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Aldi takes 'Australia Est 1788' T-shirts off shelves after racism complaints
The Guardian ^ | 1/7/14 | Bridie Jabour

Posted on 01/08/2014 5:24:22 PM PST by Impala64ssa

...Supermarket chain says decision to remove the design followed tweets 'by a limited number of concerned customers'

Aldi has removed T-shirts from its Australia Day range after the supermarket chain was accused of racism.

Aldi advertised shirts which said “Australia Est 1788” to go on sale as part of its Australia Day range.

The shirts drew criticism on Twitter where the supermarket was accused of racism for seeming to say Australia was only established after it was colonised in 1788, despite the existence of an Indigenous population before then.

In a statement Aldi Australia said it had decided to remove the T-shirts from retail and they would not go on sale on Saturday as planned.

“The decision to remove the Australia Est 1788 design from the range was taken following comments by a limited number of concerned customers,” the statement said.

“Aldi Australia wants its customers to know it puts the community and their wishes first.”

One Twitter user suggested the “est” be changed to “invaded” while others urged people to complain to Aldi directly.

The announcement was welcomed by some but angered others who did not believe the T-shirt was offensive.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aldi; australia; pc; pcnonsense; twitter
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21 posted on 01/08/2014 6:30:18 PM PST by RedMDer (Happy with this, America? Make your voices heard. 2014 is just around the corner. ~ Sarah Palin)
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To: Hegemony Cricket

Roger that. I’ve had it up to —> <— here with the whole “myth of the noble savage” milieu. I don’t know much about Australian aborigines but I’m betting they were largely similar to their American counterparts. Yeah, yeah, proud sacred traditions... Yadda yadda... Enough.

Time to face the fact that these indigenous people were a small, Stone Age bunch of barbarously warring tribes. Far from living in “harmony” with nature... There just weren’t enough of them to permanently damage an area before they moved on and depleted the next place. Life was, as they say: primitive, brutish and short. Theirs was a declining future. Far from any advancements of civilization they didn’t even have that most basic building block of success: a written language. An oral tradition seems romantic to phony college professors and hippies but it dooms a people to a desperate existence and denies them any real inter-generational knowledge transfer. Far from any lies about blankets they were already being wiped out by disease well before Europeans arrived.

Plenty of injustices were done to them. That’s true. So what? History is replete with unfairness the world over. There is no point and nothing gained by carrying any sense of guilt or tendering any apology some hundreds of years in the future. It’s the story of the planet. Get over it.

:-)


22 posted on 01/08/2014 6:54:58 PM PST by Ramius (Personally, I give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
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To: Impala64ssa

“From the same company that sold horsemeat-tainted meat in the US.”

Just cooked up some mozzarella-stuffed meatballs from Aldi yesterday. If they had horsemeat in em, then I guess horsemeat is delicious :)


23 posted on 01/08/2014 6:56:02 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: Impala64ssa

Why are normal people afraid of a bunch of purse-carrying wimps?


24 posted on 01/08/2014 6:57:28 PM PST by sergeantdave
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To: Ramius

“Far from any lies about blankets they were already being wiped out by disease well before Europeans arrived.”

Well, the big decimation occurred before Europeans came to North America, but not before European contact. The Spanish had already given them smallpox and other diseases, and it spread throughout both continents rapidly, so that North America was mostly depopulated when Europeans got around to settling it.


25 posted on 01/08/2014 7:23:36 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks Impala64ssa.


26 posted on 01/08/2014 7:38:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: Boogieman

If it wasn’t smallpox it would’ve taken even larger quantities of marvels like whiskey, gunpowder, and lead shot. The result would’ve been about the same.


27 posted on 01/08/2014 7:53:24 PM PST by Repeat Offender (What good are conservative principles if we don't stand by them?)
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To: Impala64ssa

Because the Abos built such magnificent cities and buildings before the convicts got there. (snicker)


28 posted on 01/08/2014 8:00:26 PM PST by driftless2
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To: SunkenCiv

who said the shirts were ugly?

29 posted on 01/08/2014 8:07:35 PM PST by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum)
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To: JimRed

Perhaps if they’d invented the wheel or a written language, they might be in the lead today.


30 posted on 01/08/2014 8:27:38 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: SamuraiScot

The next thing you know the aborigines will say that the name, “Australia” is racist and needs to be removed much the way sports team names are changed here.


31 posted on 01/08/2014 9:27:49 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; me = independent conservative)
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To: Impala64ssa

A world chock full of crybabies.... where to turn?


32 posted on 01/08/2014 10:51:06 PM PST by Bullish (America should yank Obama like a rotten tooth before he poisons the entire body)
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To: GeronL

Yes, and in 1787 there wouldn’t have even been one word for the entire island continent that was understood throughout it.


33 posted on 01/09/2014 3:01:38 AM PST by OldNewYork
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To: Jack Hydrazine
The next thing you know the aborigines will say that the name, “Australia” is racist

Yeah. After all, Australia means "southern land." South of what—colonialist Europe, man? Obviously ray-ciss, since the Abos' lawyers will tell you, I'm sure, that West Didgeridoo is the center of the world and universe. The head-hunting gods told us so.

I'm making this up, but I'll read it on Drudge tomorrow, won't I?

34 posted on 01/09/2014 3:55:08 AM PST by SamuraiScot
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To: SamuraiScot

Coitenly!


35 posted on 01/09/2014 5:23:44 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; me = independent conservative)
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To: SamuraiScot

The “checkmate” question for these anti-colonial types -

was the standard of living better while these countries were colonized, or worse than before they were colonized?


36 posted on 01/09/2014 5:26:37 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Little Ray

About $20 on ePay.


37 posted on 01/09/2014 5:26:43 AM PST by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: xp38

hmm. As an Australian I would have thought you would know that Captain Cook had been dead for almost a decade in 1788.


38 posted on 01/11/2014 5:28:43 AM PST by dragonfly70
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To: dragonfly70

yes my mistake.....so first fleet landing rather


39 posted on 01/11/2014 7:14:47 AM PST by xp38
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