Sonofglobin,

You cannot blame whitey for Koori kids dying. Well you can if like me, you think any child, from any culture, should be taken away from parents that are incapable of rearing children.

I predict this generation of prison destined Koori males will sue for NOT being taken. And why were they not taken?

Because the racist left-wing elitist Anglo's think Koori's are animals to be looked upon as dogs, not care what happens to them - only care how they feel yuk about breaking up a family (even though that family might be rancid!).

It ALL comes down to the left wingers - most people don't even see yet that they are the enemy of good policy.

I feel sorry for Aboriginals because I have known quite a few and they ALL form their ENTIRE identity around their skin colour.

How horrible! BUt don't blame us for being tribal.

Grow up, forget your clans and gangs that hunted on this shore or that village, and become members of the human family.

Benjam1n: >> I feel sorry for Aboriginals because I have known quite a few and they ALL form their ENTIRE identity around their skin colour.<<

Ben this line made me smile, it implies that you pity them for having come in contact with you (grammatical error).

I agree with your overall view but I do not believe you are comparing apples with apples when you make value judgments’ as to "where" in modern society indigenous people should have risen to, especially given the huge cash and land resources dedicated to their betterment over the past thirty years.

I do not believe that a hunter gatherer society could assimilate physically or psychologically to European colonization in a handful of generations. Consider other indigenous societies that were culturally and technologically some 40,000 years advanced of our indigenous peoples. These societies have failed to acclimatize to European culture and have the same psychological assimilation issues as our indigenous.

Ben as you said the bleeding heart "left" has a lot to do with the problem being ongoing, and with no foreseeable end. Before 1976 the govt controlled the indigenous funding (what there was of it) and achieved nothing. After 76 we gave "billions" of dollars to land councils, governed by people from the lowest socio economic group in Australia, and the expectation was what? That they would direct the funds towards building infrastructure and civil housing, invest the funds in businesses that would produce an ongoing return on capital for future generations, obviously the white bleeding hearts did. But It did not work.

The politically correct lobby and their ethos of indigenous self determination, including the management of billions of dollars is the core flaw in the money chain that flows in and out of the indigenous community. When you give an aboriginal who lives in third world conditions in a first world nation control of billions of dollars, then the first call of philanthropy would be himself and his kin.

Guidelines for the funding were corrupted by the "any cause is a good cause for me" bleeding hearts.

sonofgloin
I take your point but I was referring to the skit on Hey Hey specifically, of which I did not read as offensive (intent and context is important), just as I wouldn't if a dark-skinned person dressed up as me, with white face powder and a brunette/red wig and sang like me (which is pretty bad as nature would have it).

In Australian culture this was just a skit, in the US it would be seen as Harry CJ saw it given their sensitivities and experiences.

When I have travelled I am always wary of other cultures and usually adapt to the social norms pretty well. Americans are quite different depending on which state they hail from, some less understanding of our humour and directness and others more so.

There are some parts of the US one wouldn't mention they were an atheist or supported equal rights for same sex couples just for example.

I personally would not use any of those phrases you listed by calling anyone a *&^ bastard even in jest but I have heard it used affectionately eg. you old bastard (said with a laugh in context of the conversation). Again probably easily misunderstood by someone from another culture.

Pelican:>> I take your point but I was referring to the skit on Hey Hey specifically,<<

Pelican, thanks I understood that, I just took the opportunity to ramble on and on and on.
A perfect example of cultural diversity was when Bert Newton said to Mohammed Ali in an avuncular fashion "I like the boy" at a Logie night 25 years ago. The look on Ali's face is pure incredulity, but you can see that he is reasoning with himself that there must be a cultural misunderstanding regarding the inference of those words to an American Negro.

I'm with you on the hey hey skits, Harry was the only one out of the entire cast, crew, and audience to consider it as racial vilification. Given that we do not think in those terms is it not plausible to suggest that we do not identify with race as readily as other cultures, we are innocents compared to Harry.

Sonofgloin,

'I do not believe that a hunter gatherer society could assimilate physically or psychologically to European colonization in a handful of generations. Consider other indigenous societies that were culturally and technologically some 40,000 years advanced of our indigenous peoples. These societies have failed to acclimatize to European culture and have the same psychological assimilation issues as our indigenous.'

Wha ?! 25,000 Indigenous people in this country are university graduates, and the total could reach 50,000 by 2020 - that will be one in every seven adults.

Aboriginal children in mission schools during the nineteenth century (at least here in SA) were achieving at similar levels to white kids in their regions, if not better. In fact, in 1872, in SA, a third of white kids (and probably half of their parents) were illiterate, while almost all of the Aboriginal children and their parents on missions were literate. But when the time came (in 1908-1910) to contemplate universal public secondary schooling, Aboriginal kids were barred and their previously-comparable primary end-point was dumbed down to Year Four level - right through to the 1950s. So, by the 1970s, thanks to segregationist policies, very few Aboriginal parents on missions had had any secondary schooling. Nothing to do with 'hunter-gatherer societies', just plain old racism.

But for all that, some 70,000 Indigenous people have now been to, or are currently enrolled in, university education across Australia - that's better than one in every four adults. The vast majority of those 25,000 current graduates completed their undergraduate studies in the last twenty years. A quarter of them have gone on to post-graduate study.

Joe Lane
Adelaide

Loudmouth, "But for all that, some 70,000 Indigenous people have now been to, or are currently enrolled in, university education across Australia - that's better than one in every four adults."

Any break-ups available on the degrees and study areas? If it is mainly humanities maybe they are destined for academia and the public bureaucracies, or there could be a lot of unemployed and dissatisfied grads around.

Any idea how many are destined for 'real' work - completing trades skills through apprenticeships? That is where government keeps saying the skills shortages are. Any numbers available on the break-up by gender?