Something this course has taught me is that many of us all knowing,. understanding and educated humans of the 21st Century, have absolutely no clue about the world we live in. Ignorance is never bliss, innocence is the most safe substitute. Even still with this, knowing, understanding, respecting and learning from the people sharing earth with us is something integral to harmony on earth. Being ignorant about respect and reverence for differing cultures is the soil in with partite's, wars, tension and murder have been rooted. Defending and offending conquests and cultures; the onshore and off shore point of views. Comedian Trevor Noah from South Africa is renowned for being explicit and openly 'racist' without taking sides. He has poked fun of nearly every ethnicity and race, and been praised and persecuted for it. In a comedy show of his, he explained the ignorance of a surfer that befriended him in Malibu America, laughing at the scary lack of awareness and global acknowledgement, overt and inverted racism displayed so casually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NuKhW3sJsA
American Surf Babe: So like Africa .... if you're like from Africa, have you like ever had Aids....?
Trevor: You know whats funny, i wasn't offended by the fact that she said aids, but i was offended by the fact that she said ever HAD aids. Like aids is something that you can HAVE like a passing flu....
So Trevor proceeds to explain that he took advantage of this and 'messed with her alittle'. He graciously clarified that the reason he is not skinny and sick from have aids "many times", Trevor:"No no its not as bad as you think Aids is like chocolate, you just shouldn't have too much at one time... "
How can we actually have humans, grown adults, this ignorant about one of the worlds most extreme crisis. Although the story is communicated through comedy, it served the purpose of at least provoking me to learn more about the cultures around me in order to respectably ask questions as well as act out of reverence towards their cultural differences when in their own countries. Similarly, the lectures and teaching about Pakeha, whiteness, Maori and our nation, has reminded me of the importance of a countries identity to remain in tact while welcoming others to integrate and immigrate.
This is fantastic. I feel it helps that I'm a Trevor Noah fan, but still.
ReplyDeleteThis course, through application of comedy and otherwise, has exemplified the fact that while we joke about presence of racial ignorance here in New Zealand it is scarily real. There is still a fear of immigration here, for example, which ties to your summarising comment.
New Zealand perpetuates an identity of multiculturalism and a serious acceptance of the problem of racial ignorance is a step in the right direction for actually living up to that identity.
This is very good, thoroughly enjoyed the clip - found myself watching several of Trevor's clips whilst at it. This clip casts a soft light on many serious issues to do with casual racism, that is simply obscene and idiotic. Many comedy acts such as Trevor, manage to leave Eurocentric viewers in a slightly awkward position of stupidity, due to accurate portrayals of questions/comments/responses commonly addressed diverse cultural groups. Big fan of progressive comedy such as this, as well as many other stand ups.
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