Does anybody in Australia even know what a Creole is?
So I was walking down the biscuit aisle the other day…
‘Hey jewboy, can you do me a favour?’
‘uh..what?’
‘See those nigger tv snack teddies, I want you to throw a bag on the ground and stomp em. STOMP EM!’
‘you’re not serious…?’
‘ey dun listen to those gookface pocky, what you wan’t to do is teach those Oreo’s a lesson. Interbiscuit relations is not on and somebody has to teach those skanky white fillings a lesson.’
‘a lesson? the only lesson that needs to be taught here is that you nigger teddies aren’t welcome here. This aisle is full, piss off back to your own country of origin.’
‘ey jewboy I’m still talking to you!’
‘HOLY CRAP TALKING BISCUITS…wait you guys know I’m not even jewish right?’
The above might be a strange surreal world to some of you but for Sam Watson, director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies at the University of Queensland, it’s just another day fighting prejudice in Australian supermarket aisles.
Sam Watson lives in a world of racist biscuits.
Despite being on Coles’ shelves for three years, today Coles Supermarkets announced they’d be changing the name of their Creole biscuits due to “claims it is racist”.
I’m the first to admit when I first read the story I had no idea what a Creole was. I thought maybe it was an ancient Greek island but it turns out it’s a derogatory word for people who have mixed European and African ancestry. Oh, and it’s also the name for widely popular spicy cooking that originated out of Louisiana in the US.
What’s more probable, Coles named a food item after a popular food name or that they wanted to send a racist message to the European-Afircan community?
Unlucky for us, possibly the only person in Australia who knew of Creole’s racist connotations decided to make it his personal quest to badger Coles until they agreed to change the name.
Because you know really, this is clearly the most pressing issue affecting Aboriginal and Torres Straight islanders today. I mean christ, I’ve never had the courage to just come out and say it but on the back of Mr. Watson’s (seen on the right there with a ‘Black Australia movement’ tshirt) victory I’m just going to let it rip.
WHY DO THEY ALWAYS USE WHITE SUGAR ON BISCUITS?!
Seriously, is brown sugar just not good enough? What is this crap and who’s responsible. BROWN SUGAR RIGHTS NOW!
While Creole biscuits might be crossing the line, it’s reassuring to know that after a hard day’s work of White King’ing my bathroom and Black & Gold disinfecting my kitchen I can still sit down with a black tea and enjoy some Coon cheese and relax.
Instead of wasting research time on stupid things like racist biscuits perhaps Watson could take a look at some more pressing issues. Like perhaps the fact that:
- An aboriginal youth is four times as likely to be the victim of domestic abuse.
- Indigenous children make up 40% of all hospital admissions for children aged 0-4.
- An indigenous baby is 1.8 times more likely to be neglected or abused.
The lifeless body of a six-week old baby who was allegedly brutally bashed was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital this morning.The boy who had reportedly blood on him was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital about 4am. It is believed the boy’s family was known to child protection services.
Ms McCarthy said she was confident with the department’s work and leaks within the agency would be investigated.
Rudd himself isn’t any better with the announcement today that he is planning a formal government apology for the ‘Forgotten Australians’. Seriously, didn’t we clear all this crap up with the government apology to the Stolen generation?
Apparently not.
This time around we’re apologising to “the survivors of some 500,000 children who found themselves institutionalised in orphanages and homes between 1930 and 1970.”
Child Migrants spokesman Harold Haig said the apology was only a first step.
“There would need to be reparation and restitution … so that child migrants finally get justice.”
In fifty years time I hope somebody gets up in parliament and makes an apology to the current ‘Stolen (from) generation’. I mean Jesus Christ if we thought the stolen generation was bad wait until the neglected kids of today wake up and start asking questions about why nobody did anything to save them in the name of political correctness and non-intervention.
With child protection laws woefully inadequate, child abuse out of control and the Rudd running around apologising on behalf of Australian’s to any minority group he can find, it should be people like Sam Watson leading a charge against blatantly inadequate policy.
But no, instead Watson is off fighting racist biscuits.
October 28th, 2009 at 2:42 am James(Quote)
For fucks sake. Restaurants around the country will be rushing to edit their menus if they have the word creole anywhere in the descriptions of meals.
