According to international Google Search Suggestions, people in other countries think Australians are rude, racist and obnoxious. But it’s not all bad: they also think we’re tall and hot.
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For his latest data project, US web designer Noah Veltman built a website that tracks the questions people ask Google about other countries. The results provide a snapshot of how the rest of the world views Australia, broken down into individual English-speaking nations.
In the UK, people often ask Google why Australians are tall, white and rude, while in New Zealand, people are more likely to query why we’re so hot, rude and bizarrely, called Kiwis. New Zealanders also want to know why Australia is so boring, which sounds a bit like tall poppy syndrome to us.
Meanwhile, all five countries featured in the project (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand) regularly ask Google why Australia is so racist.
While the Google Search Suggestions for Australia are nothing to be proud of, they’re not quite as bad as the USA: the rest of the world wanted to know why Amewricans are stupid, ignorant and fat.
You can check out more of Veltman’s interesting data projects at his official website.
Comments
109 responses to “The Rest Of The World Thinks Australians Are Racist, Obnoxious And Hot (Not Necessarily In That Order)”
They also think we’re all hot. Focus on the negative much? Australias no more racist than any other country.
Travel a bit. There’s institutional racism in Australia that’s just as bad, if not worse than what you’ll find in the American deep south or the UK. My mother’s Chinese so I may be more perceptive of this sort of thing than most, but I’ve noticed that there’s more latent racism in Australia than just about any European country short of Greece.
As for why other countries’ search queries are skewed? Because in ‘recent’ international news, we’ve had Pauline Hanson, the Cronulla race riots and seems every second week another international student, tourist or even Australian-born minority is physically or verbally accosted on a bus or train. No, you can’t judge a country on the actions of a few (or all Dutch people will be demonised on account of Geert Wilders), but where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
I’m an immigrant and a dual citizen. Usually when I start talking to a random and they ask about my nickname, I joke that it’s ironic because I hate said nation, just to see what their reaction is and whether it’s worth my time. It’s amazing how often I walk away from a conversation then and there.
Sometimes, they’re so quick to exclaim their disdain for the nation and it’s people that I don’t even get to “explain” the nickname.
I know it’s not the fairest of ways to judge character, but frankly I can’t be bothered wasting time talking to people who are eventually going to tell me how much they hate those people (not realising I’m from the country in question) and expect me to sympathise.
That’s not to say Australians are the only or the worst, racism is everywhere including my home nation.
And sure, I could get on my high horse and fight against the racism, but frankly I can’t be bothered with the confrontation. I’d much rather walk away and talk to someone else.
but where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
That’s kind of my point. The point is also that smoke’s currently pouring out of every country on earth. Australias currently the go to Pinata for racial bias bashing. We’re definitely racist, but no more than other countries of the world. What seperates us from India? Lets look into the class seperation based on race, how they *kill* each other based on that, there’s literal fights with machettes over that every week in the lower socio-economic areas. It’s horrendous.
America? Holy shit where do we start. Pot meet Kettle, you two will get along *fine*.
England? Well. According to english people who I’m *related* to, Englands pretty damn racist towards anyone who isn’t ‘of england’. Especially Indians in London for example.
Noones saying Australia isn’t racist, what I’m saying though is we’re currently the scapegoat for the rest of the world to use. They look at us and say ‘SHAME SHAME SHAME!’ when the reality is, nearly every single country is just as bad.
Except Amsterdam. They’re awesome.
The reason we’re perceived as racist is because we have an international profile as a liberal, multicultural and developed country. For all our carbon tax, tut-tutting of whaling and all-round tolerance, there are undeniable racial tensions. We shouldn’t be compared with India, Japan or Sub-Saharan Africa. Ethnically, those countries are either fragmented or homogeneous with centuries of cultural underpinning that promote xenophobia and no-one expects Rwanda to be the beacon of human rights.
Compared to most developed countries, we’re pretty racist. Even in Mississippi I never encountered the sort of racism that you can sometimes observe on a Sydney train. That’s to say nothing of Scandinavia or Germany, who make us look like cavemen. Yes, the British have their problems too, but ask a Pakistani now where he’d feel more comfortable sending his children to study; Melbourne or London. Those thuggish attacks a while back were just a symptom of a deep-seated unease in this country that too few people acknowledge.
As a very proud dane (very proud), let me assure you racism is alive and well in Scandinavia. Last time I was in Denmark on a bus, an elderly danish woman (70 years old at least) quietly walked onto the bus, grabbed an afghani womans bag, pulled on it until the woman stood up and then took her seat and told her it was a ” Danish Bus”. Denmark has Dansk Folkeparti (Danish Peoples Party) that has some very outlandish ideas and was actually part of the last government.
