Big W and Aldi remove "racist" Australian day Tshirts - Polidicks

[IMG]http://prod.static9.net.au/~/media/images/2014/january/09/0901_bigw_sp.ashx?h=360&w=640[/IMG] [IMG]http://prod.static9.net.au/~/media/images/2014/january/09/0901_aldishirts_sp.ashx?h=228&w=403[/IMG] [QUOTE]A second supermarket giant has ditched a line of Australia Day T-shirts with an identical slogan to the "inflammatory" and "culturally insensitive" shirts Aldi has agreed to abandon. Big W has confirmed that it has taken two styles of shirts with the words "Australia Est. 1788" off their racks this morning. A spokeswoman said the department store would not be commenting further on its decision to ditch the shirts and that the reason for the move should be obvious. "We've removed the shirts from sale this morning," she said. Big W's decision comes after Aldi yesterday announced it would remove its range of T-shirts and singlets following claims they were racist and a torrent of backlash on social media. It was revealed this morning that the shirts had been approved by the federal government before going on sale this week in the lead up to January 26. Twitter users slammed the design as racist and culturally insensitive to indigenous Australians, who inhabited the continent for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The seven designs had been approved by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in July last year, after passing strict guidelines regarding products bearing the Australian flag.[/QUOTE] [url]http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/01/09/08/38/federal-government-approved-racist-tshirts[/url]

To play the devils advocate here, it would have been much better if they had done something like Australia EST. 1901 (Federation).

That's pretty stupid.

ahahahahahahahahahaha Oi Oi Oi!!

Who still shops at big w anyway? I thought they were slowly going under.

the date is actually pretty distasteful, surely you'd do 1901

I know nothing about Australian history so I did some quick wiki searching. Seems silly to me to say Australia was established the year the original colonists arrived. You don't see American's saying the USA was established in 1607. (Virginia Colony) Perhaps I'm missing something.

[QUOTE=OvB;43470294]I know nothing about Australian history so I did some quick wiki searching. Seems silly to me to say Australia was established the year the original colonists arrived. You don't see American's saying the USA was established in 1607. (Virginia Colony) Perhaps I'm missing something.[/QUOTE] I think the whole thing is referencing to when the British landed on Australian land and established a crown colony in 1788 which was also when a lot of our Aboriginals were subject to mass genocide and slaughter bc they were different It is distasteful but I don't think it deserves a huge backlash tbh, but it should of been 1901, the date of Federation where we became a Country, but we're still British related in someway, like Canada I guess

What are the odds that someone wearing the Australian flag would be racist? That's sarcasm directed at my fellow Australians who remember the footage of the Cronulla riots.

I await Accurent Affair and Today Tonight's reports with great enthusiasm. Going to have to play the 'Unaustralian Drinking Game' for this one.

Okey, this political correctness is pissing me off, seriously.

I think despite the date its still distasteful..

AMERICA: ESTABLISHED 1492! *big american flag* CONGO: ESTABLISHED 1885! *big belgian flag* I can see the problem with this.

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;43470311]I think the whole thing is referencing to when the British landed on Australian land and established a crown colony in 1788 which was also when a lot of our Aboriginals were subject to mass genocide and slaughter bc they were different It is distasteful but I don't think it deserves a huge backlash tbh, but it should of been 1901, the date of Federation where we became a Country, but we're still British related in someway, like Canada I guess[/QUOTE] Was going to mention the Federation in 1901, alas, you beat me. These shirts are just awful.

This is only a small thing on a t-shirt, yes it might be distasteful to some, but it's really not that bad. Except it is. Because yeah some people make racist jokes and we laugh 'cause they're kinda funny but we aren't actually racist ourselves. The problem is, actually racist people don't get this line of thinking, they just see people laughing at racist jokes and think it's only right. So it perpetuates their racism. So non-racist people see this shirt and go "yeah a bit off, but I mean, it didn't make me think white people are more superior because they decide when the country began" and then the actually racist people go "people don't mind this shirt because they know that white people are right!" Small stuff matters. Definitely should have been 1901.

[QUOTE=Damoman;43470691]'Unaustralian'[/QUOTE] Fuck that word is the biggest load of crap ever.

How in the fuck is that racist. It doesnt claim any race is inferior or superior to another, this is just another serious case of white guilt.

[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;43471006]How in the fuck is that racist.[/QUOTE] Because 1788 was the day a bunch of white people landed in Australia and shot at a bunch of black people. [editline]9th January 2014[/editline] Ok fine it wasn't a day, it was a year. [editline]9th January 2014[/editline] (so saying it was established that year, when it was established some 40 000 years ago by the aboriginal people [because they have had a large impact on Australia's development], or alternatively in 1901 at federation [because that is when it was actually established as a country], is saying that the aboriginal peoples don't matter) [editline]huh, ok[/editline] Shows my knowledge of Australian history. Legitimately thought Captain Cook was the one who landed in 1788 (I am dumbe). Governor Phillip landed in that year and got his men to put down their weapons. Regardless, it was the beginning of oppression of the aboriginal peoples across Australia which didn't stop until very recently (and arguably still hasn't).

[QUOTE=Huacati;43470998]Fuck that word is the biggest load of crap ever.[/QUOTE] Actually, it's correct in this instance... since "Australia" didn't exist in 1788..

