If what happened was a result of years of racism (basically just insults), TNF and OLO are going to result, years from now, in, the, total destruction, of all society (possibly at the hands of only a small duo of criminals.)

I know who I would lock up and that is bleeding heart lefties, the sort who love a multicultural third world dumping ground, lets call it Australia. As for this rubbish about the natives being here first let me remind you that we all come from Africa. Luckily some of us are white. The whites as usual brought culture to Australia. I'm not real sure what other races such as Arabs have brought to Australia. Maybe it's such things as not having the discipline to shave every day, bad haircuts,cedar tree tattoos or Lebanese bread. Wagner, Mozart or even Beethoven have got nothing on those Lebanese. What culture indeed. Let's not forget the rock throwing.

Chris Shaw

Testosterone levels vary significantly between persons of similar and disimilar racial backgrounds.

Testosterone levels also fluctuate within a person in any given timeframe.

It (testosterone quantity) can be increased in the body through exposure to environmental stimulus and vice versa.

Surely you dont think we should neuter every male who displays aggressive behaviour? The feminist movement has been inadvertently trying to do that since its inception.

Maybe you have been spending too much time with poor old Cyril.

Well said Anomie.

Let's all just simmer down a bit and reflect on hormones and history. When I was growing up in Adelaide there were tribes of bodgies and widgies in stovepipe trousers, iridescent socks and leather jackets. They would brawl and roar around on motorbikes. We kids were warned incessantly to shun them.

There were nasty gang battles between "Anglo-Celtic" people who usually called themselves "Aussie" and the "dagos" who were usually from Southern European immigrant families. Adults around me would object angrily to the Federal Government's push to call the immigrants "New Australians"; they would mutter angrily about "dark,greasy Italians" who were scaring "their" (Aussie) women. And my mates would all echo their parents and as they reached their 'teens they'd gang up and get into fights with the "dagos".

Then in the '60s we got into the tribal warfare between surfies and rockers. There were bashings by big mobs and the same sort of mutual blame and endless reciting of individual incidents as justification.

When you go back to the violence against Chinese in 19th Century Australia, or against the Italian immigrants and others in the 1920s, you see the same situation. Go to the Balkans over the last twenty years or so and the picture is similar. Or try Africa.

I don't have any ready-made solutions, but the current situation in Sydney is only about "culture" and "religion" if people keep saying it is. Young people, especially males, easily form tribes. Maybe we have to concentrate on finding better directions for the tribes to take. Yes, Anomie, hormones and history....

There have been a number of posts suggesting that muslims/middle eastern people have contributed nothing to human understanding (not quite the words used). Not a topic I have studied at all but background reading on other stuff has suggested that middle eastern people have played a significant role in developing the ideas and tools which the west built on. Not sure how acurate it is but try http://www.contactpakistan.com/news/news129.htm for a start for a list of reported inventions by muslims. Mathematics is an area they have played a great role in. You could also try http://www.khwarzimic.org/contribution-muslim/facts.html for another list of significant muslim inventions.

Or just log into your favourite search engine and type something like "muslim invention".

Have a think about how much of the western worlds recent advances have been a combination of the base of technology and understanding combined with the brilliance of a small number of individuals. At different times the western world and the eastern world (not just muslims) have moved ahead while the other went backwards or stagnated. It's not inherant superiority, it is a combination of a whole lot of factors.

R0bert

I hear what Bosk and Anomie are saying with agreeance. If we just blanket the cause of the riots as 'hatred of difference' which is true to a large part, might we not understand what has pushed this hatred to breaking point, besides alcohol, sun, testosterone ( a few women were in their punching too). Please feel free to tell me how wrong I am if you have a better understanding than I of how some middle eastern women are treated by men in their culture but it appears with very little respect and a lot of contempt. This was told to me by some fantastic Arabic background women who work in education and said in some areas of western sydney, even female principals are spat on and told, "you should see what we do to our women at home". I deplore racism, and fear the consequences of this for the safety of anyone deemed 'other' from now on. However, if there exists an underlying problem of an element of some middle eastern cultures seeing females as less than human and this spreads effecting women of other cultures then other people will become defensive and prevent this occuring.
Long term education is needed to replace ignorance and fear with knowledge and understanding. It will be a slow and costly process if our leaders don't take their heads out of the sand and see that if this is not racism then what in the hell is?