Addicted to Race 95: Race, Religion, and Australia
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Addicted to Race is New Demographic’s podcast about America’s obsession with race. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find in this episode:
Australian documentary filmmaker John Safran shares his experiences exploring race and religion in America. What are the theological underpinnings of the Ku Klux Klan? Why did an exorcist single out African-American members of his audience to help expel demons? We also discuss similarities and differences between race in America and race in Australia.
Got feedback for us? Call 917-720-6348 or email info@addictedtorace.com.
John Safran is comedy-focused documentarian most known in Australia for his religion series John Safran vs God and his music industry expose John Safran’s Music Jamboree. He co-hosts Sunday Night Safran on Triple J with Catholic Priest Father Bob Maguire.
Duration – 56:18
File Size – 38.7 MB
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You can check out some YouTube clips of John Safran vs. God here:
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
just curious wrote:
This is totally irrelevant to the topic at hand but I have been a reader of this site for over a year. Why no coverage over the blatant sexism surrounding Mrs. Sarah Palin?
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 12:41 pm ¶
Matt wrote:
Listeners might also be interested in My Jesus Year, where Benyamin Cohen spent a year exploring different churches, or When Louis Met the Nazis, which came out of Louis Theroux’s BBC series exploring extremists of all sorts.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 1:11 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@Just Curious –
Because there’s no race angle yet. That’s all. Some discussion started in the White Feminists and Michelle Obama thread about Palin, but it’s pretty obvious McCain isn’t trying to reach *our* demographic with that pull. I did see some “baby mama” type coverage, and an interesting piece about how Bristol Palin’s alleged impregnator is a proud, self proclaimed redneck, but nothing hard enough to make into a piece.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 1:12 pm ¶
just curious wrote:
Thank you so much for response!
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 3:17 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
Relating to Safran’s reference to the Ku Klux Klan theology: there’s Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi Skinheads, and the Rise of a New White Culture, by former Village Voice reporter James Ridgeway. It’s a great survey of US white supremacy groups, including how they’ve made coalitions with each other.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 3:50 pm ¶
Cara wrote:
I LOVE John Safran. I haven’t heard his name in three years since I moved back to the U.S. from Australia, but he’s comedy gold.
And his meeting the Klan? OMG. Asking to join, and then asking if the fact that he’s Jewish would be a problem . . . I thought he was gonna end up dead. I’m off to watch clips and will download the podcast. For those who like what they see, also check out John Safran’s Music Jamboree.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 5:35 pm ¶
korshi wrote:
i had to do a double take with this one- john safran on addicted to race? my two favourite podcasts TOGETHER? i was in itunes heaven.
it would be really interesting to hear you interview an expert on indigenous australian issues; as john said the issues are so complex it’s hard for people over here to get over their knee-jerk responses.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 7:40 pm ¶
qwerty wrote:
I am an Asian Australian and the issue of racism is a painful one and talking about it is taboo. I’m not an expert on the issue but I’m not completely ignorant of it either. But since there is an interest in this topic I’ll try my best. It is hard to talk about such a topic without sounding extremely racist. John Safran is right, it is a complex issue. So complex, I feel like I have no right talking about such things but I’ll do so anyway.
Here is a quick link on the problems they face:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians#Issues_facing_Indigenous_Australians_today
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generation
Every Australian, during high school learns about the how horribly aborigines were treated during colonization and about the genuine efforts the past governments have done for the aboriginal people as payment for what happened 150 years ago.
Despite this, there are still significant problems within aboriginal communities. The issue is, are the benefits and welfare given to aborigines really compensating for the stolen generation* or is welfare rewarding/contributing to the problems aborigines experience today?
The government has given them much but the problems still exist. Tax payer dollars that are trying to help aborigines are largely going down the drain.
*the issue that effects aborigines most painfully. During colonization, the Australian government instigated a policy, forcing aborigines to marry Australians in an attempt to “breed them out”. Compared to the American Indians, aborigines were are peaceful people in Australia and there were never any conflicts among their people. Now, there are so few of them left.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 8:29 am ¶