dungog was fab

saw a black snake and a lyre bird on the drive there

p.s. tom and alex from triple j were lost and we drove past them and they followed us to dungog so we basically saved the day xoxo

I caught the radio segment this article is talking about in the car to uni on Thursday. The segment was called “Six Degrees of Hitlerfication”, and the aim was to relate a given topic to Hitler in 6 steps or less, similar to “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”. I actually can remember playing this through Wikipedia articles in high school, so it’s not a new concept.

The caller who was playing related wind farms to Hitler via wide open spaces in Germany. Makes sense, not offensive, all good. The presenters then started to mention how they would have made the connection; understandable, as the path this woman took isn’t one that immediately springs to mind. This was when the oven was mentioned. 

I’m explaining all this because I don’t think the article does it properly. The way I read it, the author is implying that the whole game centred around this preprepared joke penned by Tom Ballard and it was all a big lark and hooha. Not the case. As soon as Tom started the sentence, he was interrupted by both Alex Dyson and Alan Brough pretty much telling him it was not okay and promptly moved the conversation away from the topic. Good move on their behalf. It was clearly not scripted. Tom was just saying what was on his mind.

Should he be thinking about what he is saying before he says it, seeing as he is a radio presenter? Of course.

Should a game with such loaded connotations be played on national radio? Probably not.

So they made a mistake. Triple J have apologised profusely after a wave of keyboard warriors attacking both the station and Tom and Alex over various forms of social media.

The thing with Hitler is that he’s surrounded by a shitload of controversial topics (of course). So, however unfortunate this may seem, I think one would immediately go to something to do with the Holocaust, particularly when a machine is involved. It sucks. It was a horrific period of our history. That’s why there continues to be such an interest in it in the wider public domain. But I also think that Tom Ballard can’t be attacked as harshly as he is for saying something, off the cuff, that I would bet a lot of people were thinking.

Bad idea on their behalf to play the game. But they are Triple J, and radio is a competitive sport, so I can kind of understand on one level that they thought it might be interesting, especially as it is a pre-existing game in popular culture.

Also probably not the best response from Tom Ballard on Twitter: “If you don’t like the show, just don’t listen.”

I guess what I’m addressing is the outcry. We live in an age of intense political correctness, where everyone with a keyboard and access to the internet can voice their opinions after any minor offense taken (says the girl making a blog post about it. Don’t worry, I’ve noticed the irony.) I kind of feel like this level of outcry is a bit extreme for a mistake someone made in a spur of a moment. It’s almost up there with the public response to that Aboriginal Memes page. The difference here is that Facebook page was going out of their way to say things they knew would be offensive to a lot of people. Tom Ballard? Not so much.

I also think that offence is a subjective thing. Some people weren’t too bothered by it. Others were incensed. Offense has a lot to do with personal history, opinions, upbringings  experiences and context. That’s why everyone takes things in different ways. Just now, on the apology Facebook post made by Triple J, people were making jokes like “I did Nazi that coming” and “Anne Frankly I don’t like it”.

Offence is tricky. Attacking someone over an offensive joke is tricky because they probably don’t feel the same way you might over it, that’s why they’re making a joke. Of course you’re entitled to say something if it does offend you particularly deeply. But it’s different when the joke being made was unscripted, incomplete, and more of a reference than a joke.

I don’t know how to conclude this so here is a conclusive full stop.