In my opinion it is ridiculous to want to try to stop identifying people by their appearance and race as that is the easiest way to identify and locate them.

I sometimes worry whether there are those out there that want to camouflage criminals and terrorists in order to protect them becasue they feel sorry for them as they also see them as victims. The more information that the public have, the easier it is to identify the culprits - we need to protect the innocent.

Already on passport photo’s you are not allowed to smile, best if we all look like terrorists that way we don’t discriminate against the terrorists. It is ridiculous.

My daughter, when aged (8), wrote a report at school, her teacher came and showed it to me because she was so proud of my daughter. Her message was:

“We need to focus on the similarities between people, not the differences, because then there could be peace in the world”

That doesn’t mean that we should pretend that there are no differences, just that if we focused on the similarities we would find that the majority of people want the same thing and that is a safe, happy and caring place to live and to bring up their children.

That should be our goal and focus and anybody who threatens it, needs to be dealt with regardless of who they are or where they were born.

I am convinced that young children today are smarter than the adults and have less prejudices and we should be listening to them.

Jolanda, I suspect that it is more about not wanting their communities to be tarred with brush that should be applied to the criminals rather than a specific agenda of protecting criminals. What disturbs me most about a number of these recent articles is the deliberate downplaying of the activities of ethnic gangs (whilst bagging the largely white mob and that one night of bad behaviour).

I'm trying to work out why this is so, the main possibilities seem to be
- the authors have no real problem with the behaviour of the gangs.
- the authors don't believe the reported behaviour of the gangs.
- the authors don't see any tie between the gangs and the muslim/middle eastern communities nor do they see any tie between cultural/religious teaching that emphasises modesty (for women) and attacks on women who dress in what is considered to be an immodest manner. The gangs members have been raised in Australia and are probably not serious muslims so are not relevant to the muslim/middle eastern community. No reason to excuse downplay their actions if this was the case so I don't take it seriously.
- loyalty to their own groups is placed ahead of loyalty to the broader community. Defend your own regardless of right or wrong.
- the authors are worried that by addressing the issues honestly they will further harm their communities.

I hope that it is the latter.

Whatever the case it is rather disturbing that we have had a string of authors making such an effort to downplay the actions of these gangs.

R0bert

There have been 15 published articles on OLO on this topic. Fourteen blame Australia, Australian and the way Australians do things, all condemn the Cronulla Riot, (Although everyone of them say RIOTS), most say were racist and all downplay the actions the...well you know who. (Lets not upset Irfan, etc).

The other article was by David Flint doing whatever it is he does.

I guess we're being told what to think by a pc magazine pushing the mc line... or maybe that's just a case of skewed balance in the media.

At least the mainstream media aren't doing that...they're simply ignoring everybody's concerns.

And talkback...well I hear everyman's opinion everyday in nearly every conversation I have and I never have to listen to talkback radio... so I don't know what's on talkback but I do know what people are saying in my community.
(Which by the way is very very multicultural yet mirrors most on this forum.)

Robert here is what I feel.

- Some adults don’t see the behaviour as being, that bad, or for that matter worse than others so they play it down – just like in school. They like to think of it as “boys being boys”.
- Some believe that the behaviour of thugs from certain groups is over-reported as opposed to others. They believe that they are being targeted. It would be interesting to know if that is the case?
- Some blame the western culture for what is happening to their boys and they are fiercely protecting their girls.
- Those of Lebanese background are very protective of their own, many have lived hard lives and they have seen a lot of bad in people and they believe that they have to stick together to be safe.
- Some are worried that addressing the issues might mean that Muslims might be expected to relax their religion and culture and to assimilate and that means adapting to the Western way and they do not want to do that because they feel the Western way is corrupted and against their religion.

The one thing that all people have in common is the culture of justifying thier position and of covering up and denying. The other thing humans have in common is the ease in which people can turn a blind eye.

I think that empathy is something that is missing in society and empathy, just like everything else - needs to be developed. People learn by example!.

While were all getting excited about Lebanese gangs (that was sooooo unPC of me, how naughty!) we've seen Dubbo locked down more recently because of violence on the part of Aboriginal youths (notice I said Aboriginal and not people of pre-1788 Australian appearance). The Macquarie Fields riots last year occurred thanks to criminals who have no connection to land formerly occupied by the Phoenicians. I also recall that Janine Balding and Anita Cobby were victims of thugs unfamiliar with Beirut and its attractions.

What have these various crimes have in common? They've all been committed by young men. Young men, who for whatever reason, don't give a stuff about what talkback radio callers and anyone else on the moral high ground thinks of them. This is the fundamental problem. Gang rapists are not perusing this website in order to see the errors of their ways from people posting in.

All this talk about racial profiling and tough policing is all well and good but the police are there to act after the crime has been committed. What do we do to prevent or at least minimise the risk of violence breaking out in the first place? I await suggestions from the many respondents who obviously have all the answers.

Dubbo and 100 other Australian country towns are part of the problem.
They too see PC take the place of truth.
However the comunity in time will react to both the Lebanese Muslim gangs , and our own problems.
Politicians refuse to face the truth at their own peril.
Now donnt go down the leftist path of wanting jobs for people who do not want to work as an answer.
Keep the debate on track its a law and order issue.
And an issue of some who want to distroy our culture not be part of it