Owns plasma TV, but still a racist

Jason, I’ve linked to Jones’ Wikipedia profile to help the punters. And yes, this “shaming” tactic is so very beloved of the shock jocks, true. It’s more Derryn Hinch’s style than Jones’ perhaps.

I felt uncomfortable being compared with Jones, at first, and then I thought about it.

Jones and I both grew up on dairy farms, I see, but there’s a key difference in what we’re doing. Jones uses the media to incite racial hatred and stir up divisions. I’m pointing to the racist behaviour and saying what I think. And, actually, I’d call the author of the poster a turd to his or her face.

Plus I guess I wouldn’t mind being “the most influential broadcaster in Australia”. I’d like to think I could do something a bit more constructive with the role than Jones has.

Yes, let’s rip them down too.

Just because I happen to criticise one example of “bad behaviour”, don’t assume I automatically therefore think all other behaviour is correct — or even that the example I pointed to is the most egregious.

This is a blog, for gawd’s sake. It’s whatever happened to be on my mind when I had time to write, not a well-researched or balanced coverage of affairs.

That said, I still think making judgements about people on the basis of their race is cuntful.

These “preferences” are precisely at the core of racism. The word “prejudice” comes from “pre-judge”.

Here, people are being judged on their suitability to share a home not on the basis of their character or ability to communicate or maintain a clean home or the interests they might share with their potential housemates, but one thing only — their race. As soon as they can be labelled “Asian” or “African”, it’s being assumed — automatically — that they’re unsuitable.

This means our poster-posting friends have a stereotype in their heads that ignores the rich variety of humanity that can be lumped together under such broad headings as “Asian” and “African”. It means that a potential housemate is OK if they’re white.

It offends me that human beings are categorised and judged in such a shallow way, solely on the basis of race.

I strongly believe that such attitudes are poisonous to society. I am concerned that, increasingly, it’s seen as being OK to hold racist attitudes as long as it isn’t expressed with baseball bats, or if it’s softened with the language of “preference”, or if the racism is being expressed by an “unassuming girl”.

Pre-judging someone on the basis of their race, before knowing anything else about them, _is_ racism.

I believe more people should speak out about these issues.

Posting the phone numbers was a thoughtful, deliberate act. They were already public, on a poster on the busiest street corner in Sydney and elsewhere, seen by vastly more people than read this blog.

I see no harm in pointing at such people and saying, “I think what you’re doing is racist.” The very worst that can happen is that they might receive a few phone calls.

Jason, the “preferential employment practices” you refer to are precisely what the anti-discrimination laws are about.

There’s no problem employing on the basis of the skills required for the job: it’s fine to say “Must speak fluent Mandarin, as most of our customers are Chinese.” Or Spanish because that’s the language in which the boss communicates with staff. The trick is employing on the basis of the skills required, not on your prejudices about those skills based on the colour of someone’s skin.

But when it’s “just a reality we have to deal with,” I say we deal with it by changing it rather than giving in.

I am, of course, hopelessly idealistic.