Rainier,

I've gone over all of the contributions to this thread from Dr Dillon and I have to say that your vicious attack on him was gutless and completely uncalled-for. Your insults are so off-the-wall that I suspect that you are not Indigenous at all yourself - no genuine Indigenous person would write such hurtful remarks, I'm sure, they are above that sort of thing. They would have more compassion than you reveal, even for someone that they disagreed strongly with.

And your ignorance of what is going on here (apart from what you could easily have read on-line) suggests to me that you don't actually live in Australia, in fact you may never have been here.

So I must ask you to:

* come and visit, but hold your opinions in abeyance until you have learnt enough to comment;

* try to understand the first lessons of civil discourse. If you don't have anything useful to say, or if you cannot find anything wrong with someone's point of view, except that it goes against your own prejudices, try consciously to avoid simply insulting other people and bombarding them with ad hominems, a sure sign that someone has lost their way in an discussion;

* some of your comments really do border on the psychotic ('crazy', if you don't know what that means). I don't know about mental health care (ironically, Dr Dillon's specialty) in your country, wherever it may be, but I would advise you to find out where the nearest facilities are, just in case you need them.

Dr Dillon has simply pointed out that racism certainly exists in Australia, in many forms, but none of those need drag Indigenous people down to the level of powerless victim: we don't have to buckle in the face of adversity. I fullly agree with him.

In fact, the oppressor wins if people give in - isn't that so ? So the last thing we should ever contemplate doing is advising Indigenous people to give in, to policy or to history.

Joe

Loudmouth,
it is you who always seems to be spoiling for an argument, twisting things to suit yourself. Rainier's comments, while sometimes harsh, are well within an Indigenous way of working.

It is you who puts himself up as some sort of great guru on all things Indigenous.

If Rainier chooses to growl at Anthony on some basic issues pertinent to us Indigenous Australians, it is pompous of you to chastise him. I am sure Anthony is quite capable of standing up for himself.

Rainier has consistently portrayed himself or herself as a strong Indigenous Australian. Your baiting and slurs are quite uncalled for.

Let me put it another way. Just because I am married to a non-Indigenous male I do not consider myself an expert on men or non-Indigenous people.

Loudmouth,
Your last outburst went well beyond any civil discourse. Saying someone has lost their way when they use insults and ad hominem comes back on you when you're calling them crazy and ignorant.

Aka,

You know very well how hurtful and vicious some of Rainier's comments may have been, I don't have to go into details.

And yes, Dan, they are a sign that Rainier has no argument to make, so he has to resort to insults, slurs, and contemptible dog-whistling of the worst kind. He is a fool and a bully, and I'm not the first one to point this out.

What has Dr Dillon written ? What is the gist of his arguments ? That is what we should be dealing with, but instead - bereft of argument - Rainier resorts to the dirtiest of attacks. What a gutless wonder.

Joe

Loudmouth,
The slurs and insults against Rainer: 'crazy'', 'ignorant', etc. are coming from you.

'simply insulting other people and bombarding them with ad hominems, a sure sign that someone has lost their way in a discussion'. (Loudmouth)

Hi Dan,

Thank you for attempting to defend the indefensible, but I'll stick to what I wrote above:

" What has Dr Dillon written ? What is the gist of his arguments ? That is what we should be dealing with .... "

These are important issues that he raises. He also is attempting to broaden the discussion with his article yesterday on The Drum on identity, 'race' and need:

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3915412.html

I recommend it to you, Dan. Although some contributors even there attempt to side-track the issues by insulting the author, they are thankfully in the minority.

Cheers,

Joe