Editor's Note

I just wanted to clear up some confusion about Australian viewpoints that might come from a very strange coincidence.  Yesterday, I posted a photo of some Golliwog dolls that I discovered in the mall over the weekend.  As it turns out, they are very rare, and, in fact, Glenda thought that they were banned from sale on the continent.  

Similarly, over the next day or two, you may hear a fuss about a black face skit on the reunion of a popular variety show from the 70's and 80's called "Hey Hey It's Saturday!"  The skit was originally performed 20 years ago and was brought back for the reunion show on a segment called Red Faces, in which people embarrass the hell out of themselves (if you clicked the link on my Vegemite post, you will see a clip from last week's Red Faces).  The performers are judged by a panel, including a celebrity judge, who last night happened to be Harry Connick Jr.  He was terribly uncomfortable by the skit (which was meant to be a Jackson Family Reunion), and was later apologized to by the host of the show.  Always the southern gentleman, he handled the situation with class, and simply explained that, as an American, it was highly offensive.  

So, with that I just wanted to clear up the fact that Aussies are not racist.  While they do not really understand Americans extreme sensivitity to race issues, they do accept the sensitivities of some towards those issues.  It's been all over the news this morning, and no one here really sees what the fuss was about.  They were just having a laugh with no malice intended.  I, however, just about fell off the couch when the skit started.