16 September 2010

Stencil Art Wednesday

| johnboy
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Southern Cross

Our theme of the week for Images of Canberra is stencil art. Above is an interesting one found by Holden Caulfield.

Below is P1’s favourite, followed by ELK’s entry to the australian stencil art prize, which is still in contention as a finalist.

We’re looking for your photographs of stencil art all week, just send them in to images@the-riotact.com

Photo by P1

Photo by ELK

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You aren’t seriously equating the swastika with the southern cross symbol are you?

Really?

Only in that they are both essentially meaningless symbols that have accrued cultural significance through the uses they’ve been put to.

I really like the ‘who or what does this represent’ stencil, because it’s questioning the ownership of the southern cross by the bogan-bigots and implying that the symbol could still be reclaimed by the rest of us (unlike the swastika, which is now completely tarnished as a symbol … at least in Western society).

Lucky Grills3:11 pm 16 Sep 10

Sh!tty tattoos chronologically:

1993 – sketchy soundgarden logo
1996 – awful bad religion logo
1997 – 2004 – Anything dolphin/ying yang
1999 – 2007 – band around arm, either barbed wire/celtic
2001 – Red Hot Chilli Peppers logo
2002 – 2006 – crucifix on lower arms
2004 – onwards – southern cross tattoo

I dunno Thumper, the Cronulla riots were pretty ugly and there were plenty of Southern Cross tattoos and flags-for-capes at that little shindig – I’m guessing that’s where it all starts unless we as a society take measures to stop it.

But the swastika/southern cross comparison is a bit of wild, ridiculous hyperbole

Got to feel sorry for the folks who got tattoos before the symbol was associated with racism.

It’s only associated with racism because certain people wish it to be so and continue to push the myth.

Not on any, you know, facts or anything.

You could say the same thing about the swastika – originally it was a eastern religious symbol, until it was laid claim to by the Nazis. Much in the same way as the Southern Cross is nothing more than a bunch of random stars in the sky that has been laid claim to by bigoted bogans.

p1 said :

georgesgenitals said :

A bogansy perhaps?

Bogan pansys are called frangapanis.

I just snorted coffee through my nose.

Ronnie # 20

These low life’s are what you call ‘the ugly australian. ‘

Any of those countries on Johnboys list want to fight for the SC: invasion time

georgesgenitals said :

A bogansy perhaps?

Bogan pansys are called frangapanis.

justin heywood9:13 pm 15 Sep 10

Krazee said :

I am disappointed that I now treat every display of the southern cross as highly likely to belong to a white racist

A racist is someone who makes negative assumptions about people because of their ethnic grouping.

So what do you call someone who does the same based on the sticker on their car? A Rioter?

A pansy and a bogan … odd mix, but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

pansy?? you must be tripping hippy

georgesgenitals7:59 pm 15 Sep 10

Jim Jones said :

John Moulis said :

gospeedygo said :

I saw a ute yesterday with a southern cross sticker in the back window with the words “Proud Australian” or words to that effect. The guy was driving a Nissan.

I drive a Suzuki Swift hatchback with a Southern Cross sticker on the back window. Go ballistic over that.

A pansy and a bogan … odd mix, but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

A bogansy perhaps?

Got to feel sorry for the folks who got tattoos before the symbol was associated with racism.

I remember driving around in rural west Virginia with my dad and the car infront of us was a blue volvo It didn’t have any bumper stickers but it’s license plate was WAFFEN SS (as in Hitler’s special forces). We couldn’t believe it. You’d have to be a really dedicated racist to have that as a license plate. Beyond creepy

John Moulis said :

gospeedygo said :

I saw a ute yesterday with a southern cross sticker in the back window with the words “Proud Australian” or words to that effect. The guy was driving a Nissan.

I drive a Suzuki Swift hatchback with a Southern Cross sticker on the back window. Go ballistic over that.

A pansy and a bogan … odd mix, but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Skidd Marx said :

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”. Samuel Johnson

Nice quote.

He was great in The Secret Life of Us, and I’m really enjoying his role in ‘Rush’, too.

Not so big on his voiceover work (Hungry Jacks ads etc) but you can’t win ’em all I guess.

gospeedygo said :

I saw a ute yesterday with a southern cross sticker in the back window with the words “Proud Australian” or words to that effect. The guy was driving a Nissan.

I drive a Suzuki Swift hatchback with a Southern Cross sticker on the back window. Go ballistic over that.

Ronnie said :

….and all was fine until my female student friend from Hong Kong stepped out from the back seat. One of the beflagged idiots shouted out “Here’s one boys!” and they all turned and hurled vicious abuse at her.

I hope you called the police and pressed charges for racial vilification.

Woody Mann-Caruso4:00 pm 15 Sep 10

To me ’soundrel’ implies cunning, and perhaps a little naivety

I’ve always thought of ‘scoundrel’ as a lesser charge, but the OED disagrees:

A. n. ‘A mean rascal, a low petty villain’ (J.). Now usually with stronger sense: An audacious rascal, _one destitute of all moral scruple_.

