Last weekend Serena Williams lost the US Open Final to Naomi Osaka in New York, and the Japanese youngster's memorable victory was overshadowed by Serena Williams' atrocious behaviour. Arguing with a sports official will never make them reverse a decision, especially when you use an irrelevant argument to try to reason why they should. Docked a point for receiving coaching (which is against the rules and the coach admitted to coaching), Serena said that because "I have a daughter, I would never cheat" as if that was some sort of justification? OK, well I have a sister so therefore the umpire shouldn't give me out in the next game of cricket I play. Baseless argument.
Serena smashed her racket and received a code violation, correctly. She then aimed a diatribe at the Umpire, including calling him a liar. Questioning an official's integrity is against the rules in tennis, so she was docked another point. Correctly. Her behaviour warranted all of the sanctions she received, yet somehow it was "sexist" to give her this punishment. What a crock of shit. Grow up, Serena. Perhaps show that daughter of yours that throwing tantrums gets you nowhere.
The "offending" cartoon |
The Herald Sun stood up for their cartoonist, which is refreshing! |
superior to her because of her race. That's where people get confused. Here in Australia if you call an aboriginal a "coon" then you're a racist, but it's also the name of a brand of cheese. It's also the surname of some people I know. Context is the key.
And so that leads me nicely to Kevin Bloody Wilson and Jenny Talia. Kev in particular has been labelled as a racist several times over the course of his 35 year career and strongly refutes the suggestion, and quite rightly. His best friend, Nigel, is a full-blooded indigenous Australian.
"Some of the best Aboriginal jokes I get, I get direct from Nigel. He tells it, it's piss-funny. I tell the same joke and I'm fuckin' racist!"
Historically, humour has been used to disarm some of the worst crimes imaginable. Telling a joke based on race is not necessarily racism, depending on the context of the joke, and the direction of it. The same joke can be hilarious if told to one person, but if told to someone who you know will take offence to it then it is wrong because you are trying to illicit a bad reaction, rather than laughter. Humour can disarm any joke, but only to the right audience.
During an appearance on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton in the late Noughties, Kev states: "Racism is born out of hate. If I was a racist I wouldn't have Aboriginal artwork on my guitar. I love Aboriginal artwork and for the most I love the culture. Hitler was a racist, and his stuff was born out of hate. None of the stuff I do is born out of hate, I'm just not that sort of person.... I can't see that what I do is racist... People make jokes about the differences."
Over the years millions of people have bought his albums, attended his shows and listened to his songs so clearly there is an audience for the material he produces. One of his more recent songs is called "Common Sense" and the lyrics could almost be written for the Serena Williams debacle, as well as the world today:
Common Sense ain't that common anymore.
Seems common sense is past tense, just like the dinosaur.
Political Correctness has got a lot to answer for,
Cos common sense ain't that common anymore.
Political Correctness. What a crock of shit.
If it's political, it ain't correct, those two words don't fuckin' fit!
Nor do military intelligance, friendly fire or Holy War,
Cos common sense ain't that common anymore.
And one section later in the song is particularly relevant:
"Racist", there's one overused word that's laced with toxic venom,
Spat out by every do-gooder and minority group when you don't agree with 'em!
With the advent of social media being at everyone's fingertips and people's default position being outrage, we're rapidly losing sight of the importance of enjoying our lives. I wrote a blog a few years ago about a time I was accused of racism, and I made the argument that there shouldn't even be categories of race; we're all human beings. The way to end racism is to stop dividing people into different racial categories, and see people as people whether they're black, white, brown, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or whatever.
Smartphones allow people to express that instantaneous outrage on multiple platforms and removes the possibility of rational thought dictating a point of view rather than momentary emotion. So perhaps it's about time you relaxed a little bit, go to see Kev and Jenny in concert, and "Stick that fuckin' phone up ya fuckin' arse!"
Editor's note: Thank you very much to Kevin Bloody Wilson and Jenny Talia. Kev has actually taken the time to read this and shared it on his Facebook page. It means a lot to me that he has shared this and you may well be one of the people who clicked on his link. Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed my writing.
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Kevin Bloody Wilson and Jenny Talia |
www.gofundme.com/lineupandwait