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Atheist_Simon_Haddad t1_j8709u3 wrote

now none of them will ever be able to enter into toddler politics

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Ground2ChairMissile t1_j86wdqh wrote

>Courtney Politis said the teacher apologized to her for the blackface incident. The educator, who is Argentinian, told her it was a cultural tradition in her country.

>The couple said it's no excuse.

>"It's not an accident. You know better," Courtney Politis said.

Does she? If she's a recent immigrant it's entirely possible that she's ignorant of the cultural context of blackface in America. See also: the Zwarte Piet character in Dutch Christmas celebrations.

That would make this an extremely unfortunate, but ultimately innocent, mistake. A little basic investigation will tell whether this was done with malice or simply ignorance. Teach her the history, accept her apology, and it won't happen again.

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OftheSorrowfulFace t1_j86x70x wrote

Zwarte Piet is racist as fuck though, it's not a innocent mistake. You don't accidentally dress up in blackface and paint your lips red.

I don't understand why people refer to the 'cultural context of blackface in America' as if blackface isn't offensive in the rest of the world..

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misdirected_asshole t1_j86y30t wrote

I was just having this conversation and this example came up.

"oh its not racist his skin is black because of the soot from coming down the chimney"

Well why does he have an afro then? šŸ™ƒ

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TiborJankovsky t1_j87un0h wrote

Exact conversation Iā€™ve had with a Dutch friend! šŸ™ƒ

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Ground2ChairMissile t1_j86ynw3 wrote

Let's lay out a scenario here. How many Australian Aboriginal people do you know? Based on your time of posting, I'm going to guess it's probably zero.

Say you moved to Australia and worked with a coworker who was Aboriginal. And ignorant of the cultural context, you said something incredibly offensive. (I won't list examples, but suffice it to say that there are certain words you shouldn't use, the local equivalent of the N-word, which nonetheless are pretty close to other words in standard English.)

Would you appreciate being labeled as a vile racist, and agree with the assessment, resigning immediately? Or would you apologize for your action and your ignorance, and hope that you'd be forgiven if you promise it wouldn't happen again?

Because this is Reddit and people often dodge the point to try and argue on tangents or unrelated topics: Please answer the question directly before making another comment. Choose one of the two options above.

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OftheSorrowfulFace t1_j86z3v4 wrote

First of all, I live in Australia and as such actively make an effort to learn about first nation cultures.

Secondly, there's a big difference between accidentally using a loaded phrase and painting my fucking face black. And this is about painting other people's children's faces for black history month.

Why do I have to pick from two made up examples, neither of which are relevant to this story? Get out of here with your false equivalencies.

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listinglight778 t1_j88nm6l wrote

Because people will go to absurd lengths to justify anti black racism

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Ground2ChairMissile t1_j86zh3a wrote

> Secondly there's a big difference between accidentally using a loaded phrase with painting my fucking face black. And this is about painting other people's children's faces for black history month.

Both are examples of things you can do out of ignorance. Especially if you're a recent immigrant. And yes, they're relevant for that reason.

I'm sorry that you chose to ignore the question and refuse a civil answer, even after I predicted that you might do so. I can see that there's no point in continuing this conversation, so I won't waste my time.

−10

OftheSorrowfulFace t1_j86zsxc wrote

Nobody is making you post here buddy. If you don't want to take part in the conversation you don't have to.

But don't act high and mighty because I'm not playing along with your tedious attempts to move the goalposts.

Edit - If you block me I can't read your disingenuous replies about how nobody wants to engage in civil discourse.

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Ground2ChairMissile t1_j8701u0 wrote

Like I said, it's Reddit, so it's an extremely common and predictable reaction to refuse to converse like an adult. So common that I knew there was a decent chance you'd do so right away, and was correct.

Have a nice day.

−4

AtLeastThisIsntImgur t1_j873w67 wrote

How about you take your smug jaqing off to a different website.
No one needs a 'civil debate' in which you make poor analogies to excuse blatantly shitty behaviour.

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Minhplumb t1_j88te94 wrote

I need an example of a completely innocent phrase I as an English speaker can make in front of a native Australian that would cause offense?

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MeanGreanHare t1_j87dgbm wrote

It's the immigrant's/tourist's/expat's/visitor's responsibility to observe their surroundings and learn the culture, so that they can avoid egregious mistakes. Locals tend to be understanding of small slip-ups, but they won't be so accepting if someone pisses in the plaza fountain as people tend to do in that person's home country.

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DuePomegranate t1_j87k0sf wrote

Blackface isnā€™t really considered offensive in Asia, except by those who have learnt this from the West. It would be similar to wearing a yellow wig and powder on your face to act as a white person for comedic effect.

It happened on Chinaā€™s state-owned TV and was supposed to be an African dance to celebrate Chinese ties with Africa.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lunar-newyear-china-gala-idUSKBN2AC0BK

Also many times in Japan, kind of like cos-playing black celebrities.

https://www.vox.com/platform/2015/3/17/8230783/japan-racism-blackface

For that matter, dressing up as Hitler or Nazi would also not be horribly offensive. Thereā€™s just no cultural/historical legacy there and so few of the sociological group who would be offended.

−1

breighvehart t1_j87qapf wrote

Because why would BLACKface be offensive to Asian people?

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DuePomegranate t1_j87sm4b wrote

I was replying to someone who wrote ā€œas if blackface isnā€™t offensive in the rest of the worldā€.

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MeanGreanHare t1_j87bhwo wrote

If she's been here long enough to be able to get a job in childcare, she's been here long enough to know that blackface pisses a lot of people off.

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ThemDawgsIsHell2 t1_j8953pk wrote

Thereā€™s a common misconception among stupid people that immigrants arenā€™t intelligent. Not true and also super prejudicial.

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Ground2ChairMissile t1_j896kva wrote

Ignorance and a lack of intelligence are not the same thing.

Pretending a stranger equated them when they did not would be an example of something stupid.

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MeanGreanHare t1_j87c1mv wrote

The idea that a childcare worker thought blackface is a good way to celebrate black history month would be flipping hilarious if not for the fact that impressionable kids were involved.

1