The ‘audacious’ bit could go either way:

1. Daring, bold, confident, intrepid.
2. Unrestrained by, or setting at defiance, the principles of decorum and morality; presumptuously wicked, impudent, shameless.

The first one makes for something a little more rogue-ish, a Han Solo type. Most bogans are more the second one, though.

When did bogans become an extremist group?[/QUOTE]
Extreme idiots? From day 1.

Should we call the terrorist hot like because i saw a ute with a bundy rum sticker on it’s rear window?

No, but calling the Taste Police would be a good move.

Australia Day 2008 – I was in Terrigal and drove some friends to a beach for a picnic and swim. As we arrived there were two utes (1 Holden, 1 toyota Hilux) parked side by side, southern cross decals on both rear windscreens, music blaring and about 8 blokes hanging around drinking beer (2 had Australian flags draped over their shoulders). We got out of my car and all was fine until my female student friend from Hong Kong stepped out from the back seat. One of the beflagged idiots shouted out “Here’s one boys!” and they all turned and hurled vicious abuse at her.

I saw a ute yesterday with a southern cross sticker in the back window with the words “Proud Australian” or words to that effect. The guy was driving a Nissan.

troll-sniffer2:11 pm 15 Sep 10

Do I have to explain eveything around here? The bogan has lifted the southern cross alone from our flag because the other bit, the composite cross of the Union Jack is too hard for their Maccas-affected brains to comprehend. Plus, it’s the closest most of them will ever get to an appreciation of a simple blingless form so we shouldn’t be too hard on them for their choice.

They aren’t extremists at all. They just hate the Greens.

So back to the original question: who or what does the southern cross represent? Probably not the Greens.

PM said :

Can we use scoundrel from now on as a replacement for bogan?

To me ‘soundrel’ implies cunning, and perhaps a little naivety; one of which is completely foreign to a bogan.

PM said :

Skidd Marx said :

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”. Samuel Johnson

The word “scoundrel” isn’t used too often nowadays… I’ve never liked the word “bogan”. Can we use scoundrel from now on as a replacement for bogan?

That will only piss the scoundrels off. Then what?

What it is a d*ckhead with a stencil and a can of spray paint.

Skidd Marx said :

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”. Samuel Johnson

The word “scoundrel” isn’t used too often nowadays… I’ve never liked the word “bogan”. Can we use scoundrel from now on as a replacement for bogan?

If I can elaborate briefly on the above quote, my take on it is that Johnson wasn’t saying genuine patriotism is bad, more that misguided types (scoundrels) will use it to promote their facist beliefs. Two hundred years on and he could easily have been talking about current Aussie bogan culture.

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”. Samuel Johnson

Johnboy: only a few of those countries (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa – and you forgot Brazil) feel the southern cross is important enough to them to choose to represent it in their national flag.

I have a feeling there’s a lot of Southern Cross tattoos and car stickers that will be regretted in years to come.

Its almost as if the wearers have someone with a megaphone screaming ‘bogan’ walking around behind them.

Mind you the other day I saw the holy trinity. The back of a ute (with truck mudflaps) adorned with a Bundy Pig sticker on the rear window, being driven by a man in a blue singlet with a Southern Cross tattoo on the arm. He looked at me with a smug grin, a burst into uncontrollable laughter. He would down his window as asked ‘wtf are you looking at’. I replied ‘the bogan high commissioner’.

Krazee said :

I am disappointed that I now treat every display of the southern cross as highly likely to belong to a white racist, when really it should be a symbol of all of Australia/New Zealand.

And:
Angola
Botswana
Burundi
Comoros
Lesotho
Madagascar
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Rwanda
Seychelles
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe
East Timor
Indonesia
Fiji
Nauru
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay

Also on the newer ALP logo… Is it bogan?

It is a classic tactic of extremist groups to adopt existing symbols as their own, such as the Nazi adoption of an ancient Indian symbol (Swastika) to groups such as the Sons of the Southern Cross overt adoption of the symbol and the name.

I am disappointed that I now treat every display of the southern cross as highly likely to belong to a white racist, when really it should be a symbol of all of Australia/New Zealand.

Holden Caulfield10:10 am 15 Sep 10

It’s disappointing that the Southern Cross seems to have been appropriated by the bogan element. More disappointing, though, is the fact there was no matching stencil art nearby featuring our beloved frangipani!

Pretty much nhand42. Though I do know someone who got a southern cross tattoo many years prior to the cronulla riots, when they didn’t have a stigma to them. He’s pretty annoyed that people now associate him as a bogan.

Yep, it’s the aussie confederate flag. If you display it, you’re a bogan, and you more than likely have country roots.

I’m pretty sure the Southern Cross has been adopted by the bogan/racist/redneck elements of Australia. It’s like the Confederate Flag in the USA. The only places I see it displayed are on bogan utes, tattoos on bogans, and as flags waved around by drunk bogans.

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