A Nation of Racist Drunks?

[Bon_Clay]

With call centers it has nothing to do with race really, its just the language specifically. It could be the whitest person in the world who had a strong Indian accent and it will piss them off the same. And if it was a brown person who they didn't have the slightest trouble understanding it wouldn't bother people either.

As far as accents go, I find people from India to be some of the hardest to understand. If I'm trying to get some info or buy something and I can't even communicate with the person, the company needs to rethink what they are doing.

And people just despise telemarketers. So if they don't just hang up on you immediately, they're going to say whatever it is that expresses their annoyance to you.

 

[Shadow flame master]

Oooooooh, so this is about Australia and not the US. I'm kindda dissapointed at the fact that this form isn't bashing my country. I never once thought of Aussies as drunks, thrill seekers yes but never drunks, that role belongs to the Irish. As for being rascist, I'm not sure, depends on the person I guess, but one racist person doesn't mean that everyone in that country is racist(almost everyone in Amerca though).

 

[WolfThomas]

Does not Melbourne have something like the 3rd highest number of Greek people of any city, including those in Greece?

Captcha: Mother Country

I believe so, it also has the highest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam. That captcha is quite appropriate

 

[SeriousIssues]

Finally something other than America being attacked.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

This is bull....

When did the Aussies beat out Merika?

Youre an island....perhaps its your terrible release dates on everything and all the National Geographic people harassing your wildlife....

 

[badgersprite]

I only had to read the thread title to know this was about Australia.

Yay us!

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Australia is racist towards petite breasts and unlimited bandwidth...that's pretty severe if you ask me and extreme drunkenness would somehow explain it....oh and women in the military are granted free boob-jobs I read...that's a worthwhile expense I suppose .

 

[Peteron]

Well, I guess you have reasoning to be angered about this. I would know, we Americans get similar criticisms.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Wait, wait, wait!

Are you sure they didn't say "America" instead of "Austrailia"? Because I could swear that the only nation that can be labled as a nation of racist drunks was America.

no, america is labeled as fat and racist assholes.

edit:sorry i forgot rednecks.

Yeah, as someone who dates a foreigner who's been to more than 21 European countries, calling us "Drunks" isn't correct when you take into account how much other western nations drink compared to us. Especially Denmark and Australia.

 

[Craorach]

Since I moved here seven years ago I've noticed that many Australians are what I would call "casually racist".

Australians are, almost excessively, proud of their culture and identity. For most, especially those you might call "Bogan", this involves being loud, brash, crude and drinking a lot.

There is also an attitude of "I'll say what I think, I'm honest like that!" which actually boils down to being abusive.

Many Australians feel, for example, that anyone who migrates here should entirely and completely embrace "Aussie culture".. while immediately throwing aside every aspect of their own culture.

If put in a situation where they work or interact with people off another race, they tend to actually be fine human beings.. the "fair go" mentality is one of the good sides of their culture.

If that person is, however, either in a position of power, or lack of power.. or is on the phone.. they find it far easier to dismiss them as "not a real Aussie" and start being abusive.

 

[rabidmidget]

I was about to angrily dismiss this claim.

But then I remembered that Australia IS a nation of Racist Drunks, there's the yearly Australia day violence, the incidents with Indian students and I haven't even mentioned Aborigines yet.

 

[Shadow5]

I'm Aussie and, I don't drink. Neither do most of my friends.
Here is a helpful map of world drinking.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/02/daily_chart_global_alcohol_consumption

As far as racism goes, yes I know some racists, some people I know generally dislike arabic people, not because they are arabic but because they are the group responsible for the majority of crime in the area they live.

As to the point about being technologically backwards, I am using a computer right now (obviously), I have a flat screen TV, an iPhone, and a X-box 360.
If I am technologically backwards because I don't have the latest consumer gadgets, thats fine by me

 

[Spoonius]

Drunks? Maybe. We have a very strong drinking culture, especially young Australians, and even though I don't drink much it's hard not to get caught up in it. Personally I think it's wrong, but whatever. Free choice.

