She also looks like, you know, Serena Williams.
Unlike the picture.
You do know that if youāre constantly offended, one day youāll wake up and be stricken with loneliness.
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So you saw the cartoon and didnāt know who that person was?
Yeah. Right.
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These two people are artists that have used makeup in their performance. As the first one isnāt racist the second one must not be racist by definition. Orā¦
I will just say one thing. I have been on blitz coming up on 15yrs. One of my lowest points on this forum was seeing a lot of racist dribble being posted during that hyper-contentious India v Oz cricket series where Symonds and Harbhajan got into it. Not many posters truly grasped how that was unacceptable and deeply hurtful. When I read the far more civilized debate above, plus the mature and self-reflective commentary that the posts show, I am very heartened.
Carry on.
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I donāt think it was intended to be racist.
I totally understand the arguments made around caricatures, and that features need to be exaggerated etc. understand that completely.
Iāve only just read this thread and looked at the cartoon for the first time. It didnāt sit well with me despite what Iāve just said above. I think it was a combination of things - firstly the exaggerated stereotypical African features (massive lips, massive nose, weird sticky out ears) and secondly the jumping up and down (like an ape).
I reckon if the cartoon has only one of those things but not the other, then it passes without incident. The combination of both is what has offended people. Did he mean it? I doubt it, but if people are offended by it I totally understand that.
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I donāt see racist connotations in the Serena cartoon.
I also didnāt see racism or sexism in how the umpire handled her in the US open final.
I do think her opponent was better than her and deserved the win.
I donāt care that she has won such a huge amount of titles.
In my opinion she reminds me why our own premier individual awards both best and fairest.
Serena is a grub.
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Actually one more thing - the moralising by the HS is absolutely hilarious. Complaining about censorship and restrictions on free speech etc. Farking what? You just printed that thing in the most popular newspaper in the country, as is your right, but others arenāt allowed to criticise it?
You can print what you want, and others can criticise what you print. That criticism isnāt curtailing free speech, IT IS free speech.
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So Mark Knight, assuming he is aware of this legacy like any sentient, western being over the age of 40 and like any cartoonist worth his salt, still played on it unashamedly knowing full well that it would drive the crazy bus into the ā ā ā ā ā lagoon and earn his masters some attention/$.
Hey Mark, donāt f.ucking do it. Howās that? Zero difference between this and the yellow peril or global financial demon caricatures of the past, thereās a f.ucking reason they donāt get seen anymore, or shouldnāt. Stop tap dancing you relics.
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Well JBomber, way back in 1970, a group of us went to the MCG to see one of our good mates play his first game with the Bombers. His name is Gary Parkes, but his nickname at school was Sambo, due to his skin colour and in summer he just turned darker.
Remember this was 1970, and as we very vocally supported our Mate, calling out for Sambo, the crowd around us were very unhappy and one called in the police. We had no realisation that we were racially vilifying anyone, but we had obviously upset many around us, and we did not understand at all.
We do now.
It is not about us, it is about the effect on others. Some call it politically correctness, but reality is that is part of being a decent, sensitive human being.
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Well said.
Mark Knight has a lot of form in this area. The problem is that heās either completely ignorant to his own prejudices and never learns from his mistakes or he plays them up knowing theyāll get a reaction. (I lean towards the latter theory)
He and his newscorp mates then double down on the ludicrous straight white male victim card in response to any criticism.
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Iāve been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt but thereās a good chance youāre 100% right
Itās a joke that she has somehow come out as hard done by over the fact that she was acting like a bad sport both during and after the match
Bringing up the female card in an all female match was just ridiculous.
And the whole āI donāt cheatā but then her coach admitting he was ābut everyone does itā just embarrasses her more.
People bringing up the race card over a cartoon simply depicting her poor behavior equally so.
I see zero wrong with Knights cartoon. Itās not racist at all. Itās an accurate satirical representation of how she reacted and the whole situation.
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Think itās interesting that you make the ape link. Never would have thought of that once, personally. I see jumping up and down like a petulant child (which I think all bar Diggers here agree is the way she was behaving).
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Funnily enough, that comic looks pretty much exactly like her. Itās not racist, itās an an accurate picture of her
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I am a brown person, married to a not brown person and we have milk-chocolate kids. Ergo, I am automatically a pre-eminent expert on all things racist for all cultures and all people groups (obviously).
I think there are things that are (or at least should be regarded as) unquestionably, empirically and universally racist. I think there are many things that some within, lets called it a ātargetedā group, will find to beāracistā, while others in that group will not find the same thing racistā¦ in other words, there are subjective elements to racism (and all other āismsā) as well.
Regarding the caricature, I donāt know the artist so I canāt be sure what is at his āheartā regarding the way he draws. I have now seen some of his other works and the way he accentuates/exaggerates characteristics and find them to be not unreasonable. He seems a clever and capable artist.
However, In my own opinion, the Serena image bears too much of a resemblance to age-old stereotypical portrayals of people of African-heritage, beyond merely the obvious accentuations of Serenaās features. As such, I think the image is unnecessarily provocative and can most certainly cause offence (though some in the ātargetā group might still see it as no more than a caricature and laugh it off). Perhaps it is not intended to be offensive, but based on the other evidence of the quality and capability of this artist, my impression is that he certainly ought to have both known better and done better. For me, this one is a fail.
In the interests of full disclosure, Serena is my least liked tennis player of all time!
Also, I am certifiably non-racistā¦ I hate everyone equally.
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this sums up the whole situation pretty succinctly.
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A mate of mine suggested it should be entered for an Archibald Prize.
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