The article presents me with a paradox. I thought that racism, by definition, was the association of particular characteristics with race or ethnicity. For example, an American, a Russian and an Israeli sit in a restaurant together. The waiter announces "Excuse me gentlemen, due to the ongoing shortage we will be unable to serve meat today.". The American says"What's a shortage?". The Russian says "What's meat?". The Israeli says "What's 'Excuse me'?". Does the article offer more insight into human nature than the multitude of schoolboy jokes like the one above? At least the schoolboy jokes carry no pretensions.

Australia, like any other nation, is the country and it people: Some are racist and some are not.

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Middle Easterners aren't victims, geez, has anyone on this site ever actually met a "Lebanese Youth", there's no way you could even call them marginalised or "downtrodden".
They are, to a man the most extroverted, in your face people going around, the women share exactly the same temperament. Woe betide anyone who was stupid enough to try and "hate crime" a Lebanese girl, they travel in gangs just like the boys, if you tried to rip off a hijab they'd more than likely rip off your face.
People also always omit the reprisal attacks from an account of the Cronulla riots, the scuffles during the daytime were trivial compared to the violence that flowed back from the Middle Eastern community on the succeeding nights.
Oh let's not forget their "everyday behaviour", the public urination/defecation in broad daylight, the filthy streets of "Their" suburbs, the drag racing/hooning, road rage,the intimidation, stand over, drug dealing, welfare fraud, car theft, muggings, rapes, stabbings, Bikie gangs...
The only thing that marks White Australians out from the other ethnic groups is our extreme tolerance of outsiders, would Lebanese get away with doing the things they do here in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, or Malaysia or Iran?
No way, the locals would assemble in the streets and sort them out, quick smart.

Jay, you give a pretty good example of racism. I have a number of Lebanese friends and they defy your stereotype. I don't recognise what you have said in any of them.

I don't think my friends would want to be judged on the basis of your stereotype any more than I would want to be judged because I'm caucasian on you.

Racism is the making of unjustifiable judgements based on stereotyping people because of inherited characteristics due to particular human populations.

I think what Peter is trying to draw attention to is that what happened at Cronulla was due to behaviours by particular social groups that is not related to race.

Of course Australians are racist. Show me any 'race' that isn't. Cronulla was a case of a minority trying to bully the rest of us who I think are really pretty tolerant of most people who aren't assholes. Racism is a revolving door. One side starts it and the other continues it. By the way I live in a North Queensland rural town and the Indigenous people spend way too much time bitching about white people and even openly cuss white people in the street - then call us racist. It makes you really dislike them. That's how racism continues.

Graham.
Are your friends by any chance of Christian Lebanese heritage and did their ancestors come here in the early-mid 20th century?
Steve Bracks, John Symonds and Bob Katter all have Lebanese heritage
There's Lebanese and Lebanese, I know some Lebanese guys who have mousy brown hair and blue eyes, we're not talking about them, we're talking about the dark, Muslim, tribal people who mainly hail from the north of the country, not the more cosmopolitan south.
When you have a tribal mentality stereotypes tend to fit,there was a brawl at an Eid celebration in Michigan not long ago, go and look up the footage on youtube, the young guys involved have the same haircuts and the same style of dress,the same vocal inflection and "in your face" attitude as the Lebanese hoodlums getting around Broadmeadows or Bankstown.
Again, tribal people tend to dress,speak and act in a particular manner, thus a stereotype is applicable.