Otis Carey vs. News Corporation

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

After a few months of quiet, Otis Carey is one step closer to having his day in court. Carey was allegedly defamed in the March edition of Surfing Life magazine, however the party defending the charges isn't Surfing Life but Nationwide News, a subsidiary of News Corporation.

Nationwide News publish The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, on the 12th March they reported upon the allegedly racist story penned by Nathan Myers that appeared in Surfing Life. Daily Telegraph journalist Briana Domjen quoted the offending lines from Myers' article in her column, Sydney Confidential. Those lines, although not written by Domjen, now form the basis of the court case.

Nationwide News and Briana Domjen are being represented by Ashurst, formerly known as Blake Dawson Waldron, one of Australia's largest legal firms. Carey is being represented by Sanford Legal based in Burwood.

Carey is arguing that the publication of Myers' quotes as they appeared in the Daily Telegraph is defamatory. In the weeks following their appearance in Sydney Confidential, the same quotes appeared on many surfing websites that covered the story as well as those of other mainstream publications.

Earlier this month Nationwide News made an application to the NSW District Court for summary dismissal of the case. The court ruled that Nationwide News do have a case to answer and it will now proceed to trial.

It's not known if Otis Carey is intending to take Surfing Life to court also for the original story.

Comments

udo's picture
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udo Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 3:01pm

Pro Bono ?

stunet's picture
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stunet Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 3:07pm

Not sure Udo. Sanford Legal also spruik a 'no win - no fee guarantee' on their website. I wanted to find out more about it but the link appears to be broken.

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Blowin Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 3:56pm

I'd say it's self evident that Sanford Legal works pro bonobo Udo .
Sorry, that joke was in bad taste wasn't it ?

vascectomy-blottmouth's picture
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vascectomy-blot... Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 4:05pm

He's taking on a mighty bully but good on him. The original article was remarkable in its insensitivity and inherent racism and in my view Otis did the right thing bringing it to the public attention by going after them. He took the much more difficult road by doing that.

Taking on News Corp for reprinting the quote is a big call but who knows where the legality of that lies. No doubt we'll find out. And good for him too. News Corp makes such a song and dance about free speech, just think back to how much they all gathered around poor old Andrew Bolt when he lost his case under the racial discrimination act. The End of Free Speech, they all cried.

Yet when the ABC takes the piss out of one of their own with an obviously fabricated satirical image, they go after the public broadcaster relentlessly and even enlist the prime minister to the cause (he implied they ABC would lose funding if they fought News on the issue).

They are pathetic beyond words and I'm happy for anyone to take them on. I hope Otis is prepared for a fight though, because I reckon they'll fight dirty and do whatever it takes.

stunet's picture
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stunet Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 4:42pm

vascectomy-blottmouth wrote:

Taking on News Corp for reprinting the quote is a big call but who knows where the legality of that lies.

There must be something in the law about reprinting a defamation still being a defamation. An odd thing though - and there are many odd things in the whole saga - is that the journalist contacted Otis' father for the article and apeared to side with the Carey family.

In the judgement I read the judge brought up the issue of the bane outweighing the antidote, which I take to mean the defamation outweighing the kinder words. Still, the judge has assessed all the claims and reckons there's something in it. We'll wait and see what the findings are. No idea of date yet.

vascectomy-blottmouth's picture
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vascectomy-blot... Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 5:38pm

That is an interesting context. I'd say it's going to be a long drawn out fight with appeals and so on if Otis wins.

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 5:09pm

Surely intent has to factor in somewhere into it ? Surfing life may have left some ambiguity as to intent open to the most vapid minded out there but if the newspaper article was ragging Surfinglife about their indiscretion and championing Carey then common sense would allow that it wasn't defamatory.
But since when has common sense ever dictated to the legal world ?

I also haven't seen the news paper article. Was it in defence of Carey ?

Regardless of the legalities , is the driving force of the swing from Surfing Life to News corp either :

A - The newspaper has far deeper pockets to gouge for a windfall.

Or

B - Take out the biggest guy in the room first to let everyone know you're serious about regaining your slighted dignity.

