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shesaidthat

Listed below are comments made by shesaidthat between Thursday, 2nd July 2009 and Monday, 12th October 2009.

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Is Australia unusually racist? 2:37pm on 12 Oct 2009
#13. Just for your information in case you are unaware: The film Samson And Delilah has received 8 nominations at this year's Inside Film Awards to be handed out on the 18th November. It will also premiere on ABC1 on 24th November. Have you ever heard of the program "Message Stick"? You may be also unaware that one of the indigenous community's most respected leaders was recently quoted as saying that the latest UN reportage "should be binned".

With regards to this particular blog the BBC reporter chose to focus on a TV program that redid a particular skit from 20 years ago. Again it is down to the producers of the show and the TV channel that they chose to have no indigenous guests on this so called 'reunion' episode.

Again, Yes certainly there is much work still to be done, but please
don't use one issue to tar all Australians with the same brush.
Is Australia unusually racist? 10:53am on 12 Oct 2009
OK now let me see: Does a BBC news story regarding the arrest of people at an anti-Muslim protest or the BBC's HYS section where comments are posted to the effect that "the country's in a mess, stop immigration - they take our jobs, we don't need 'em " (just one example) mean that the whole of Britain is unusually racist?

This rehash of a show should have stayed where it belongs - in the archives. To have this 'troupe' back after 20 years to perform their skit in front of an American guest, who surely the producers knew was from the South, shows IMHO either a total lack of sensitivity and consideration on the part of the TV channel and the show's producers or a blatant display of any publicity is good publicity. They are who should be taken to task for ignorance.

Please don't label every Australian as a racist over this skit just as I won't label every British person a racist over a news story or HYS comments.
What do women really want? 08:43am on 10 Oct 2009
The other thing that doesn't seem to have been addressed here, and something which is often overlooked in many general comments made about women and working, is circumstances. In terms of working mothers, for example, what about the woman who has married and started a family then later found herself on her own due to marriage breakdown? Perhaps she worked before starting a family then chose to stay at home for their first years. What does she do now that she is on her own again? Does she play stay at home Mum and collect benefits or try to improve the living standards for herself and her children? It could also be said that this sets a great example to her children of the benefit of working. I've noted in many debates there sometimes seems to be a presumption that a woman on her own with children has always been a 'single mother'.

Personally, I'm over all feminist rationale, studies, women's movement groups (or whatever) with regards to women. I think we are very fortunate in most cases, excepting the example above, to actually have a choice - something that men most often don't.
Why Australia prefers political prose to political poetry 06:06am on 03 Oct 2009
LOL! So Aussies aren't easily sucked into the 'bull', are more then likely to be a tad suspicious of overdone razzle dazzle, and many of us maintain a healthy cynicism toward politicians in general? Well, Amen to that!

Perhaps it also indicates that weren't not so militarily minded as the Americans. They sometimes give me the impression that they think they are the new Romans of this age.

Visionary Presidents? Well, Obama is like a bit of fresh air after the previous president - I certainly wouldn't put Bush into the category of visionary.
The wonder from down under 05:08am on 08 Sep 2009
Your blog and the comments above sum it up pretty well though I don't think anyone would be getting complacent about it all just yet. Depending on one's perspective ie buyers, the real estate market - high house and land prices - is a still bit problem for some, but then again they were already that before the GFC.

Just a quick word of Thanks for the 'Jorn Again' blog on the Opera House. The post and comments inspired me to go and find out some more indepth info about its history. The political scene in the mid 60's and one particular politician's treatment of Jorn Utzon doesn't make for very pretty reading - appalling. I'm so so glad that gestures of reconciliation were finally made to this visionary man in more recent years.

This lead me onto a news story that appeared in March 2008, in which a Sydney architect put forward an absolutely awful proposal to build a hideous rectangular box looking building on the forecourt between the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens, provoking a scathing commentary by Paul Keating (and many Sydneysider's). Hopefully that one has disappeared off the drawing board.

In a further news report it was apparently Nathan Rees who put forward a proposal for funding in March this year, which drew a doubtful response from Kevin Rudd.
Jorn again 07:17am on 05 Sep 2009 Ah yes, it's true! just when you think you've become blasé about Sydney and its harbour out of the blue there will come a moment like Whitalmite experienced and you'll realise all over again just how beautiful the place really is.

Re: the point Scrap-the-Jack made about funding. Agreed, bagfuls of money are spent each year on sport in this country. So why not the Opera House? I'd luv to see a good share of it go to the arts and culture once in a while.

Treaclebeak please forgive me if I've misunderstood your comment, but I tend to disagree just a little that the Opera House is essentially a sculptural work in as much as: a sculpture may be beautifully rendered, give an impression of movement and space, and people may stand, sit, or even wander in and around it, and admire it but ultimately it's an object. What sets the Opera House apart from this? Here's just a quick scan of the current/upcoming program: The Mikado starring Anthony Warlow, The Taming of the Shrew, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Verdi Requiem, among many others. IMHO it is far from being just that because of people - the performers, the audience, the people involved in its administration, the visitors who flock to it etc ensure that inside it's very much alive. However I do concede of course that those involved would obviously move to the new venue if one was built.

