Shut up, naughty woman.
Catherine Deveney has been fired from her column at the Age newspaper for tweeting jokes about the Logies.
For my American readers, let me explain the Logies. The TV Week Logie Awards are held annually and celebrate Australian Television. Good so far. There are two types of award, the “Outstanding” type (eg, “Outstanding New Talent”, “Outstanding Actress in a Drama”) and the “Most Popular” type (eg “Most Popular New Talent”). The Outstanding awards are decided by peers and critics and other people who know what they’re talking about. The Most Popular type are voted for by people who buy TV Week Magazine.
TV Week Magazine is a glossy, sloshy publication that is purchased by people who don’t want to do too much thinking, and probably feel that soap operas are real. You can tell this by the winners of the Most Popular awards – they are generally pretty insubstantial.
I digress. Catherine Deveney is a ranting, feminist, athiest, euthanasia supporting firecracker. I don’t always agree with her, and I don’t always agree with her way of expressing herself, but overall I find her to be the kind of dynamite we need to spark discussion, thought and consideration of ideas that are generally not touched on in mainstream media. She’s passionate, loud and expressive. She is not afraid to say “This is wrong!” or “this is right!”.
During the logies, she tweeted some jokes. Some off colour, some funny (some both) and as a result has lost her position at The Age Newspaper. She’s also having all kinds of shit flung at her by readers and commentators. Why? She made a joke about Bindi Irwin (OMG NOT BINDI).
My friend Deb posted this to Facebook “more shit is being thrown at Deveney than ever gets thrown at Andrew Bolt. I guess you have to have a penis in this town to be outrageous.”.
She makes a good point. Andrew Bolt has said some stunningly horrendous things over the years, yet no one really touches him. He’s a repellent little so and so, but that’s his right to expression. If he had tweeted anything offensive, upsetting (or funny) it would have been okay, I’m pretty sure of this. People would have been upset, he would have told them to shove it, and the world would move on.
So is it because Catherine is a woman that makes her so “unbearable” to people? Women are still not expected to be loud, passionate and angry about society? Well, fuck that.
As I said, I don’t always agree with her opinions, and I don’t always agree with her statements, but as a society we need women like Catherine Deveney to light a firecracker under people, to make them think, consider and wonder about their opinions, to validate or shatter or to simply express new and dangerous ideas.
Screw YOU, The Age.
The Football Culture.
It’s really – REALLY – time to stop glorifying footballers in this country. I appreciate that sport is important to a lot of people, and football particularly so. Kids in the playground at school make and break friendships on the basis of which team they follow, workmates bond over the latest win or loss of their team, and footballers are held up as the highest possible order of humanity. They are treated like gods, and it has to stop.
Apparently, there’s a type of woman who makes it her main aim to sleep with as many footballers as she can. If that’s what this sort of woman wants, then sure, more power to her I hope she’s having safe sex every single time. However, there’s a breeding culture in footballers themselves that seems to state that ALL women want to have sex with them at ALL times.
Yet accusations of rape, violence toward women and other men, taking a shit in hotel hallways, binge drinking and god knows what else don’t make a dent in the worship of these sportsmen. No matter what disgrace they bring to themselves or the team, it’s all forgiven when they kick a goal or take a high mark.
And the rot is clearly setting in for suburban clubs. Three members of the Monty (I call it Monty as it’s a local team to me) Footy team have been charged with the gang rape of a woman at Philip Island earlier this month. There were actually two women involved, but one has dropped charges. Add to this $10,000 damage done to the house the young men were renting, and you basically have some honest to god AFL footballers coming up the ranks.
Depending on which source you believe, these three and the other under 20′s out trashing rental houses over a drunken weekend either had or had not attended “education sessions about the proper treatment of women”. I’m sorry, but if as a sports culture you need to be telling 17 year olds it’s NOT okay to rape women, then clearly something is very very wrong.
Which brings me back to hero worship. I really do understand the importance of sport to society, although I don’t watch much of it myself, but this blanket forgiveness and acceptance of what amounts to dickhead behaviour cannot go on if we want young men and little boys to understand it’s not okay to do these things.
I’m not saying these guys should be staying up all night knitting socks for the homeless (though it might help) and i’m not saying they can’t enjoy a night out. They are, despite what the newspapers might tell you, only human. I can understand speeding tickets etc, these are mistakes people make all the time. Rape, violence and basically acting like a shit is not a “mistake” that normal people get away with. If they can’t act like the role models they are supposed to be, then they should be dropped from any team they are involved with. No press coverage, no draft picks, just back to nobody land working for a wage like a normal person.
Actually, it *was* racist.
In 1999 a TV show on Aussie TV limped to a thankful end. That show was Hey Hey it’s Saturday, a show that didn’t so much jump the shark as leap the ocean. Over the past couple of weeks there’s been two reunion specials, which have been amazingly well received. I didn’t watch them, to be honest. I mostly remember the show to be cringe worthy (it did start well, it just lost the plan in later years), and it was on at the same time as Spicks and Specks, so you know, had to watch that instead.
