When I read the article, I thought ,'Wow!This is great!' then as I continued to read the posts,it got less and less great and started to sound a bit like a commercial.
Australia's best days were before the politically correct mongrels took reign, before "multi culture" became a fad,and long before people antagonistic to OUR culture,traditions and beliefs were let into this once peaceful ,law abiding country.
The values of democracy, mateship and country were what we had, I doubt that 'we will see their like again'.

Knocking multiculturalism and taking advantage of every opportunity to howl at a minority group IS political correctness now.

It is now politically correct to focus on the differences between people, kick a man while he's down and sink the boot into the underdog.

It is also politically correct to be as paranoid as possible at all times, alert and alarmed

mickijo

Thoughtful post. Thanks mate!

Cheers
Kay

It is interesting that we forget that "democracy" is a Greek concept that made life really terrific for the citizens of Athens. We are thus all working within a 'foreign' framework.

Alas the concept of 'Democracy" flourished in a society that was really made possible by the slave labour of all of those who were NOT citizens.

One COULD be tempted to suggest that the recent hasty rush towards new 'democratic values' by the Howard government - (exemplified in its IR legislation, its Immigration Policies, and the new citizenship proposals)is merely a return to the "good old days" in Athens.

Of course there is one small down side to this scenario which is exemplified by a certain revolt at the Eureka Stockade in Australia(oops another Greek word meaning "I have found it")

Some find it “arrogant” to conflate “Australian values” with those values most of us consider in some sense “universal”. But that view, I think, fails to make the significant distinction between “customs” and “ethics”.

Customs are superficial cultural practices, like ritual, food, song, and therefore by necessity are historical, social, and political. When we think of “multiculturalism” we tend always to focus on what is unique and original, adopting a postmodern, superficial sense of "diversity" as "custom", bypassing the principle of it as open "criticism".

Ethics has to do with principles of conduct, with how we “relate” to one another, not with “what” or “who” we are. When we say something is “good” or “bad”, if we are honest to ourselves we can only mean this in a universal sense. This is because we are concerned more with what we all have in common, what some might base “human rights" on.

For us, it is "customary" to be "fair", such that "fairness,” along with “mateship”, have become part of the “what” or the “who” of how we think of ourselves “culturally”. Yet these are universal ethical principles!

To all the cringing nihilists I say an "Austraayyan" is “relation”, not a “thing”. When we think of “who” we are, we primarily think of how we “relate to others”, e.g. fairness, tolerance, democratic, and not whether we have anything superficial to grasp onto, and which might distinguish us from others, what makes us superficially unique and original. That is, an "Austraayyan" truly has SUBSTANCE!

Those who have over the years mocked “Aussies” as having “no identity,” as being “blank,” have only unwittingly proven that we are a people who can HANDLE NIHILISM in a positive sense, rather than flee from the abyss. We don’t hold onto tradition for the sake of it, like a non-Anglo bigot does. We are BRAVE in the face of the abyss! We can confront the fact that we are “evolving”, and thus move away from “custom” and toward ETHICALITY itself.

Dear Abyss and Garpet

You guys may benefit from mentally placing yourselves in a differnt culture for a while and exploring a particular scenario.
Lets take one quite different from Australias.. like... Nepal

Now.. you wear Aussie/Western clothes, (lets say you are a mixed gender group) and you speak english all the time, and you begin to seek permission to build a 'cultural centre' or.. an 'Expat Community Centre'.....

It so happens that being Australian is in fact a 'Political/Religious/Social package.' You cannot be truly 'Australian' unless you are able to function with all the legal, social and cultural cues which are part of being 'Australian'.
Your 'Australian-ness' also requires a degree of political power, because being 'Australian' is in fact a calling from God who has informed you that 'the world and all that is in it, belongs to God and his Australians'.

After a while, you notice some unexpected resentment manifesting from the local population. You read in the local 'forum' expressions of frustration at the increasing influence of 'Australians'. Eventually, your attempts to gain political office in this foreign city are met with violent opposition, the burning of your cultural centre, attacks on Australians......you can't understand this, after all, being Australian is such a natural thing.... why are the locals being so 'intolerant' and 'racist' ?

why ?