A cultural SNAFU
The Australian reports:
THE codename chosen for a secret policing operation to protect US President Barack Obama during his visit to Australia sounds innocuous enough.But calling it Operation Blue Gum, after Australia’s iconic native trees, almost caused an international embarrassment.
US consular officials were aghast when briefed by their counterparts in the NSW Police Force about the title, Blue Gum. In America, a “bluegum” is offensive slang for a lazy African-American who refuses to work. …
Australian officials have been at pains to stress that most NSW Police Force operation names are generated by a computer.
Now that would have been really embarrassing if no one had noticed in time.
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Tags: Australia, Barack Obama
March 21st, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Quite appropriate I would have thought
March 21st, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Why change a thing. Clever those computers. They can even detect Kenyans masquerading as Americans.
March 21st, 2010 at 5:35 pm
So that’s what Redbaiter gets up to when he’s banned from Kiwiblog…
March 21st, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Why the fuck should anyone get upset about the language use in one counrty being misunderstood in another.
Isn’t it bad enough the the tea partiers and the birthers are calling the White House the Wood Pile?
March 21st, 2010 at 6:28 pm
> HELLO, PROFESSOR FALKEN. SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?
> Love to. How about Operation Cheeky Darkie?
March 21st, 2010 at 6:29 pm
[Citation needed], billybonkers. -10 points for HuffingGlue Post/Kos/Talking Points Memo and so forth.
March 21st, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Blue Gum.. for the boy’s in blue.. sounds very American to me… Maybe they’re just trying to make US President Barack Obama feel more at home in Australia.. thats no secret.
March 21st, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Reminds me of this: http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/10/Doug-Stanhope-Live-in-Manchester-583202.html
(takes about half a minute to get into it)
March 21st, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I disagree that it is a SNAFU. If it’s not offensive in New South Wales, then I don’t see why the Americans should be offended, or even infer that offence was intended.
I got threatened in a chat room some years ago because I said someone was a cracker. The Americans in there got very antsy.
They didn’t believe that someone did not know that ‘cracker’ had its origins in the Southern slave days, a word for white slave owners and overseers who used to crack their whips. Apparently very offensive to blacks.
I didn’t know that. Why would I? And why should I care? That applies to America, not New Zealand. It’s like ‘nigger’.
The only people I hear using it these days are Maoris and Pacific Islanders tossing it at each other, or at their own whom they consider ‘colonised’.
March 21st, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Or, more recently, “eskimo.” Remember that beat up?
March 21st, 2010 at 9:03 pm
And then there is ‘Wog’ – for those of us who are of Italian descent. At one time this was a very culturally insenstive term (usually used by returned Vets from the Italian campaign) and definitely a term of insult (we learned to ‘duck’ or ‘pass’) , yet it’s now worn with pride by my children and others of with our ancestry. How things change (and yes, I still don’t like it. . )
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:27 am
The Lord really does work in mysterious ways…
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:53 am
Not quite what you’re after but would the FrumForum suit.
http://www.frumforum.com/tea-party-racists-steal-the-spotlight
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:09 am
They are lucky Hone Harawira wasn’t choosing the codename…”Operation Mofo (of Colour)”
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:23 am
My respect for artificial intelligence has just increased dramatically.
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:33 am
Offensive or accurate?
AI or intelligent design MT?
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:18 am
Ummm…I lived in the States for a good while and never heard that term. I wonder how many Americans have ever heard it.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:22 am
@ Cramton I’m with you. Never heard it before now.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:48 am
Well you have to be hyper sensitive to these things if you’re Obamas watch dogs Crampton because everyone who oppososes The One is racist.
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:10 am
‘Knocked up’ has a different meaning in Australia to the US also.
It’s amusing to think of what some of the security codenames might have been for for GW Bush.
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:19 am
Like this Murray.
Tea party protesters scream ‘nigger’ at black congressman
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/20/90772/rep-john-lewis-charges-protesters.html
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:24 am
Or this.
http://www.thefoxnation.com/first-lady-michelle-obama/2009/10/07/nyt-michelle-obama-descended-white-slaveowner
KC Mob Member
Playing the “SLAVE” card I see. When you are born black, just how many cards do you get? Race card, Slave Card, Minority Card, Nappy Hair Card…. etc. Now I hear you’re going to get $500 bond from the government…isn’t that special?
Thursday, October 08, 2009 at 09:11 AM
[...]
>>>> Far Right >>>>
moesite do you know the time and money they spend on that nappy hair. I have had black foster children so I can say. DAMN it is a lot of work, time and money. racist or whatever, who would have the time for that
Thursday, October 08, 2009 at 11:07 AM
[...]
CES
This slave owner made a great error. This slave should have been terminated. Would have save this country a great embarrassment.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 11:14 PM
[...]
Bostinks
Who really cares. As far as i’m concerned she is a wife of a Kenyan blood Amoeba.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 10:43 PM
[...]
IRON MIKE
Hey NYT don’t put that on us. The blacks would have you believe that every black woman that was brought to America was “Jumped ” by some white man. I am sick of hearing this B.S. As far as Michelle; She looks like a 100% Hausa or maybe a Bacongo. I don’t see any white in her. She should be proud of her heritage. Besidesm she doesn’t act like she has any white blood inher.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 08:26 PM
[...]
Lazar
a honkey in the woodpile?
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 06:40 PM
[...]
zlato
Who cares! Does she want a ticket back to her ancestors homeland not to return? I’ll pay! Otherwise, why bother talking about it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 06:35 PM
[...]
dems are ruining this country
Darwin said that we descended from apes ,and in this case I believe him !
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 06:12 PM
[...]
sammie
Nope – she looks more like a horse to me!
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 09:27 PM
[...]
Rebel
No reparations check for her.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 05:26 PM
[...]
NJG
On a related note: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/lincoln-arch.html
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 05:15 PM
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Hunh. Google “blue gum” + racist, and turns out that it has been used that way. Things you learn. Guess I didn’t hang out with the kinds of folks where I’d have wound up hearing the term.