Aka, imagine you and I sitting in a room together and someone walks in and says “You pair of black cu&^%, I hate you.” I think one of us would laugh and say “Thanks for your opinion, have a nice day” (and recognise that the 'abuser' has low self-esteem) while the other would get upset, moan and groan, and believe that the spoken words have upset her (no prizes for guessing which one of us is the one to easily get upset). The upset person may even possibly boast that they have been a victim of racism! Is it fair to say that one of us values their own opinion of themselves more than other people’s opinions of them? Is it fair to say that one believes others have more power over them than they have over themselves? Now for someone who is “spiritual” they would understand and see the relevance of what I have written here. I think what I am saying here is similar to what Namaste (? – though he/she can clarify if he/she wishes) may have been saying in an earlier post: Nobody is denying that the words were spoken by the person entering the room. And nobody is denying that the words may have been spoken in anger and hate. However, the words have no power themselves to upset another (though people with low self-esteem may choose to express ‘upset’ ‘anger’ etc., in an attempt to protect their poor self-image). To suggest that the words have power is absurd. If the words themselves did have power, they would upset everybody. “Only the weak set out to offend, and only the weak get offended.” Aka, until you can provide some proof that racism is a major cause of problems for Aboriginal, there is very little point continuing this discussion. And as I have said previously, quoting others who agree with you is not proof.

AKA

That there are problems to be solved in society, I don't disagree with. My different view relates to how such problems are solved. “For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root." Henry David Thoreau. I focus on the 'root' of the problem and will leave others to hack away at the leaves.

To the question "who won the WWII?" the answer is clearly no-one! There are no 'winners' in any warfare where both sides use basically the same methods of 'attack' - just degrees of 'losing'. 65 Million people lost their lives in WWII - the majority were civilian - in a 'fight for the right'. Yes, it is easy to look at the Germans as having as the aggressors - until you study what happened after WWI - and if you want to see what pushed people into WWI just look at what preceded it -- and back and back and back.

Attack the 'enemy' and you strengthen the enemy. I feel that Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Gandhi - none of whom were perfect - had somewhat of a better grasp of the psycho-dynamics of social change. You may disagree, fine, but they at least attempted to get beyond 'attacking' the enemy. If you feel there is clear evidence of the success of your approach - list the examples, and I will review my understanding. To ‘escape the cave’ and its 'Shadowlands' of illusion one must fight the egoic ‘dragon’.

Forty years of professional pro bono work in conflict resolution - family, prisons, organisational, and education settings, have given me experiential evidence that the inducement of guilt in the mind of the bullies in the hope of it resulting in positive change is doomed to failure - there is a better way - and it does work. I am an old man now, and still have much to learn, so I am open to new ideas that work better than the ones I have tried to date.

Thank you for your comments. Cheers & Namaste

Hi Anthony,

Of course, there is one major form of racism that has not been talked about - the racism of low expectations.

The racism that allows people to loaf in their jobs, all their 'working' lives, and nobody complains (and surely we all know of many, many people in this fortunate situation).

The racism that allows Aboriginal students to demand softer marking on the grounds that they cannot be expected to put in the same quality of work as non-Aboriginal students.

The racism that excuses Aboriginal people for smashing up their publicly-funded houses and runs to their support when they demand new ones.

The racism that ignores Aboriginal achievement, such as fifteen hundred new university graduates each year ('Real Blackfellas couldn't possibly be succeeding at university in those numbers. They must be ring-ins. Or not really graduates.')

The racism that excuses young Aboriginal kids for vandalising cars and houses, roughing up people in the streets, ram-raiding, car-theft, causing mayhem in other people's lives.

And the racism that tries to excuse Aboriginal people on the grounds that they don't, or can't, know any better ('And after all, they're still Stone Age people, how can they be expected to catch up with the level of behaviour of non-Aboriginal people after only a couple of hundred years ?') Or that they should be 'loyal' to their 'culture' and not even try to seize opportunities - after all, that's aswsimilation.

Those sorts of racism. The racism of double standards. Racism that would never use a nasty word openly - but would excuse Aboriginal people from using, for example, a phrase like 'flop-eared, Dumbo white c*&^' when referring to Abbott. Although I'm sure he can take it.

[TBC]

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...

When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door... (slam!)

Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away

"Antigonish" is an 1889 poem by American educator and poet Hughes Mearns

And then there is the racism which really does penalise Aboriginal people, such as the expectation that qualified Aboriginal teachers or nurses should, like it or not, want to go out into the sticks for life to work with 'their own', and not to think of standard promotion pathways, or coming back into the city to work - these tend to be reserved for whites, in a sophisticated racist society.

Or vice versa, the racism that consistently excludes qualified Aboriginal conservation managers from having much to do with crucial land issues.

Yes, there is racism, but its forms seem to be way beyond many people's understanding. Sometimes I think that whites, especially academics and professionals generally, have an amazing genius in inventing new forms of it all the time - not because they are particularly racist but in the dog-eat-dog world of competition for position, they will use anything against whoever they need to, racism, sexism, xenophobism, anti- or pro-gay, secret handshakes, whatever, to keep them down, and/or out.

Cheers,

Joe

I have an idea. Why don't WE take the first step in weeding out racism by ignoring it here on OLO ?
That'll soon stop the sad mutts from hijacking very second thread.