If you're a white/red-neck racist, sexist jerk with a chip on your shoulder, you'll be ostracised by "polite" middle class urban society and possibly dealt with by HREOC or a State or Territory anti-discrimination body for "racial vilification".
If you're an urbanised (part) Aboriginal trendoid mental masturbator, on the other hand, you win prestigious national art awards and your arrogant racist attitudes are overtly condoned by the management of corporate Australia. It's one reason why John Howard's narrow-minded divisiveness resonates with lots of Australians who aren't themselves terribly racist at all.
Ken, I'm not sure if the Build-Up has come to Darwin a couple of months early this year, but I really can't think of any other explanation for an intelligent person to have taken up, and then ran with, the NT News's bait.
I'm not interested in defending the artist's "statement"
Well, butter me sideways and slide me under a door jamb. NT News found something more interesting than crocodiles?
As Terry Lane just put it on Radio National [and I paraphrase] - "it may all just be an over-reaction to out-there artistic licence, to be sure. But I suppose the only way to test that would be for a privileged white middle class portraitist to wear a T shirt reading "black chicks can't hump" to his acceptance of the Archibald Prize.....and see what happens."
I can imagine Bell's mum saying something like "He's not an artistic genius, he's just a very naughty boy!"
Knowing Claire quite well, I'm a lttle surprised she didn't ask "How would you know Richard ?"
Those responsible for this sort of vile "black" racism, are primarily the intellectual luddites of the left whose flawed understanding of human nature has helped create a situation which will eventually do more harm to the indigenous communities than anything the despised working class rednecks could ever manage. Until the do-gooders of the Tooth Fairy Brigade wake up to the fact that they haven't a clue when it comes to helping disadvantaged groups of any race colour or creed, the damage done by this sort of outrageeous behaviour among the privileged sectors of the indigenous communities, will go unchecked. It's not Richard Bell who's at fault. It's not the Sunday Territorian that's at fault. It's not even the fault of the Left's "usual suspect", John Howard. It's the fault of toadying members of the chattering classes who encourage, then try to cover up, the sort of behaviour under discussion here. But we're not supposed to mention things like that, are we?
Geoff and Norman, don't you guys know that only white people can be racists and others are genetically unable to discriminate against others on the basis of race? Put your heads back into your guilt soup, peasants!
Ken has parrotted "John Howard's narrow-minded divisiveness" so often that it must now be a fact on that basis alone. A beaut technique.
Well no, Ron, fairly obviously it's my opinion, as are most statements made in the blogosphere, except assertions of claimed objective fact. I have repeated my opinion about Howard several times lately because I believe it strongly and regard it as both important and relevant to the issues I've been discussing. I don't expect to convince a confirmed Tory like yourself Ron, no matter how many times I repeat it.
I'm not actually aware of anyone being ostracised or dragged in front of HREOC for wearing a dodgy T-shirt. The only off-joke ostracism I can think of lately is that of Kim from Big Brother, who was cast out of Armidale, that noted epicentre of '"polite" middle class urban society'.
Damn right, Norman and Ron, we're the only people the world over who can see what a horrible shitbucket Western society has become thanks to those reverse-racist, ivory tower-dwelling elitist leftist scumbags. I mean, Abos wear dodgy shirts all the time and all we get from those race traitors is a wrinkled nose and a "I don't get it?". But try to call a black man a "nigger", and...
(Y'see, two can play at that game. As I'm sure you can see, bullshit strawmen are bullshit strawmen whether they're disguised in sarcasm or not.)
What's with the "part" Aboriginal remark. Is he less Aboriginal because not everyone one of his ancestors married another blackfella? Why didn't you mention "part" white/rednecks being run up before the "part" Chinese head of HREOC.
Perhaps it was Bell's "white part" that was stupid enough to make such an appallingly filthy statement. Who knows?
Even if he is the biggest dickhead on the planet, it stlil doesn't provide an out to feeling justified about the ongoing racism towards Aboriginal Australians.
As he grew up an Aboriginal (even if only a part) in a territory that was ruled by a party that held power for 20 years on the basis of anti-Aboriginal scare campaigns, I think I'd walk a mile in his shoes before being so quick to judge his right to be offensive.
So, Andrew, you are saying it's ok to be a vulgar prat if you can claim some 'victimhood' status?
No Scott I think that only applies to cricketers...
Heh, not a bad call that. Check your phone!
Get your facts right before you make a goose of yourself Andrew, a simple check
here would have shown you,
A prolific artis (sic) of international standing, Richard Bell was born in Charleville, Queensland, from the Kimilaroi tribe.
As much as we sometimes would like to, we can't blame EVERYTHING on the CLP.