I’m deeply saddened by these comments. I suppose I belong to the ‘world saver class’, as Lego describes, whom with our tiny minds seem to be convinced that all races are equal in every way. Ironically the tiny minds which seems apparent here are the ones which so explicitly reveal their xenophobia and ignorance for the world and its evolution. Lego, says he fears for the future of Australia, as do I in receipt of his racist, misinformed and malaligned views on history and sociology (‘the importation of blacks into white western societies has always been a social catastrophe for the whites’). I was even more disturbed to find that Lego had supporters: Ozzie, Ammonite, Aspley O Sung Wu and Banjo. Who had equally challenged views.

The article I read was about a program set up for young people who ‘have often experienced high levels of trauma. Many have witnessed violence directly or indirectly through the experience of dispossession, conflict, living in refugee camps or coming from dismantled families and fragmented communities.’ A program helping them to rehabilitate and integrate into society and the problems they and the project faces.

We are the fortunate ones who never experience being displaced and disenfranchised and who can sit back and bemoan refugees coming into our country and ‘our generosity being abused’. I seem to recall similar arguments with the Displaced Persons Scheme in 1947 - then the undesirables were Italians and Cypriots and Greeks and Maltese... And I wonder how many of us are products of the Populate or Perish policy adopted by a post WW2 Australian government? And how quickly we forget.

The world is evolving whether we like it or not. Whilst we sit at home and ignore and inure ourselves to the world at large we all have a responsibility to one another, regardless of race or birth nationality. Seriously people realise the ‘truth is exactly the same size as the universe’ and with narrow eyes we see less of the truth.

I am reminded of Pastor Martin Niemoller’s poem:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

What Ammonite and tonti said. How appalling that such openly racist sentiment still persists in 21st century Australia.

I recommend that purveyors of such hateful tripe should be made to watch the fascinating series "Go Back to Where You Came From", which started screening last night. The initial episode provides hope that even the most inveterate dinky-di racists have some hope of enlightenment and, hence, redemption.

http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/goback

tonti & morgonzola,
I think you have compassion but you're totally lacking foresight. On the other hand, if you're members of those groups then you should make up your mind where your allegiance is. Think if you want leave your problems behind or proliferate them here. You see, nothing to do with race or culture, it's all to do with attitude. Many people claim to have compassion but that compassion somehow ceases when it comes to compassion for the host to try & maintain harmony. Or are you saying that the harmony in this country is not being jeopardised by radical imports ?

Dear Tonti

The real test for intelligence is one who accepts the truth “though the heavens may fall”. I would just love to believe that all races are equal, but self evidently, they are not. I was once a humanitarian idealist “world saver” such as yourself, who was opposed to racism. Unfortunately, the only explanation for black dysfunction that the purveyors of my conditioned ideology could think up was "Blame the White Guys for Everything." You can not train me to recognize racism, and then object when I see it directed at my own people.

My response, was to ignore all of my previous cultural conditioning, switch on my objective reasoning ability, and examine the facts dispassionately. After removing my ideological blinkers, it became obvious to me that the races were not equal at all. Generally speaking, Asians are smarter than whites, and whites are (generally speaking) a lot smarter than blacks. That does not mean that there are no smart blacks. Stanford University only accepts students on the basis of their (IQ) SAT scores, and some blacks are very smart and can get admittance.

But the fact remains that we have Australian people in this country who are a lot more deserving of government aid than imported African Bantu’s. The importation of such people will simply become a drain on our resources, which are already inadequate to help people such as Dawn Joyce and her schizophrenic son, who has written the OLO article “Who Cares.”

You may think that Australia is a land of natural prosperity with unbounded resources where money grows on trees. But in 1953, there were 35 workers for every person on welfare while today it is 7 to 1. You only have to extrapolate forward to realize that this trend is unsustainable. Bringing people into this country who are unable to contribute to the Commonwealth, and who instead impose a never ending drain upon our exchequer, means that one day, Tonti, you may wake up in a bankrupt country. Several European countries have now achieved that unenviable goal.

In Australia, Australians come first.

@ individual:

I think that harmony in this country is far more jeopardised by racism than by "radical imports", whatever they are. Also, I don't think you quite understand what "compassion" means: it's generally not something you have for yourself.