Across the Oersund in Sweden, the city of Malmoe is struggling with the highest murder rate and crime rate in Northern Europe and most of this gets blamed on foreigners. Earlier this European summer, there were cars and mini riots in poorer areas of Stockholm which has also lead to further tension between Swedes and immigrants.
Racism is everywhere, even the Scandinavian countries that are typical held up as guiding lights have their issues. Having lived across the globe over the last 20 years on every continent except South America, trust me, Australia is no more racist than any other western country.
Again, I’m not denying its existence. You’ll find this sort of behaviour wherever you look, but if it was a direct, per capita comparison of which country having more racist idiots, then Australia will still come out on top, even if you threw in the ‘Eurabia!’ Swedes and Geert Wilders’s batshit followers.
So you’re measuring racism, essentially. which logically can’t be done. How are you, one person, allowed to generalise such a statement ? Australia is incredibly racist, yes. But you can not use that as a blanket term to describe the entire nation
Did you do a population survey to get this statistic strand0410 “per capita comparison of which country having more racist idiots, then Australia will still come out on top”? please do not generalise. I am Australian and I am not Racist. Neither are my friends or family. Remember There are rasict people all over the world.
BEEP…. wrong
try NZ…. absolutely sweet FA racism there…. loved it
spent ten years living there and when I got back I was depressed to see how right people are with their opinion that Aussies are racist…. we’re not, when we are bought up over it, ur values are better than that BUT we do have a underlying problem with being accepting of racism or prejudice as okay which can then arise to the level of the One Nation influence
deep down, aussies are good eggs, just need reminding every now and then
Too many bogans, that’s the problem.
rubbish. there are no such people as bogans. just one mob of people the other mob desperately pretend they are better than. boganism is used as a scapegoat by Australians who avoid the harsh light of reality.
Bogan (from Wiki): “… an individual who is recognised to be from an unsophisticated background or someone whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies a lack of manners and education”. You must be living in a bubble if you think such people don’t exist. Or maybe in bogan-denial yourself 😛
Clearly you’ve never gone past Bankstown.
I was about to say ‘The maoris may disagree with you there…’
Wait wait? Everyone in Kiwi land are bashing Aussies.. But that’s not racist?
The Kiwi’s I met, always complaining about Australians. If you include that they are worse than the KKK for racism.
What? I don’t…..what?
That’s your problem right there. Stop meeting them. They’ll stop complaining. :p
I’m not sure Australians are classed as a race distinct from New Zealanders, so any jibes you suffer from them, probably aren’t ‘racist’, per se.
Well, considering that Maoris are the indigenous population of NZ, and depending on what they’d classify as an Australian, it COULD be determined as racist.
Of course there is racism in other countries, but he is correct that there is a very old, very institutionalised form of racism that is very strong in Australia which stands out to visitors to the country. Obviously not everyone is and often those who suffer from it don’t even understand that they are being racist.
Having travelled quite a bit I have seen similar ideals in other countries but have yet to see any who are so openly vocal about it.
The things I have seen here have left my mouth open in disbelief. The day I saw a man spit on a Muslim woman and then punch her for complaining was a shocker, worse that everyone around him either did nothing or agreed with his call for her to “Fuck off back to your own country”. (Of which she was already as third gen Australian)
I had to fire one girl who constantly yelled, “Learn to speak English!!” at people who did but had a slight accent, she honestly thought she had grounds for unfair dismissal and when reminded of the anti discrimination laws didn’t even see how her actions applied.
I get most who live this way are fairly uneducated, had these ideals passed on to them from past generations or simply repeating various garbage they hear, but it’s the fact they vocalise it that has earn’t Australia a bad rap.
On another note the media and politics have a lot to answer for with active segregation designed to further drive a wedge in the multicultural society it claims to be so proud of,
Did you just say Indians kill each other based on caste? What a bunch of baloney crock. That kind of attitude that’s precisely the problem with people who’re racist but claim to not be racist. I’ve lived here for 30 years and I’ve never even heard of a racist incident and here you are mouthing off about how “indians kill each other all the time and that’s ok because they’re brown and that’s what non-whites do all the time.” Y’all could learn a thing about communal harmony from Indians. For the level of diversity we have, we’re a very harmonious society. Sure there are institutional divisions and quotas, but there’s no bad feelings on the street or from person to person, unlike in your country.
Funny. I’ve travelled a lot, all around the world. Racism & institutionalized discrimination is REALLY bad & obvious in Asian countries.
Agreed. Being asian myself and having spent a fair amount of my life going to and from Australia, Asia, especially the Chinese are the worst. China’s got that whole “Middle-Kingdom” mentality. Japan’s somewhat racist but in a rather endearing fashion. They seem quite racist, especially when I went there with my very black aboriginal friend, it was like she was like Godzilla. I’ve never really detected an outright racist feeling from Japan, certainly not as much as from China.
