Some observations on Katrina sparked by Kanye West’s outraged speech at a fundraiser and the media coverage of “finding” versus “looting” food. Interesting stuff, though it’s ill advised to make sweeping claims based on two cherry-picked photos out of thousands. Snopes did an admirable job of showing all sides of this.
I believe that overheated claims of racial bias ultimately help propagate true racial bias. I’d like to see people restrain themselves and stick to facts. There are plenty of indisputable facts which show racial bias in America; to fling around accusations without very good backup just makes the substantiated claims suspect. As promised, I’m all too willing to call out the foolishness of the Left as well. 
A related, interesting, and more substantial discussion is about the media’s use of the term “refugee” to describe the victims of the hurricane. (continued »)
One of the things I love about Australians is that they (can I say “we” yet?) are so much less uptight than the USA about sex. And using sex not in the (IMO) creepy Asian way or the blasé Euro way; it’s fun and lusty and mischievous. Here are a few examples:
- On the most popular nationwide breakfast news-lite show, they broadcast from a museum that had a whale penis on display. The onsite host and museum staffer played around with it and the studio hosts, both male and female, made a number of naughty jokes about it.
- The same show frequently has a “joke of the day” which is almost always some kind of dirty joke, read and submitted by both men and women.
- A big billboard on the way out of the Brisbane airport touting a time-saving parking pass or the like has the tagline, “Slip in and out faster”.
- A TV commercial for “Titan” brand garage doors: A young man is talking with his dad in the yard standing in front of his garage. He says, “Hey da, you know how I was complaining that my last girlfriend didn’t have a Titan?” Dad nods. “Well, this time I’m going to do interviews.” The young guy talks with a number of sexy girls who are sitting up on his workbench right in front of him while his dad chats up the ones in line. The naughty part is that in the Australian accent, “Titan” sounds the same as “tight one”. So the guy sounded like he was saying to his dad, “You know how I was complaining that my last girlfriend didn’t have a tight one?”
Would any of this happen in on USA broadcast TV? I think not.
