Political Correctness Rant

[old man emu]

 

Once again the coalition of Political Correctness and Implied Racism have managed to destroy an Australian icon, and once again, five seconds on Google would have provided information to save the icon.

 

I've just had a sandwich for lunch that included a slice of Coon cheese. I won't be able to buy cheese slices by that name in the future because of a campaign by  an activist who said it had racist connotations. The man we can thank is Stephen Hagan (born 1959),  an Australian author and anti-racism campaigner. In 2001, Hagan filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Bureau after an advertisement for Coon cheese was broadcast during the Academy Awards. In 2008 he stated his belief that the cheese was named after a racial epithet and called on its manufacturer to prove its claim that it was named after cheesemaker Edward Coon. This followed an earlier unsuccessful complaint to Australian Human Rights Commission in 1999.  In 2020 the brand owners, Saputo Inc., announced that the name would be changed in the wake of Australian participation in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests

 

Coon cheese is named after its American creator, Edward William Coon (1871–1934) of Philadelphia, who patented a method, subsequently known as the Cooning process, for fast maturation of cheese via high temperature and humidity. On 27 February 1926, Coon filed an application for a Process for Ripening Cheese. Patent No 1579196 was issued on 30 March 1926. Coon's patent claimed:

1. A process for ripening cheese, consisting of supplying, through suitable means, humidified air to a room or chamber set aside for the purpose, the humidified air to have a range of temperature from 45° to 75° F., and a moisture percentage of from 65% to 95%.
2. A process for ripening cheese having an original moisture percentage of 36% to 40% and subjecting it to a temperature of 55° F., to 70° F., in combination with a humidity percentage of from 75% to 90%.

 

COON is the Australian trademark of a cheddar cheese produced by the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter company (WCB). It was first launched in 1935 by Fred Walker. Walker was also the businessman who gave us Vegemite.

 

Now all of the above information was not floating around in my head. It only took less than five minutes to find it through a Google search. Why couldn't Hagan do similar research? After all, he's supposed to be an author and university lecturer. Is Edward COON to be a forgotten man because his family name, a very ancient Scottish one, is a homophone of a corrupted Portugese word?

 

The surname Coon was first found in Ayrshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Inbhir Àir), formerly a county in the southwestern Strathclyde region of Scotland, that today makes up the Council Areas of South, East, and North Ayrshire. Coon  It was the nickname of Whig Party members in U.S. c. 1848-60, as the raccoon was the party's symbol, and it also had associations with frontiersmen who stereotypically wore raccoon-skin caps - Daniel Boone as an example.  The now-insulting U.S. meaning "black person" was in use by 1837, said to be from barracoon (by 1837), from Portuguese barraca "slave depot, pen or rough enclosure for black slaves in transit in West Africa, Brazil, Cuba.

 

Now, I wouldn't lower myself to call Stephen Hagan a coon, so why can't he allow Edward Coon his immortality.

 

 

 

[onetrack]

Funnily enough, my partners maiden name is Coen. Here, and in every Anglo-Saxon nation it's pronounced "Coh-en" - thus making many people think her name is spelt Cohen and she's of Jewish origin.

 

But her family are Irish to way back, and they've been in Australia for at least 10 generations.

 

However, the name is of Dutch origin, and in the Netherlands, the name is pronounced "Coon".  I wonder what sort of apoplectic fit Hagan would have, hearing people call out "Coon!", over there?? 

 

My mate also got nicknamed "coon cheese", when she was at school. Who do you reckon she can sue, for all those intervening years of pain and suffering, from being called a "coon"?  

Edited July 26, 2020 by onetrack

[willedoo]

It does make you wonder how far it will go. Will Coonabarabran and Coonamble have to be renamed Abarabran and Amble. I was reading recently where a white Canadian businesswoman (sorry, business person) announced on Twitter that she had bowed to pressure and cut her dreadlocks as some deemed it to be cultural appropriation, or stealing someone else's culture. A lot of the Twitterati were quick to point out that white people have had dreadlocks for eons, examples being the Vikings and Celts. All you need is thick hair and lack of a hairbrush to grow dreadlocks. The skin colour has no effect on the matting of hair. If it's not PC for a white person to have dreadlocks, then by the same logic, it's not PC for a black person to play a violin. We had the bronze age, the iron age and now we're entering the wanker age. It will go down in history as the era where everyone had their hand on it.

Edited July 26, 2020 by willedoo

[pmccarthy]

I was listening to some Creedence this morning, I reckon they were guilty of cultural appropriation, singing like n......s in some of their pieces. As have other white singers. I will have to burn the CD.

[Bruce Tuncks]

It is ok to refer to a redhead as a " ranga " . This is obviously short for orangutan. If you do anything like this to black people then that is dreadful.

Well you can change words all the time.Here's an example from South Australia...

Defective people were once called " spastics"  then this was changed to "retarded " as if they  would catch up in time...  then this got changed to "mindas" because the local asylum was called Minda House. Now they are called " special needs" people.

When my son was at school, they were calling retarded kids " specials". So there will be a new name coming soon...