Last night the talent segment of the show featured a parody of the Jackson Five, which involved 5 guys in blackface dancing behind a guy with a white painted face. Harry Connick Jr was a judge for the segment and was incredibly offended by it. This is understandable, I’m incredibly offended by it. However, I’m more offended by the attitudes being sploshed around today, which I will now address.
1. It’s only offensive to Americans.
Um. No. Sorry. Australia also has a long history of racism against black people. The White Australia Policy anyone? Raising aboriginal children to be servants and maids? Ring any bells? Sure, the blackface tradition originated in the US, but that doesn’t mean in any way it’s only offensive to Americans to show this sort of thing as “Entertainment”.
2. The movie Tropic Thunder featured an actor in blackface, and no one complained.
Wrong, people DID complain. Loudly.
3. The guy in whiteface was Indian, so it’s okay.
Sorry, no it isn’t. Someone else made the point (and I don’t recall where, probably online somewhere) that racism is racism, regardless of which direction it travels. I’d go along with that.
4. Harry Connick Jr had no right to impose his culture on ours, and shouldn’t have said anything.
Disagree 100%. I’m GLAD Harry said something, I’m glad he explained why he was offended. It’s sad that people believe blackface is okay in Australia though. “Oh he was only offended because he’s American”. Not so, but why should nationality make a difference? Maybe Americans are more sensitive to blackface as a form of racism, perhaps Aussies aren’t as aware of how and why it’s racist, but even so there should be some understanding from the resulting fall out.
5. It’s okay because Daryl Somers (the host) apologised.
Except that he didn’t. He apologised to Harry, yes, because he understood that people from America find it offensive, but he didn’t give a general apology for allowing the act to air in the first place. Big difference.
6. People just want to be offended these days, and make a fuss about nothing.
I’m actually pretty hard to offend. I may not find all comedy funny, but I find very little of it to be offensive. I actually tend to take the above line myself on a lot of things, but in this case – no, I don’t believe it’s a fuss about nothing.
On an episode of the 1970s British comedy “The Goodies” they end the episode in blackface. On the commentary all three of them draw a sharp breath and say, pretty much in unison “I wish we hadn’t done that”. It’s not the 1970s, it’s the 2000s and we’re supposed to, as a culture, be more advanced than we were then. Even understanding that the episode was made in 1976 or whenever, it’s not comfortable to watch.
A few weeks ago Sam Newman held up a photo of a Malaysian man and called him a monkey, and claimed he wasn’t long out of the jungle. Yet he’s still on air. Daryl Somers is aching to get Hey Hey back on air full time, and this incident won’t damage his chances of doing so. THAT is what’s really wrong here – racism is still apparently mainstream entertainment, to be applauded and enjoyed.
I’m an adult.
As an adult person of the grown up type, I really think I’m more than able to choose what I do and do not access on the internet. Sadly, the Australian Government disagrees with this, and has decided the very best thing to do for Australia is to create a clean feed of information. What does that mean? It means mandatory filtering, with only one level of opt out. Parents can choose a higher filtering level, which is a good thing. I fully support the filtering of net access for children and teenagers. However, there’s no option to be UNfiltered.
In real terms, it means that a blacklist of websites created and maintained by the Government will be inaccessible to the average user of internet in Australia (I’m not, of course, counting those who can figure out workarounds). The filter will block content that is “Harmful and inappropriate for children”. Again, I’m all for filtering net access for children, but as an adult, I find it hard to swallow that an entire nation must be filtered in order to protect the kids.
The other reason for the filter is, supposedly, to prevent the transfer of child pornography and other illegal things. It’s a bit like when you were at school, and 1 kid in the class mucked up, so the whole class was kept in. A blanket filter over the entire country is basically saying “We need to look after the kids, so the rest of you can suck it.” Sen Stephen Conroy went so far as to suggest that if you were opposed to internet filtering, then you were clearly FOR child pornography.
Leaving out all the other considerations as to why this filter is a bloody terrible idea, what this will effectivly do is push illegal activities underground. Masked IP addresses, using snail mail etc – it’s basically going to make the child pornographers that much harder to trace and catch.
So, tonight I’m going to send a message to Sen Conroy, and I put this out here on the internets in the hopes maybe one or two (or more) people will do the same thing. I’m going to grab a blank CDr. I’m going to label it “Child Pornography”*[see note below] and add a note saying “There’s more than one way to transfer information”. Then I’m going to mail it to him.
If you’d like to do the same, you can send the CDs to:
Senator Stephen Conroy
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
Level 4, 4 Treasury Place
Melbourne Vic 3002
While I don’t hold much hope at all that this will make any difference to a misguided plan, at least I’ll feel a bit better about it.
If you’d like to know more about the clean feed plan, please check out No Clean Feed.
*Note: upon thinking about it, I decided to not be QUITE so crass. Instead I will label the CD with “Evil nasty stuff”. Because if Sen Conroy wants to treat us like children, I choose to act like one.