When my group of friends and I went to China, it was almost blatantly obvious that they’re just tolerating you and basically just want you to empty your wallets and leave. Hell, it was lucky we had our Chinese friends along. We would constantly have (most, not all, there were a few good ones) issues where the shop owners/staff would fix us with a disapproving look and pointedly dodge us (it looked a lot like they were unhappy with our aboriginal friend), it was only when my chinese friends started speaking in chinese that they would tolerate us.
Hong Kong gratefully, was a total contrast. There we got better treatment.
“When my group of friends and I went to China, it was almost blatantly obvious that they’re just tolerating you and basically just want you to empty your wallets and leave. ”
Really?? I’ve never got that feeling in all the years I’ve been to China… and believe me I’ve gone off the beaten track more often than not (as I prefer that kind of travel than 5 star hotels).. I’ve spent a total of around 6 months over the last 4 or 5 years there.. never once did I get made to feel out of place.. the only person who ever said “lao wai” and pointed at me was a small child of an “out of towner” on the subway.. (He was genuinely curious that what he was seeing was in fact the “lao wai” he had probably heard about so much growing up.. it was a good natured, cute, thing) I’ve been to around 15 different cities in all the corners of the country and yeh.. not once been made to feel like an outsider or avoided etc..
Maybe it was because you were in a group and I always travel alone.. I dunno.. I’ve heard a lot of stories like yours but I’ve never experienced it myself.
Judging from your gravatar, are you white? It seems BuffHardpecs experience was more directed to the “very black” aboriginal friend in his group.
“Australias no more racist than any other country.”
Australian’s – and one only has to look at the two wanke^h^h^h^h^h xenophobes running for office – is from the top down, easily, easily one of the most racist countries on earth.
Who else ships people escaping a war that our politicians caused to a third world country, abrogating our UN responsibility *and* calls them illegal too?
^^^ America. Cuban immigrants.
And sorry, but no, Australia is, top down, easily, easily, as racist as any other countries in the world.
Look up the problems in India between the two cultures there. It’s not just religious, there’s a very real racial issue…
Look at America with all its issues.
Japan, they don’t take well to white people unless they’re tourists…
Australia, has the label of racist because it’s broadcast to the world via all the media. America controls most of that media at this point (yeah Rupert Murdoch but its still American), so why on earth would they call themselves that?
I moved here from the UK a bit over ten years ago and I can tell you that I was shocked at how racist Australians in general were (at least back then) Rural areas were especially bad, they didn’t even realise their remarks were heavily racist most of the time. I’ve gotten used to it now, I guess it’s because I was brought up in London where there was a much more ethnic diversity.
*braces for everyone to ignore above comments and focus on the pom part.
Racism though is the arsehole old bloke saying those things because he hates you, ignorance with a total lack of political correctness is the aussie saying semi racist things in conversation without actually meaning any offense.
I’d disagree – I’m also from the UK and I find far less racism here than in the motherland
Most of the ‘racist’ view of Australia comes from excessive coverage of tiny minority views like Pauline Hanson and people like my mother who still think there’s still a white Australia policy
Conversely there isn’t anywhere near the same level of international attention on comparable British issues like the EDL, BNP etc, I’d also point out that there’s certain newspapers (one major one in particular) that have a racist subtext in the UK, which simply doesn’t exist down under
In both countries you will find examples – each city or region will have its own experiences, or lack of, with other races and that can form a different impression upon each of us, but one thing I will say is, whilst I admit there is some racism in both, I find it hard to think of any significantly less racist countries, but i can think of a lot of countries with much more
“I guess it’s because I was brought up in London where there was a much more ethnic diversity.”
Really? So we’ll go into how the English just adore the indians in london? How they’re best friends with the Muslims in London? Dude, don’t try to espouse London as a cultural utopia, it’s definitely *not*.
don’t be an idiot, some of those people are genuine refugees that we should help, but a significant portion of them are economic refugees who are just looking for a handout, not genuinely escaping discrimination and danger. And some are actually the vanguard for criminal organisations. Some of them are also hypocrites, supposedly they left their origin country because of the horrible conditions and then when we accept them here they do their best to convert our country’s conditions to match their old one. I’m all for helping genuine refugees, but people need to stop generalising all the refugees as a single group of people (both in the positive way and the negative way).
I also came here as a refugee to escape the riots and killings in my country. My family basically boarded up all our windows, packed our bags with essentials like passports and kept a 24 hour watch for around a month, then we bolted to the airport as soon as there was a lull in the riots. I can tell you that all those so called refugees participating in violent demonstrations and complaining about the lack of entertainment/things-to-do/processing delays are most likely not genuine refugees. They are economic refugees looking for a handout from Australia or criminals trying to infiltrate Australia. I was only in my early teens (11-12) when my family ran to Australia and I couldn’t care less about entertainment, I was just happy that we were all still alive. If you have time to worry about entertainment then you were never truly in fear for your life. Being part of a minority group and getting targeted by rioters is a terrifying experience, I had problems sleeping and eating. I had to learn how to shoot a rifle and fight with a knife at the age of 11 (the idea of possible having to kill someone even in self defense if a huge mental burden on a child) and was constantly worried that someone will throw petrol bombs through our window or break down our doors and hurt my family. Being bored but alive in a detention center is bliss compared to that.