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tonybarber Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 5:11pm

Vasectomy … What the ABC did was a lot different to this case. No comparison. Regardless, I think we would need to know the details to make a better opinion. And thats all we can do - is make a opinion. Truthfully, the so called racial discrimination laws are a mess and certainly not clear. Even the Human Rights Commissioner failed to clarify a few recent issues - its not easy when its related to 'feeling'.

vascectomy-blottmouth's picture
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vascectomy-blot... Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 5:36pm

Absolutely it's a different situation I'm not intending to equate the scenarios, just using that one as an example of how despicable they are.

News corp apparently loves free speech until it bites them in arse, even if it's satire. Then they'll go after anyone they don't like. In that case they had no leg to stand on, and from what I understand would have lost the case, but like a knight in shining armour their Ally in Chief, PM Abbott, threatened ABC funding if they fought and so the ABC had to back down. It wasn't even contested. David Marr wrote up a pretty detailed history of it for the Guardian.

As for the human rights commissioner, it's hard to respect him when he's spent years arguing that the human rights commission should not even exist. It's not surprising to me that he couldn't clarify a few issues!

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tonybarber Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 9:28am

Vasectomy … The ABC issue has nothing to do with this so got off it. You are trolling about another unrelated issue nowhere near related to News Corp. Get your facts right. Get a life and bit of green water over your head. BTW, I was talking about the racial discrimination commissioner - so don't go charging down a line you don't know the details. Don't bring politics into this - we are surfers.

vascectomy-blottmouth's picture
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vascectomy-blot... Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 11:01am

Haha! Unrelated to news corp, tony!?? And here I thought you could read watching you for all those years watching you on Sale of the Century. My facts are spot on thanks.

The ABC issue I'm talking about is about news corp you gumby. It's about the time they sued the ABC because they took offense to a joke. It's all about freedom of speech and News Corp's objection to it when it suits them. Read about it here.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/07/chris-kenny-ill-be-remember...

But as I said, if you read my post, I'm not equating the situations, just citing an example of why I think so lowly of them. They cry when one of their own gets sued for offense (see Andrew Bolt's stories) but they'll sue at the drop of a hat when one of their own gets mocked in the media. They're pathetic, that's all I'm saying mate. So lighten up!

As for the "racial discrimination commissioner"....I'm not sure who you're talking about now. In your first post you referred to the Human Rights Commissioner. That's Tim Wilson. A political appointment who previously argued that the position shouldn't exist. Read about it here:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tim-wilson-appoint...

Lighten up mate and enjoy your day.

And by crikey all the best to Otis in all of this.

tonybarber's picture
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tonybarber Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 3:34pm

I can see now that you have settled. To connect ABC, Tony Abbott with this issue was a bit imaginative. Its worth while going back and see how this all started with Surfing Life - thats not a News Corp publication.

I believe the issue is with reprinting a article which could be deemed 'racist'. Even though you did not create it. This should not matter whether you are big Rupert or little Tony.

Lets hope Otis can develop into top level surfer.

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memlasurf Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 11:43am

Murdoch is a complete arsehole and the whole world knows it (even his recently departed grandmother was concerned about him). Any flack he gets his way is good for any reason. Got no time for him as he is a manipulative megalomaniac and just because we are surfers doesn't mean we have to have our head in the sand. Give it too 'em Vas.

udo's picture
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udo Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 5:29pm

CoffsCoast Advocate had a story that Otis had acknowleged the written apology[s] and we could all move on for the greater good...[along those lines ]
link someone ?

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wingnut2443 Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 7:11am
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wingnut2443 Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 7:41am

... double posted. Sorry.

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t-diddy Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 5:53pm

Text removed following legal advice - Stu Nettle, website editor

tonka's picture
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tonka Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 10:24am

Jesus. This is the first time I've read what was actually written. You're absolutely right. How could the writer not realise those words are racist?!

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stunet Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 10:32am

tonka wrote:

Jesus. This is the first time I've read what was actually written. You're absolutely right. How could the writer not realise those words are racist?!

Well to be fair the words were written ironically. Myers was attempting to adopt another voice by assuming societal stereotypes of Aborigines and then debunking it with his own voice .

Bane and antidote.

