Put Bolt in the Headline and Everyone will Read it.
On Facebook every day I post ‘’My Thought for the Day’’
and every now and then I put the question. What word best describes
you? My personal word is ‘’observation’’ because it covers a multitude
of experiences. With very limited formal education, observation became
an integral part of my private classroom. From an early age I became a
keen observer. Nothing escaped my scrutiny or sensory surveillance’s. I
watched people, nature and life in general. I examined and considered.
So it was last weekend when I was watching one of my grandsons
playing basketball. One of the boys in the team is from Somalia. A
number of families with African heritage have moved to our area. I
observed the mateship of their winning endeavours and the generous
enthusiasm of their play between matches. The fun, friendship and
frivolity of their connectedness was a delight to watch. The dark lad is
of enormous talent with a generous smile, a face as black as night and
gregarious nature.
I have also observed the total unabashed acceptance by children of
different races at school, and at the local swimming pool where mature
judgement is made by children unhindered by the prejudicial ignorance of
adults.
My thoughts drifted to my own youth and I wondered just what it is
that causes people to be racist. I recalled as a small boy being told
what side of the street to walk to school because Jews lived on the
other side. I lived through the post war era of immigration when
Australians belittled and sneered at Italians and Greeks. Then later
with bi partisan agreement we accepted the Vietnamese who came by boat.
But not before debasing them with the worst part of our own uniquely
Australian prejudice.
Memories came back to me of a pub I used to drink at on my way home
from work. The beer garden attracted a cohort of Aussie builders who sub
contracted concreting work to a group of Italians. I would observe how
the Aussie fellows would run them down with the foulest of language and
then drink with them, without a hint of condemnation when they arrived.
There was a time when a relation who was traveling by caravan around
Australia rang me from some remote area highly populated by indigenous
people. After the usual greeting the following words were advanced.
‘’I’m not a racist but’’ When you hear someone say
those words they generally are. What followed was a tirade of critical
commentary about every aspect of Aboriginal culture and living
standards. I have no doubt that much of what she was saying was true
however, there was no situation that wasn’t replicated in white city
society. Her comments were therefore racist. The singling out of any
group for reason of drawing attention to color is abhorrent to me.
More recently I have experienced racism where I live. I have two
neighbors (one now deceased) who when talking about indigenous folk have
described aboriginals as taking up to much space.
At a junior football final a couple of years ago a teenage boy was
standing behind me verbalising a young aboriginal player of immense
talent. I allowed the insults to insinuate themselves into the minds
around me. The aboriginal boy had heard the remarks and was a bit
distressed about it. I turned and said to the boy of uncouth mouth.
‘’So yours is what a racists face looks like’’
The teenager slunk away probably not used to having his racism
confronted. In the unnatural silence that had invaded the group where I
was standing I received a couple of congratulatory slaps on the
shoulder.
You see I hate all forms of racism in a way that even someone like
me, with a love of the moulding of words as disciples for good, cannot
do. It was a little brave of me to do what I did because I am getting on
in years but we must confront it.
In watching the antics of children of different races in their play
we can bear witness to the sin of the abusers of decency. By the
influence of those who cannot concede that we were all black once. And
those who believe that superiority is determined by a chemical compound.
Children celebrate difference and prove to us that racism is not a
part of the human condition. It is taught, or acquired. You have to
learn it and those who tutor it and preach it are to be pitied for their
ignorance and imbecility. No one is born a racist but we are born into
racist societies.
What is racism?
It is best described in two parts. Firstly it is the belief that one
race is superior to another. That it accounts for differences in human
character and ability. Secondly racism is, discrimination or prejudice
based on race.
Scott Woods puts it another way.
The problem is that white people see racism as conscious
hate, when racism is bigger than that. Racism is a complex system of
social and political levers and pulleys set up generations ago to
continue working on the behalf of whites at other people’s expense,
whether whites know/like it or not. Racism is an insidious cultural
disease. It is so insidious that it doesn’t care if you are a white
person who likes black people; it’s still going to find a way to infect
how you deal with people who don’t look like you. Yes, racism looks like
hate, but hate is just one manifestation. Privilege is another. Access
is another. Ignorance is another. Apathy is another. And so on. So while
I agree with people who say no one is born racist, it remains a
powerful system that we’re immediately born into. It’s like being born
into air: you take it in as soon as you breathe. It’s not a cold that
you can get over. There is no anti-racist certification class. It’s a
set of socioeconomic traps and cultural values that are fired up every
time we interact with the world. It is a thing you have to keep scooping
out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it’s
hard work, but it’s the price you pay for owning everything.
