Clowny, sheesh, you were certainly not the smartest puppy in
the litter, you really weren't :)

So if the performers had used brown shoepolish instead of black,
would that make you feel better?

Fact is that if you are doing a skit about the Jacksons, apart from
singing Jackson songs, they happen to be dark skinned with Afro
look hairstyles, so performers are not going to put white shoe
polish on their faces. Given limited props, they clearly did a good
job with what they had on hand, red faces is about amateur slap
stick comedy after all.

There was no racism involved. If some users land up taking copyrighted
material and put it on utube, that is not what the
tv station intended, nor is it their responsibility to consider
that possibility.

If some Americans get their knickers in a knot, because black
faces were associated with racism in the USA, about 50 years ago,
then that is an American problem, not an Australian problem.

But if you would feel better about brown shoe polish then black,
then point taken, the performers chose the wrong colour. Big deal.

Clownfish, why should Australians pussyfoot around American culture? Doesn't it make more sense to go about our business in the usual Aussie way and when Americans find it offensive, we educate them about our culture? This way they may learn that the entire world doesn't revolve around them and their history. "Blackface" means something in America. It means nothing in Australia. If we apologise for something we're not sorry about, they're always going to jump to conclusions when something like this happens... and it will keep happening because after all, Australian will always be and act as Australians.

If it didn't have such unfortunate repercussions for our society, all this denialism about Australian racism would be kind of amusing.

Yabby: << FWIW, some years ago I spent time in the American deep South and I was totally shocked at the open and real hatred and racism expressed by everyday people, constantly. >>

FWIW, back in the 1970s I spent time in WA's deep South - indeed, in the Katanning district near where Yabby lives - and I was shocked and appalled at the racism expressed by everyday people towards the local Aboriginal people.

For example, I worked for a while for an upstanding Baptist farmer, who also employed young Aboriginal men casually to cart hay. Despite being more experienced at that kind of work and twice as fit as I was, they were paid precisely half the hourly rate that I was. When I asked the farmer why that was, he seemed surprised and replied that it was because they were "boongs".

Having been raised in middle class Sydney, I had never encountered such attitudes and practices before. Anybody who thinks that racism isn't a deeply ingrained trait of Australian culture is having themselves on. Yes, there are undoubtedly societies that are more overtly racist than Australia latterly is - but that doesn't excuse our own lingering racism one iota.

I'm in the US right now and there is current outrage about a French fashion magazine apparantly having on it's cover a white model in blackface. They also mentioned and played a clip from Hey Hey.

The general expressions on a TV show I watched, captive in an airport lounge reflected all the American comentators opinion that the entire world should be sensitive to their feelings on this since they have struggled with civil rights and racism.(like the Americans are sensitive to everyone else's feelings and customs)

One of the talking heads then mentioned that on a recent movie, Tropic Thunder I believe it was, a white actor was in blackface, and did his co-hosts find that offensive? No was the response, because while it was "a bit silly", it was only "entertainment" and not meant to be deliberatly offensive.

Mind you I don't see how the fashion magazine, in French is offensive to Americans unless they try really hard to be offended, similarly to the Hey Hey skit.

Yes, I believe Australians have an average level of racism above the Americans, but below a lot of other countries, is it good? Well no, but we're aware of it and at least can admit it and try harder. Trying to beat it out of people is not going to work, it just runs underground then and becomes a seething hatred (like the deep South still has, that's where I am, and it is not far under the surface here).

I find all the finger wagging "I'm outraged and embarassed to be Australian" types tedious and wish you could all admit you're a part of the mix here instead of always standing outside nagging, pretending to be better. You types step in and out of Australian mainstream depending on how you find it today, oh being kind to tsunami victims, yes I'm Australian and proud, a racist comment, no I'm offended to be Australian. We are what we are, trying to improve and mature, but it takes time.

Yes indeed CJ, 35 years ago WA was a different place to what it is
today, you are showing your age. I was talking of a few years back,
not a lifetime ago.

35 years ago, party telephones lines were still the norm, 32v power
plants were common on farms, as the grid was still on its way, colour
tv was a novelty for some, hardly common in the bush. People were
tribal in their thinking, if you had not lived in the town for
20 years, you were a "foreigner".

Just some years ago in the US, when I was there, (before NO got
flooded) they openly carried guns and commonly threatened to shoot
each other, many were in fact being shot. My taxi driver had lost
6 of his buddies in the last 8 months, commonly racial tension.

If you think what happens in Australia is serious, go for a trip
to the US deep south, you might wake up from your dreaming.

But then some of us know the truth CJ. For all your preaching
and pontificating, when a bloke like Ludwig made a friendly
gesture, you flipped your lid in hysteria and rudeness.

In your glass house, be careful about throwing stones.

You certainly don't seem to practise what you preach.

Er Yabby, while 35 years might well be a lifetime for the Noongar people of your district, it's somewhat less for members of the dominant culture like you and me. Are you seriously claiming that racism against Aborigines no longer exists in rural Western Australia? If so, you are indeed in denial.

I expect that as the open expression of racist sentiment has become increasingly socially unacceptable and with the advent of the Racial Discrimination Act in the 1970s, racism has gone underground but is still very much present in your community - as indeed it is in the area where I live.

I bet if I was to have a few beers in the pub at Gnowangerup it wouldn't be very long at all before I encountered racist language or acts.

Incidentally, our very own racist 'blackface' comedian "King Billy Cokebottle" originally hailed from WA. I note that nobody at all has responded to my point that explicitly racist 'blackface' humour exists in contemporary Australian society. More denialism, I guess.