Is MasterChef racist? Adam Goodes insipres a nation. Diggers in new race-hate row. Why the heck are these making the headlines? These articles should not belong in a newspaper. Let me start of by saying that racism and sexism should not be tolerated. Not even in the slightest. Futhermore, anything in this post is in no way condoning racism or sexism, and should not interpreted as supporting, nor used to support, such actions.
Firstly, I would like to address the racist issue involving Adam Goodes and the 13-year-old girl. For those of you who are unaware, a 13-year-old girl shouted at Adam Goodes, "You're an ape." during an AFL game last weekend. Now, I would like to say that no one should ever be insulted like that. But let's take a step back and observe the whole picture. Racism happens. It's a fact. To borrow the title of an Al Gore movie, it is an inconvenient truth. So why the fuss when some famous football player gets hurled one? Granted, it does move the topic into the spotlight seeing as a large proportion of people have viewed the event, and it can be used as a learning device. However, is making a fuss about it and inevitably not doing anything to resolve the issue (which I suspect most people, if not all who are making noise about this issues) going to do us any good? The answer is no. Should we tolerate a 13-year old girl hurling abuse? No. Personally, I think we should have prevented it from ever happening in the first place. But I ask, would it make a difference if the perpetrator had been a 30-year-old lady? Or a 26-year-old male? People seem to be overly-focused on the fact that it was a 13-year-old girl who had commited the act, and haven't really stopped to think about this point. My final question in relation to this issue is, should this have made it into the newspaper? I think the answer should be no. The media is simply hyping up an issue, and driving people's opinions all to satisfy their bottom line. Racism should not be accepted, nor tolerated. But instead of making a lot of noise, how about we see some action instead? After all, everyone is capable of teaching the next generation about what should, and what should never, be done. So why not do that, instead of just puffing out your chest?
The next title I would like to tackle is the one involving Australian Diggers. According to the article, Australian Defence Force personnel, paramedics, and a NSW rural firefighter have been found to have posted racial comments. Can I just say, that I am shocked and disgusted to think that these people who are responsible for keeping us safe, are doing such henious acts. However, I would like to further point out that it is only a small minority of the groups invovled that are committing such acts, and even a smaller amount that have been caught. Now, no matter how few, or how many, people are committing such acts, it should not be accepted. Yet, at first glance, the article seems to warrants more attention than should be given to it. On closer examination, we find that it is only one ADF soldier, one ADF officer, one paramedic and one rural firefigher that are examined in the article. The article had made it look like it was a lot more severe than just four people performing these acts. So the question is, why is it on the front page? If you think about it, it is only because of the racism issue brought up by the incident involving Adam Goodes and the 13-year-old girl. If you do not believe me, the article makes the point for me. Within the article, Natalie O'Brien (the author of the article) states, that these events by the four in question were performed "despite the furore over the racist insults directed at AFLstar Adam Goodes." and that one of the postings "came during a week of controversy triggered by a young teenage girl who called AFL star Adam Goodes an "ape"". Obviously, this article was designed once again to sell copies of the Sun-Herald, and not really providing any news as it really should.
Lastly, I would like to address the question, Is MasterChef sexist? Look, I don't watch the show. The only season of MasterChef I watched was the first one. Even then, it was only when I had nothing to watch. So if there is any question of biasness in my answer, let it be absolved. No, MasterChef is not sexist. Why do I take this stance? Well, it is very simple. Most of us watch some sport or another and will support one team over another. I don't see anyone complaning that they someone is 'Manchester United-ist', or 'Canterbury Bulldogs-ist'. The fact is, clubs, sporting teams, countires, whatever the division, is simply a way of classifying a group of individuals. From what I have gathered about the new season of MasterChef, it is simply men vs woman, which is very much similar to the Roosters playing against the Eels, Chelsea taking on Arsenal, or Australia losing to England in The Ashes (yes, I support the English in Cricket.). Until the show makes one gender perform some task that is more degrading than the other gender (which I highly doubt seeing as there is a tight scrutiny on these things imposed by television ethics organisations), then the show cannot be claimed to be sexist. At an extreme stretch, the show can be viewed as promoting sexism with obviously one gender winning over the other in a certain task. However, it is only an issue if you make it one. If people start going, "Ha! We're better than your gender at cooking because of such and such. Insert random slur." then if you think about it, it is only an issue because of the individuals saying it, and not the show itself. Of course, one gender will always be better at doing things than the other gender. But that fact is true for any categorisation whether you look at it on a global scale with nations, or on an individual scales when you compare yourself to others. It only becomes typical sexism, or racism, or whatever, the soon as you insult them based on that categorisation. I say typical because you can have positive racism or sexism, such as all Africans can run fast, or all men are physically strong (note, this does not mean that all women are physically weak, just that even though some men are not strong, they are viewed as also being strong). Brining this back to the question on whether or not MasterChef is sexist, the only reason I can see it being in the newspaper is to promote sales, and not really provide news.
I guess at some point whilst reading the article, the thought, "Geez, if he has such a problem with the paper, why did he buy it?" has crossed your mind. I bought it because my father reads it. But the main point of this post is to point out the ridiculousness of the media, and how far it has fallen from the high-perch it used to be on. It has stopped reporting news and instead, focused on being popular and meeting as well as driving societal opinions to sell more copies. Like I said before, racism and sexism should never be accepted in any society, nor should such acts be condoned. However, strictly looking at the paper for what it is, and what one should expect from reading it, the paper has definitely not lived up to its expectations for today. I could go on to explain how the news on TV pretty much has done the same, but that's another point for another day.
