Is Australia racist? (5 Viewers)

[Selador]

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...says-daily-show-presenter-20130416-2hxg5.html

The Daily Show's John Oliver thinks so. Thoughts?

 

[townie]

Yes

 

[SylviaB]

omg sah raycyst

 

[townie]

omg sah raycyst

The WEF gathered the data from late 2011 through late 2012 by asking respondents, “How welcome are foreign visitors in your country?”

Very scientific, at best it shows that Australians don't think they are racist.

 

[SylviaB]

which is a indicative of being a lot less racist than countries that actually do think they're racist

 

[hayabusaboston]

The world should shift towards the red.

 

[Lolsmith]

which is a indicative of being a lot less racist than countries that actually do think they're racist

fair point, really

 

[OMGITzJustin]

I have to agree that australia is more racist, visited america for 2 months over christmas, it's a different feeling - you can just feel it's far less racist over there. definitely on a different level of "welcoming" in the US to australia

 

[SylviaB]

I have to agree that australia is more racist, visited america for 2 months over christmas, it's a different feeling - you can just feel it's far less racist over there. definitely on a different level of "welcoming" in the US to australia

what race are you

 

[townie]

which is a indicative of being a lot less racist than countries that actually do think they're racist

Not really. It could indicate higher levels of social desirability bias, or people believing they aren't racist when they are. Further more most visitors to Australia come frm western/white countries. So measuring feelings towards tourists might not be the bet measure of racism anyway.

A UWS study found ~80% of people in Australia don't think they are racist. But 80% also believe there is racism in Australia.

 

[Lolsmith]

Not really. It could indicate higher levels of social desirability bias, or people believing they aren't racist when they are. Further more most visitors to Australia come frm western/white countries. So measuring feelings towards tourists might not be the bet measure of racism anyway.

A UWS study found ~80% of people in Australia don't think they are racist. But 80% also believe there is racism in Australia.

You don't think that a nation of people who sincerely identify openly that foreigners are not welcome in their country aren't going to be racist?

Just out of curiousity (I haven't thought about this myself) at what point do you consider a country to be racist? Is it more to do with social racism, as opposed to institutionalised racism

 

[townie]

You don't think that a nation of people who sincerely identify openly that foreigners are not welcome in their country aren't going to be racist?

Just out of curiousity (I haven't thought about this myself) at what point do you consider a country to be racist? Is it more to do with social racism, as opposed to institutionalised racism

I'll preface this by saying I'm now more in this argument standing up for the side of appropriate use of survey/statistical data rather than arguing that Australia is racist.

I don't think that a survey that asks one question of one group of people is proof of much at all. At absolute best it is evidence in favor of what it was designed to measure (How welcome tourists are) at worst it is meaningless. Perhaps the Chinese interpreted the question to mean is it safe for foreigners to be in the country, we know that the Chinese government can be tetchy about outsiders, perhaps Chinese people answered the question with that interpretation, this is quite likely given that the survey data comes from an 'executive opinion survey' so is based on the responses of company executives (not selective at all!). Further more, the difference between Australia and China is minimal in absolute terms, so the map itself is fairly misleading compared to say this one (exact same data source,)

I'm not sure, I'd have to think about it, like I said, I'm more arguing against that map of proof of anything than arguing my corner on racism (hell, I accept ghat Sylvia at least tried to use some evidence whereas I just said yes, nonetheless I find dodgy evidence sometime EL's worse than none at all)

 

[someth1ng]

I believe it is how you define "racist".

I occasionally (okay, maybe more) make racial jokes with friends and close people to me as just that - jokes. However, I don't feel and act differently to different people and so, does that make me a racist?

For me, I believe that in Australia, we are willing to say things that can be deemed as racist but we don't really treat them differently.

 

[db94]

are you f*cking kidding! australia is the only place in the world which you can call a stranger 'mate'. Sure some Aussies may be racist, but many arent. It also depends what constitutes racism, it varies from person to person - for example, some may say calling someone an 'Asian' as being racist while others dont

 

[db94]

which is a indicative of being a lot less racist than countries that actually do think they're racist

+1

 

[soloooooo]

You don't think that a nation of people who sincerely identify openly that foreigners are not welcome in their country aren't going to be racist?

Just out of curiousity (I haven't thought about this myself) at what point do you consider a country to be racist? Is it more to do with social racism, as opposed to institutionalised racism

Just because Australians want to put Australia first and protect it from foreign interests doesn't make us racist.

Race doesn't matter. They can be white, black, yellow etc and no one cares.

 

[Lolsmith]

I'll preface this by saying I'm now more in this argument standing up for the side of appropriate use of survey/statistical data rather than arguing that Australia is racist.

I don't think that a survey that asks one question of one group of people is proof of much at all. At absolute best it is evidence in favor of what it was designed to measure (How welcome tourists are) at worst it is meaningless. Perhaps the Chinese interpreted the question to mean is it safe for foreigners to be in the country, we know that the Chinese government can be tetchy about outsiders, perhaps Chinese people answered the question with that interpretation, this is quite likely given that the survey data comes from an 'executive opinion survey' so is based on the responses of company executives (not selective at all!). Further more, the difference between Australia and China is minimal in absolute terms, so the map itself is fairly misleading compared to say this one (exact same data source,)
http://www.indexmundi.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/attitude-of-population-to-foreign-visitors1.png[img]

I'm not sure, I'd have to think about it, like I said, I'm more arguing against that map of proof of anything than arguing my corner on racism (hell, I accept ghat Sylvia at least tried to use some evidence whereas I just said yes, nonetheless I find dodgy evidence sometime EL's worse than none at all)[/QUOTE]
I really have no response to this other than that it is pretty interesting

 

[SylviaB]

I believe it is how you define "racist".

Racism is an entirely meaningless concept. Its alleged definition changes to suit whatever situation the butthurt racism-accuser finds themselves in.

 

[LANADELREY]

A realistic definition would probably be limited to something about discrimination because of ancestry (race is a genetic concept), but crybaby losers have included religion and culture in it. You also don't need to discriminate/support discrimination against some group to be racist, simply talking about differences that exist/might exist between groups will get you labelled a racist. There's also the idea that if there's some gap between two groups (e.g. group differences in college admissions, group differences in prison incarceration rates, IQ differences, etc.) racism is the only cause.

It includes too many things.

 

[RishBonjour]

Racism is an entirely meaningless concept. Its alleged definition changes to suit whatever situation the butthurt racism-accuser finds themselves in.

White Australia policy please.