Forrest Gumpp,
thanks for your entertaining response but I wasn't enquiring as to the aboriginal problem "then", but now. I asked above, "If we no longer subscribe to supremacist notions of racial inferiority, how do we explain that our native pariahs are in such a comparatively appalling state?"
I've been saying it's not "about where you’re from, but what you look like", and that it's not just about how you're treated based on appearance, but how you "learn to perceive yourself".
Rhrosty,
yep we are a land of immigrants, in degrees of separation.

Grim,
fine, immigrant means new arrival, yet I stand by my cultural tossed salad analogy, nor does the cultural influence of the respective mother country cease upon the demise of the first generation. Les Murray continues to celebrate his Scottish ancestry. Australia is hardly "Australia" as anything distinctive; it's an outlying wealthy suburb of Europe and America. Despite the endless patronage of politicians, being Australian doesn't mean a damn thing. As for "guilt", I'm not asking anyone to feel guilty about the past. Nor about the present. I don't. As I keep saying, I'm talking about the influence and victims of prejudice based on appearances, including the self-harming behaviour of aboriginal "identity" (since it's being argued they barely exist anymore). But the enclaves of "Australian" (ie second, third generation) Vietnamese, Lebanese, Indian, African etc. are maintained, in my opinion, much more by the bigotry and provincialism of "real Australians", based on appearance, than their own sectarianism. Much of the disharmony between the Australian mainstream and ethnic groups is set-up and exacerbated by reciprocal perceptions. Some ethnic groups, say middle eastern, react aggressively to the negative perceptions they register, and some, like many aboriginals, seem utterly defeated in their abject social status and are destructive generally.
Such anyway is my rudimentary thesis. I don't tell anybody else what to think.

Since 'we' have such a problem working out what it is to be 'Australian', it is no wonder recent arrivals would have great difficulty trying to work us out, and how to 'fit in'. I see us as a very new and ever-evolving nation, a nation of Heinz '57 varieties' (or 53 beans in every cup), but also including an even more complex component - of this country's 'original people' (those who have not been assimilated and Westernized at least - and those who for political and self-interest purposes 'pretend' not to have been).

>Other than a generic Western egotism and disdain for anything that doesn't bow to it, what is there?<

Such a narrow appraisal is unlike you, Poirot. I think we all have an inward and an outward 'persona', both built from our experience, learning and upbringing, but in public only revealing the public face, the more PC, tolerant and understanding face. We must all carry misgivings, doubts, fancies and dreams, and with those who have been greatly hurt or let down being more likely to vent their real feelings of separatism, disenchantment and disapproval.

Aus is such a splendid country, both in its 'mountain ranges and sweeping plains' and in its Hodge-podge of life experience, memories, loves and pet hates. What a history, what freedom wrought from thin soils and golden minerals, from harsh battles at home and abroad. The sterner stuff wrought of droughts and flooding rains, and some who battle still. The soft wrought of easy times in cushy jobs, weaned on free or easily accessible higher education, job security and work and welfare rights.

The splendour that was once is disappearing, in concrete jungles and urban slums, in outsourcing and industrial decline, in burgeoning populations chasing fewer jobs with greater competition and less job security. The easy ride is over. We all have to come to terms with changing times, at home and abroad, and none are immune.

Integration and assimilation happens to us all, creeping, seeping, osmotic. The 'new' Aussies mould us, as we them, adapting and growing. But, the memories endure.

burgeoning populations chasing fewer jobs with greater competition and less job security
Saltpetre,
Yes, and to think that there are people in our midst who push for more & more people to come here instead of going out into the world & helping to educate people on birth control etc.
The mind simply boggles.

Poirot--<The principle freedoms bestowed on the majority of white Australians in the 21st century are the freedom to toe the line, to go into debt - and to shop till they drop.>

And what does the Aboriginal tribal culture bestow on people. The right to sit under a tree all day and do not much of anything? If they want to live that way then they must give up access to white man's hospitals and medication, libraries, coffee shops, bookstores etc.
Because if we whites,Asians and all, go and sit under a tree all day then we would have none of those things because everybody would be too busy sitting under a tree to keep these places open and running.

Western civilization is built on the work ethic and everybody pulling their weight and white people have a lot of respect for people who work hard. If the Aboriginals want respect then they should be seen to be pulling their weight in society.
They can’t put their hands out fast enough for our medical care, shops, cars, TV’s,food. But they want all this for nothing.

I exclude those who have gone or are going to University or are employed, they realize that the old tribal ways are gone and if you want to live with all the advantages of Western society you have to be educated and employed.
And from what I've seen, they do love the Western goods and services.

I have to say that the indigenous population certainly do need access to the existing medical care, seeing as they seem to be unduly affected by our decadent junk-food/alcohol soaked society...does it ever occur to anyone that they might see the Protestant Work Ethic as something incoherent and diabolical...all that self-pride and accumulation for its own sake is a very white European trait which possibly presents no particular attraction for indigenous people. I know that is difficult, if not impossible, to get your head around, but most people never think outside the box.

I'll possibly get back to this thread later, Cherful, but for now I'm going to friends for dinner. Hopefully I might get to sit under a tree and not do much of anything.

seem to be unduly affected by our decadent junk-food/alcohol soaked society.
Poirot,
I know of people who are actually forced to eat junk food because it's cheaper. So it is unduly but not limited to the indigenous. Alcohol is totally up to each individual to either take in or not.