That’s not an apology.
I’ve been pondering lately the phrase “I’m sorry if my actions/words offended anyone”. It’s a phrase used a LOT by various sportsmen here in Australia who, after being caught drinking themselves half to death then crapping in hotel hallways or vomiting on people or groping young ladies, will do a press conference and say “I’m sorry if my actions upset or offended anyone”.
Basically, it translates to “I don’t regret what I did or said, but I understand I’m in hot water over it, so sorry if you were upset. Can I go now?”. Sportsmen in this country are elevated to the status of Godlet so they can pretty much get away with it. That’s a rant for another time.
I’ve done and said a LOT of stupid and thoughtless things in my life, we all have. I’ve never said “Sorry if Iupset you”. I have said “I’m sorry I said that” or “I’m very sorry I did that”. “Sorry if” is an arrogant nothing designed to smooth the edges while looking like you actually care what’s happened or that you’ve upset or offended someone. It’s bascially a “fuck you” when you boil it right down.
It’s also becoming accepted usage, which drives me insane with anger and annoyance. You mess up, you apologise for it. You don’t dismiss the offence of other people just because you don’t see why they were offeneded. So, next time someone says “I can’t believe you did/said that!” try “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you”.
I am not a mother.
Which is, in short, why I will not yell at your kids for you. Yes, I will ask them to be quiet, but I won’t scream at them for being noisy or for having late books or for any of the other hundreds of things kids do that annoy their parents. YOU had the child, YOU need to deal with it.
Just yesterday a woman complained that I was letting her kids run riot. I said it wasn’t in my job description to shout at children, but if I saw them doing anything dangerous I’d step in. She bitched me out for not having enough Rules and Laws and Shouting at Small Children. She said she granted me special permission to yell at her kids. I refused.
Basic reason is this: I. Could. Lose. My. Job. Yes, I could. Let’s say instead of saying “Could you guys watch the volume please?” I said “Hey you little bastards, shut the hell up or get the hell out!”, or even “Shut up or get out”. It takes one child saying “The Lady in the Library was mean to me today” and I’m out. Seriously. Take this woman I was just talking about, SHE might WANT me to yell at her kids, but if I do and someone overhears and complains? Again, gone.
It’s driving me mental and it IS getting worse: parents are expecting anyone around to discipline their kids. It seems like Mum and Dad don’t want to be tha Bad Guys so they let other people do it. Charming. I don’t plan on having kids because I would be a dreadful mother, and since I spend a lot of hours a day making sure kids don’t run out the doors, climb shelves or beat each other senseless while Mum or Dad looks the other way, I feel like I’ve had enough kids to last me a lifetime anyways.
Cell Phone Tango
I know a lot of people have raised this, but it shits me off too, so I’m raising it also. Before mobile phones became so vital to our lives, if you were having a conversation with someone on the street and someone else you knew came up to say hello, you would include them in the conversation. These days you’re more likely to answer your phone, ignore the person you were talking to and wander off.
And it pisses me right off. As a Customer Service person, there’s literally no horror like that of someone enslaved to their phone. They ask for help, the phone rings and they answer it and launch into a 10 minute conversation. What’s the service person to do? It’s actually a tough choice. You can wait for the conversation to finish, and possibly ignore anyone else who may be needing help. The other option is to walk away and come back when they hang up the phone (which, can I just add, is very rarely a vital or important conversation. When you hear as many full volume calls as I do, you know it’s almost always about curtains or meeting for lunch in three weeks).
That second option is the tricky one, because you never know how the person with the phone will react when you come back. Some are nice, understanding that they were at fault for answering a phone in the middle of the conversation. Others will rip shreds off you for daring to walk away from them. Hello?
Mobile phones are, without question, important tools these days. I hate leaving the house without one, not because I get a lot of calls but because if my car explodes it’s nice to know I can call someone and say “Um. Bugger”. At work I’m a slave to the phone, I can’t stand it ringing for more than5 rings. That’s more because the sound annoys me, to be honest, than any kind of excellence in customer service. However, my mobile phone is set to silent ring and loud SMS alert. I’m weird like that.
The other time mobile phones should be jumped at and pounced on is if you’re waiting for actual news (not what colour curtains so and so picked, but perhaps that someone’s had the baby). Being 100% contactable in the case of family or friend emergency is important, and mobiles are excellent in these cases. I would say vital.
While I’m on the subject (ooh this is getting long) what’s with the driving and talking? Can you really not stand to be in constant contact with someone? I love my car time, I can sing off key, pluck my eyebrows (not while moving) and basically just let the belly hang out and relax. I don’t want a phone clamped to my ear in my me time, thanks. Hang the thing up, concentrate on the road and call them when you get to where you’re going. Got a call you need to take? Pull over. People do it. Sane people do it. They find a spot to pull over and take the call or ring the person back. It’s really not complicated.
Finally, try this. You’re having a conversation, your phone rings. Try pulling it out of your pocket, answering it and saying “Hi, can I call you back?”.