Extremely well said.
Absolute. Rubbish. I haven’t heard bigger load of tripe in my life.
There is NO absolutely NO indication that there is some mythical large amount of economic refugees.
They DO NOT exist.
Let me repeat this so we are all clear. There is NO indication of a large amount of “economic” refugees. This is supported by the UNHCR and you know facts. As opposed to bigoted rubbish.
Interesting how you called mr bubbles a bigot while ignoring his story about being a refugee himself. He makes several very valid points. Like him, if I was really fleeing a country where a bomb could fall through my roof or a bullet through my window at any moment, I’d think being in a detention centre was a holiday compared to what I’d just escaped from. For a start, I’d be alive and no one would be trying to kill me.
This is the position I take on the matter and I welcome with open arms and full acceptance and 100% support for genuine refugees.
It is also vital Australia protects its sovereignty and borders. It would be stupid not to. I personally have tried to put myself In a mind frame where I was in fear for my life and how I would react to being sent to png. The honest answer like mr bubbles own personal situation has proven was “thank god im alive” relief I imagine would be one of the biggest emotions I would be feeling.
Australia I believe is a tolerant country. Yes we will hang crap on others as we do on ourselves sometimes. it is racist in isolated occasions but the majority of the time it isn’t.
I will crack up for instance if a person on fb suggests that we should rename Australia day citizens day.
That is not respecting the Australian culture you are apart of. In some countries you wouldn’t even dare suggest that. We are tolerant in the fact we allow that to be said but we as a ppl are not subservient to these kind of requests.
Believe it or not there is a Australian culture and it would be a shame to lose that entirely or over time.
Ty Mr bubbles your post is a welcome approach to a topic that is important for many reasons 🙂
exactly my point sir, well said.
Never been outside of Australia, have we?
And you Sir had the best possible answer to any ignorant racist person that ever lived on this continent island.
since when have pakistanis & iranians been escaping a war that our politicians caused? I can understand your point on refugees from war torn countries but illegally entering a country because the grass is greener (“economic refugees”) and getting shipped to another country for processing does not make this a racist country
Yes we are. Every country has racists. We just have a lot more. We are far worse than any other country. Other countries accept other cultures and languages. We tell them to get lost, demand they speak English, if they have an accent we want nothing to do with them. Look at Australian TV shows, and as the UK has criticised Australia’s almost all white cast in our shows, and when non-Caucasians appear, it’s as criminals. The TV networks over there have received numerous complaints when they air Australian shows because of the racist casting.
Here if a taxi driver or shop attendant has very poor English, a lot of Australian’s are outraged and don’t think they should be working until they’re fluent in English. In the US only a small minority are (mainly in the South), and the majority of Americans don’t mind. They take the extra effort to communicate with them.
The amount of Today Tonight in this post is mindnumbing.
Actually it’s the complete opposite of Today Tonight. Today Tonight are the biggest cheerleaders in complaining about non-English speakers, and how “non-whites” are given preferential treatment. Today Tonight and ACA have very racist stories several times a week.
Today Tonight and ACA flipflop on their stance week after week. One week they’re pro, the next they’re con. Both will take alternating views, yet never back anything up with factual evidence. It’s always correlation = causation with them. I apologise for the rudeness of my answer btw, it was uncalled for.
Wake up mate. The reality is that Australia is a racist place. Australia hasn’t even recognised its original inhabitants yet!
What- the kangaroos?
Or do you mean the boat people who got here about 40,000 years ago? Yeah, ask THEM what happens if you let in anyone on a boat.
There absolutely is…………
Middle class Australians are very racist, especially in Queensland .
Hahaha, I’d say Aussies are lucky (until recently) but less civilized (in average), relative to standards of living (my principle is that, if standard of living is low in a country, then the expectation is low as well). Perhaps their being ‘too lucky’ didn’t help a lot in getting them civilized further. I tend to think of some rough Aussies as some Chinese folks who suddenly got rich and where able to travel overseas. Rude, lacking in hygiene and manners, and generally ignorant. They just happen to be “Western” but they’re a bunch of bogans and cowboys who’ll cheat at sports when there is opportunity. Having said this, I will qualify my statements and say that there are damn good Aussies as well. But the reputation of a country is roughly the average of all citizens living in there.
none of the results say Australia is racist. There’s a lot of results asking if Australia is racist. But nothing stating “why? is australia racist”
There is one however, that asks “Why is New Zealand a racist country”.. asked by the New Zealanders.
