Re-posted from: http://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/anti-racism-ad-immediately-gets-racist-reaction
Australian Anti-Racism TV Ad Immediately Gets Racist Reaction
“Why should anyone be made to feel like crap, just for being who they are?”posted on July 29, 2014, at 3:40 p.m.
Mental health advocacy group Beyond Blue has launched a new campaign about “casual racism” in Australia.
Beyond Blue / Via youtube.com
The campaign aims to highlight Australia’s casual racism towards Indigenous Australians. It shows various situations where people are giving in to a racist voice in their head.
Beyond Blue / Via youtube.com
Beyond Blue says this casual racism by the “Invisible Discriminator” leads to high rates of depression and anxiety in Indigenous communities.
Beyond Blue / Via youtube.com
And seemingly small moments make a remarkable impact on people’s mental health.
Beyond Blue / Via youtube.com
The campaign launched with the hashtag #stopthinkrespect which trended in Australia’s biggest capital cities.
#stopthinkrespect is now trending in #Sydney http://t.co/pCmfpRwjYr
And immediately there was a debate about whether “abo” was a racist term.
The problem is that many don’t know it’s a problem.#StopThinkRespect
And some on Facebook wanted to point out that white people are targeted by racism as well.
And this commenter who summed up exactly what Beyond Blue was targeting in one single, long sentence.
However there were positive reactions to the television commercial.
The #StopThinkRespect initiative highlights the need to move away from “cultural awareness” because being “unaware” is no longer an excuse.
Just saw the @beyondblue #StopThinkRespect TV commercial.. Casual racism is such a part of Aussie culture and it needs to stop
Powerful message. No one should be made to feel like crap because of who they are. #StopThinkRespect
TASA Sociology of Education 
I love the way this site tells me I am commenting on my own post, however…
I wanted to recount an experience on a public tram in Adelaide, on my way to the TASA conference. I noticed two young people filling disposable cups from a wine bladder – primarily ‘noticed’ because it was about 9.30 am and I couldn’t think of anything worse to be drinking at that time of day. We all got on the same tram, I sat in a free seat, and the two drinkers and their friend moved down the tram and stood next to me. On the other side of the tram was a lady sitting at the window with a bag on the seat next to her, the young man asked her to move it so that he could sit down, and she picked up the bag and moved down the tram to stand away from this group. Yes I immediately thought of these advertisements, but clearly, so did this group. The young girl had clearly had a few cups full by that stage and she started to loudly accuse the woman who moved of being racist. This went on, turning into a rant about bloody white people who have no idea … you go to work so I can get rich on centrelink, you bloody rude *&% you don’t do that to my boyfriend… Her boyfriend loudly stated that this woman was a ‘bloody Asian’, and then the insults got even worse, turning into a transparently racist rant.
So how did the bystanders react? Interesting, because I was one of them. Nobody did anything. Nobody moved, nobody reacted, nobody responded. The woman who stood up seemed to be doing her very best to ignore the whole thing, Wouldn’t you love to hear some of the thinking going on though? I realised someone was playing loud music behind me, not sure what it was, JJJ sort of stuff, rapping about the n-word and such things. I realised that was the third member of this group of friends. After about ten minutes of the constant isults, finally, they stopped talking and began kissing each other, and got out soon after.
What is one supposed to think and/or do in such a situation? I knew I ‘didn’t want to get involved’, I did not see any clear victim/perpetrator, I felt sad that things are this way, and I was pleased when the situation defused, but with the full knowledge that it is simmering away, every day, every where.
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