Today I was thrilled to show Dan de Sousa aka ‘Dan from Optus
around the IMA. Some of you may know about the legend of Dan during his time as the online Optus customer service guy who famously corrected countless racist comments on Optus’s Facebook page in 2015. This followed the company’s decision at that time to place signage in Arabic in certain shopping centres in Sydney. Furore ensued amongst some customers who were affronted at seeing a language associated with Islam and Muslims (eg This is Australia NOT Islam ?) promoted in any advertising material.
Dan’s courteous and intelligent shutting down of racist overtures earned him national and even international recognition. His ability to diffuse bigoted rants with calm and reason made for one of the most heartening good news stories in cultural competence for the year!
A remarkable agent for change, Dan is going from strength to strength promoting diversity and justice with exciting projects including an upcoming book and short film. We look forward to seeing this contribution to dismantling ignorance, with signature ‘Dan from Optus’ wit!
Thanks Dan. You’re a legend??
See what all the fuss is about:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/01/06/why-everyone-is-talking-about-dan-from-optus/
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