Extreme and Mainstream.

Intersection between extreme ideals and mainstream ideals is an inevitable consequence of modernized society, sometimes its difficult to tell which is which. This post will examine the dichotomy between extreme and mainstream in comparative societies, for this example we will be looking at Australia and the United States.

The video clip posted above displays an Australian television show, on this particular show performers came on and did their own rendition of the Jackson Five, which sounds innocent enough.  The only issue comes with their offensive use of black-face in their representation.  For those of you who who are unaware of the historical significance of black-face in the U.S. allow me to enlighten you.  Black-face describes a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, these shows would perform common African American stereotypes for comedic purposes.  Shows like these dehumanized African Americans in contemporary American society and perpetuated notions of white supremacy and black inferiority. Black-face shows were practiced in American theatre for around 100 years beginning in the 1830’s. As America became more progressive with the birth of the civil rights movement Black-face became taboo and is a serious matter today.
 
In contemporary Australia this clearly is not the case, how is it that two modernized societies can have such polarized views on issues such as race?  Specifically racially sensitivity and awareness. American judge Harry Connick Jr. (Independence Day) displays the mainstream American perspective on black-face when he discusses how hard America has worked to overcome racial issues, while mentioning how offensive black-face is in the United States. This conflict between extreme and mainstream in societies provides interesting discussion on the global racial lens. Whereas something in Australia is deemed totally acceptable (see audience reaction) in America it is frowned upon and taken seriously.  This instance is similar to European soccer matches in which members of the audience will racially taunt black players even throwing bananas on the field. While both of these practices are taboo in the United States, they are deemed acceptable on their specific nations.  Even though America frowns upon these actions, we are not without criticism from the rest of the globe.  For example Europe is much more restrictive of hate speech on the Internet when compared to America.  Many European nations have created legislation outlawing hate speech on the Internet, where the U.S. has allowed hate speech based upon First Amendment privileges.

      What does this all tell us? All three examples perfectly display the paradoxical relationship that modern societies have with race, it shows how being racially appropriate can differ based upon the ground in which you stand.  These examples really give prudence to the idea that a societies racial lens is based upon cultural perspective.  This gray area in global racism blurs the line between extreme and mainstream in different global societies.  There is no one size fits all solution, each culture is different therefore each solution must also be different. In order to reduce and hopefully one day eliminate racism from the world race problems must be looked at on an individual level varying across cultures and borders.