Here is the offending ad
Was the ad actually racist? Well, that question isn't relevant to what I want to discuss here.
Was reaction to the ad and responses to these reactions blown out of proportion? Yes, yes they were, and that is what I want to discuss.
This isn't the first thing that has been blown out of proportion and I hardly believe it will be the last, and it isn't just things of a political nature that get blown out of proportion. For example: Parents claims that the internet is evil and full of nothing but predators and paedophiles, the South Australian Attorney General when he says that violent games will erode the very fabric of morality if they let them into the country or the hype for the latest blockbuster, even you and me do it, think of a time when you were given crappy service by someone, at the time it was the worst indignation the world has ever known and you would have trumpeted that fact to everyone who could here, but when you look back you realise it was just bad service. Everyday things are blown out of proportion, but why?
This isn't the first thing that has been blown out of proportion and I hardly believe it will be the last, and it isn't just things of a political nature that get blown out of proportion. For example: Parents claims that the internet is evil and full of nothing but predators and paedophiles, the South Australian Attorney General when he says that violent games will erode the very fabric of morality if they let them into the country or the hype for the latest blockbuster, even you and me do it, think of a time when you were given crappy service by someone, at the time it was the worst indignation the world has ever known and you would have trumpeted that fact to everyone who could here, but when you look back you realise it was just bad service. Everyday things are blown out of proportion, but why?
I think there are a few answers to this. First of all, it sells. If you walk past a newspaper and it has the word "Racist" in big bold letters on the front page, you're going to stop and pick it up. If a news story breaks and in the graphic it has the word in it, you're going to want to pay attention. If a movie poster says "Blistering Action" it grabs your attention and you want to see it. Making something out to be more is one of the oldest marketing tricks in the books and it still works.
Another is because it feels good. If you say something loud enough, someone is going to hear you. We all love to be the centre of attention and the start of something and trumpeting for a cause will do that. You then spew forth points, exaggerated to make your side look good or their side look bad and you get a sense of satisfaction. I was watching an episode of The Young Turks on Youtube, the episode that was their response to the Aussie response to their first show denouncing the ad as being racist and as I watched it I felt myself building up to a point where I was going to launch into a tirade about how they didn't understand the context, their racial remarks, that we are two completely different cultures etc. I then realised that I was doing it too, what they did and what countless others have done on either side of the debate and that was blowing the issue completely out of proportion. The points I wanted to make to them had already been made, by many people more eloquent then I, so what would shouting them again actually accomplish? And you know what they say about doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. So I sat back and thought for a moment about what was happening and it led me to make this post.
There will always be things that are blown out of proportion, it's the nature of the society we live in, does that mean that we should just be trying to do and say things that don't have any type of double entendre? No because no matter how hard we try someone, somewhere will find something negative in it and sound their Trumpets of Righteousness, as in the case of someone sharing their food with other people. So, how can we avoid it? Well, in all honesty, you probably can't. So to deal with it I would suggest calmly and plainly explaining what is actually going on once and leave it at that if you are the other party. If people continue to blow it out of proportion, nothing else you can say will deflate that balloon, if anything it will just add to it, so just let it go.
We live in a world where we are told over and over how special we are, what rights we have and how everyone should have a say. The problem is that where this mentality is needed it does not exist and where it really isn't needed it is milked for all it can provide. There are human rights violations in Darfur, the Middle east and various other places all over the world. Those are the places where people need to be taught their own value and rights. But the only people that hear the message are those who do not have to face these violations every day and feeling kinda left out they will make the biggest fuss over any little thing they do not agree with.
ReplyDeleteBack to the topic above, people seem to forget that Stereotypes are rooted in truths. They can be blown up for comic effect but they are not meant to hurt people, merely as a humorous commentary on certain groups.
Sadly with every person trying to find something to complain about I think our sense of humor is the next to die.