The oxygen thief even wants red skins lollies removed from sale – I guess he isn’t aware of the American football team named the Washington Redskins.
He reminds me of an American knob on youtube who has a video exposing racism in Australian supermarkets that sell Coon cheese, what the dead shit doesn’t seem to realise is that 1. The inventor who the cheese was named after is an American, and 2… suprise suprise, it’s his family name, but apparently this makes “Australia racist”
God forbid they ever find out about “NIPS” chocolate coated peanuts for sale in Asia, and presumably many other places.
What the fuck does “racism” actually mean now?
racism – noun
1. discrimination perpetrated only by white people towards
non whites?
October 28th, 2009 at 7:22 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Here in Melbourne we have Nippy’s flavoured milk distributed in the northern suburbs.
It is really good tasting milk too, hopefully this guy doesn’t ever venture out of his academic bubble-world role in Queensland!
October 28th, 2009 at 7:44 am Douglas(Quote)
so what does an aboriginal activist actually do ???? whinge and complain , well surprise , surprise , how unusual , i saw this on one of the current affair shows , what a joke , he also whinged about Redskin lollies , and eskimom pie ice creams , surely this whinger would have more serious issues to highlight about his people , child rape , alcohlism, the bashing of women perhaps , no ,lets complain about the name of a packet of biscuits
October 28th, 2009 at 8:47 am Louise(Quote)
but what about eggs? Remember when you opened the box and there were 12 shiny WHITE eggs gleaming back at you. Now, apparently, BROWN eggs are better. You can’t buy white eggs any more. And what about BROWN rice, BROWN pasta, BROWN bread, FFS! Food manufacturers are all racist – bring back WHITE!
October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 pm MitH(Quote)
hi all
love the site but have to pop my posting cherry here
the issue of a badly named biscuit it the entire topic here
the name is ‘random’ and devise (poorly) by the maker and retailer
other product/styles that match the description of the article are more relevent to the name given and used
this one isnt
as someone is already offended it may grow to a larger issue in the future
perhaps better thought will be used in naming things from now on
why stay in the stoneage with un-PC names etc
coles has moved on, so should we
D
October 29th, 2009 at 9:58 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Gday Mith, glad you popped your cherry.
What names aren’t random though? Look at half the products in the supermarket, Mars bars, Tim Tams, Phildadelphia cream cheese etc. Most products are seemingly randomly named.
True but does every product name have to have relevancy?
I’d wager political correctness didn’t exist back in the stone age. What saddens me is the continual influence on society by a minority in the name of political correctness.
I mean seriously, does anybody believe Coles named the bisucuits Creoles because they were racist? I’m sure some research went into the product name (supermarkets spend a truckload on marketing research) and the product has been on the shelves for three years until Captain Crusader came along.
‘I don’t like it, it’s racist’.
In Australian society I very much doubt Creole means anything to anyone. I’ve certainly never heard it used (I’d never heard it period until reading the article) in a derogatory context towards anyone.
Have you?
October 29th, 2009 at 10:27 pm MitH(Quote)
i surely is to certain people
think of other names that are spoken about in muttered tones
lovin spoonful, 10cc, etc each have other meanings
buttholesurfers (well maybe not that one)
shihad changed to something else (pacifier) because touring and marketing worked against the name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shihad
now back as shihad because of their profile and history
the cookies are a simple package change, like the hype about isnack etc (iFail), move on
light reading in euphemisms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism
D
October 29th, 2009 at 10:33 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
If there had of been public outcry over the name, such as the iSnack 2.0 nonsense then I guess I wouldn’t have had such a problem with it.
Given it was on the shelves for 3 years with no complaints until some academic activist with nothing better to do decided to make it his agenda, I kinda have a problem with that.
Moreso the fact that Coles actually listened to the guy.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:41 pm James(Quote)
I was wondering just why they named them “Creole Creams” in the first place, and whether or not it was just a random name or the name had some relevance to the product. So I did a bit of a look around.
I did find a Creole dessert called “Doberge cake” which is a layered chocolate cake with layers of cream.
