John Safrans Race Relations S01E02 HDTV XviD-BiA

lucky that american jazz singer \"harry conick jr\" didn\'t watch this amagine the shit storm that
would of caused much worse that hey hey.

not at all gonads90.

the hey hey sketch that harrk conick jr didn't like was actually some what offensive. the joke was
that the people looked silly with their faces painted black. that was the punchline or the key
aspect of the people doing a crap mj dance routine, their silly "black" faces. it also echoed back
to racist routines.

this however is someone made up to look black but part of a satire and social commentary exploring
the race issue. yes there's humour, yes he looks funny, but there is so much more going on away from
that which is the point. he also isn't done up as a black person in a way that echoe's back to
minstrels acts. more like from tropic thunder. i don't expect their to be much out rage, some might
find it a bit uncomfortable and shocking, but there was nothing offensive, degrading or demeaning to
black people in it. it's what you get from higher concepts of comedy and social satire, which you
don't get in low level, people with their faces painted in shoe polish dancing to a mj song.

i think the most you'll get is the socially insensitive people who fail to see the distinction and
will complain just because people complained about hey hey. all due to their ignorance and lacking
the sensitivity to understand something can be offensive to other people, even if they didn't find
it offensive. which was the core of the hey hey sketch controversy that most people missed.

also, safran didn't put on a bogus voice and racially imitate the accent of a stereotypical black person, so hopefully that
should also show the distinction. he spoke in his normal voice.

i would like to see the reactions of the people in the show, if they watched it and realised the
funny looking john safran was actually white

uhh the hey hey skit was a routine that was performed by the same people 20 years ago, and 4 out of
the 5 of them are ethnic of various backgrounds. how can dark skinned men imitating a famous dark
skinned group, be 'somewhat offensive' ?

i love how this entire skit gets people pointing at 'white australia' - when it really highlites
just how thin skinned people are unless theyre taking the piss out of 'white australia'...

i've yet to see this episode, but i saw the segment on tv already (7pm project? i cant remember) and
i cringed, but then saffran does that to me anyway.

don't get me wrong i love safran but i also think connick was a bit thinned skinned and his reaction
was over the top.

if the people in this episode found out that safran was white all hell would of broken out and they
would of flogged the crap out of him. when he was in the dinner and the church he was taking the
piss out of the black americans so he was very lucky in deed, and when that guy said that he travel
all over the world and never seen a black man like safran well i tell you i bet safran was shitting
in his boots.

wasn't the whole point of impersonating a black person supposed to be how one has to navigate around
racists and racism? why didn't he go into white neighborhoods, try to rent an apartment, get a job,
go shopping while black?
it was a pretty pointless show.
as for harry connick's reaction maybe if more whites actually wake up and pull their heads out of
their asses they would realize that black face was created by whites to demean and dehumanize blacks
and is tantamount to waving a swastika in front of a jewish person.
blacks, after all, didn't crawl up those trees and hang themselves, nor did they burn their own
bodies, cut off ears and genitals for souvenirs and then make commemorative postcards to celebrate
the lynching picnics.
the extremes are not the ones that perpetuate racism, it is the "normal,
everyday" people that actually "have black friends" and think that the only requirement to being a
racist is using the "n" word. the mentality didn't go away once legislation was signed freeing the
slaves, that is why there were black codes then jim crow and the reason behind the civil rights
legislation. and it has not disappeared to this day. it is pretty self-serving when the racists are
the ones that make the definition of racism, don't you think? make yourselves feel good and delude
yourselves that "it is not all that bad".
spare me the ignorance of well meaning "non-racists".

people are so tied up with this notion of being politically correct that they go ballistic whenever
anything edgy appears on tv. i saw both the hey hey skit and this (i watch it on abc on wednesdays)
and i didn't find any racially vilifying abouy either of them. do they in some way explore issues or
socal undertones attached to race. yes but they're not fashioned in a demeaning way so how can you
claim they're racist?

additionally i do live in australia and seeing a response from an american talk show talking about
how we're all so racist is obscene. i am well aware of the the racial issue of this country, both
past from reviewing history and present because i live here. sure those american talk show hosts can
talk about how the white australia policy officially ended in 1973 or 1975 but maybe they failed to
talk about the large mix of cultures that migrated here after ww2 despite such a policy. or when
women were given the vote or any of our other political achievements.

i mean no offense but out of all the countries in the world i find it hardest from someone from
america to tell me that my country is racist. cough mississippi burning or the 'war against terror'
which the previous howard government was stupid enough to follow. maybe those reporters should look
at those picture from abu ghraib again and tell me how "backwards" my country.

sorry for the rant

i think it is a fantastic show and it was never taking the piss out of black people, he's just
investigating what the deal is. when he goes to work at that burger place and he sticks up for the
black folks when the white trash kids start calling them niggers well i dont really thing saffron is
disrespectfull. saffron goes where most of the populations dares not to. he even takes the piss out
of jews his own culture. dont forget also in australia the whole black thing was much different here
compared to america so we dont hold the same veiws as americans. also the show on before this called
hungry beast basically explores the fact of post rascist society, you can call your black friends a
niggger or your italian friend a wog because its post racist as long as its ok with them. i even
spoke to a black american who was on holidays here and asked the issue of calling someone a nigger
and he said it depends now which context its said in and said that it was fine if i called him the n
word and it accidently slipped pass that joint over nigger then i apologised and he said no problem
its not offencive because of the context and setting it was said in.

ive met john before in the street and hes a really switched on guy, yes i do live in australia.

perhaps he could disguise himself as a black person and live in china?
in the papers yesterday (13 nov) was a story about a singer on "let's go! oriental angel" and how
much aggression has been directed at her - her mother is chinese and her father is african-american.
the vitriol directed to her and the show has really highlighted how intolerant chinese are of dark
skinned peoples. this dislike/hatred is often put onto chinese from their distant lands.
president obama goes to china, so the article also spoke about the quandary of him visiting, and the
anger generated by the show.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/oriental-angel-triggers-china-race-row-20091113-ie71.html