Personally when writing about gender or race I only ever use my own voice, and for a number of reasons. Firstly, you make assumptions when writing ironically and who say they're yours to make? Secondly, adoptive voice can very quickly be lost on people and you end up in the middle of a media furore trying to explain your way out of it.

For many topics irony is fucking great. When Jello Biafra sung 'Kill The Poor" it was abundantly clear he wasn't advocating killing people, same as when he sung about chemical warfare. Irony can be powerful when used correctly.

All of which doesn't really change what has happened but it needs to be noted that Nathan Myers' article, while clumsy and ill-advised, wasn't intended to be racist. At least I don't think so.

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tonka Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 10:55am

Hey Stu,

I see your point but struggle to see what the benefits of adopting irony in this particular case might have been. I mean, was the author of the article attempting to address racism? Certainly seems clumsy and ill-advised at best.

Ps. perhaps you meant racist stereotypes of Aborigines? Or are you suggesting society at large holds racist views towards Aboriginal Australians? FWIW, I tend to think there's more than a grain of truth in the saying 'Australians are comfortably racist'. But that's probably a whole different discussion.

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stunet Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 11:10am

To the first question: Yeah, I think he was trying to address a racist viewpoint using irony as the device. Clearly it didn't work.

And yes, I was suggesting society holds generally racist views towards Aborigines. 

mundies's picture
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mundies Monday, 28 Jul 2014 at 6:42pm

Really? Someone wrote those words in this century?

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shaun Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 8:07am

Why is it surprising mundie, racism is part of our colonial dna. Same as Americans.

We all like to talk the good talk and mean well, but if we are somewhere we are outnumbered by people that are different we're uncomfortable.

Think about this one, on a thread recently on J/bay there was a member of the forum there posting about the contest. In one post he was answering questions about members on the safety of going to South Africa and he wrote :
"In SA you can't address the issues without segregation of communities. Ie being a racist and I'm not keen to do this. Shanty towns exist as Shaun said and then next block there's wealthy whites with their electric fence and BMWs. Then the coloureds are around the corner. It's a land of contrasts".
But in another earlier post the same bloke describes J/ bay as a town with a population of 1000, when I pointed out to him the population was 28000 and he may have overlooked 27000 coloured folk , he was quick to edit that bit out. By no means am I calling this young fella out as a racist, but he very easily fell into the trap over there where there is segregation controlled by poverty and being a white hipster surfer he got to hang out in the j/bay bubble of the elite and those coloured people were not worth mentioning as part of the population and he was quite comfortable with it, maybe if he hung around after the circus left town and the partys are over he may get more of an idea of what really goes on there.

My point is it will probably take another century before we are comfortable with all these different people. Possibly we will all come together fighting shoulder to shoulder against the aliens.

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wellymon Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 6:24am

District 9...Great movie.

wingnut2443's picture
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wingnut2443 Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 7:04am

Stu, can you clarify something please?

In the above article you write:

"Nationwide News are arguing that the publication of Myers' quotes is defamatory."

I'm a little lost. Why would Nationwide want to argue the affirmative?

Perhaps there is a "not" missing before the defamatory?

stunet's picture
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stunet Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 7:56am

You're right Wingnut. Error in the last draft.

Fixed now - thanks.

udo's picture
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udo Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 7:58am

I agree with Jeff Byrnes comment on The Inertia. [1 month ago]

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blindboy Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 8:17am

I think he has a very strong case against News Ltd. Surfing Life presumably has a much smaller circulation than the Daily Telegraph and anyone believing that the Tellycrap was trying to do anything other than exploit the story for the benefit of their circulation is obviously unfamiliar with gutter journalism. The republication of the insult in a mass circulation daily is adding grievous insult to significant injury. Otis also deserves our respect for standing up for community standards against an orghanisation which, over many decades, around the world, has sought to exploit human misery, destroy our right to privacy and manipulate our governments for corpoarate profit.

stunet's picture
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stunet Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 10:01am

The information for the above article was taken from an interlocutory hearing at the District Court. Within the offending article were five different imputations that formed the case. Nationwide News sought to get all of them dismissed, which they failed and the case will now go to trial. They did however get one imputation struck out and the judge ruled the "Plaintiff [Otis] pay the defendants' costs of the argument."

