Young Lib's Obama 'monkey' gibe

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Young Lib's Obama 'monkey' gibe

A member of the Queensland Young Liberal National Party faces expulsion after he called Barack Obama a monkey on a social networking site.

Scores of party members this morning called on the party senior executive to immediately dismiss Nick Sowden, president Rod Schneider told brisbanetimes.com.au.

Mr Sowden last night posted messages on Twitter while the US President was being interviewed by Kerry O'Brien on the ABC's 7.30 Report.
"I'm not sure why they paid kerry to fly to america, if they wanted an interview with a monkey surely a Ferry to Taronga would have sufficed," one tweet said.

"If I wanted to see a monkey on TV id watch Wildlife Rescue," said a second.

Mr Sowden this morning told Fairfax Radio his comments were a joke that had been taken out of context.

"I think the people who follow me know this ... and the people on Twitter don't, unfortunately," Mr Sowden said.

Mr Schneider said Mr Sowden's views did not represent those of the party and members were furious.

"He doesn't speak for us, he doesn't hold a role ," Mr Schneider said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/young-libs-obama-monkey-gibe-20100416-sid9.html?autostart=1

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In Australia : Young Liberals = Young Republicans

that little word that people seem to think means so much.

Yes, of course, many jokes need a context, and some things that might be offensive in one environment might not be as much so in another.

But this is on Twitter, where the whole idea is to release information to as many people on Earth as possible. And referring to a black person as a "monkey" is flat out fucking racist, regardless of context. Even if he isn't "that way," making yourself look "that way" on a massive social media site is goddamned stupid.

he should have provided it. Unfortunately for him, his "joke" was interpreted exactly as he intended.

WHAT context? His other tweets? Cause those don't help.

Why do they say this kind of stuff unless they are willing to own it?

Not too bright, I guess. :nopity:

His ass isn't talking its way out of this one. 'Taken out of context'? Give me a fuckin' break!

Yet, there is a call to have him expelled

Not sure how he could not have a role. How did they know he is a member of the Young Liberals?
Did he tweet:
Speaking as a non-role holding Liberal Party member...

He must have some sort of role.

the usual suspects (ie. hate radio hosts, Liberal party politicians, miserable old men etc.) will soon come out with the line that Sowden is a victim of "political correctness."

In Australia, "political correctness gone too far!!1!" is the line that's thrown in your face whenever you call someone out on being a hateful (and sometimes violent) bigot or take offense to something (unless of course you are a Christian complaining about someone acting human, then you are just sticking up for Australian families!) It's a meme that the media love to throw around all the time.

If that fails, blame his youth and go on another anti-young people crusade - as is also a popular meme here.

Ugh.

it stems from its founding ideals of being an alliance of economic conservatives and social liberals to push a progressive agenda and resist the socialistic policies of the Labor party. Up until the 70s they were considered the more socially liberal party on many issues than Labor. It has now been hijacked by the religious right and the economic far right, to become an almost identical clone of the GOP.

They justify their "Liberal" moniker by stating it represents their neoliberal values.

In Australia, we highlight the lower-case or "small" L at the beginning of liberal to refer to someone who believes in liberalism and the capital L for members of the party...

(Interestingly we also have a party who only represent country regions in 3 states who are lucky to get more than 5% of the vote that call themselves the National Party. Go figure.)

There's no one outside of Wilson Tuckey who resembles the usual Republican nutter in the Liberal party. Australians wouldn' even know what to think of some of the shit that comes out of Republican mouths every day.

What a moran.