(I have no doubts that this data is completely inconclusive too, I’d like to know the method Veltman used to get it)
UK: “Why are Australians called poms”. Errr, what?
POM – Prisoner Of her Majesty. You know, the first whites to get here on boats…….
That comment obviously went over your head. When was the last time you heard an Australian being called a pom? The word is exclusively used to describe the English.
I’ve heard that POM stood for ‘People of her Majesty’ hence why they called the british it? Like many things, it’s probably lost to the annals of time.
No, it didn’t go over my head at all. Having lived in the UK, that’s how they most commonly described the acronym POM. I’m also not surprised that it’s also referred to as People of her Majesty. But yes, I have heard pleanty of Australians called POMs, you just won’t hear it in Australia, therefore, it’s not ‘exclusively’ used to describe the English.
” the rest of the world wanted to know why Amewricans are stupid, ignorant and fat.”
can’t decide whether you were trying to be funny or trying to prove that the stupid stereotype extends beyond Americans
Let’s go with the first one.
Out of curiosity, checked out what Aussies think of other people using the google test:
English (people): called pommies, so annoying, so rude, ‘s teeth so bad?
Americans: so stupid, so loud, so arrogant, so religious?
Canadians: so nice, called canucks, afraid of the dark (really?), so weird?
Japanese (people): so nice, so polite, so white, so weird?
Germans: so smart, so rude, so efficient, so tall?
Russians: so bad at driving, so tall, so rich, so bad at DOTA 2 (again, what)?
Spanish: so rude, so good looking, so loud, so short?
Chinese: so cruel, so rude, so smart, so rich?
African: black, so rude, called black, so dark? (Yeah, maybe we have a confusion problem instead of a racism problem?)
French: so arrogant, thin, skinny, attractive?
Irish: called micks, so angry, so nice, so pale?
Scottish: called jocks, so angry, so pale, so ugly? (Ow.)
Sweidsh: so attractive, so good-looking, so blonde, so rude? (Double ow, Scottish people.)
New Zealanders: called kiwis, so nice, so rude, …moving to Australia? (Ow again.)
Apparently there’s a lot of ‘rude’ going around. c.c
(Oh, and what we think of ourselves: Why are Australians so: bogan, rude, tall, hot? Although if you make it, “Why are Australian people…” like a foreigner might say, we get: rude, beautiful, nice, happy. So there, feel better.)
I’m more than happy to say we’re rude, more than happy. That’s down to parenting in general and a worldwide issue at that…
OK, forget looking at what we all think of each other, some of the other search suggestions on that website are hilarious. Apparently every country wants to know if it’s illegal to grow weed or marry your cousin – except Canadians who want to know if you can marry YOURSELF, and Americans who want to own a wolf and record police.
Most common ‘how to’ in damn near every nation: tie a tie. I laughed. I have typed this, too. Shhh. Don’t let the ladies know… we don’t have a damn clue what we’re doing! (…I think they already know.)
“The Rest Of The World Thinks Australians Are Racist, Obnoxious”
That’s where I would leave us. Not one single word more is deserved.
Then why are you here?
Then please, by all means… leave. You’re taking up space a deserving refugee who would be grateful to be here could use. Please. Piss off by all means you ungrateful prick.
Try living in a country with REAL hardship and then come crawling back telling us how you’d ‘leave us’.
Yes because the solution to finding something you don’t like about your country is to leave rather then try to make it better.
I hate how people sprout that shit!
“If you don’t like it leave!” No. Fuck off. How about “If you don’t like it try and make it better”.
A little late to this discussion but meh.
I think you both missed the point Jayd was trying to make. Jayd was implying that the world can think what they want, but something so unsubstantiated by fact, by mere anecdotes and nothing more, that it does not warrant any more discussion.
I was born in 81, lived here my whole life. Not once in my education or professional life can I ever remember even a subtle casual let alone an institutionalized example of racism. In-fact it was drilled into me from as early as I can remember, how wrong racism and prejudice is (along with the White Australia Policy), and I believe it entirely along with all of my friends (as far as I know).
I can think of a few casual comments made by people in my personal life who I can count on one hand that are racist though.
Hardly paints a picture as a bigoted intolerant island of ignorance.
23 Million people is well more than enough to find plenty of crappy people but until you can back up those anecdotes with more substantial evidence, then anyone thinking Australia is prejudiced, is being prejudiced themselves.
Oh I also agree with labrys that that is such a stupid comment (If you don’t like it, leave).
And doing your best to live up to it, I see!
so no suggestions on how to fix it then? then bugger off, there’s a good lad…
I know this is completely out of place on this article… But does anyone else find supposed supermodels like in this photo incredibly ugly??
