Tue, 01 Jun 2010 4:00a.m.
By Philip Patston
Two high profile news stories caught my eye last week. First, radio station The Edge's "Hug a Ginga Day" and then World Cup ambassador Andy Haden's "darkies" comment.
Both have fuelled debates in the media, as well as the lounges and lunch rooms of the nation. The arguments ranged from accusations of racism and even terrorist intent, to justifications of harmless fun and political correctness. Mitigations have come thick and fast: the use of similar terms like "honky" for Europeans and the commonplace acceptance of blonde jokes make ginga-hugging and darkie-calling okay.
I'm not going to wade into the dialectic exercise of deciding whether either were right or wrong — to be frank, I think both debates are trivial in the scheme of things. What interests me is that both issues exemplified our obsession with characterising ourselves and each other visually and, specifically, by reference to colour.
"Ginga" – red hair. "Darkie" – brown skin. Why the fuss?
Let's blame the reptilian brain — the least sophisticated part of what American physician and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean calls our triune (three-part) brain. This most ancient part connects us to dinosaurs, reptiles and birds, is responsible for instinctual behaviours such as aggression, dominance and territoriality. According to British author, researcher and speaker David Icke, it responds to "partial representations" like colour and strangeness. Racism, among other forms of discrimination, is reptilian.
The two more evolved parts of the brain are the limbic system and neocortex. The limbic system governs motivation and emotion responsible for feeding, reproductive and parental behaviour. The neocortex, found only in mammals and most evolved in humans, produces language, abstraction, planning, and perception. People choose not to – or simply are unable to – engage these cerebral systems.
So when a radio host, sports ambassador or any other half-intelligent person decides to design promotional days around hair colour or makes throwaway comments about sportspeople based on the colour of their skin, I don't think they are necessarily being discriminatory or meaning to be offensive. They are just being lazy.
They could think more complexly, but they are choosing not to because it's easier not to. They are using the most basic part of their brain to appeal to the lowest common denominator. The result is aggressive, dominant and territorial – and they risk hurting people in the process.
At best it's irritating and boring – at worst it's bad behaviour – and I think it should stop. But it won't until we grow up – or more to the point, grow into our brains.
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