Want to see real racism?

by admin on January 11, 2010

This is from a show in the United States called “The Young Turks” on the so called “racist” KFC ad.

According to the guy in the show, the ad is “stereotypical…pushing a stereotype. When I’m thinking race or something…they’re trying to make the target look bad or worse than they actually are…which it does. With a superior race over it….here this drum beat and dance to it, you give them chicken and they become all civilised. This white guy is so civilised, sitting in his own seat…these black folks, a woman putting her but in her face.”

The girl chimes in: “they’re so unruly, uncivilised, so rowdy, jumping up and don, and they can’t sit down unless you give then fried chicken.”

The one problem: both are being racist themselves in presuming that their culture is superior to those from the West Indies. There’s nothing stereotypical in the ad: having both been to Australian vs West Indies games before, and even working many years ago for the WACA, I’ve seen exactly first hand how West Indies fans behave.

So are they saying the way the fans from the West Indies behave is wrong? Because Australians don’t see it as being wrong; quite the opposite, in the cricketing world the West Indies fans are well loved and appreciated because they are so passionate and good fun.

You see, when you criticise other cultures, calling other people “uncivilised,” (like the girl did in the video), you’re the one being racist. I wonder how the Windies fans feel about being called uncivilsed by Americans, and at least one white one at that?

For the record, some archival footage of real West Indies fans in action.

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  • http://friendfeed.com/castillo castillo

    Nice to see someone else discussing this story. A local blog picked up on this and they picked up on the fact that in the markets the was shown, there was not outcry of racism; only in the States did that occur. Unfortunately, too many here in the US presume their norms & perspective to be true; damn the culture, perspective and norms of others.

    Thanks again for showing another perspective; one of actuality and of experience.

  • http://www.quick-links.net/ theoldswank

    Good call Duncan.

    The add may be tasteless but is has the Australian sense of humour that doesn't quite cut it in the States.

  • Cam

    Crazy ain't it, but when I watched the ad I saw West Indian cricket fans and an Aussie cricket fan: it took my American wife to reframe the ad as black and white before I understood what the fuss was about.

    Yanks, here's a tip. Locate a map of the world. Identify the 93.5% that is not the United States of America. Contemplate for just a teeny, tiny moment that you might not be the centre of the world after all.

  • http://pixelbits.wordpress.com/ Mona N.

    A-men, Duncan.

  • http://willhiggins.net Will Higgins

    Just another classic example of Americans imposing their uneducated views on the rest of the world.

    Having lived in America and Australia, I can understand why this ad looks racist to an ignorant American, and also understand why it is not in fact racist in the least.

    In America, one of the racist stereotypes is that African-Americans love fried chicken. If one were to make a comment about fried chicken to a black person in America, it would be unambiguously racist.

    However, in Australia, this stereotype is completely unheard of. Not even the most backwards, racist person in Australia would equate fried chicken with blacks, and thus the creators of the ad could not have anticipated the response.

    However, if this ad was set at, say, a basketball game in America, then without a doubt, it would be racist.

    A third thing I would contest is that the ad can't be racist because the people portrayed in the video aren't African-American, but West Indian, and in my experience, their cultures are very different, and the racist stereotypes, such as the fried chicken one, are not universal.

    And fourthly, the Windies cricket team and their fans are fantastic, and no Australian would say anything bad about them.

  • beverlyhillslocksmith

    racism comes in all color and size

  • Fourth Wise man

    So does ignorance.

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    So are they saying the way the fans from the West Indies behave is wrong? Because Australians don’t see it as being wrong; quite the opposite, in the cricketing world the West Indies fans are well loved and appreciated because they are so passionate and good fun.

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    You see, when you criticise other cultures, calling other people “uncivilised,” (like the girl did in the video), you’re the one being racist

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    The girl chimes in: “they’re so unruly, uncivilised, so rowdy, jumping up and don, and they can’t sit down unless you give then fried chicken.”

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    So are they saying the way the fans from the West Indies behave is wrong? Because Australians don’t see it as being wrong; quite the opposite, in the cricketing world the West Indies fans are well loved and appreciated because they are so passionate and good fun.

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    You see, when you criticise other cultures, calling other people “uncivilised,” (like the girl did in the video), you’re the one being racist.

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    There’s nothing stereotypical in the ad: having both been to Australian vs West Indies games before, and even working many years ago for the WACA

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    There’s nothing stereotypical in the ad: having both been to Australian vs West Indies games before, and even working many years ago for the WACA

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