Sent along by Knight Owl & Loretta
I had already seen this and figured to blog it when I got a chance — looks like we’re all using the same brain pan!
When you see this photo, what’s the first thing that pops into your mind?
Okay, the first thing besides “what a couple of idiots!”
Two of Russia’s champion ice skaters have caused outrage after dressing as Aborigines for a competition.
The couple, who are favored to win gold at next month’s winter Olympics, wear skin-toned suits with red loin cloths, white body paint and eucalyptus leaves.
But experts in Australia say Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin’s movements and body decorations bear no resemblance to that of the Aborigines’ 60,000 year old culture.
“They have got the whole thing wrong,” said Stephen Page, artistic director of the respected indigenous group, the Bangarra Dance Company.
Page said the two and half minute routine’s didgeridoo music sounded more like it came from India or Africa.
He added that the body paint looked like “a 3-year-old child had drawn it on”.
Indigenous leader Bev Manton, of the New South Wales Land Council, said Aboriginal people were rightly sensitive about the appropriation of their cultural heritage.
She told the Sydney Morning Herald: “I am offended by the performance and so are our other counselors.”
Okay, if the look is wrong, the music is wrong and the dance is wrong … how the hell can you accuse them of appropriation of the Aboriginal cultural heritage? The couple themselves say that it “wasn’t our purpose that it be especially Australian, just a dance from many thousands of years ago.”
Why not save your righteous indignation and moral outrage for something legitimate for a change? Everyone’s got their knickers in such a knot these days you can’t hardly blink without pissing someone off.
Incidentally, Knight Owl found that line about the 3-year old so offensive, he sent along a sample of actual Aboriginal art to demonstrate the incredible sophistication of true Aboriginal art. You’ll find it under the fold.
January 27th, 2010 at 03:59
Case in point: why are you getting so upset about it if it’s not even insulting to Aboriginals?
January 27th, 2010 at 08:42
She’s not. Try reading.
January 28th, 2010 at 00:09
I’m not upset. I don’t have a problem with the costumes. I wouldn’t care if the costumes were supposed to be Aborigine. I flat out do not care and I think the people who do care need to get a hobby.