I wouldn’t say Lara Bingle qualifies as a supermodel. I would have to say she is pretty hot though. Sure, I’ve seen prettier faces, but damn what a body. It’s a shame she’s about as sharp as a spoon.
I genuinely think this like, nearly every day with photos like this.. I see wayyyyy hotter women just in day to day life.. Though I didn’t realise this was that dumbass.. So that in this instance probably moots this point.
Agreed, I see more attractive women in day to day life too, but that’s not to say that models like Bingle are “incredibly ugly”, as per your original post.
Let’s just say the amount of money being spent to make her “look good”, either isn’t enough or should be spent on someone else.
Hair is well done, if not in bad taste.
Average facial features.
Body you can find on anyone who isn’t a mess.
Overall, the everyday irl stunner puts her to shame. Imagine if they were coated as thick in external efforts as this “exceptional example”, not to mention whenever you see her it’s through the lens of some extreme photoshop.
So do I
The facts are always so different to opinions (like assholes, everybody has one).
Australia and the U.S. are the world’s most successful multicultural countries.
I’ve traveled most of Europe and you see serious racism regularly, and scant evidence of multicultural success.
Adam
Heh. Try travelling overseas sometime. Holy cow is there some blatant, unashamed, prolific racism out there!
Does anyone really type questions into Google like that? That’s a weird thing t do, it would never have occurred to me to type more than “Australia racism”. And never in a million years would I think to ask anyone, let alone a search engine, why any nationality were tall or blonde or hot.
The internet seems pretty racist. Why is the internet so racist and obnoxious?
Racism, unfortunately, exists in all cultures and amongst all races (yes, even non-white/non-Anglo ones).
The West certainly has issues with race (gender, religion, sexuality etc.) but I’d argue there is an honest effort among a lot of people in the West to address and combat the issue. In some parts of the world where racism is rife there are no anti-discrimination laws, no redress if you suffer discrimination and no interest among the majorities to even acknowledge the problem.
In Australia, racism is an issue that is talked about, with disgust from some. Its an issue everywhere, but too often it is an unspoken part of the culture. An article suggesting labels to people from within its national borders with certain characteristics is by nature – racist.
If you really give a shit about it deal with it in your day to day dealings with people.
Otherwise its just fodder for internet comments
Australia = definitely racist!!!! got called a ‘bl00dy wog’ the other day and told to get back on the boat i came on.. hold on, didn’t your ancestors also arrive on a boat? in handcuffs? errrr woops
Australians are more racist than they tend to think they are, neglecting the very recent history of the white Australia policy, the fact there is a third-world-level health epidemic in the native population, so bad that the UN has tried to get the Australian government to actually do something about. The government refuses to, by the way.
The fact that the legislation on refugees went through, and was obviously supported by a majority of people, ‘cuz… now both the major parties in Australia are pretty much rolling toward right wing… as it seems to get votes.
The fact that casual racism is far more accepted here than in many other places, and many Aussies may say that’s just a facet of their sense of humour, but that requires it to be a 2 way street. If you direct the same level of cultural insensitivity at an (not all, but a majority) Aussie about any of their flaws or on touchy subjects, they get very defensive, very quickly and generally get rude quite quickly.
Yeah, we have a problem. Show me a culture that doesn’t. What gets us hot under the collar though is when people try and portray us as more racist than most. It’s just not true. This country is one of the most successful multicultural experiments in history, despite our past.
We can do better. But until Europe, Africa, Asia, Nth and Sth America become shining examples of harmony, i’ll continue to measure ourselves with whats currently out there, not what could be.
You’re exactly right. They seem to be in denial.
I think that, for the most part, Australia’s racism is slowly dying out with the older generations. I’m an Anglo-Saxon Australian living in a college with people from all over the world, and most people are willing to take them under their wing once they first get here until they get used to the lifestyle, and are interested in them because of the insights into their respective cultures. It sounds a bit like a science project when I put it like that, but the younger generations are so much more accepting of people of different nationalities. We travel more than our parents did, and we are exposed to so much multiculturalism from an early age. For my parents’ generation, immigration on a broader scale was still a relatively new thing when they were born, and even little things like Chinese and Italian food were exotic luxuries. And sure, there will be a cross section of society that will buck immigration and difference, but that is the same in any country.
TL;DR Racism is dying out at a rate relative to the dying out of older generations.
I literally have never met a racist person. I’m 30, white and live in Melbourne.
Literally I have never ever been around around who has appeared to be racist. So I don’t know if that’s the bubble world I live in, but it’s the truth.
The impression I get is, in some parts of australia there’s a casual kind of racism, but unlike many other places it’s not discrimination. We’re also way more politically correct and so comments, or jokes or whatever can be labelled racist. Where as when you look at the racism in other countries, it’d actions and treatment. There’s a big difference and it’s just a cultural aspect of the way Australians talk about this stuff.
