory necessarily, but rather something with a firm empirical basis.
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[Written by Brian Wilson,] the song was originally going to be released on [the Beach Boys] classic 1966 album Pet Sounds. Mike Love however objected to the title of the song and some of the lyrics and insisted that it be changed.
Much as I would like to subscribe to this, and add my voice to the odious Mike Love chorus (he is btw), Brian Wilson has dismissed this by saying it was he that felt nervous and changed the lyric. And I would tend to believe him. Despite the name on the record and Love's verbose claims to his "hard work" (made after he tried to prevent it's release and its subsequent acclaim) it was in all essence a Wilson solo work with the odd guest vocal.
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