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The Forum > Article Comments > Australia - a racist backwater > Comments

Australia - a racist backwater : Comments

By Greg Barns, published 22/12/2005

Greg Barns argues Australians have succumbed to materialism, fear, racism and xenophobia.

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So appropriate, Big Fish, that you use the words of Gollum.
Posted by anomie, Thursday, 22 December 2005 1:06:32 PM
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Thanks for calling Australia a pigsty, Mr Barns, its says a great deal more about you than it does about this great southern land of ours.

Now that so many similar and ill-considered words have already been written on this issue, why not produce a intelligently positive, reconciliatory article?

What do you seek to achieve exactly? More unhappy words may make you feel a lot better because you've found a chance to vent your spleen for some reason (were you there?). Now that the police have done the right thing and come down like a ton of bricks on those juveniles (of whatever age) amongst us and the suburbs in which they live, all of us, you included, has a little bit of thoughtful work to do. Getting angry or spiteful, as we saw on the beach at cronulla or in your article, does not help any situation so I would ask, why aren't YOU helping the situation?

Just as one example, why not call loudly for Australians of Jewish and Muslim faiths in Australia to get together regularly and privately from now on to compare efforts to deal with that tragically pathetic yet incredibly tiny bunch of ignoramuses that we loftily refer to as "supremacists".

Two articles of interest today - a most intelligent summary from the Pakistan Daily Times (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005\12\22\story_22-12-2005_pg3_2) and a letter in response to one-eyed nasty articles much like yours in The Jakarta Post (Opinion writers, ignorance and riots - http://www.thejakartapost.com/onlineletters.asp)
Posted by Ro, Thursday, 22 December 2005 1:07:59 PM
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there's no point even trying to engage greg in any kind of rational debate, since he clearly has his mind made up and that's that.. there's no rational thinking here, just selective and distorted information, with the extra ugly bits highlighted..

he's so full of vitreol, he doesn't even realise he's everything he claims to hate - dogmatic, stubborn and pejudiced..

how about working towards unity, greg? how about being a little constructive instead of just telling white australians they're racists and telling us how other countries do it better than us..? we're not stupid, we know it's not true.. we know who we are and we know how we feel about the world - we don't care about colour - how can we hate other australians when we know they are our brothers?

your political biases have completely coloured your worldview, you've bought every line that's been fed to you and you just regurgitated it in this astoundingly offensive outpouring of selective garbage..

love canada greg? go there.. you seem to be the only one that can't handle australia and the fact that skips still have a sense of pride in themselves.. and you seem to be the only one still trying to drive a wedge between anglos and everyone else..

how about a vitreolic article about a country and ethnic group that really deserves it? how about a good, long look in the mirror?
Posted by jboywonder, Thursday, 22 December 2005 1:22:45 PM
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You say times are tough
We’ve got the best of both worlds here
Things are rough
We’ve got the best of both worlds here
Times are tough
We’ve got the best of both worlds

The real world is not as calm as it appears to be from here
The old world is not as safe with the new world closing in
The great south land can be as great as the one it could have been
The one it could have been

The real world is not as calm as it appears to be from here
The small world is not as strong and the testing ground is near
The old world is not as strong as the one we could have seen
The great south land can be as great as the one it could have been
The one it could have been

We’ve got the best of both worlds
Posted by its not easy being, Thursday, 22 December 2005 1:32:25 PM
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About time someone had the courage to articulate what is really happening in this country. For the first time in the past two decades race relations in this country are rolling backwards. There is a complete vaccuum of leadership, in fact what we are seeing is a government that actively fans the flames of xenophobic apprehension to justify tough policy lines on a number of issues. Scapegoating, race riots and discordant civil society are the result. In a multi-ethnic society such as hours such a policy line is grossly irresponsible and negligent. It is sickening to see racism actively encouraged at the highest level of government and media in recent times ( headscarves an 'act of defiance', schapelle's imprisonment about indonesians out to get white women? alert not alarmed?). Just because it is implicit does not make it any less powerful.

Of course there is underlying fear of difference and social change in our society. This only gets turned into racism when you have a compassionless opportunist like John Howard as your Prime Minister.
Posted by monikasar, Thursday, 22 December 2005 1:35:24 PM
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I think what Greg is missing is that the feeling of racism is mainly just in the media. Politics has closed for the summer and a convenient brawl at Cronulla has given the media something to chase. Something for the many bored readers and writers to opine wildy about. If the media beats it up then it will also stir feelings in people that are best left unstirred. Well done Alan Jones.

There is racism in Australia and it is not all one way either. For every racist remark or action taken by one group there is an equal and opposite reaction from the other side. And so it goes, on and on, just like the Crusades which Muslims are still fighting. As are Christians.

The apologies of the politically correct turn my stomach as they assume racism where frequently none is actually intended. The race to ignore the words Christmas and Merry for example are not standards demanded by non Christians. They are self imposed standards raised as a white flag in case someone should be offended.

Racism is a well used tool for politicians and political parties and it is John Howard alone who has raised this problem to the level is is. Anything for a vote really. Labor have sat on their hands and agreed with him in general so they too are responsible even if they didn't play the card first.

On the other hand Labor governments have had their turn in office, both federally and State/territory wise and yet the aborigines living standards and chance at equality is really no different than 200 years ago. This is where the really entrenched racism is, against our first settlers.

You will hear and see people speaking on behalf of the more recent ethnic groups to move to Australia in bulk but they pay no heed to the aboriginals as that problem has been "dealt with". Well, Tasmania tried didn't they?
Posted by RobbyH, Thursday, 22 December 2005 1:42:10 PM
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