Now let me start off by sayng that the title of this piece and its first line is arguably more wrong than anything Hey Hey It's Saturday did with their Jackson Jive Red Faces sketch. The problem is the inuendo that Black means bad, or wrong, and if you extend that metaphor to the African American race than it is obviously wrong. Conisdering that the subject matter of this piece is about the way skin colour was portrayed on this sketch you could draw that connection. Or would you just look at is a clever play on words? I have discussed this straight off the bat to talk about what is really wrong with our community. The word is used to highlight bad moments in our history, but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with judgement of a person based on their skin colour. We, and they know, they have dark skin, and that is that, just by saying that does not mean they are judged on that fact. I'm only waiting for the rise of 'the blonde haired girls' plight for equality.
The thing with this whole 'Jackson Jive' piece is that we think we need to apologise. The only reason it has been highlighted as a 'bad moment' is because one of the judges was long time favourite of the show, Harry Connick Jr. It needs to be considered that Harry Connick Jr is American and was born and raised in New Orleans, a city consisting of more african americans than most, and one that has one of the poorest african american communities in the United States. So naturally he would be more than aware and sensitive to any hint of 'racial vilification' and the strive for equality coming from that city.
I say, leave it at that, an apology to him as a man (which they did), but there is no need to apologise to everyone else. On the Jay Leno show Wanda Sykes, comedian and star of the sitcom 'The new Adventures of Old Christine' talked about her disappointment at Rio de Janiero winning the Olympics. She stated 'Will whorring be one of the events in the Olympics in Rio?'. Now to me that is a comment made in the poorest of taste, implying that Rio is a city full of whores. Did anyone kick up a fuss in that country? No. She basically implyed that the country is 'dirty' - and yes, in certain aspects maybe. But just imagine if another guest on the show following her was from Rio de Janiero? They would have every right to absolutely go off their block.
Or would they? Would cooler heads prevail, understanding the context of the joke, and realise its a case of 'when in Rome...' Harry Connick Jr was on Australian TV, and while he may feel the need to take America every with him he should understand, while not necessarily agreeing with, the sensitivies of an issue in each country.
To an Australian watching that Red Faces skit it would be just a case of looking at it and saying 'Michael Jackson is pale white, while the other members are all black'. Does it mean anything more to us? No. We are not laughing because there are any differences other than their colour. They are not judged on their colour. Their is No judgement of them based on their colour, it's just a simple fact of laughing at the contrast on stage.
I am proud to be Australian and proud of our cultural diversity. And I believe one of our great stregnths is our ability to 'for the most part' be a nation the embraces our mixed heritage. One of our great strengths as a nation is the ability to laugh and we as a nation have a great sense of humour. While it may be 'borderline' it certainly was fine for Austrlian TV.
Many of my heroes are African American - some are not - Michael Jordan, Barrack Obhama, Eddie McGuire, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube. They are not my heroes because of their cultural heritage. They are heroes because of what they have done.
Too often on TV i see race brought up by African Americans. Why are they allowed to discuss it or play 'the race card' while others are not? To me this is becoming very much like a women's liberation issue. Eveerything has to be tipy-toed around. Now we have a case of men thinking 'should I or should I not hold a door open for a women?' You are screwed either way.
Are only the people being 'vilified' allowed to talk about the issues? Is that the only way to restore balance? Maybe, and that is unfortunate and says something about the human race. To restore balance you need to throw all the weight on the other side and it restores over time - the scales cannot just be set to even.
With this particular, Hey Hey Issue, and 'matters of sensitivity' that are highlighted in the media I think people need to understand the context of any material before ranting and raving. Are we on our way to communist televesion? Should media be THAT steralised? Should issues such as Euthenasia not be discussed on Grey's Anatomy? What about a simple show on say 'Everybody Loves Raymond' where Allie is allowed to go out late at night or sleep over? Should that show be banned from Utah?The point I am making is that different people can be sensitive to different matters rightly or wrongly based on their culture. Who has the right to play morale governor? Do we get rid of everything that may offend anyone? If so every office can remove their water coolers.
In my opinion Harry Connick Jr. has only shown how 'racial vilification' is still such a hot issue in the States, and how they have obviously recognised it as a problem, but have not dealt with the problem. Move beyond understanding and recognition to true acceptance please, that is the only way forward for a society, not a politically correct society, but a true society.
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