PS   lavatory  is french for "washroom". Americans call a dunny a bathroom which I find confusing. Personally, the word scheisshaus  ( well the  english translation thereof )  is the most accurate , but I suspect it may be censored.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

These days, rather than educate, we placate... I had no idea that Edward Coon was the inspiration of the name, and I dount too many consumers knew either. Preserving his name may be a stretch, but again, educating us through packaging or advertising would have been useful (and potentially proftiable if people elected not to buy Coon cheese because of the name and modern association). However, I did sometimes wonder how the name came about for cheese, usually while enjoying an episode of Love Thy Neighbour.

 

One of the negatives of large corporate capitalism is that their priority is the shareholder and that means making their shareholders as much as they can. Shareholders (unless founding ones, I guess) couldn't care too much about history with respect to their investment, so directors are obliged to take necessary steps to protect (and increase) their product's revenues and remove risks to that.

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Jerry_Atrick

[Yenn]

I used to be Gay, but now I am serious.

[Bryon]

1 hour ago, Yenn said:

I used to be Gay, but now I am serious.

Ooooooh, I hope that ithnt contagiouth....

[octave]

I feel that too much is read into these things by the "its Pc gone mad" crowd.   Businesses think a lot about the branding of their products. Consider car names, the same car is sometimes given different names in different counties due to the local meaning (pajero or LaPuta???) . 

There seems to be this notion that a company either has been unfairly forced to change a name against their better judgement or perhaps they are just silly and PC.   Companies are not run by sentimental folk who want to honour historic figures, they, in this case are people who want to sell dairy products.  I would assume that the marketing department at Suputo would have done their market research and decided that the rational decisions was to change the name.  

 

I recall a car ad (cant remember which brand) that showed a same sex couple shopping for a car.  I remember at the time that the social conservatives lost their minds over it. The interpretation was that it was pandering to a minority or PC gone mad.  The actual reason was more to do with selling more cars to more people. 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by octave
grammar

[Bruce Tuncks]

I once read that Elvis "sang like a negro" and I never understood this. His songs were better though. Can anybody explain?

[old man emu]

We tend only to hear of Elvis's popular songs, but he had a deep love for gospel music, "My first [love] I would say would be spiritual music … I mean some of the old colored spirituals, you know, from years back.”

 

O

[Marty_d]

...Or as Eminem sings

 

"Though I'm not the first king of controversy
I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley
To do black music so selfishly
And use it to get myself wealthy"

[Bruce Tuncks]

I still reckon Elvis was great. His first big hit ( heartbreak hotel ) would make no 1 today.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Arghh! Elvis.. Yuk! For some reason, his voice grates me... But, I am obvouisly in the minority on this one.. My mother, partner, kids, friends all think he is the bees knees... Actually, I met a (now sadly deceased) woman who apparently has slept with him while she was a showgirl in LA, I think... I think she liked him, too...

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Jerry_Atrick

[red750]

To add to the PC/racism debate, this one from todays emails.

 

Mr Mick Mundy of Cooktown has gone to court to have the word "blacklisted" banned.

Required to state his case, Mick said: "This racist word is demoralising for the blacks of this country!
How can you put people on a list just because they're black, Why not put whites on a list also?".

The judge, Bernadette Callaghan, after looking pained and after thinking for a minute said:,
"Whites are on a separate list, they are called 'Tax Payers'!"

[red750]

And another from my eight emails received this morning.

 

Since COON cheese has now been withdrawn, what is next.

 

Is the Geographical Names Board going into overtime to be BLM compliant?

 

If it is, here is the starting list

 

·  Coonabarabran

·  Coonabidgee

·  Coonalpyn

·  Coonamble

·  Coonambula

·  Coonamia

·  Coonarr

·  Coonawarra

·  Coondambo

·  Coondle

·  Coondoo

·  Cooneys Creek

·  Coongbar

·  Coongoola

·  Coongulla

·  Coonooer Bridge

·  Coonooer West

 

AND

 

·  Koonamore

·  Koonawarra

·  Koonda

·  Koondoola

·  Koondrook

·  Koongal

·  Koongamia

·  Koongawa

·  Koonibba

·  Koonoomoo

·  Koonoona

·  Koonorigan

·  Koonunga

·  Koonwarra

·  Koonya

·  Koonyum Range

 

NOT TO MENTION

 

·  Black Creek

·  Black Duck Creek

·  Black Forest

·  Black Head

·  Black Hill

·  Black Hill Station

·  Black Hills

·  Black Hollow

·  Black Jack

·  Black Jungle

·  Black Mountain

·  Black Point

·  Black Range

·       Black River

·       Black Rock

·       Black Rock North

·       Black Snake

·       Black Springs

·       Blackall

·       Blackalls Park

·       Blackbull

·       Blackburn

·       Blackburn North

·       Blackburn South

·       Blackbutt

·       Blackbutt North

·       Blackbutt South

·       Blackdown

·       Blackett

·       Blackfellows Caves

·       Blackfellows Creek

·       Blackford

·       Blackheath

·       Blackmans Bay

·       Blackmans Flat

·       Blackmans Point

·       Blackmore

·       Blackrock

·       Blacks Beach

·       Blacksmiths

·       Blacksoil

·       Blackstone

·       Blackstone Heights

·       Blackswamp

·       Blacktown

·       Blacktown Westpoint

·       Blackville

·       Blackwall

·       Blackwarry

·       Blackwater

·       Blackwood

·       Blackwood Creek

·       Blackwood Forest

AND SIMILAR OFFENSIVE POSTCODE AREAS

[old man emu]

Better get that bloke from Hey, Hey It's Saturday to change his name. He's as white as the driven snow.