[QUOTE=Bradyns;43471045]Actually, it's correct in this instance... since "Australia" didn't exist in 1788..[/QUOTE] Fair enough, but the word is still crap nonetheless due to it's pejorative term.

[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;43471006]How in the fuck is that racist. It doesnt claim any race is inferior or superior to another, this is just another serious case of white guilt.[/QUOTE] Because in 1788 and onwards the British shot and killed many Aboriginals of this land and as a result were neglected up until the 1960's when the White Australia policy was officially removed from the Constitution granting all Aboriginals the same rights as White Australians and in 2007, Ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized officially on behalf of previous Governments for the brutal and unfair treatment of Aboriginals from 1788 onwards

[QUOTE=Huacati;43470998]Fuck that word is the biggest load of crap ever.[/QUOTE] I take it as a compliment because really it just means "not a bogan".

fuck I work at Big W and my shift starts in 31 minutes. I know what I'm doing for the next few hours :v:

Until this moment I was thought Aldi that was an American business. Hell, I thought it was a North Chicago business. My entire life has been a lie.

[QUOTE=gerbe1;43471010](so saying it was established that year, when it was established some 40 000 years ago by the aboriginal people [because they have had a large impact on Australia's development][/QUOTE] really? id like to here about that

[QUOTE=abcpea;43471473]really? id like to here about that[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians#Arrival_and_occupation_of_Australia[/url] [QUOTE=Wikipedia]Most scholars date the arrival of humans in Australia at 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, with a possible range of up to 125,000 years ago[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Wikipedia]The earliest anatomically modern human remains found in Australia (and outside of Africa) are those of Mungo Man which have been dated at 42,000 years old.[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://media.uow.edu.au/news/2004/0917a/index.html[/url] Mungo Man: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mungo_remains[/url]

i was referring to this part [QUOTE][because they have had a large impact on Australia's development][/QUOTE] does the invention of the stick count as a large impact on australias development?

[QUOTE=abcpea;43471504]does the invention of the stick [/QUOTE] Well there we go

To be fair given that the Aboriginals don't have any recorded history it'd be a bit difficult to put the day THEY arrived on a t-shirt. What are we going to write? "Australia, ~ 40000 years ago." It sucks and all that the British came and killed a lot of them, took their land, etc, but... that's all said and done now. We can't pretend like it didn't happen. Like it or not everybody on this continent shares the same land now, and to those of European descent in particular 1778 is an important date in regards to the start of the country for them. If the Aboriginals have a specific day that they celebrate this land on, then by all means they can have their own t-shirt with that date on it and that will be culturally and historically meaningful to them, but to those of European descendant in Australia that date won't be particularly important or have any meaning to them so I doubt they'll wear it. I'm not even originally from this country, so none of this is really important to me, but I think it's a bit of an overreaction. It's not like everyone gets in a big fuss that the Gregorian calender starts and ends when it does. I don't hear an uproar from the Chinese community leading up to January 1st every year - they just have their own new year on their own date every year and everybody who wants to has a blast on it.

[QUOTE=sltungle;43471597]To be fair given that the Aboriginals don't have any recorded history it'd be a bit difficult to put the day THEY arrived on a t-shirt. What are we going to write? "Australia, ~ 40000 years ago." It sucks and all that the British came and killed a lot of them, took their land, etc, but... that's all said and done now. We can't pretend like it didn't happen. Like it or not everybody on this continent shares the same land now, and to those of European descent in particular 1778 is an important date in regards to the start of the country for them. If the Aboriginals have a specific day that they celebrate this land on, then by all means they can have their own t-shirt with that date on it and that will be culturally and historically meaningful to them, but to those of European descendant in Australia that date won't be particularly important or have any meaning to them so I doubt they'll wear it. I'm not even originally from this country, so none of this is really important to me, but I think it's a bit of an overreaction. It's not like everyone gets in a big fuss that the Gregorian calender starts and ends when it does. I don't hear an uproar from the Chinese community leading up to January 1st every year - they just have their own new year on their own date every year and everybody who wants to has a blast on it.[/QUOTE] You write federation. That's when Australia was actually established as a nation. You do not write the year oppression of the indigenous people began. And no you certainly don't pretend like it didn't happen. But you also do not celebrate it. The reason this is [I]worse[/I] than the date of Australia day is because on that day we are celebrating everything about Australia, the fact that it coincides with Captain Cook's arrival is pretty dumb but it also isn't the whole point of it. The shirt however is entirely the point of it. "This is the day Australia began" it declares. Well, no. 1788 is not important to me. I couldn't give a damn about 1788, I think it's a pretty terrible year for Australia all in all. Like it or not, everybody on this continent shares the same land now, and to those of European descent in particular they should be respectful to the people that have been severely impacted by their settlement. Chinese new year is a whole different thing altogether. It's a positive cultural celebration. As far as I am aware, the Gregorian calender does not hold new year on a culturally insensitive day. Then it might be applicable. If that turns out to be the case then that's terrible and I'll happily say New Years is not the best of celebrations. However (going with the assumption that New Year is on a culturally insensitive day) just because people do not campaign against the insensitivity [I]does not[/I] and [B]never should[/B] mean you invalidate the campaign of another group's campaign. This stuff is so important. You gotta understand how much the little stuff hurts minorities by fueling the big stuff. A lot of minorities themselves don't get it.