The latest defense by racism deniers desperately defending Al Nisbet’s cartoons is, ‘There’s fair skinned redheads in the cartoon, you’re the ones projecting racism’.
Yeah we who are calling Al Nisbet on the racism in his cartoons is the problem here.
The denial by some NZers regarding racism truly knows no bounds! Even if Nisbet drew the cartoons while wearing Ku Klux Klan robes, some would argue it was laundry day.
I’m not suggesting the mass censorship of society, I’m not suggesting media and news should come under a new Orwellian Ministry of Truth, I’m suggesting that those elements within Society that propagate racism like these cartoons should be boycotted by those NZers who find such gutter tactic beneath contempt.
Boycott the Marlborough Express, that’s what I’m suggesting, so don’t dare hide behind ‘freedom of speech’ and all the dire concerns facing society if such racism is silenced. Satire mocks the powerful not the vulnerable. The only ‘debate’ these cartoons provoke is ‘how racist do you want to be, a little or a lot’
Using Freedom of Speech as a defense is a giant mountain those who are too cowardly to confront hard questions hide behind. I’m not questioning your ability to spout racist bullshit NZ, I’m demanding that you are held responsible for spouting it.
I love how it’s ‘free speech’ to publish racist cartoons but it’s not ‘free speech’ to criticise those racist cartoons. If you have the ‘freedom’ to vomit up racist stereotypes, then I have the ‘freedom’ to use my speech to denounce that for the sewer dredging social cancer it is.
And it’s not just the racism, the classism is despicable as well. The bennie bashing hatred we have for the weakest members of society is sick for a country that invented the welfare state.
Oh and one more thing for those defending these cartoons on the grounds that criticizing them is ‘PCness gone mad’.
Dear NZ – there’s no such thing as political correctness. It’s a war cry from the ignorant used whenever they feel intellectually insecure.
The most glaring example however of double standards is the NZ Press Council itself. They came out with their mouthpiece on TV last week telling all who would listen that while the cartoons may be offensive, it was the role of cartoonists to provoke debate and to offend.
Sounds principled doesn’t it? Except for 2003 that is, when the NZ Herald sacked Malcolm Evans for drawing a cartoon that Israel found offensive. In that case the NZ Press Council NOT ONLY defended the sacking of Evans, they also defended the NZ Herald not printing any letter criticizing that sacking.
When the cartoons offend Maori and Pacific Islanders, the NZ Press Council are all about ‘freedom of speech and the right for cartoonists to offend’, when the cartoon offends Israel however, the NZ Press Council endorses that sacking AND censorship of the decision.
Funny how quick the NZ Press council’s ‘freedom of speech’ turns based on who has been offended.
We are a nation of garden variety bigotry, a casual racism if you like. What these cartoons revealed is just how hard that casual racism is. When Seven Sharp is the new threshold for journalist integrity, there are no strong voices remaining in the media to denounce this. What this pus filled episode of hate really exposes is what happens when we don’t have responsible public broadcasting to counter the lesser angels of our nature.
We are lessoned by this debate, not empowered by it.
Marl Exp is owned by Fairfax NZ Ltd. And let us not forget somewhere along the lines there is a connection with ‘the state’ when it comes to all mainstream media, be it buddy’s or monetary ties. Fairfax’s main share holder is Gina Rinehart an Australian Mining Tycoon and one of the richest people in the world. My feeling is that people like this are involved in controlling public information via mainstream media hand in hand with the state. Scratch my back etc…., these people like to stay hidden. They keep control of their position and money by cohorting with govt and business mates, and publishing slanted information about national issues that sway towards blaming the people that are most effected by the situation that we are caught in because of govt and big business relations and all that’s involved. Not to mention, what they don’t tell us via mainstream media…. so what is MS Rinehart’s ‘bitches’ suggesting about child poverty… in this cartoon??? That its the parents fault… no matter what colour they are… what they are suggesting is that our kids are starving cause the parents play pokies, drink piss, and smoke fags… What a great decoy away from the real truth, total political strategy to decoy away from who the real perpetrators are….. the government and the hoard of money mongering ally mates that are grouped around the table and having a great laugh…..haw haw….. these are the real abusers of our children, not us…. for they are the ones that make money off the pokies, booze and fags, blood money… they set it all up for us to hang ourselves, and we all take the bait, and then we get sucked into their propaganda and start debating whether the decoy is racist or not without looking in between the lines that they publish for us to read, start taking the layers off people, ask the obviously unmentioned questions…….. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!
the government and the hoard of money mongering ally mates that are grouped around the table and having a great laugh…..haw haw….. these are the real abusers of our children, not us…. for they are the ones that make money off the pokies, booze and fags, blood money…
Spot on! We share similar thoughts. I came to that realization after reading Minto’s excellent post this morning.
