Onya bottler.

Dr Hage, we've never met, but I'd be proud to call you a mate.

Fantastic article!

It is very clear that little Johnny and Co define themselves very much in relation to "us" and "them".

It is so true that the more different "they" are portrayed - the more self gratifyingly Australian "we" become. (in the eyes of the ignorant)

It is typical of the mentality that is scarily becomming the norm in Australian politics.

This daydream I had -

I wonder sometimes about the relationship between John Howard and me. We do have a relationship, although it has to be one sided, and of course I am the one who is personally aware of it.

I always feel the need to knock Howard - to distance myself. We automatically do the same with Saddam Hussein: "Of course he was a monster, wasn't he?" It's part of the process of plausible deniability which we all share.

Yet back in the days of Tampa, I sometimes wonder if Howard felt a kind of disappointment mixed with his triumph. I wonder if he began to distance himself from the rest of us then. I wonder if he felt let down by the rest of us.

- because maybe the Statesman in him might have secretly preferred that we Australians had turned up there in Canberra - to take Parliament apart brick-by-brick if necessary.

Maybe that would have made both he and us better persons.

In a way, we are all responsible for each other.

NIce read - easy - terrific insights - and all this from an academic - we await the pouring on of scorn. As sure as night follows day it will come.

And even today in the papers Andrew Robb continues to turn up the heat on this assimilation crap - Newcomers and would be citizens will have to pass some sort of test as to their understanding of the meaning of a "fair go" - among other aspects of our kulcha. As if this test will keep us save from whatever these numbskulls in power want to keep us safe from.

SO it seems a passing knowledge of the concepts implies that they will be actually applied as immigrants are brought into our country - these hurdles are just a less than subtle way of alienating people our national leaders have a dislike of -

Ghassan, Whilst I would agree with all you say about your early experiences here, things have changed from the 70's. I had lots of leb friends in Melb, music was one of the things bringing us together. Most of the problems they faced related to parents and family who found it hard to accept their children's Aussie development. It was a great time meeting people from everywhere who only wanted to share the harmony and enthusiasm Aus had for life. We all had the same ideology, no matter your origins.

We'd rid ourselves of the hold religion had on us and were experiencing freedom from wars, religion and sociological suppression. The religious nutters like our present PM were suppressed, yet still fumed in the background at their lack of control Now they have an agenda they can push to get their control and suppress us.

Assimilation happens naturally when you remove ideological restraints, but becomes impossible when ideologies become the agenda. Now the assimilists, are pushing and those coming to this country since the 70's, are pushing their non assimilate attitude and ideology.

Assimilation come about when people are comfortable and wish to become a part of this country, not by being pushed into it. We now have a large number of ideological people, who refuse to adapt to our ways giving us the feelings and acceptance, you felt along with most others settling here, back then.

The problem is the ideologies of the factionalist monotheists, not the people. The people are supporting the push for accountability, acceptance and loyalty to this country, because they fear, and rightly so, the push by these morons to create disharmony within the country and create their own ideological states within Australia. That's not becoming part of us, but an attempt to fracture our society, divide us and take over. All monotheistic factions have that sole aim and display it around the world.

Still love Zappa and Jean luc, very uniting music.

‘Lebanese society had, and still has, a very vibrant “democracy-tolerance-freedom of speech sort of atmosphere”

Yes. We had noticed what a wonderful place Lebanon is. It's really hard to understand why so many Lebanese have fled the place because of its ‘atmosphere’.

Hage fits in with a certain type of Australian, judging from his comment about ‘very ugly Australian assimilationists’: the sort of lefty fifth columnists who bag their own country at the slightest opportunity. He must be very much at home with his fellow academics in their closed little world. He has a lot to learn about Australia if he still thinks we all say, ‘G’Day mate’, and think about nothing more than sport.

And who has any interest in ‘harassing’ people into becoming Australian? If people wish to live on the margins, its their loss, not Australian’s. While the Government is correct seeking to require immigrants to take citizenship seriously – and earn it – it is unlikely to make much difference to what goes on in these peoples’ minds.

Still. What’s the point in arguing with a person like Hage, who thinks people who don’t hold his point of view are ‘nasty and malicious’.

If people do not want to assimilate, they should ask themselves why they didn’t stay ‘home’, instead of coming here to lead an isolated and crappy life in a cocoon of their own, whining to the rest of us about marginalisation that is self-inflicted.