Nic Naitanui urges public to ‘grow together’ after mother paints son’s skin for Book Week parade

[JeffDunne]

There's no need to educate me either, I have a Masters degree, I'm well and truly educated.

Plenty of educated people have owned and abused slaves (not to mention countless other atrocities).

Just saying . . .

 

[Feerits Elf]

I have a Masters degree

Was it from Bovine University?

Little joke for our Sandgroper friends there

 

[Mr Lizard]

The bright people like me can see the difference, the less bright like you just parrot on about blackface as soon as anyone dresses up as anyone that is any darker than a light brown tan.

Just to be clear: By 'dresses up' you mean putting on blackface, right?

 

[james brayshaw]

Deliberately dressing your child up in black paint knowing it will cause offense, while preying on your own childs ignorance and exposing them to heaps of attention for it.... topped off by getting hammered in the morning to celebrate?

That screams of terrible parenting first, and racism second.

How are we meant to eradicate racism when the first thing all these crybabies see is skin colour? This is what white liberals fail to recognise when they blow stories like this up. All they are doing is fueling resentment on both sides. Im Fijian, why can i paint my nephews face white for a party and this kid not dress up as nic nat? Why should we be treated like whiny children because of the colour of our skin? Using blackface in a derogatory way is disgusting but it has never been aimed towards Fijians. The way this looks to me is people are finding offence because they think Fijians are the same race as Africans and Indigenous Australians which is what offends me the most. Intent is everything and unless the mother intended to make fun of nic nat in some way i dont believe this was racist at all.

 

[KGBeast]

How dark can a fake tanning application be before it becomes blackface? Should we be pulling them from the shelves?



I guess it is technically orangeface.

 

[Chief]

How are we meant to eradicate racism when the first thing all these crybabies see is skin colour? This is what white liberals fail to recognise when they blow stories like this up. All they are doing is fueling resentment on both sides. Im Fijian, why can i paint my nephews face white for a party and this kid not dress up as nic nat? Why should we be treated like whiny children because of the colour of our skin? Using blackface in a derogatory way is disgusting but it has never been aimed towards Fijians. The way this looks to me is people are finding offence because they think Fijians are the same race as Africans and Indigenous Australians which is what offends me the most. Intent is everything and unless the mother intended to make fun of nic nat in some way i dont believe this was racist at all.

So if you don't think this is a problem NOBODY should, yeah?

 

[Chief]

How dark can a fake tanning application be before it becomes blackface? Should we be pulling them from the shelves?



I guess it is technically orangeface.

Matthew Perry should have been marched off the set of Friends, never to return.

 

[Off The Couch]

I wonder what she would of done if his favourite player was Andrew Gaff

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

How dark can a fake tanning application be before it becomes blackface? Should we be pulling them from the shelves?



I guess it is technically orangeface.

I'd say somewhere between Donald Trump and Snooki

 

[Chief]

I have a Masters degree, I'm well and truly educated.

And yet we see so little evidence of that fact

 

[GetDimmaBack]

Guess I'll have to see myself out now...

 

[Chief]

Why doesn't anyone have a problem with this commercial then? I'm sure you were all amused how accurate it was. I guess that's because they made them look like the players they were portraying. It wouldn't be as good if they used an aboriginal kid to play Maric but it would be fair and right because we're all equal. What if they used Buddy's biggest fan who happened to be a white kid play him? Outrage? Racism?

Yeah, probably!

Seeing as that sort of thing is EXACTLY THE REASON IT IS OFFENSIVE!

Good God.

 

[Beutbrute]

Read what she wrote mate.

No argument.

View attachment 281083

I've read what she wrote. I don't believe her motive was racist. She had people warning her not to do it, so she was being insensitive to their concerns, but her actions weren't racist. (Although I can see how they could be construed as racist by others)
I agree that there could be people out there who could be hurt by such actions, and hence the insensitivity, but I disagree that the action itself is a racist one.

 

[james brayshaw]

So if you don't think this is a problem NOBODY should, yeah?

How did you get that from my post? You can think its a problem if you want, im telling you why it isn't.

 

[Chief]

I've read what she wrote. I don't believe her motive was racist. She had people warning her not to do it, so she was being insensitive to their concerns, but her actions weren't racist. (Although I can see how they could be construed as racist by others)
I agree that there could be people out there who could be hurt by such actions, and hence the insensitivity, but I disagree that the action itself is a racist one.

I can see how you'd think that. I think it was - but we can't truly know the mind of another. We just have to go off of external signals.

 

[Chief]

How did yoy get that from my post? You can think its a problem if you want, im telling you why it isn't.

Your sentence doesn't make sense to me.

But I have no more time today to get into it.

 

[sportsmaniac89]

So an innocent kid dresses up as his hero and all hell breaks loose?

That seems to be the summary here but here's my summary; his mum is an absolute moron for using her kid to make a political statement or an up yours to the SJWs of the world. She has used her kid essentially which thoroughly disgusts me. Nic Nat's response was classy as well and really he's the only one that should be offended or otherwise. He's not so why are so many getting offended on his behalf?

I understand the history of 'black face' and do understand why this is frowned up.

What I cannot understand is why we are always looking for something to be offended at/about. It's 2016, sooner or later, people are going to be too scared to express an opinion or do anything because no matter what, someone is going to be offended.

 

[JohnnyFontane90]

There's no need to educate me either, I have a Masters degree, I'm well and truly educated.

lol that's not the type of education we're talking about in these matters. the idea is to find an empathetic understanding which is is deeper than just knowing what happened x amount of years ago. it's about understanding on an emotional level the ramifications of certain actions. plenty of smart educated people can still be dicks. not saying that about you specifically, just in reference to the masters degree assertion.

 

[Ry009]

Usually if someone/some people take offence to something, especially with good reason, being a half decent human being usually involves taking that on board and respecting them going forward.

If I've been too complex with my logic there I apologise.

 

[hutchy31]

I'm just completely dumbfounded that he "won the parade". By being in black face in a school. As a footy player during book week.

Wtf kind of school is this?

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

Just going to flick through this thread. Anyone using the term SJW unironically will be added to my ignore list.

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

Hang on, Nic Nat? Book week?

Mother's clearly a moron.

 

[JimDocker]

How are we meant to eradicate racism when the first thing all these crybabies see is skin colour? This is what white liberals fail to recognise when they blow stories like this up. All they are doing is fueling resentment on both sides. Im Fijian, why can i paint my nephews face white for a party and this kid not dress up as nic nat? Why should we be treated like whiny children because of the colour of our skin? Using blackface in a derogatory way is disgusting but it has never been aimed towards Fijians. The way this looks to me is people are finding offence because they think Fijians are the same race as Africans and Indigenous Australians which is what offends me the most. Intent is everything and unless the mother intended to make fun of nic nat in some way i dont believe this was racist at all.

I think you are just displaying that not all Fijians are as switched on as Nic Nat. I doubt anybody expects 100% of any racial cohort to feel and think exactly the same.

 

[james brayshaw]

I think you are just displaying that not all Fijians are as switched on as Nic Nat. I doubt anybody expects 100% of any racial cohort to feel and think exactly the same.

Obviously its hard to prove here, but every fijian ive spoken to about this (3) agrees with me and thinks Nic Nat is just trying to diffuse the situation.

 

[YippeeYiYeo]

Hang on, Nic Nat? Book week?

Mother's clearly a moron.

That is more racist than the kid painting his face.