That said, the governments and major parties seem to be banking on the worst part of australia and racism in the country. So maybe there’s more than I’m aware of.
Or maybe it’s just uneducated poor people.
It depends where you go, but it’s definitely not just the poor an uneducated. Racism against people from Muslim countries and backgrounds is prevalent through all strata of society here. – it might be in private and just murmured to people they think they can trust, but it’s still disturbing.
Ok, so we’re in Australia and racism seems to be a problem. But it’s really a First World racism problem if put in its proper perspective. I’m half European and half Asian. I’ve lived in 14 countries due to my Asian father’s job. I’m kinda brown skinned and have a non-Aussie accent and non-Anglo name. I’ve not encountered any discrimination (that I remember) in my 23 years here (or I’m too thick skinned to notice it). I arrived as a “normal” immigrant based on my educational and skills.
The reason why Tamils were coming over in the boats was because they were being persecuted by the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. A large proportion of the Vietnamese refugees were persecuted ethnic Chinese. Singapore gained independence from Malaya because the large Chinese population there skewed the population demographic so that the Malays might lose their majority, and hence leadership of the country (because they in turn had been given the country to rule by the British when they left Malaya). Malaysia’s main political parties are still delineated along ethnic lines (Malay, Indian, and Chinese). The Chinese discriminate against each other based on the language (they call it dialect – but that’s not linguistically correct) that they speak i.e. Mandarin vs Cantonese vs Hokkien etc…, the Kurds were/are persecuted in Iran and Turkey, the majority of Afghans coming on the boats are from the Hazara ethnic group because they’re being persecuted there. Indians have severe inter-ethnic racism, not only across racial groups (Northern Indians -the original Aryans vs the Southern Indians (Dravidians – i.e. the Tamils)), but also across religious lines (Sikhs vs Hindus vs Muslims). In Rwanda and Burundi there was large scale genocide between the Hutu and the Tutsi, and in Fiji, there have been a number of political coups because the issues between native Fijians and the Indians there. And there’s plenty more like that.
So in Australia we have a bit of name calling and cultural stereotyping… get over it. It’s a LOT worse elsewhere. If you don’t like it – don’t do it, and don’t encourage it.
As for rudeness… everyone in every country is rude to others – except maybe indeed Canada 🙂 – it’s just that in so many instances with our neighboring countries we just don’t understand them when they’re saying rude things.
That was a very well thought out and interesting post! There’s a lot of perspective there on all those different ethnic conflicts.
I like this point about racism in Australia:
“If you don’t like it – don’t do it, and don’t encourage it.”
FYI – Indians don’t hate each other or are rude to others cuz of their ancestry. Yes, there are political issues but you’ll rarely face it directly. I’ve lived here for 30 years. However, people do discriminate based on food habits (veggies don’t rent to meat eaters etc) There’s a reason why Indians who migrate there complain – it’s probably because your country IS more racist. I’m having none of that “racist in a developed wold context” drivel. Just seems like a cop-out.
“Why is New Zealand…” “Better than Australia?” Lol
Those silly Canadians wanting to marry themselves :p they’re like a retarded puppy you can’t help but love.
Canucks for the win! 🙂
A lot of people here are taking this really personally. Just because there might be a problem with racism or even a perceived problem of racism in the wider Australian culture dose not mean that you have to get angry or defensive no one is calling you racist . You can be objective and look at the evidence like cronulla and those awful bus videos and recognise there is a problem without having to compare our level of racism with other countries as though that makes it all better, it may placate your conscience but the problem still remains. The only way we get rid of the problem and the stigma is if we acknowledge it make it socially unacceptable.
I have a few friends in the US that I’ve known online via a private message board community for about 16 years and we’ve always gotten along fine, but recently a couple of them were talking about Australia and they agreed between them that Australians are “openly racist”.
Having grown up in a highly multicultural environment that celebrated diversity from a young age, and never making any distinction between races in my personal treatment of anyone, I was rather hurt and prepared to go on the defensive
But when I think about how much publicity the recent years’ race-related riots have gotten, the immigration issues we’re having, and the kind of people who are likely to make the news overseas, I had to concede it wasn’t *me* they were referring to, and I shouldn’t take it personally. After all, I know that all Americans aren’t obese gun-toting rednecks, not all Indian men are just one stranded female away from a gang rape, not all Germans are Nazis, etc.
It’s just one of those unfortunate casual stereotypes that’s part of Australia’s image. We can change it over time, hopefully by continuing to educate this kind of thinking out of people.
i have no idea what ^^^ are all talking about
i came here for the clickbait
For the third election in a row the key talking point is Stopping the Boats. Yeah, our politicians have decided that our lowest common denominator is that we all really hate foreign people.
Hooray.
Seriously harden the F%^k up.
Using the same logic in Google.
Gizmodo is : Terrible, down, is a joke….
