NSB.

The last person in my family to be born overseas arrived here in 1847.
Put it this way,I'm wholly of White Australian ethnicity, I am a distant relation of the majority of people claiming Aboriginal ethnicity via our common White ancestry but I am in no way related to someone from Sudan, Lebanon or China.
Few of these "Lebs" are migrants anyway, they were mostly born here.
Born here but raised in Lebanon, even though many have never seen their homeland.
Islam is not the problem between Whites and Middle Easterners, it's a particular group of people who are utterly hostile to and contemptuous of anyone who is not like them.
All through primary school, but particularly is years 5 and 6 my daughter was best friends with a young girl whose parents were Syrian migrants and who followed Shia Islam.
I nearly fell over backwards the first time I went to their house and the second son bid me "Welcome Sir" when he opened the door, he is a great kid, though he was permanently on sister minding duty (they have two older girls as well) while his parents and older brother were at work.
My daughter's friend had no problems fitting in, she was a real sweetie, polite, smart, considerate, she even used to hand out presents and Christmas cards at the end of the year just like the other kids.
That all changed when the Lebanese kids started bullying her because she was Shia, she really copped it, she couldn't walk home from school in safety with the other girls and the other parents, myself included had to make a judgement call that it was too risky for our girls to be with her,the long suffering brother Ali had to drive her to and from the school gates every day.
White kids are not raised to be intolerant of others, the poor "Bogans", the whipping boys of the left are the most assimilated group of Whites and the longer a White kid stays in the education system the more tolerant will be.

Dear Jay,

I take it that from your previous post - it's only
the "Lebs" who are intolerant of people who are
not like them? And you're not one of them -
obviously. Kindly re-read what you've written.

Or do you have an excuse for the Anglo-Australians
who beat up each other and anyone that they choose
to pick on and then plead that the other person -
"Asked for it."

Most of the fights and bashings that
we see and read - on the news - that occur at nighclubs,
pubs, railway stations, and street corners are predominantly
involving white, Anglo-Saxon, youths. Who find it a great
time, (and entertainment) - to bash up each other and any
passer- by who tries to assist the victim.
I and my friends have learned over many years to avoid
such places and such groups. Even to the extent when I
see a group of white-youths in a shopping center I look
for an alternative path to take.

On the other hand, groups of youths from obviously other
cultural backgrounds don't threaten my well being. Never have.
And I
must say I've experienced some bad moments with white
youths and none whatsoever with any other group. I must
point out that I am a white female of Northern European
ancestry (born in Australia).

. In many ways it is a stupid question to ask and therefore sets up a plethora of ways that it can be answered infinitum. Perhaps a more tangible and practical question is ' What can Australians do about racism' which assumes that racist conditions, policies, actions do exist, be it here in Australia or abroad. Simplistic explanations about what racism is provide an easy escape route for many. Racism is complex but should never be considered insurmountable, unassailable, impervious, beyond the reach of our humanity and wisdom. I'm reminded by the many German nationalists in WW2 who opposed Hitler's racist persecution and genocide of the Jews, or the early settlers in this nation who opposed the wholesale slaughter of Aboriginal peoples, and the many other historical moments when people instantly recognised racism for what it was and acted accordingly. These qualities do exist in our national citizenry, albeit a small minority.
Historically speaking: the word 'racism' may not have been part of their social and cultural gramma but they knew it was wrong, immoral and dehumanising of both perpetrators and victims alike. I look forward to a time in Australia when this question about our nation’s moral character is not caught up in a web of semantic debate....but alas this may not be in my lifetime...perhaps in my great great grandchildren's lives? All we can do is attempt to set in motion a set of values that allow for this to happen. To simply ignore the existence of racism for the sake of feeling pious and redemptive is shallow...and of itself, racist.

surely
a tongue-in-cheek remark and you're simply stirring
and not being serious.
Lexi,
May I suggest you participate in forums of european countries which actually have the situation Hasbeen is referring to. You will get your eyes opened.
I wish it were just tongue-in-cheek. Tragically, it is not. Hasbeen speaks from foresight.

Lexi,
It is only the Lebanese, they are the troublemakers, you clearly have no experience of living in a multicultural suburb.
Every time you see "Lebs" around they're out looking for trouble, Hasbeen's story is an everyday occurrence.
There is a difference between young White guys knocking seven bells out of each other because they're drunk and gangs of Lebs, who don't drink and set out to deliberately maim people for fun.
It's a monotonous refrain from White people in my area,Thomastown/Lalor, "Bashed by Lebs".
Lexi I see this with my own eyes on a daily basis, the road rage, the intimidation.
These are the people you're defending: (no actually you are on their side, you've taken their side over that of your own people)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEGRb5d9e1c
Look at the state of the guy they bashed, this is allowed to go on because of people like you who constantly cover for them.
More?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbW9dxZazFs
It's always five onto one, they always set out to hurt their victims, maim them, disable them and then they laugh as they walk away.

You never see Lebanese boys doing anything normal people do for recreation, apart from martial arts and weight training of course.
I see Pacific Islanders going to church and having picnics, I see Indians playing cricket in the park, African christians handing out leaflets in the street, Afghans down at the lake feeding the ducks and taking happy snaps, Sikhs playing Kabbadi, Chinese flying kites and doing Tai chi, whites jogging and cycling.
Even the real deadbeat Whites will go to the park and have a barbie, go to the pools or the movies.
Lebs just hang around, they congregate in carparks and at railway stations, and are constantly cruising about in their cars, in convoys of three or four vehicles giving pedestrians their infamous "Death Stare", if you don't lower your eyes, then the harassment starts and often ends in a kicking or at best a foot chase if you're quick enough.
They have zero respect for others, the other week I was at Epping Plaza, it was raining, around one in the afternoon, the place was full of people. What were the Lebs doing? Having drift races in the carpark of course, power sliding their cars at high speed around the bays and service roads.
Really, You just don't see other ethnic groups behaving this poorly, Lebs hate this country, they particularly hate White "Aussies" and they live to intimidate, bully and terrorise everyone else in the community.