 

[Marty_d]

5 hours ago, red750 said:

And another from my eight emails received this morning.

 

Since COON cheese has now been withdrawn, what is next.

 

Is the Geographical Names Board going into overtime to be BLM compliant?

 

If it is, here is the starting list

 

·  Coonabarabran

·  Coonabidgee

·  Coonalpyn

·  Coonamble

·  Coonambula

·  Coonamia

·  Coonarr

·  Coonawarra

·  Coondambo

·  Coondle

·  Coondoo

·  Cooneys Creek

·  Coongbar

·  Coongoola

·  Coongulla

·  Coonooer Bridge

·  Coonooer West

 

AND

 

·  Koonamore

·  Koonawarra

·  Koonda

·  Koondoola

·  Koondrook

·  Koongal

·  Koongamia

·  Koongawa

·  Koonibba

·  Koonoomoo

·  Koonoona

·  Koonorigan

·  Koonunga

·  Koonwarra

·  Koonya

·  Koonyum Range

 

NOT TO MENTION

 

·  Black Creek

·  Black Duck Creek

·  Black Forest

·  Black Head

·  Black Hill

·  Black Hill Station

·  Black Hills

·  Black Hollow

·  Black Jack

·  Black Jungle

·  Black Mountain

·  Black Point

·  Black Range

·       Black River

·       Black Rock

·       Black Rock North

·       Black Snake

·       Black Springs

·       Blackall

·       Blackalls Park

·       Blackbull

·       Blackburn

·       Blackburn North

·       Blackburn South

·       Blackbutt

·       Blackbutt North

·       Blackbutt South

·       Blackdown

·       Blackett

·       Blackfellows Caves

·       Blackfellows Creek

·       Blackford

·       Blackheath

·       Blackmans Bay

·       Blackmans Flat

·       Blackmans Point

·       Blackmore

·       Blackrock

·       Blacks Beach

·       Blacksmiths

·       Blacksoil

·       Blackstone

·       Blackstone Heights

·       Blackswamp

·       Blacktown

·       Blacktown Westpoint

·       Blackville

·       Blackwall

·       Blackwarry

·       Blackwater

·       Blackwood

·       Blackwood Creek

·       Blackwood Forest

AND SIMILAR OFFENSIVE POSTCODE AREAS

They missed a place down here in Tassie called "Black Charlie's Opening"  (I kid you not), which I always thought was not only racist but overly personal.

[pmccarthy]

We have Blackfellows Gate Road near us. And what about Poisoned Waterholes Creek, we know the story behind that one.

[Jerry_Atrick]

@red750, the joke was a little racist in these times (and probably any time), but it made me chuckle a little... Unf, it is not easily transferable to other peoples like the joke, "What do you call a <insert who your having a dig at here> in a Bentley?." of answers can be "the defendant" or "a thief", so I should probably pull the funny - but I won't

[Bruce Tuncks]

Running along in front of Mount Gillen in Alice Springs is what used to be called "Chinaman's Creek". It still is!

[Subria]

Remember the world will soon be owned by the "I'm offended" crowd  and the butt hurt precious creatures will wipe our history completely! The human species is evolving to become a breed with an end now on sight!

[Yenn]

Would that be the arse end?

[Bruce Tuncks]

Those who complain about what they are called will never be placated.

There was a cute little redhead girl we saw recently, and her mother described her as a " ranga" . This would create great offence among some groups. An Orangutan is clearly a redhead so the term is like calling an Aborigine a chimp, which would land you in jail these days. the rangas mother thought the term was fine though.

 

The thing has gone on for so long that people are confused by what an aborigine is. There was great interest in " the first indigenous person to graduate in medicine "

and I looked her up and she was a blonde! But legally Aborigine. Gosh I remember when aborigines were blackfellows.

My prediction is that things will continue like this until the wheels come off the whitefeller's gravy train, at which point the poor real aborigines will starve. Alas they have become so dependent on the road-trains carting groceries into their settlements that they can no longer do any hunter-gathering.

[old man emu]

Actually, "aborigine" is a word that can be applied to any "race" that has occupied a land since pre-historical times. The Zulus are aboriginal to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The Pueblo are native to the Mesa Verde area of southwest USA. 

 

The term Aboriginal has been in the English language since at least the 19th century, formed from the 16th century term, Aborigine, which means "original inhabitants". It derives from the Latin words 'ab' (from) and 'origine' (origin, beginning). The current best term to use in Australia instead of aboriginal is  'First Nations'  which recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the sovereign people of this land, and it recognises various language groups as separate and unique sovereign nations. It still leaves the problem of which term to use to describe an individual member of that physically distinct human group.