Editorial, March 4, 2011

The state of hate

HOW tolerant is our Australian society? It’s a question we often toss around at dinner parties, and we all know the stereotypes – the sun-bronzed Anzac, fair-go-for-all ethos, overshadowed from time to time by the types of views that emanate from One Nation.

From the generation that made new lives here after the Shoah, a flood of anecdotes detailing Australians’ decency towards newcomers abounds. Yet even in that era, the Australian government slapped Jewish quotas on refugees steaming into our ports.

More than half-a-century on, Australia has never been as ethnically and culturally diverse as it is today. Yet many indigenous Australians live in appalling conditions, far from our gaze, in Outback shanty communities where crime and alcohol abuse fester. How fair is Australia Fair?

Challenging Racism, a landmark report by the University of Western Sydney, released last month, concludes that, out of a sample of some 12,500, one in 10 Australians holds racist views.

The figures are even worse on anti-Semitism, where roughly one in four respondents was deemed to hold anti-Jewish sentiments.

But before we gnash teeth, a word of caution about the 12-year study. Leading social researcher and academic Professor Andrew Markus, perhaps best known in recent times for running the comprehensive Jewish Population Survey Gen 08, describes Challenging Racism as a flawed exercise whose conclusions we should distrust.

Prof Markus says the results are skewed because the study imposed its own values on the responses it drew from some very specific questions.

For example, respondents were deemed to either be bigoted or not towards various ethnic groups based on whether they would feel comfortable if a family member married into that group.

So are we talking about ethnic and cultural suprematism, or a commitment to one’s own identity and peoplehood in a multicultural Australia? They are two sides of the same coin.

What we can say with certainty is that it’s a stretch to conclude that a person is bigoted for wanting members of their family to contribute to the growth and longevity of their own faith community.

Of course, we should never be complacent about studies that ring alarm bells. As Jewish Community Council of Victoria president John Searle said in his response to Challenging Racism, the Jewish community is committed to interfaith work and ethnic and cultural bridge-building. Keeping the channels of communication open is the only route to greater understanding and harmony.

Jews go Oscar wild

MORE than ever, and perhaps because the Oscars were trying to appeal to a younger audience, the Kodak Theatre appeared more like a movie-star themed bar mitzvah than an awards ceremony.

James Franco was cast in the role of the cool cousin you get to emcee; Stephen Spielberg, the kindly, gushing uncle who delivers the “we’re so proud” speech; Kirk Douglas, the zaida who drinks too much and dances inappropriately with your girlfriend; and Billy Crystal, the uncle whose not really an uncle who delivers the “but seriously” dad joke speech. There was even bad music, sparkly hair, loads of people you don’t know and boring waffle.

Bar mitzvah parallels aside, it turned out to be Jewish cinema’s night of nights, with no less than nine statuettes going to filmmakers of the book. But, perhaps most impressive, were the fresh faces getting teary, then cut off by production library music. In fact, it was an entirely new breed of Jewish filmmaker recognised at the 2011 Oscars.

Sydney producer Emile Sherman is the best example of this. If industry insiders didn’t know who he was a week ago, they certainly do now, with his first film outside Australia, The King’s Speech, winning him the big daddy of film awards, the Oscar for Best Picture. Natalie Portman may have been on the scene since the 1994 film The Professional, but she’s only 29 now and can’t leave the house without winning some sort of acting accolade. The King’s Speech screenwriter David Seidler is a newcomer to Hollywood, despite being 73, while Toy Story 3 writer/director Lee Unkrich had just three major credits before winning his Oscar on Monday. Ditto for West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin, who had written just four films before taking out the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Social Network. In fact, all the Jewish winners were first-timers and most have plenty of time to win another.

The only Jewish loser on Monday was Franco, who despite his best efforts was a terrible host. Perhaps if he’d listened to the advice given him by Golden Globes pot-stirrer Ricky Gervais, the Oscars might have been more tolerable.