Those amused by these cartoons and blindly egging them on, let’s say they’re right for a moment. These kids are impoverished by their parents “bludging”. But what about our government and PM?
*More pokie machines in a generous and bizarre deal with a casino, a corporation of vice.
*The PM’s memory loss over his position regarding alcohol law reform regardless of the concerns of many.
*Increased tax on cigarettes to deter smokers, I regard this as draconian – it’s an addictive product and a problem known to plague Maori higher in proportion than the rest of the population.
*High cost of living; un/under-employment (finding a job is nowhere as easy as the days where many can attest to walking out of one job and into another, particularly difficult for youth); benefits cut and the difficulty of applying for one. News for the government, this isn’t “far-left” propaganda, we witness and experience it everyday – I find it tough making ends meet why do you think I am commenting on these blogs? I’m not interested in pushing my snout in the trough.
Some may say “parents are responsible”, “get a job”, etc. But those whose business is pandering to people’s vices and a government who has demonstrated their cooperation – are they really helping? The above points all appear an all stick and no carrot approach towards the “ordinary” person.
With an extreme right-wing nut disgruntled with the government not listening because he thinks the government isn’t wielding enough stick, perhaps the government should listen to the other side – being constantly beaten by the stick can make the victim very angry. We know where that can lead, unrest, revolution, etc. Not at all constructive.
To The Marlborough Express and The Press.
When I comment on a blog, I try my best to present my point while not being offensive – I find being offensive corrupts the message. The poor moderator has to read through my ramblings to ensure they’re not offensive before posting online. Is that too much for you? Not a good sign for your fading media.
The very people who make the smug argument that there are “white people” in the cartoons don’t even believe their own bullshit. That’s what gets me. It’s a simply a lazy way of trying to disarm us critics. I guess it makes them feel somewhat intellectual when they do this. We ALL know the truth, it’s just that only some of us are prepared to call it out. Thanks for covering this so well and giving it the attention it deserves.
Hear, hear.
Can’t get over Susan Devoid saying it didn’t meet the threshold. How offensive is offensive? Staggering…feels like we’re in 50’s Mississippi!
The most Racism I have seen lately spawns from The Mana Party Facebook page with their supporters comments.
I noticed the argument used that the depiction of white kids in the image somehow negated any racist aspects of the cartoon.
Rubbish.
All it did was strengthen the racism. The kids are WHITE – therefore somehow “deserving”.
The “bludgers are brown skinned. Therefore underserving.
And to make absolutely certain that everyone gets Nisbet’s “message”, the big brown fella spells it out; “booze, smokes and pokies.”
I think the rest is fairlt self-evidence.
It’s impossible to buy into the argument: “it’s not racist because of white people too”. In The Marlborough Express cartoon all children depicted are “white” not even one “brown” kid. The two big “brown” characters are portrayed in a very unflattering way, dominating the picture because of their proportions, the two “white” characters nestled behind and not presented crudely.
Nisbet, “brown” children go to school, and “white” people can be fat and coarse too you know? Racism could have been negated if there was more equality in the picture: two fat “white” adults alongside the two fat “brown” adults and an about equal number of children “white” and “brown”. Nisbet – you blew it.
Those who understand the racism in these cartoons have argued a credible case until they’re blue in the face. The naysayers fall extremely short in their rebuttal – we have yet to see a profound argument from that camp.
I just remembered something, perhaps vaguely. Didn’t The Press publish those controversial Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammad a few years ago? In which case they aren’t strangers to courting controversy. Remember those cartoons caused uproar around the world prior to publishing them here. Can’t remember how that episode panned out here, but I think The Press was one of the few newspapers (2 or 3?) here that published them.
Yep they sure did, them and the Dom Post. I wonder if the same woman was editor of the Press then?
I think its right but the independence of something also matters
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