And it (can) look like this:
http://www.haydelbakery.com/_images/cakes/cake_doberge.jpg
And while looking for pictures of the cake, I came across this ice cream shop called the “Creole Creamery” in New Orleans – is someone going to call this joint racist and get it shut down?
http://www.creolecreamery.com/
Although this isn’t a “Doberge cake”, it is a “‘cake’ cookie”, and looks similar to a “Creole Cream” (except it’s fresh)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__SyERiEnMQA/SihodvHunnI/AAAAAAAAAB8/3lJBwgzWDiQ/s1600-h/cake+cookies.jpg
And with all of this sorta conclusion jumping they could’ve named the biscuit “Creole Creams” for no reason whatsoever, or because they were inspired by chocolate and cream layered Doberge Cakes.
blah blah,
yours in Boredom,
October 29th, 2009 at 10:50 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Wow James how bored are you doing the hard yards of research
.
Coles amongst other supermarkets spend a ton on marketing research so it doesn’t surprise me it’s not too hard to see where they got their product name inspiration from.
Not that Captain save-the-world-from-racism up in Queensland would appreciate this.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:41 pm MitH(Quote)
yeah fine, but
the creole style IS relevent to the locality (in US)
where as in AU its (almost) meaningless
changing it is no stress
D
October 30th, 2009 at 12:24 am Bushrat(Quote)
Seriously MitH, I think you may need to think about this a little deeper? There are a lot of people in this once great, now almost completely fucked up country who need to get a grip and a big fat dose of reality!
It’s not about the bloody biscuits, it’s about the damn PRINCIPLE of the matter.
In the 60 years I have spent on this planet (most of them here) I think I am more than qualified to make a couple of observations.
1: Biscuits are just that – biscuits
2: Politically correct people are a noisy, nuisence minority of closet wombats, out to destroy the fabric of our country and way of life, for the most obscure of reasons only understood by themselves.
3: While we are on the subject, ENOUGH of this crap about banning Christmas displays etc. because it may offend some minority asshole, who has prevailed upon the generosity of this country to grant him/her the priviledge of living here!
4: Eternal damnation and a pox in general on all apologist politicians, do-gooders, trouble makers and general bloody ratbags who have all but destroyed the Australian dream.
5: I grew up in Sydney in the 50′s, my best mate was Greek, my neighbours were Italian, across the road we had Aboriginal people, also in our streets were Germans, Dutch, Jewish people, you name it.
And guess what? WE ALL GOT ALONG JUST FINE! Shock, horror some will say, but where were the “rascists”, where were the rights to complain about something that offended only you? Simple, the rascists had the right to be that way, and got ignored, or if they said something really offensive, copped a good smack in the gob, and that was the end of it. If you didnt like something, and the majority did, then you just accepted that it was the choice of the majority, and maybe you were not looking at it the right way. In short, using todays venacular, you got over it!
Now, just for the record, my wife is of Italian ancestry, and we have Greek and Aboriginal descended people in our family. Just in case anybody wants to start throwing the “R” word around, cause I’m not! The only race I despise are idiots, and unfortunately, no ethnic group has a monopoly on this stupidity.
This bloke makes me sick to my stomach, with his petty bloody nonsense, but even worse, is the fact that there are actually people out there who cant see this nonsense for what it is and AGREE with him, or are prepared to go along with it for the sake of being seen to be politically correct.
Creole is offensive? Sorry, dont think so. I have visited the US and Canada several times, and can tell you that you will find the word “Creole” on menu’s in nearly every state.
Creole restaurants abound (it is a recognised cuisine – VERY TASTY too I might add, along with my other favourite, CAJUN) and there are, I believe even Creole clubs, New Orleans has many people who trace thier ancestry back to these origins, and call themselves – wait for it CREOLE’S!
Oh God, now ive really friggin gone and done it! But seriously, if the Creole people in America dont find the term offensive, why the hell does ONE Aboriginal think he has the right to do this over a FUCKING BISCUIT! Jeez, a bloody man could go completely nutso-ratso over this crap! (oops, should’nt have said that)
Seems to me that there are a hell of a lot of people in Australia who dont have a bloody clue what they are talking about.
I honestly do fear that our gene pool has become irreversibly contaminated!