Win or lose Otis is already forking out some coin.

wingnut2443's picture
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wingnut2443 Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 12:03pm
stunet wrote:

The information for the above article was taken from an interlocutory hearing at the District Court ...

Stu, I assume you mean this one:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/nsw/NSWDC/2014/93.ht...

And, for those interested, the one handed back in June, is here:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/nsw/NSWDC/2014/73.ht...

Fascinating reads!

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Parole Board Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 12:30pm

Hi Stu,
there's the problem - Otis won't be forking out any coin because he has none, that's why the parasite lawyers work on cases like this pro bono. If they lose and costs are awarded against Otis - Otis has no coin - it cost News $100k+ to run the case and even if they win they lose. The parasites and Otis know this and hope that News will offer less than $100k to settle and cut their losses. It's basically a scam. And this has nothing to do with racial vilification as pointed out in your original story, it's all about the $$.

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blindboy Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 5:37pm

I think you are wrong parole-board. I wonder how you would feel if you suffered that kind of abuse in a mass circulation newspaper? I know how I felt when they attacked members of my family. Anything anyone does to hold the gutter press to community standards is well justified and if the lawyers take a slice, good luck to them. It might encourage them to help others in the same situation.

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Parole Board Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 6:47pm

I really would like to agree with you blindboy but as Stu wrote back when Otis first went after Surfing Life; "Yet despite the racial connotations Carey is not using the Racial Discrimination Act to seek redress, but a civil lawsuit of defamation, a more generic charge not specific to racism. The Racial Discrimination Act is controlled by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and mediation is a compulsory part of the process. In fact, only 3% of all complaints lodged even make it to court, the vast majority being resolved by concilliation.
If Carey were to pursue that course of action the charge against Surfing Life and Myers has a far higher chance of being reduced. Due to the context - use of irony in a written piece - the charge would almost certainly be considered low level vilification and an apology or statement in the public arena be considered appropriate compensation.
All Myers would have to do is show he was ignorant of the cultural connotations and meant no malice.
In contrast, defamation is a civil lawsuit between two parties and is different in nature than racial vilification laws. It's a charge that would concentrate the question on whether the statement was harmful to Carey's reputation in the eyes of an ordinary person and, importantly, not on any racially motivated issue. Which makes Myer's open letter futile: the court doesn't have to prove Surfing Life or Myers were driven by race.
It's also a charge that, if succesful, is more likely to result in an award for damages. "

I think this reveals the true motivation behind both these actions and now that Surfing Life has settled (there was an apology published in a recent issue and you can also safely assume a decent $$$ settlement paid) they are now using the same strategy against News.
If they wanted mediation, education, conciliation and sincere apologies they would have used the the Racial Discrimination Act for what it was designed for. Instead they have used the high moral ground rightly afforded to racial discrimination cases to trojan horse a money grab (now x 2).
You will note Adam Goode, who they quoted widely early in all this, never did the switcheroo and stuck with the appropriate legal channel, going through mediation, education and conciliation and in doing so earned the respect of everyone. Unlike this lot.

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freeride76 Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 11:50am

"Myers was attempting to adopt another voice by assuming societal stereotypes of Aborigines ("I expect little more than Cro-Magnon grunts from his mouth'") "

Actually Stu, Myers claimed ignorance of the racist implications of calling an Aboriginal person "apelike". He said he had no idea.
So he can't use irony as his defence.

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stunet Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 11:57am

So you think he genuinely thought Otis Carey would speak in Cro-magnon grunts?

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Blowin Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 1:04pm

I don't think he was referring to his ancestry in any way with that description. It might have been offensive to many but I don't think anything was intended by it. Ignorance might not be a defence but that doesn't mean it doesn't occur.

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freeride76 Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 6:21pm

No, he didn't realise calling an aboriginal person apelike was a racist perjorative term. He said he was ignorant of the context. that's what he said. Somewhere on the internets.