I’m far from being an expert on these matters but if a new venue was built this then raises a tricky question - what would we then do with the Opera House? Whatever else may be, I believe it would be a very big mistake to leave it empty – it’ll became neglected for certain and in a very short space of time. It is my understanding, for example, that rundown and neglected theatres and venues are already a growing problem in Britain. Do we want to start down that same path? Do we just let it sit there and decline or would it be maintained to at least the current standard? Do we lease it out for other pursuits eg another convention centre, amateur theatre, recitals, a community art space? What are our obligations now it has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Jorn again 3:00pm on 04 Sep 2009 Aw Nick I really feel for you. What was Joel thinking? Perhaps if you ask Cate nicely she’ll give you another ticket LOL! But seriously, it is a real shame she was accidentally injured and watching Cate perform on stage would have been an awesome experience.

Onto your question:
Firstly, how else did you think Kev would respond? He’s from QLD, don’t ya know (as, like most Queenslanders, he makes a point of telling everyone in his travels around the world. Hmmm … is that his insecure, cultural cringe I wonder? *lol*). Bet you if the Opera House was in good old Brisbane it’s quite likely the response would have been much more enthusiastic *G*.

Honestly, who really knows what the PM's, any politician's, rationale is on most things?

Anyway, on a more serious note again, I think, given that the Opera House is one of our most recognised icons and a key part of the harbour waterfront in that area, this may be money well spent. Why after all this time and the money spent so far, let it get too rundown and outdated? Also, it isn’t just elite performers who use it. Unless things have changed or I'm mistaken, the Opera House is used by many different performance groups, it’s frequently visited by school groups, and of course both overseas tourists and Australian visitors to Sydney luv to stop by and take a pic or two etc.

BTW, just wondering: I'm just curious not having been around at the time it was built and being not old enough to really remember its opening - but how does replacing Jorn Utzon because of a dispute over cost blowouts equate to narrow-minded parochialism?
The end of Australian books? 11:51am on 29 Jul 2009
As someone who loves to read, I've come back to read this blog and the accompanying comments several times in an effort to understand the issue and what is at stake. What does keep resonating with me is that regardless of whether we drop PIRs or not the UK and US have no plans to do the same, so won't that make our market even more vulnerable? (As seems to have happened in NZ judging from the comments posted).

I certainly want to read and want my children to read books printed in Australian, or even British English, in preference to Americanised spellings. This simply because as my child's reading develops so too should their ability to recognise words and spell them.

Furthermore, I despair the 'big two' in Australia ie. Woolworths and Coles getting too much of a hold on our book selling market. They are already greedily snapping up much in the retail industry including liquor and petrol, and having a good go at getting pharmaceuticals. Once you get outside a main city such as Sydney or Melbourne this is becoming an increasing problem as they get a stranglehold on retail in smaller towns and cities.

On a side-note: The comment regarding Kevin Rudd is a deliciously subtle critique.

"Yet there are also times when he likes to parade his anti-intellectualism - critics would say his philistinism - with his strange use of language, and phrases ..."

I believe his language contortions are an attempt to be populist - all things, to all people, all the time. Will the real Kevin Rudd, our PM, please stand up!
The flying gravy train? 2:17pm on 02 Jul 2009 Yes, one can't help thinking that there should be a limit on how long retired politicans remain eligible for this benefit.
The Pom influence 2:12pm on 02 Jul 2009
It's really nice to come back and read a diversity of comments on the experience of living in/visiting both Australia and the UK.

Yes we have moved on from the old world of being a country of indigenous Australians plus those of British and Irish ancestry, but there is also nothing wrong with acknowledging your family background and the fact that they took the big decision to emigrate to Australia supposedly in the hope of a better life. I just really don't understand an 'all or nothing attitude'. Isn't possible to honour/respect your ancestry, acknowledge the cultural influence that the British and Irish must have obviously played in Australia, and still have an opinion on the issue of voting rights and on becoming a republic, and the maintenance of friendly relations between us and Britain? To me there is no conflict in that.

Let's face it, for a long time London has been a reasonably familar and comfortable place for many Aussie's to base themselves while they've worked there and/or as a base from which to explore other European countries.

In terms of current culture I tend to think that what Australians have become very good at is taking the parts that we enjoy most about other countries and cultures whether that be Italian or Asian cuisine, an Indian curry, American movies and music, British TV shows, an appreciation of European history and art, or whatever, and basically running with it.

There can be no doubt that the post war immigration of Italian, Greek, Dutch, and numerous other European families was absolutely great for Australia - as has been the subsequent arrival of people from numerous Asian, African, Pacific Island, and Middle Eastern countries, just to name a few. Also in many cases even the purported friendship and understanding divide between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians isn't always as great as its sometimes portrayed in the media. The bottom line reality is that many of us have a strong interest in and appreciation of other cultures and have friends and family from all walks of life and from very diverse backgrounds.

And one last thought: if our British/Irish ancestors had made a different choice as to where to emigrate we could be just as easily labelling ourselves Canadian, New Zealander, South African, or even American, or whatever, another reason why even though I am proud to be Aussie that I don't 'sweat the small stuff'.

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