Racism By Any Other Name

It's shocking to be confronted by racism in another country. It's not that it doesn't happen all the time, but it appears even more obvious, and vastly more egregious in someone else's society. Mostly because, as outsiders, we aren't seeing it from the same set of assumptions (similar though they may be).

What's really fascinating (and by "fascinating", I mean: watching a car crash or an assault while it's actually happening) about this article is not that there was a 10 year old Aboriginal (read: black) girl raped by a gang of rich white boys, or that the judge appeared to let the perpetrators off with barely a rap on the knuckle, but that the "news report" on it is so clearly written to bias our opinions. To voice the liberal assumption of unfair interpretation of the evidence, and then a race- or class-based judicial decision.

With media like this, it doesn't even matter what the facts actually are!

And with deeply ingrained racism like this, it doesn't even matter what the crime is!

[It reminds me of the punchline from this early South Park episode. Preview from ComCent below.]