Fri 21 Nov 2008 | 
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Thanks to some censorship/classification rules that prevent us seeing certain items at certain times, what you can't see at 6pm on television you can on the Internet, at any time. So, to all those viewers who won't be seeing this particular story in a forthcoming edition of Global Village, because it doesn't conform to the 'G' classification, we bring it to you online. Cyberspace isn't bound by such classification restrictions. Not yet, anyway.
Programs classified as PG (Parental Guidance) must not be screened before 6.30pm. Our story below is classified as PG so I had to drop it from the program. Whether a child under 15 will see the story and be influenced by it is possible. The story follows the exploits a man in Serbia, Slavija Pajtic, whose claim to fame is that he's a human conductor of electricity, a man whose highest goal was to sit in the electric chair to prove that he could survive the experience.
topThere's No Place Like Home?
Migrants in their adopted country spend years adapting to its way of life, its culture and language. Some eventually call it 'home' while others still pine for the motherland many years later. Why is this so?
Purely from a lay point of view I've always been intrigued why some migrants seem to pine for their motherland even though many have lived and worked in Australia for decades, raised families and even married people of different nationalities from their own. They say home is where your heart is. If seeing television programs of your motherland makes you want to pack up and go back does this mean the years you invested in building your new home were a failure?
If I said to you that a bridegroom's dagger could stand-in for him on his wedding day (should he for whatever reason not be able to make it to the altar), you might think I was bonkers.
Well if we move from Australia and make the same statement in another country and culture, then in fact it would be true. In Indonesia one such dagger, the Kris, is considered a spiritual object as well as a weapon whose essence encompasses good luck for its owner. This essence is so highly regarded in Indonesian society that the Kris can serve as a legitimate, intangible, though temporary, substitute for the lucky man!
Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
In 2000 I visited one of my most favourite cities, New York. The Big Apple! I was immediately drawn to the theatre precinct of Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera House located in the Lincoln Centre. Just before I reached the Centre I saw an African American in his late 50's I would guess, on his knees on the footpath, with both arms outstretched to the passing public and with tears rolling down his cheeks imploring them in an emotionally charged voice; "Help me - please! I got kids and I've been thrown out on the street, my wife's got cancer." No-one stopped to help.
I stopped some metres away to take a discreet look at the man not sure whether he was putting on an act or whether he was genuinely in need? Will he mug me if I approach him to help? All those crazy scenarios flashed through my mind as I tried to work out whether to help a human being in this mega-rich country called USA and thinking can this be happening here, in front of the Met? As I got closer to him I decided that the man was genuine.
'Taboo'. The word immediately conjures up images of forbidden fruit. According to the Merriam Webster's Dictionary things which are taboo are "banned on grounds of morality or taste…or banned as constituting a risk". Some people are still attracted to these topics as they've been throughout history. Why is that?
For sexual gratification or something else? What if something disgusting or dangerous is so rooted in tradition that the people actually want it?
We've all learned from society (ie: media, politicians, church groups, shock-jocks etc) that anything which flies in the face of acceptable community standards is to be avoided, shunned and not talked about. Just try having a rational debate in light of the furore over Bill Henson's photographs of young teens. Is it art or porn?
Wanna Game of Footy…or Bully?
Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, especially if you come from a country where it didn't exist
I've learned a number of really good lessons over the years as an SBS presenter: a) you can't please everyone all the time b) it doesn't matter what you say or how well researched and accurate you are, someone will always find fault with it.
Mull of Kintyre ain't Ireland, Laddie!
If I said, ‘Mull of Kintyre’ how many of you would know what it is? I'd guess the majority of you, unless you’re of British extraction, would have said it’s the hit song by Paul McCartney and his band WINGS. Correct! But what IS the Mull of Kintyre? It’s a Scottish Peninsula. Why is it a song?
Because Sir Paul McCartney lived and had a recording studio there since the late 1960’s. He must have loved the place! I write this, as it’s not mentioned in the program about the Irish coastline. Hang on! Mull of Kintyre is in Scotland, laddie!
Old Things Never Die (They're just re-built…)
When Dresden's Semper Opera House was destroyed by Allied bombing in World War Two the citizens did all they could to rebuild it to its original design. When the marvellous old Regent Theatre in Sydney was demolished, and not by enemy bombing either, was it replaced by a replica of the old Regent? No, but a huge residential block of apartments.
While there were valiant people who tried to stop the bulldozers from going in and demolishing it, the bottom line seems to have always been, "if it ain't profitable, get rid if it." Hey! Are museums profitable? Probably not. Then why not get rid of them? I'd be a rich man if I'd had a dollar for every time I heard that kind of sentiment.
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About this Blog
Join Silvio Rivier as he spotlights one of the episodes each week relating to cultures, traditions and lifestyles of people around the world.
Silvio Rivier has been an integral part of SBS since the station first went to air. He is currently the presenter, narrator and producer of the series Global Village.
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