Australian History X
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thesoretoothsayer
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Interesting article attempting to give some nuance to the Knight kerfuffle.K wrote:https://www.theage.com.au/sport/rendering-of-serena-williams-plays-to-the-delinquency-of-our-thinking-20180915-p503zt.html
However, I don't think we should (further) filter our thoughts and opinions based upon American history or culture:
"The embarrassment is that a committee of people, with their collective experience and with time to review its American perception..."
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stui magpie
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I disagree that the cartoon doesn't look like her. It's actually quite detailed. The outfit she was wearing, how she had her hair tied, the olive skin tone and blonde pony tail of her opponent.
Drawing her in a squatting position throwing a tantrum exaggerates both the stockiness of her physique and her facial features and the emphasis I take is he was trying to depict her throwing a toddler tantrum. I'm not even sure Americans are familiar with the term "Spit the dummy", as they call a dummy a pacifier.
Drawing her in a squatting position throwing a tantrum exaggerates both the stockiness of her physique and her facial features and the emphasis I take is he was trying to depict her throwing a toddler tantrum. I'm not even sure Americans are familiar with the term "Spit the dummy", as they call a dummy a pacifier.
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
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thesoretoothsayer
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David
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Brent's argument (in the article posted above) is not that Williams shouldn't be caricatured, it's that the caricature is of a generic African-American female trope, and not her as a person.
That's a fine distinction, and one is of course entitled to disagree with that conclusion, as Stui does. But I think it's nonetheless important to talk about these things, as images (like words) are a form of communication, and they do have real-world impact. Even if some of those criticisms turn out to be over-the-top, I think it would have been better for Knight and The Herald Sun to consider what was being expressed and think about where it's coming from, rather than go straight for the defensive option of complaining about "PC gone mad".
That's a fine distinction, and one is of course entitled to disagree with that conclusion, as Stui does. But I think it's nonetheless important to talk about these things, as images (like words) are a form of communication, and they do have real-world impact. Even if some of those criticisms turn out to be over-the-top, I think it would have been better for Knight and The Herald Sun to consider what was being expressed and think about where it's coming from, rather than go straight for the defensive option of complaining about "PC gone mad".
"Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence." – Julian Assange
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stui magpie
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I don't think it's PC gone mad, I've said a couple of times, from a US viewpoint I can understand the reaction.
Problem is, their viewpoint is formed by their culture and history which they don't understand is unique to them.
Problem is, their viewpoint is formed by their culture and history which they don't understand is unique to them.
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
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stui magpie
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Back on Australian history, I found this an interesting article.
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/history ... Jv4kNv07rs
The premise is there was 3 different waves of migration to Australia during the last ice age, the first being a pygmy group who resembled Africans, then 2 others, and that this has been airbrushed out of history to support Aboriginal rights.
I've got no interest in the argument that the Aboriginals don't deserve recognition as the first people, as regardless what happened before white colonisation, they were the ones who were here and had been here for a long time.
Now, searching for info on these pygmies comes up with a surprising amount of info, and no surprise it's conflicting. Allegedly the anthropological premises in the 2002 article have been debunked, yet there seems plenty of anecdotal evidence of these "negritos" or pygmies around the Cairns /Kuranda area. Google the name of the Aboriginal tribe around Kuranda, Djabuganjdji, and you get several links relating to pygmies.
As above, I don't think it changes anything if true, but I find the thought interesting.
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/history ... Jv4kNv07rs
The premise is there was 3 different waves of migration to Australia during the last ice age, the first being a pygmy group who resembled Africans, then 2 others, and that this has been airbrushed out of history to support Aboriginal rights.
I've got no interest in the argument that the Aboriginals don't deserve recognition as the first people, as regardless what happened before white colonisation, they were the ones who were here and had been here for a long time.
Now, searching for info on these pygmies comes up with a surprising amount of info, and no surprise it's conflicting. Allegedly the anthropological premises in the 2002 article have been debunked, yet there seems plenty of anecdotal evidence of these "negritos" or pygmies around the Cairns /Kuranda area. Google the name of the Aboriginal tribe around Kuranda, Djabuganjdji, and you get several links relating to pygmies.
As above, I don't think it changes anything if true, but I find the thought interesting.
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
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stui magpie
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Yeah, it's the politicised nature of the subject that makes sorting fact from fiction from airbrushing history really difficult.
The premise is sound in several areas.
When first colonised, Tasmanian Aborginals were reported to be quite different to the mainlanders, more akin to the Torres St Islanders or Papua New Guineans.
It's factual that there are/have been pygmy tribes in Papua, as well as that it was linked to Australia for a very long time so it seems strange that the physical attributes of the two are so different.
On the other hand, evolution or natural selection would/could have also played a part over tens of thousands of years.
There's a clear physiological difference between Desert dwelling Aboriginals and coastal ones. That could be the result of different genetic backgrounds, natural selection or just plain environment and diet, or a combination of all three,
Not sure if in these times we'll ever get the truth, as research into this sort of stuff tends to get buried if it doesn't fit the current agenda.
Which is yet another instance of history being re-written to suit the current narrative
The premise is sound in several areas.
When first colonised, Tasmanian Aborginals were reported to be quite different to the mainlanders, more akin to the Torres St Islanders or Papua New Guineans.
It's factual that there are/have been pygmy tribes in Papua, as well as that it was linked to Australia for a very long time so it seems strange that the physical attributes of the two are so different.
On the other hand, evolution or natural selection would/could have also played a part over tens of thousands of years.
There's a clear physiological difference between Desert dwelling Aboriginals and coastal ones. That could be the result of different genetic backgrounds, natural selection or just plain environment and diet, or a combination of all three,
Not sure if in these times we'll ever get the truth, as research into this sort of stuff tends to get buried if it doesn't fit the current agenda.
Which is yet another instance of history being re-written to suit the current narrative
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.