HANDLES, HERITAGE and HYSTERIA

The Coronavirus is taking its toll on Oz citizens at the moment and the duress is being demonstrated in alarming ways. The lucky country has become quite parochial while the beast dances around the continent and there has been a continuing and justifiable emphasis on borders, containment and biosecurity to slow down the soundtrack’s tempo. Globalisation and all things ‘foreign’ have been assigned peanut gallery seating as a national march towards the ‘new normal’ begins. Cue in an accompanying and competing military-style beat.

But COVID-19 has not just been fooling with our physical well-being. Many punters’ brains appear adversely affected.

Over the last three months, a few familiar food products here in Australia have been wrangled into a bush holding pen in preparation for long overdue name changes. Such items include Red Skins confectionery bars and Chicos dark jelly babies. The owner/ manufacturer ‘Nestle’ has stated that ‘These names have overtones which are out of step with our company values, which are rooted in respect.’

Similarly, the Coon cheese range is to have its name altered. The banner’s new owner, Canadian dairy products’ company ‘Saputo’, issued a press release in late July. ‘One of our basic principles as an organisation is to treat people with respect and without discrimination and we will not condone behaviour that goes against this.’

Both companies obviously recognise the commercial value in changing the product tags as well as promoting the underlying principles of inclusion and diversity. Win, win…..well, sort of.

After these announcements, a wave of outrage immediately took form just off Bondi Beach from a significant minority of aggrieved taxpayers. Shock jocks, newspapers and local Fox News presenters hit the media platforms with cries of P.C. madness, leftie subterfuge, ‘woke’ poisoning and even a white-anting of Antipodean identity. One could be forgiven for thinking that civilization was being challenged at its very foundations and that the virus would have to share its Public Enemy #1 mug sheet with this renaming nonsense.  How about some treason trials in the Domain?

But an analysis of the gatekeepers to a mythical golden past is illuminating. These are the people who place a premium price on ‘respect’, bemoan its alleged scarcity and yet refuse to acknowledge purposeful attempts to break down the language, signage and overt markers of fellow citizens of colour, race and different creeds. It’s jaw-dropping in hypocrisy and paints the perps as privileged and entitled. I guess ‘outrage’ can only really be felt when you’re on the plus side of the race spectrum. Being white, bloated and ‘principled’ should afford you an exalted position to complain and condemn. And when there is backing from sympathetic and reactionary media sources, the ‘snowflake’ tag morphs into informed opinion and legitimate angst. The joint’s gone mad etc. etc. etc. Funny that!

The true parameters of racism encompass every level of social, political and economic existence in Australia. It’s a pity the angry reaction to the veneer of product rebadging only demonstrates the cultural backwater that we continue to be.

Just last week the Coalition of Peak Aboriginal Organisations launched its Closing the gap targets (to improve Indigenous lives). These targets focus on the crucial domains of health, education, employment, housing, culture, languages, incarceration and connection to country. The targets are ambitious and will ultimately involve all Australians over the next decade. Given the shit fight described above, the challenges may well be greater and intrinsically more basic than many would assume.

To conclude, when I was a tacker in the late 1950s and early 1960s I remember eagerly tearing apart show bags to get my fingers on the ‘Nigger Boy’ licorice sticks box. Many boomer compadres will recognise this ‘product’. Isn’t it reassuring to realise that we have come so far in the last sixty years? There is an obvious response to that final query but I’ll workshop a conciliatory alternative.