Thor

The attacks at Cronulla were racist, no excuse.

The ten years before of racial bigotry, disrespect for law and crybaby antics by muslims in south western sydney (no proof they are dysfunctional elsehwere) was criminally negligent on behalf of a huge percentage of that community.

Do not support the Cronulla riots, then we are as bad as they are. We do not tolerate that crap. They may, WE DON'T! By our own or theirs!

I will celebrate Australia Day in the usual understated way that I grew up with.

Just another public holiday.

Why?

Because being 'Australian' was good enough it itself, every day was a celebration of being Australian.

Just Australian. Or for the 'new chums': New Australian.

Not Italian Australian, Greek Australian or any Aussie Mossie or any other branded Australian.

Good enough to just be an Australian, and proud of that.

At school assembies each morning we would say:

"I honour my God

I serve my Queen

I salute my Flag".


Strange words to some of us: honour, service, salute.

The Queen as monarch being a symbol of the social contract between the state and its citizens. The flag being a symbol of this country and its values.

But there is little honour left in a country where fit young men and women won't stand on a bus for the aged, infirm and pregnant.

Where so many of the arrivals of the last 30 years don't understand the idea of saluting the flag - by only having one citizenship to their name. Or burn it or use it as a symbol of hatred.

Where people are abused on the street for simply being 'Just an Australian'.

So, there is actually nothing to celebrate on 'Australia Day' for me, the article proves that, because evidently it is no longer good enough to be 'Just an Australian'.

I am just an Australian, celebrate your bastardised version if you wish, I pity you for it.

Kalweb,

The fact that you are thinking about Aboriginal Australians tomorrow is a great start... I am proud of the Aboriginal people and will also respect their views tomorrow as well as think of them.

The fact that you can't apologise because you didn't do anything to them may be wrong depending on your age. If you voted in any of the elections since you were born you can apologise, if you so choose, for how poorly our Governments have treated them through those years. If our Govt oppresses people or fails to help people effectively we all indirectly hurt these people ... afterall we voted them in... and they represent us.

Sadly people miss this fundamental point.

Secondly if you can't find it in your heart to do this you can say you are sorry for what was done to the Aborigiunes in the past. This is a different sorry to the first sorry but still as important.

I am sorry for what our Australian Govt has done to our Aborigines since we came to this country and I apologise to them for all their suffering.

Now that didn't hurt me one bit.

Multi Culturalism..... a silly idea. 'A diverse and rich single Culture' a much better one.

SALAM -some thoughts. Your wear a very 'in your face' Hijab which is far more than the requirement of your own documents of faith. The purpose of it, I've been told or read numerous times is to 'protect girls from the lustful gaze of men, and to avoid highlighting her femininity with that in mind.' Excuse my french but what a lot of hogwash, unless it refers only to Muslim males.

1/ We can SEE if a girl is 'hot' or not so, just from the face and shape.

2/ While we are all human, and in my case male, we don't immediately start salivating as soon as a normally dressed female passes by, we note it, and move on. I guess if some outstandingly ravishing girl comes close, we might raise our eyebrows more and have a sudden inrush of testosterone driven thoughts, but basically, we see girls as people. Our culture has adjusted to the style of clothing we wear.

3/ Because of the above, wearing a hijab does not fulfil its purpose, and in fact, probably does more harm than good. It emphasizes a 'them/us' situation. God looks at the HEART not the rags on your back. Flaunting is no good in any culture, but wearing a smart but modest set of apparel is not ungodly... why not give it a go ?

ABORIGINALS
I heard a comment on the ABC yesterday which touched at the CORE of Aboriginal low self esteem.

"You want us to dance as warriors, but not act like them"

In anthropological and psychological terms, this explains so much about indigenous drunkennes and petrol sniffing and poor attitude to housing etc provided by any government. Just imagine if we were in another culture, and everytime we wanted to express manhood in terms of Australian culture, we were frowned upon, repressed, threatened with legal action, jailed etc........ yes, it would be depressing.

SOLUTION we need to find ways Indigenous men can express their manhood with dignity, within the law.

SydneyMorningHerald Jan26_06

Migrants should be tested on Australian history, politics and traditions and be able to speak English competently before they are granted Australian citizenship, an MP believes. (Dr Bob Such SA)

"Just as it is important that Australians born here receive adequate education about our government, culture and history, it is not unreasonable to expect that applicants for citizenship have not only a commitment to Australia but also an understanding of its history, customs, political systems and traditions.

All I can say is PREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH BRUTHA ! tesSStify !

What a glorious day when we find key politicians actually SAYING what obviously so many of us are FEELING.. What a day :)

"Just as it is important that Australians born here receive adequate education about our government, culture and history, it is not unreasonable to expect that applicants for citizenship have not only a commitment to Australia but also an understanding of its history, customs, political systems and traditions.

7fold AMEN to that....

[A NEW "coalition of the willing" will be created to investigate how Australian history should be taught in schools and to stem the fall in the number of students taking the subject, the Prime Minister has announced]

[Mr Howard said he would prefer history was taught with a strong emphasis on pivotal dates and events such as the Battle of Hastings and the European discovery of Australia.]

wow ! :)

YES.. PIVOTAL DATES.. Salam.. like 732 battle of Tours, 1650ish Battle of Vienna.

Mr PM.. lets go further.. lets have National days of rememberance for Charlemaigne (Battle of Tours), and Count Stubovsky (Vienna).. those who gave us freedom from Arab oppression of the Crescent.

Cronulla riots lasted a few hours, were stamped on efficiently.

Conversely, France suffered for 4 consecutive weeks with Muslims burning, looting and lawlessness and eventually had to deploy curfews.

Guess which one got the larger world attention and which one represented the greater “disgraced in the eyes of the world”.

Multiculturalism is merely the half way house, something to facilitate easier settlement of new Australian. Ultimately, “multiculturalist” policies will be replaced with “assimilatist” policies and Australia will meld into one. That is the inevitable outcome.

How do I know this? because the “Angles” and the “Saxons” merged to the point where they produced the assimilated race of Anglo-Saxons, who (plus the Normans) went on and colonised, with relative success, much of the rest of the world, Australia included (with the help of a few convict Celts).

Now, if anyone is ashamed of their heritage I guess they should ask themselves –

1 Is the world a different place to what is was 200 years ago?

2 Based on the experiences of South America, would Australia have been better off colonised by the Spanish?

3 Based on the experiences of East Timor, would Australia have been better off colonised by the Indonesians?

Anyone who can say “Yes” to any one of the above, please explain your reasoning.

Until you do, I am going to assume that

1 The best thing for Australia was to be colonised by the British (compared to being colonised by anyone else).

2 All migrants who have arrived since the original colonisation (and I include myself here) accept their duty to make every effort to “assimilate” into Australian society.

3 Just as the Angles and the Saxons had to accept the arrival of the Normans, Kooris and other Indigenous races need to accept the arrival and enduring presence of the (one time) British since colonisation.

Now, I am off to celebrate Australia Day, I am not ashamed of where I came from and certainly not ashamed of who I am, that is
Firstly, an Australian by choice
and Secondarily, of Anglo-Saxon descent by accident.