Well said, BJelly. Very well said indeed.

Those who need to be included on the winning side will always be with us. Some of these sadly feel the need to find someone to kick to fill okay. Better than taking drugs I guess.

We the minority just have to find ways to disabuse the other side of their often self-righteous and inhuman modes of thinking.

VG: Well I will be the lone dissenter from the rest of the commenters :) The continuing acts of bastardry by Australia in treating refugees badly seems unfortunately well supported.

As it should be.

BJelly: As the Refugee Council of Australia has pointed out, if the rest of the world followed Australia's lead and changed their laws to prevent asylum seekers who arrive by boat from claiming refugee protection, the international refugee system would collapse. Is that the sort of leadership we want?

In a word. YES!

BJelly: If you help one boatload of people from drowning, you don't know where it will end! It just encourages them apparently.

Have you only just worked that out. Did you do it by your self or did you need help?

You can't put square pegs in Round holes It just doesn't work. These people do not belong in Australia. Bad Religion, no education, no Western Societal skills. no English. The equivalent of Tribal Bush people. I remember in the 60's when they took the Tribal Aboriginals off the Missions & transplanted them into towns. It took another 20 years for them to assimilate into Western Society & some still haven't. What would we do with these people? We would destroy them. They would not be capable of assimilation into our lifestyle without a huge toll on them & us. That would plainly be cruel.

Not only do they have Islam to contend with they have their own peculiar Ancient Tribal Customs as well.

Do-gooders sipping on their Latte's in Melbourne are imagining that everyone lives just like them. These people just don't.

Jayb - I prefer a flat white thanks.

As far as we know we are living on the only planet in the billions of galaxies in the infinite vastness of space that has life.

How precious is each an every life? I know my life is precious to me, and that is true for most people.

We forget how special life is. Dehumanising others allows us to turn our backs on people in need.

Fear and hate are powerful forces. They can be used to divide us and keep us squabbling between ourselves. We forget our common humanity, and how precious each life is.

PJelly: Fear and hate are powerful forces. They can be used to divide us and keep us squabbling between ourselves. We forget our common humanity, and how precious each life is.

You are talking to the converted here. What you have to do is talk to the moslems. They need convincing. Good luck with that.

Jayb,
I have friends who are Muslim, I work with people who are Muslim. They are good people. We should judge people by their actions, and their character.

Most of us are born into the religion we follow - tradition is very powerful. We forget that Muslims , Jews and Christians all follow the Old Testament - they are Abrahamic religions - Allah, God, Yaweh - are all the same God. Weird huh?

Muslims make up 2% of our population. It is easy to make people afraid of people they don't know. They look different and a bit scary so it's not too hard to make them into the boogeyman.

I am no fan of fundamentalist Muslims,(or any extremists) who thrive on hate and use violence against innocents. But most Muslims aren't fundamentalists - they are normal people.

BJelly: Muslims make up 2% of our population.

2% of the population, & look at the trouble were are having with them that we didn't have 20 years ago. Any increase this percentage will see an increase in the problems exponentially.

BJ: It is easy to make people afraid of people they don't know.

That was true 20 years ago. Now people know what a dangerous Religion is practiced by these people & have every right to be afraid.

BJ: They look different and a bit scary so it's not too hard to make them into the bogeyman.

It is not Australians that have made them into the bogeyman They have done this themselves even the "nice" ones. Even the nice ones have created havoc in peaceful Western Countries throughout the World with a moslem population over 2%.

BJ: But most Muslims aren't fundamentalists - they are normal people.

Even the "most moslems" hate unbelievers even though they aren't fundamentalists, their Koran tells them to wheather they like it or not. When these moderate people are eventually given a choice between protecting their religious beliefs or protecting non-believers. Where do you think their loyalties will lay