Racism is preserved in many and various ways. Even Christian art
propagates the myth of Jesus being white when in fact he would have been
dark skinned and of Middle Eastern appearance. But art depicts him as
white with European features and more often than not as effeminate.
Christians also cannot bring themselves to the point of accepting that
dark skinned people were responsible for the introduction of religion
into society. No white person has ever introduced a major religion. Some
Christians even quote Bible verse to justify white superiority.
Even the law disproportionally targets colored (I hate that term) people
resulting in levels of incarceration much higher than other groups.
The worst perpetrators of racism are those who do it through the
guise of free speech. People like Andrew Bolt. A journalist of mediocre
talent who writes in a grammatical style attractive to the intellect of
13 year olds, unable to challenge the mind (or his argument)with a word,
or sentence.
Recently he wanted the law changed so that he would be freer through
his column to abuse and defame. When the legislation was turfed because
of its unpopularity Tony Abbott felt obliged to phone this journalist of
such little virtue and apologise.
People who support Bolt and his racism need to ask just why it is
that he is fixated on the subject of race (and Muslims and climate
change) and the answer is simple. Murdoch has built his news empire on
smut and controversy. The formula has made him extremely wealthy. And
there is no doubt that Bolt is paid extraordinary amounts of money to
proliferate the pages of the Herald Sun with this sort of gutter
journalism.
Let us not forget what Justice Bromberg, said about Bolt’s use of language. He said,
“His style and structure is highly suggestive and
designed to excite. His style was ”not careful, precise or exact” and
the language not moderate or temperate but often strong and emphatic”.
There is a liberal use of sarcasm and mockery,” he wrote. Language of
that kind has a heightened capacity to convey implications beyond the
literal meaning of the words utilised. It is language, which invites the
reader to not only read the lines, but to also read between the lines.”
We should also remember that during the London riots, of the not
too distant past Bolt in one of his pieces used the word ‘aped’ to
describe the copycat behaviour of some people. The use of the word was
legitimate in that sense until you appreciate that he was talking about
black West Indians, and then the word became racist.
Bolt keeps coming back to skin, or the color of it as if it were a sexual fetish that gives him endless gratification.
And it must be said that Andrew is a convicted racist and has
been found to on many occasions lie in his writing, particularly on the
environment. In addition he has been convicted of defaming a female
magistrate.
He wants the law changed so that in the future under the guise of free speech he will be able to vilify at his heart’s content.
Take two recent examples from his TV program. ‘’The Bolt Report’’
Bolt is an opponent of an attempt, which has bi partisan support, to
recognise indigenous people in the constitution, contending that to
single out any particular group is racist because it divides
Australians? Former Labor minister Craig Emerson thus declared him a
racist by his own criteria.
“Then you are a racist,” Emerson said, “because of the comments you
made in relation to Indigenous people. By your own criterion, and
that’s what you did. You identified a group of people and went for
them.”
He was correct. Emerson’s
remark relates to the legal case in which Bolt was found to have
breached racial discrimination laws in articles that implied
light-skinned Indigenous people identified themselves as Aboriginal for
personal gain.
He was guilty by his own admission.
Another more recent example is when he quiet bizarrely declared
that ‘’aboriginals weren’t here first’’. As I said earlier he has this
thing about race that sends him into some kind of mental climax that
needs constant stimulation. If you want to figure out the argument he
was putting go here and then explain it to me. I cannot.
I will end where I started with my observation of that gregarious
dark skinned boy playing joyfully in fellowship with his light skinned
mates, and the fact each was different in color, one to the other didn’t
enter the unblemished purity of their companionship. And I silently
prayed that it never would.
Wonder When the Seed Is Planted
I look upon the child’s face and see
Innocence – unblemished purity
Translated in looks virtuous
How sweet how incorruptible
Then it happens with measured subtly
The distortion of youthful thought
Insinuated into free
And immature minds
I wonder when the seed is planted
When evil first takes hold
And intolerance evolves
To become scum on the pond of life
Who grants permission to damage the child?
Of its pristine purity
The wonderment of adventure
And unfiltered creativity
Is it the sin of the father?
That makes a child loathe
That makes them xenophobic
Racist just like him
When does it take root this hatred?
That enters the child’s mind
To be carried with them always
Fermenting as they grow
Are parents so imbued?
With experiences of the past
That forgiveness is impossible
Bad memories seem to last
So they pass it onto their children
And intolerance lingers on
Licking on the finger of hate
It seems to have no end
I can only ask that compassion
Might replace their putrid sin
And the cry that is inside each heart
Will – let understanding in
John Lord.
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