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johnson Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 6:37pm

Hold up, doesn't defamation have to amount to more than hurt feelings? Doesn't it have to involve someone's reputation actually being damaged? How has Otis' reputation been damaged by the printed remarks? Nobody who read the article would've thought any less of him. None of his sponsors read the article and terminated his contract. Nobody at his local coffee shop refused to serve him the day after the article was printed. Nobody read the article then waxed his car or put dog-shit in his letter-box. Everybody who read it probably brushed over it without even considering any racist connotations, then flicked through the rest of the mag till they found a titty-pic to admire. Any damage to his reputation caused by the printed remarks is certainly minute compared to the damage to his reputation caused by his own reactions.

blindboy's picture
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blindboy Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 6:54pm

.......so you have had a chat to Otis and checked out those "facts" have you johnson?The remarks certainly have the capacity to damage his reputation in terms of the law or the case would not have got this far. A significant point that it seems you managed to miss is that they have been reprinted in a mass circulation newspaper.

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johnson Thursday, 31 Jul 2014 at 4:52pm

Ok, so I can't confirm that nobody shunned him or pooped in his mailbox. But the relationship between racism and defamation in this case seems very shaky. He's basically got to prove that being labelled indigenous is reason enough for his reputation to be damaged - an argument which is not exactly conducive to overall civil liberty.

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blindboy Thursday, 31 Jul 2014 at 5:05pm

I think you might have missed the point of the action johnson. Maybe you should read the comment again and see if you still think the defamation rests on him being indigenous. The comments are potentially defamatory to anyone. Being indigenous just increases the potential damage to his reputation.

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gromfull Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 7:55pm

Johnson, I had never heard of him before this, then went looking for him on the internet, what I found was well, ordinary, below average surfing, his quote, can't really do turns, just like to do airs, so I never would have bothered with looking at him again. Now for this he is in the spot light, money / fifteen minutes of fame grab,

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zenagain Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 8:00pm

I'm no Robert Hughes but I couldn't imagine the MCA banging down his door anytime soon either grom.

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blindboy Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 9:10pm

So at a time when suicide rates amongst indigenous people are double that of the rest of the population and they are massively over represented in every measure of disadvantage, it's OK to publicly insult a young indigenous man on the basis that you don't like his surfing grom? What a sad, pathetic attitude! And zen you are a long way from home, maybe you think that the generations of insult , discrimination, exploitation and disadvantage have been miraculously reversed in your absence. Sorry, it isn't true. Stop, think, show respect!

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zenagain Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 11:24pm

BB, what you say is true but that won't stop me from thinking that his art is rubbish, much the same way I think Dane Reynolds art is rubbish too. Ozzie Wright? There's definitely talent there. But my opinion is rubbish as well. I can paint and draw but I'm so far from being talented that my opinion carries no weight.

By way of background, in my very young formative years, I was practically raised by an indigenous lady while my mum and dad worked who I called 'Phyllis Lady' as in 'that nice Phyllis lady'. I loved her very much and ironically, she knitted me my first stuffed toy- it was a Golliwog. Later, another man who I loved very much was a great friend of my dads- Alby, full blood indigenous Aussie and the funniest man alive. He used to refer to himself in a self-deprecating way as a 'cheeky black bastard'. Strangely enough, this I never found funny. But then again, I've always been a hyper-sensitive kid. My uncle rightly or wrongly adopted two full blood little girls in WA from a violent and dysfunctional family and raised them as his own from toddlers. They are my cousins and I won't give you their names but they have both gone on to finish their education and lead productive lives. One made the Australian ladies 10 pin bowling team and the other makes a good living selling her original aboriginal art. I felt very hurt one day when my mum and dad took the girls out shopping in Perth and my dad was holding their hands walking around the shops only to have abuse hurled at him by members sharing their same skin colour (the girls, not dad).

My best friend throughout high school is a black South African and unfortunately for him he went down the wrong path and is now in Jail. I'm happy to say his brothers have prospered.

I don't know where I'm going with this but I agree that what happened to Otis was wrong. I applaud him for what he's doing but on these forums, the messages of his intent, motivation, legal strategy whatever is coming from everybody except him. He seems to be the only one keeping silent on the issue.

I'm not a racist and I'm not a bigot. I treat everybody with same respect and courtesy that's shown me, I just don't think Otis' art is too flash that's all.

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clif Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 4:05pm

Did you just put "Ozzie Wright", "art" and "talent" in the same sentence? Holy shit.

