Nice try Marilyn but you're wasting your time.

Compassion and fair play in this country are generally reserved for those who meet a certain profile.

People naturally tend to believe things that justify their own prejudices.

I've seen people insist that the most outrageous lies are true, long after they've been proven false or retracted by their authors, and statistics are often chosen selectively to prop up feeble arguments.

Religious and racial bigots are the worst of them all and this type of article attracts them like pit-bulls onto a pre-school.

So we have the Babbling Buffoons of Chris Shaw and the "Aka Phobia" [ie fear of logic] from our eloquent less courageous intra-intellectuals,but none that dare debate my few short sentences of reality and logic.

I suspect we have a few immigration lawyers and leftist do-gooders pushing their SOB story barrows of guilt,to further weaken our society and thus premote their agenda of anarchy.

This open border mentality comes from the lunatic fringe dwellers who mostly don't have real jobs and indulge too much in the wacky tobacci.

Well ,they'll have to do a lot better than cry Xenophobia or racist,since ordinary Aussies see through the BS and the hidden agendas of self interest.

Ok Arjay,

How much of this international poverty is the result of actions by the West - direct and indirect?

How much foreign homelessness and social upheaval is the result of Western political interference in the affairs of other sovereign nations.

How many legitimate governments have been overthrown and supplanted by West-sponsored dictatorships to meet our economic and political requirements?

Slavery wasn't abolished by the US, it was exported - into the sweatshops they set up in other countries to exploit their resources.

Modern terrorism isn't the problem - it's the symptom - of repeated acts of betrayal and repression by a perceived enemy, particularly over the last century.
It's not a spontaneous event. "Terror is the war of the poor, war is the terror of the rich".

So what are the victims in these countries supposed to do? Stay home and write Letters to the Editor? What would you do to save your family in the same circumstances?

Taking the moral high ground and blaming the victim is easy. Finding a way out of this mess won't be.

I wonder who is displaying the real self-interest here?

wobbles - you're wasting your time appealing to humanitarianism or pointing out facts about human suffering here and abroad. Its just not "Australian" for many in this forum.

Sigh!

Now we are getting of track

Here we go again with the attitude that the West is all to blame. Again the developing countries people lack intelligence and common sense to deal on equal terms with the West. And so the West is exploiting them as these people lack the smarts to be involved in the world economy. This attitude smack of “the natives” cannot handle dealing with the world. A racist attitude again. I think most reasonable people believe all people have the mind to be treated on equal terms. So they should somewhat take responsibility for there actions if they exploit their own people.

“The sweat shops to exploit”. In Asia these become the driver of the economies especially when Western countries move jobs offshore and people complain in the West about losing their jobs. So these ”sweat shops” should not be set up because it is demeaning to the local population, again this racist attitude that they do not deserve these jobs. So we should keep it all in the West?
Terror is the war of the poor….Tell that to OSBL. How much is he worth again? Seriously lack of clarity and reasoned argument do not help in these discussions.

Big Fish,we are giving most of our jobs in the form of manufacturing,and IT to both India and China.Why are we also giving them aid?

We have no choice,if we are to be apart of this "Globalised Community" there is a price.Energy,human resources,and technology is the secret to prosperity.As China and India come on line they will push the price of energy and resources higher.We have experienced a reduction in our living standards recently due to higher oil prices and so it will continue.So as the poor countries put higher demand on energy and resources our living standards will fall.Now China and India have such and abundance of cheap intelligent labour we will see the price of our labour fall dramaticly.It will take a long time before human populations no longer out strip energy and resources.There are just too many people on this planet that can gainfully be supported to anywhere near our standards.

Unless there is enormous scientific discoveries in energy and resource production soon,our living standards will continue to fall as the poor will take our energy,resources and jobs.

Just look at the United States which has 12 million illegal immigrants.The rich love it but the middle class and working poor just see their living standards being pushed lower.

No matter who gets into power at the next election,our living standards will continue to fall.