@ Squeers,

<<Nor does it address my contention that extremists are driven by their pariah status>>

Here are a few examples that not only address your contention, but positively shoot it down.

And the first is from a source you do put *a lot of stock in* (The Guardian!)

"Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's [ the Nigerian would be plane bomber] ... was born in extreme privilege, of the sort few Nigerians could ever dream of, and his education reflected this. His father, Umaru Mutallab, 70, is one of the country's most respected businessmen, who retired earlier this month as chairman of Nigeria's FirstBank, the oldest bank in the country, with offices in London, Paris and Beijing...He's got wonderful parents, he comes from a lovely family, he's got lots of friends, he had everything going for him. He's a fine-looking lad, very bright. I expected great things from him and he's thrown all this away. His parents will be absolutely devastated. He should have thought about this."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/27/gilded-life-of-plane-bomber

"Osama bin Laden, who was born into Saudi riches"
http://www.theledger.com/article/20110502/NEWS/110509918

Ayman al-Zawahiri emerged from a privileged upbringing in Egypt
http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/zawahiri/profile.html

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed or KSM also came from a rich background and went to college in the US, earning a degree in mechanical engineering.
http://shil1978.hubpages.com/hub/The-Myth-of-the-Poor-Terrorist

Nuff said!

Fiandra, that link is broken. I think your friend is making it up. It is completely improbable. If there was any arrest I am 99% sure it would have been due to a breach of a law. If you can't point to a law or anything that bans flying the Union Jack, then it is extremely likely that they weren't arrested for that.

You do your argument no good by trotting out canards.

Graham, the poster said it was the English flag which is not the Union Jack.
It may well have been the flag of England which is a white field with
a red cross. You often see it flying here on Church of England churches.

If the story is true then it was probably the cross that was objected
to and as the flag is used by the England Defense League and was
carried by the crusaders and that maybe why the police may have asked
for it to be removed.
Maintain the peace I think it is called.

GrahamY,

Please forgive me if I venture to suggest that your "canard" comment to Fiandra did not seem particularly appropriate. I have found her comments to be forthright and really rather refreshing, and I don't see her purposely purveying misinformation. I may not fully agree with all her comments, but concur for the most part, and consider hers to be honest contributions. I put the matter down to innocent forwarding of information which may or may not be accurate. An honest mistake at worst, nothing more, and we have all probably found ourselves in the same shoes at one time or other.

Anyway Graham, the above is only my opinion in the matter, and I've been soundly taken to task over quite a few of my opinions on this forum, so I'm only human. Nonetheless, benefit of the doubt and all that.

Multiculturalism: It's great viewed in isolation, and I think particularly so in the case of Australia. Taken in a global sense, which is my preferred stance, there is such a long way to go for any real semblance of multiculturalism to become a reality - and it even remains uncertain whether this would provide the best outcome for the future of humanity. I suspect there will always be some nations which will staunchly resist it, and that will still be ok if we can rise above cross-border conflict and infighting. Universal respect, equity and equality - a meritorious objective, but a tall order nonetheless.

In view of the global context I am reluctant to see Australia bite of more than she can chew, and I'm not suggesting an overtly nationalistic stance in this, just a note of caution. We cannot solve all the problems of the world, and maybe even the UN or another "enlightened and determined" coalition of forthright nations couldn't either, but the goal is worthy, as long as the means is peaceful. Hence I am reluctant for Oz to do possibly irreversible damage to itself by importing more or greater problems that she can handle at any one time, irrespective of source or nature.

I can't help wondering in all this fuss over multiculturalism if we aren't forgetting about our own indigenous people, worrying about every other Tom, Dick and Harry, and yet leaving our own out to dry. Something of an indictment really, though I quite understand that there are no easy answers to fulfilling the needs and just aspirations of our first peoples. This is of course the subject of another thread, on a reconcilation referendum. Still, we need somehow to keep things in perspective.

Not all is fully rosy in the land of Oz, and there needs to be due regard to appropriate prioritising of attention and resources. Accordingly, we need to be careful not to jeopardise the future prospects of our indigenous people in the rush to capitalise on resource and industrial development, and imported labour, or in allocating perhaps excessive resources to the accommodation of ever increasing numbers from all the various conflict centres of the globe.

I'm trying to be realistic here, not paternalistic, and we have some homegrown responsibilities sorely in need of considerable serious attention. So let's give serious thought to an effective means to involve our own in mapping out a multicultural model fully embracing the whole of our population.

A compact is needed, and our indigenous people should have a decent say in how we approach the future. An area of consultation not very well explored as far as I can see, and thus a rather glaring omission in the current political spectrum. Reconciliation really needs to be taken far more seriously than it has been to date, particularly as an integral part of our multicultural framework and objectives.

...Multiculturalism is the utopian academic dream of the middle classes, and a dystopian nightmare of social immiseration to white Australian working class.

... Multiculturalism stands in stark contrast to the abandonment of the National white Australian, a traditionalist to the work ethic and proud working class, now floundering in a sea of Asian faces, jobless, impoverished and homless.