As for racist? No. I'm a guy of middle-eastern appearance, and the only time I've ever been openly discriminated against was in primary school, by a few little shits that were way dumber than me, and felt like compensating by bringing me down a notch. Other than that, and throughout my entire adult life, my skin colour has been irrelevant. In fact, people often say that they like the colour of my skin.

I can see how the call centre staff might think us racist, but I don't think many of us are. We just can't understand their bloody accents, and the frustration of deciphering their constant banter combined with ANYBODY'S hatred of telemarketers drives a lot of Australians nuts. Many larger companies (Telstra, our primary communications company, for example) have outsourced call centres to India (and the Solomon Islands too, I think), and we have to deal with foreign accents that we can't understand on a regular basis.

I won't deny that we have a racist history, but let's see somebody name a country that doesn't. For example, the severity of our discrimination against the Aborigines doesn't even compare to many other instances of racism by other nations, and I'm sick of others criticising us for it. Aside from those residing in extremely remote communities, the Aborigines have it easier now that almost any other conquered race throughout human history, I'll tell you that. And those in remote communities, with poor living standards, are a prominent political issue at the moment.

 

[MrNickster]

I was about to angrily dismiss this claim.

But then I remembered that Australia IS a nation of Racist Drunks, there's the yearly Australia day violence, the incidents with Indian students and I haven't even mentioned Aborigines yet.

You mean the Cronulla riots? Cause Cronulla is a shit hole full of racist dicks, not the entire country.

 

[viranimus]

I dont think its a fair assessment. What is this based off of? The responses from telemarketing? Heres a simple fact. If your telemarketing, dont expect anyone to like you. If you cannot speak in a dialect that is recognizable to the person your trying to sell something to... dont expect anything but vile and venom from the other side of the phone.

So If Indians get to think that Aussies are drunken racists, is it also ok for me to assume that all Indian call center workers are inept morons who are unable to comprehend the english language and do not deserve jobs?

 

[Thaluikhain]

I won't deny that we have a racist history, but let's see somebody name a country that doesn't. For example, the severity of our discrimination against the Aborigines doesn't even compare to many other instances of racism by other nations, and I'm sick of others criticising us for it. The Aborigines have it easier now that almost any other conquered race throughout human history, I'll tell you that.

They do have a life expectancy 20 years less, and half the chance of completing high school as the rest of the country and so on. There is quite a large gap that isn't going to go away any time soon.

 

[TheLiham]

I am offended.
We Drunk Racists are a proud people, shouldnt be in the same boat as those damn Aussies.

Yes, We Irish are incredibly offended.

OT: Everyone is racist, why should the Australians be any different?

 

[Shadow5]

In my local paper, the Sunday Mail, one article disturbed me. In India, call centers are training their staff on how to deal with Australian customers, saying we're quote "the dumbest continent in the world," we "drink constantly" and are "quiet racist." One comment that got me was that we are "technologically backwards." Now as someone who has 5 consoles, a smartphone and a tablet device, I felt insulted. What do you lot think?

Here's the link to the story http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/indian-call-centre-staff-told-australians-are-dumb-drunken-racists/story-e6freqmx-1226100445960

Australia is definitely technologically many years behind other first-world countries and our uptake of new technology is slow. We get stuff here years after it's well-established in other first-world markets, that's a fact.

Hold up. Australia is actually on of the fastest adopters of new technology and many new technologies are released in Australia first to see how the market will respond.

"Australians have shown a remarkable willingness to embrace new technology. In terms of market penetration, Australia adopted colour TV, video, fax machines, and personal computers at a much faster rate than any other country"
http://www.abc.net.au/http/pipe/comnt1.htm

Do you have any Idea how long it took the U.S. to adopt Fax machines?
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/business-brains/surprise-us-lags-in-technology-adoption-report-says/14931

 

[rabidmidget]

I was about to angrily dismiss this claim.

But then I remembered that Australia IS a nation of Racist Drunks, there's the yearly Australia day violence, the incidents with Indian students and I haven't even mentioned Aborigines yet.

You mean the Cronulla riots? Cause Cronulla is a shit hole full of racist dicks, not the entire country.

Actually none of the things I mentioned had anything to do with those riots, most were in cities.