Zen, do you have paintings of puppies on your walls?

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zenagain Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 4:20pm

Best out of a bad lot Clif. Tried to make a comparison of 'artists' of the same ilk- Otis, Dane and Ozzie. Ozzie has just been doing it longer.

Told you- my opinion is rubbish and carries no weight.

I will however set foot in the Musee du Louvre and Museo del Prado for the first time in September. No doubt I will be in awe.

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clif Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 4:32pm

Damn. I was hoping you had puppies on your wall. I was going to invite you to join our club.

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zenagain Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 4:47pm

I have a framed pencil sketch of a kitten mounted on the wall over my wifes piano.

Will that do?

;)

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asharper001 Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 5:08pm

Zen, why would anybody want to mount a kitten to a wall let alone sketch such a picture? I guess I'll never understand arty types.

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zenagain Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 5:13pm

And I'll never understand sarong enthusiasts:)

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asharper001 Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 5:28pm

Free and easy brother, you should try it.

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Blowin Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 6:47am

"And zen you are a long way from home, maybe you think that the generations of insult , discrimination, exploitation and disadvantage have been miraculously reversed in your absence. Sorry, it isn't true. "

Actually Zen, you can pretty much dismiss this as divisive propoganda , attempting to perpetuate a circumstance that is so demonstrably diminished that it can be neatly summarised by considering that when true discrimination existed it was accepted by Australian society that blacks couldn't drink in the same bar as whites , where as now as this site and the Adam Goodes incident have proven that if any scant essence of rascism remains and is displayed then there will be an overwhelming response from the public decrying it as unacceptable.

I suppose that when the fire has been burning so hot for so long there will be people warning about the heat when all that remains is white ash. Not a bad thing as we should never forget the past , but some can't help but superimpose the memory of a storm over the clearing skies leading towards a sunny future.

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stunet Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 8:58am

BB, to be fair, Zen was criticising Otis' artisitic efforts which from what I've seen have nothing to do with race. They're rudimentary, derivative, and wholly up for critique.

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blindboy Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 12:30pm

I admit I was quick to the draw there, so no offence zen.

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zenagain Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 2:37pm

None taken BB. If I look back on the original post it would appear that I was giving tacit agreement to grom.

Wasn't my intention though.

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sbsb Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 9:45pm

Thanks blindboy for trying to keep some reality in this forum! Defamation has nothing to do with intent, it is about protecting people against attack to which they have no defense.

The Act's test for defamation is "Does the communication lower/harm the plaintiff's reputation, hold the plaintiff up to ridicule, or lead others to shun and avoid the plaintiff" among "ordinary reasonable people in the community in general". I think it is fair to say that describing someone as likely to be unable to speak because their appearance reflects certain well-worn associations with their ethnicity would qualify. And this also points at why this is not about the relation between Otis and the author or ASL (things that could be sorted out human-to-human), but with a Murdoch organ that is basically a factory for entertaining a mass audience with moral panics and outrage. The harm is much higher with the distribution of that rag, and I think Otis's representatives have rightly identified that while Myers might simply have been ignorant, he can change while the Tele will just move on to the next victim (Try the excerpt from Nick Davies' new book to see how the industry works: http://goo.gl/WS6Qic )

I think Myers learned the hard way that many of the things about others we simply think of as funny in our own environment might be received quite differently by the people themselves. I don't really blame him as we have all been ignorant. Almost everything I learned about Aboriginal people growing up was kind of a joke like Myers used, and it took a lot of travel and getting to know people and their history before I began to realise how little I really know about the original inhabitants of my own country.

That's the main problem with Myers' piece and more particularly the Tele pick-up: it does no good to anyone and further entrenches a feeling in white Australians that Aboriginal people are backward and their knowledge and way of life isn't worth anything. Most people with an ethical bone in their body would like to see those racist attitudes rolled back, and I'd personally like to see those who profit from it being held to account.

Go Otis!