October 30th, 2009 at 7:38 am MitH(Quote)
why the rage
as you said its just a biscuit (name)
sure, in the US its relevant and worth stamping you feet for.
in AU its just a random name with no ‘cultural heritage’ so they ditched it without a second thought
D
October 30th, 2009 at 8:35 am Bushrat(Quote)
Rant? Rant? THAT wasn’t a Rant!! What that was, in fact, was a cry for help from that great Aussie icon, THE BLACKBOY TREE, which, sadly suffered a similar loss of identity some years ago. I would add at this time that the Aboriginal people used to refer to the Blackboy tree as – “Blackboy tree”!!
The point I am trying to make is this. If we let “people”, of whatever colour or creed (yes, including WHITE people) begin to vilify objects with rascist tags, then, let me tell you – its all over!
Could somebody please explain how, in the future, one would go to a paint shop and buy a can of black paint? Would you have to do what you did in the 50′s when buying condoms, and write your request on a piece of paper and wait till the male pharmacist was free so the note could be slyly passed to him?
I would be the first to agree that there are some extremely race biased things said and done, but biscuits just doesnt do anything for me except maybe, well, make me do my bloody biscuit.
The article that started this thread, albeit tongue in cheek, is spot on!
October 30th, 2009 at 8:49 am Citizen-D(Quote)
Bushrat – you get a big gold star from me mate. Spot bloody on.
Mith – it’s apathy like yours that has let this country slide down the s bend. It’s the very fact that the word ‘creole’ has no cultural significance here that we need to stand up and tell this ‘activist’ to piss off and worry about the very large mountain of problems his people have that don’t involve things as petty as biscuit names.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:32 pm susispice(Quote)
I might be a little naive… but u know sometimes the words that are used which often seem to offend or used to offend are actually just stating the bloody obvious.
eg
1. in north america the latinos we are often called “beaners” i dont find that offensive and if someone called me that id say..why yes I am thank you… yeah we like beans and grown them duh.. its obvious not derrogatory.
Australia has its own racism problems and the ones that cry out that we dont have problems are the ones probably perpertrating it. But we cant go around researching if a particular word for products is racist to someone somewhere in the world when we have no connection to the historical reasons that affect them.
any moment now harry connick jnr will prob say something about this too…
October 30th, 2009 at 7:27 pm Tim(Quote)
What’s really interesting is that ‘Aboriginal English’ is actually a Creole. It’s the term used for the language formed from a mix of traditional languages and English. Becoming quite an issue in Queensland education. So we can’t use what is an important technical term?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_language
October 30th, 2009 at 10:45 pm Bushrat(Quote)
Spot on, if you are in the US, NEVER use the word “Blokes” , I made the mistake once of approaching a couple of African Americans in L.A. and saying, “Can you blokes tell me where I can catch a cab”? They thought I said “can you BLACKS ………..”!
I came very close to getting the living shit beat out of me, but fortunately, they realised in time it was not an offensive comment! Also over there, “Pissed” means annoyed, whilst being totally pissed (in our language) is referred to as being “Shit faced”
Oh dear, ya gotta love the different meanings of the english language!
Which of course, is the point to the whole damn thing, ANYONE can take offence at ANYTHING if they are a narrow minded, bigoted, half brained fruit cake, (I’ve almost certainly caused offence to someone somewhere with that sentance) but hey, stiff shit!
This type of person, I am certain, gets thier jollies from finding things to be offended about. It really is thier problem, but only until it starts to intrude on the rest of us biscuit lovers!
Just to confuse the biscuit renamers, below is a quote in part from good old Wikipedia, juste Google “Creole” to read the lot.
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kriulo, kriol, krio, kreol, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings. Those terms are almost always used in the general area of present or former colonies in other continents, and originally referred to locally born people with foreign ancestry.
#####!
Ok, so what that means to me, is that probably 90% of the population of Australia could be classed as “Creole” (!!!!)
I therefore wish to make it known that as a Aussie Creole, I am not offended, and indeed FUCKING PROUD to have a biscuit named after me!
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:08 pm Danny Vinyard(Quote)
WHITE POWER, WHITE POWER!!
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:54 pm Douglas(Quote)
Was in Coles today , and there they were Creole Creams, get em while you can