Google said it so it must be true.
and dead…. it also said it was dead 🙂
Sure we have a racist undertone. And yet, it’s far more common to see people working together, or minding their own business. British, Greek, Italian, Turkish, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Sudanese, German, Indian etc etc.. We have it all, often in the same suburb.
Given our diversity, I think we do alright with racism in the grand scheme of things.
People, calm it on down a bit. You’re not going to convince each other, no matter how hard you argue.
“Oh wow, I understand now. You’ve completely changed my point of view. Thank you!”
Said no one, ever.
Also, I’m thinking that Lara looks smoking hot here.
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
so damn hot
racism alive and well in Austraila. I can’t get a job at seven eleven because I am caucasian. hahahaha WTF?? McDonalds and Oporto employ at least 90% asian/indians.
After living 1,5 years in Sydney, I agree, Australians are racist
I love how America asks: ‘Why are Australians?”. Good job America.
Overseas I haven’t come across people having these attitudes of Australians…
If people do though it is our own fault- We actively celebrate the most base, moronic aspects of our culture now more than ever, sports stars are given huge credibility, politicians , especially on the conservative side (but labour does it too), pander to this fantasy of a disgusting, moronic worker Aussie with a brain the size of a walnut who drinks bear constantly and who’s idea of culture is the fungus growing in his bar fridge.
We need to ditch this childish fantasy of ourselves as a self reliant, “larikan”, mate-ship loving, casual racist, beer-swilling idiots who unnecessarily adds “oes” and “ies” to the end of every word (Kamboes, tradies etc), and repudiate, criticise and orstrasise the fools who play up to that crap.
Nothing chills the blood more when you’re holidaying overseas having a great time than when you hear a fellow Australian start to slip into that cartoon role… Being connected with such a tool is baaad news.
Americans have their red neck racist types and most of them consider those people a joke. It’s not like that over here at the moment. Currently our red neck racist types are considered our “true Aussies”. This is wrong!
lol. I experienced this last night on top of the Eiffel Tower of all places (currently travelling Europe, fly from Paris to Poland tomorrow). Came across some real ‘ocker’ aussies at the top. Who’s mission it was to get blotto on champagne and made sure everyone knew about it. You could pan around and see the French cringing, along with myself and some other aussies. Not the best light to paint ones country in.
That’s not to say I haven’t experienced racism. With an Anglo Saxon background the few times I’ve travelled to Taiwan, I would have the odd Taiwanese person spit at my feet as I walked about (mostly rural areas). With one such incident at a club having a Taiwanese guy wanting to pick a fight thinking us ‘white people’ think their all ‘yellow’ and only here to take their women. Thankfully his friends were a bit more sensible dragging him away since he was clearly drunk…and half my size. But I don’t see Taiwan as a overtly racist country, in fact I’ve found them to be quite friendly (hence return visits). That and I often got mistaken for Kiefer Sutherland.
Yes well when half of the third world moves to a country it tends to piss off that country’s people.
Here we go with the dictionary again, people. Stop and learn:
1. There’s no such thing as race. It’s a bullshit concept and it doesn’t actually exist. Just check the genetics. There are no real differences between any two groups of humans.
2. Racism is the belief that there is such a thing as race, so if you think race exists, you’re a racist.
3. Racialism is the belief that one race is better than another. If you believe that, you’re a racialist.
4. Oh stuff it. I’m so bored with this I’m going to do something else.
I blame the Alan jones’s and other right wing shock jocks for stirring up things and getting reactions which are repeatedly bought up in the media and then seen by the world!
Alex Jones get it right it counts!
I’d say the reality of it is, Australia’s a big country with lots of opportunity. Compared to Europeans, Australians of any background in my opinion don’t get anywhere near as ignorant or paranoid about who they live with and who they enjoy this great country with. Unless they’re hitched up in a white town somewhere then swoop into Sydney or Melbourne wondering what’s going on…then it’s like oh well, all good…who cared about that anyway. I just know we’re all grateful for what this country’s given us, there’s a horn of plenty for everyone in Australia, God’s blessing to everyone. Obviously newbies don’t get it, wtf do i care who’s racist and what’s racist. is it being proud of who u are, is that what racist is?
A population around the size of some U.S. States, with practically no variation in dialect for a land mass the size of the United States, mainly living around the edge of the continent, often with searing temperatures, using a form of Estuary English handed down from Cockneys and the Queen as if that’s the only way things should be done and if you don’t agree, you won’t be fully accepted. It’s no coincidence that Australia is not a cultural powerhouse.
Nevertheless, “forgive them, (when) they know not what they do”.
No offense guys, but you are racist… Black and Indian students are attacked for “sucking the wealth”… And stealing land to be quite frank, was never yours in the first place…
Wow! Too funny you guys! I still love ya, and really, really really wanna go to Australia! I think y’all are fab!