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Blowin Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 6:33am

Sbsb , I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said except for the last paragraph. I'm pretty sure Myers piece went on to state what a decent , likeable , intelligent and eloquent person Otis is , I wouldn't say that is furthering an entrenched feeling that Aboriginals are backward or that they're way of life isn't worth anything.

gromfull's picture
gromfull's picture
gromfull Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 10:03pm

Sad and pathetic blindboy, opinions are like arseholes, so you have one good for you

sbsb's picture
sbsb's picture
sbsb Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 at 10:35pm

Thanks gromfull for your insightful contribution to the debate. Have you considered a twitter account so people can follow your 140 character opinions on other people's opinions?

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 8:15am

Gromfull, you're way off base with that call on Blindboy. You might disagree with the substance of his opinion but playing the man like that says way more about you than him.

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 1:24pm

How fucking good would it be if Otis shook hands with Myers on the steps of the courthouse and accepted the written apologys and dropped this matter - what a great day that would be.
And what a BETTER man it would make Otis.

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 1:07pm

What do you blokes think of the pic and wording of the indigenous chap on Otis instagram page - April 2013 ?

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 1:21pm
udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 1:23pm

That's the one.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 2:31pm

Remember when ASL (I think ) did the profile on Chippa Wilson and the author took exactly the same approach saying he was fearful of him because of his appearance resembling a violent bogan with his Aussie pride tattoos ?

clif's picture
clif's picture
clif Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 4:19pm

I am pretty sure whitefellas have made plenty of money out of court cases from Indigenous peoples for all sorts of unjustifiable reasons (not that I personally think Otis' case is unjustifiable even though others seem to).

Anyway, as a whitey I don't think my opinion matters here. I have heard mostly opinions from members of this group about this issue (although, I think discussion on race topics is important). Otis' silence speaks volumes ... a different cultural approach dealing with these matters (I don't know, sadly I am too ignorant of such things)? And then when he and his crew use some method put in place by a colonial power (which the dominant group in our society tend to be historically tied to) we get antsy. Huh?

gromfull's picture
gromfull's picture
gromfull Wednesday, 30 Jul 2014 at 7:12pm

Free, it's alright for him to make defamatory remarks about me then is it, I replied back in the way I was treated, in my original post a gave a opionin on his surfing and art he has put on the internet for all to see and judge, yet he labels me sad and pathetic, who was playing the man not the ball, was he not me

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Thursday, 31 Jul 2014 at 1:25pm

Stabmag seem to think that Otis could be chasing up to $750,000.
McIntosh he could be chasing you to soon.......
brave of you to leave the comment of "$750k buys a lot of petrol on your site " ?

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Thursday, 31 Jul 2014 at 1:20pm

Nah, they've only mentioned $750,000 as it's the upper most limit the District Court will deal with. There's no insinuation - at least as I read it - that that's the amount Otis is going for.

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Thursday, 31 Jul 2014 at 1:22pm

Yep i just re read it.

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Friday, 1 Aug 2014 at 7:58am

Jeez the racist train episode result with nil penalty WTF happened there..pathetic !
that was extreme racism !

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Tuesday, 5 Aug 2014 at 2:20pm

According to a new article in the SMH, Otis' case with Surfing Life has been "settled". 

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Tuesday, 5 Aug 2014 at 4:51pm

I removed my previous post because of it's irrelevance.

Just hope Otis doesn't 'settle' the News case. I think it be very disappointing if he did and would only give ammo to his detractors.

tonybarber's picture
tonybarber's picture
tonybarber Tuesday, 5 Aug 2014 at 8:27pm

So how is it that someone can write a possible 'racist' article then say sorry and not be liable in some way ?
NEWS only reprinted the article - they did not initiate it or create it. What does that imply when reprinting any article by anyone ?

blindboy's picture
blindboy's picture
blindboy Tuesday, 5 Aug 2014 at 9:14pm

tony Surfing Life appears to have reached an agreement with Otis to withdraw his action. The details have not been made public but would usually not involve them admitting liability. News Ltd are responsible for what they publish regardless of its source so it is no defence to claim that they were only repeating what had been said in Surfing Life, particularly given the difference in circulation.

uplift's picture
uplift's picture
uplift Thursday, 11 Sep 2014 at 10:53pm

Latest Surfing World did a great interview with Otis carey, and the introduction was a telling summary of racism in Australia as well.