Sunday, June 19, 2011

Must not criticize racism on Facebook?

Australians have a contemptuous term for their native blacks that it similar in impact to the American N-word. The term is "boong" (pronounced as in "book"). Under American influence the N-word is also sometimes used, though the High Court of Australia ruled a few years ago that the word is not offensive in Australia.

Australian blacks (Aborigines) do of course dislike having either term applied to them. They traditionally call themselves "blackfellas".

An Aboriginal singer wrote a song protesting against use of both the N-word and the B-word but in the song he mentioned the words concerned. Even that use of the word was however deemed offensive by Facebook:
An Aboriginal rapper has had a victory in his campaign against racism, after a backlash from fans forced Facebook to "unblock" his controversial video.

Colin Darcy, AKA Caper, who also works as a field officer for South Australian Native Title Services, posted How Would You Like To Be Me only for the video to be deemed too offensive by the social networking site.

Containing the words "boong" and "nigga" - terms directed at Mr Darcy, 30, for many years - the song was aimed at fighting racism with an honest narrative, which many may find confronting.

But strong support from users prompted Facebook to reverse its decision and "unblock" the video.

The song eventuated after Mr Darcy was the victim of racist slurs at a local pizza bar, where his only reaction was to put his anger and frustration into rhymes.

Source

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Soon, Facebook, and other sites devoted to mindless and attention-hungry people, will be making "laws".

Perhaps our Aussie friends should be thankful their Aborigines are not at all like American blacks. And if they don't see that, how about a trade? We'll take yours, and you take ours. LOTS-A-LUCK!

Spurwing Plover said...

PC a code word for SOCIALISM time to end the PC nonsense

Anonymous said...

The natives of Australia had their land stolen by the europeans as was New Zealand, as well as all the Americas, along with Africa and in fact most of the world.

Anonymous said...

"PC a code word for SOCIALISM time to end the PC nonsense"

I agree. Ditch your PC and get a Mac.

Anonymous said...

The big difference between us Anon. 1:44 is that you brought in yours willingly. Ours were already here.