Fellow_Human - The fact is that Australian Jews don't always associate with their religion and regularly marry or date outside their religion.

But that is not important here. If the Muslims do not eventually integrate well and accept our laid back way of life they will be the first group who haven't sucumbed to our lifestyle. Personally I think that they will, the problem is with a mad minority and that does worry us.

John Howard rather than doing anything is simply milking these concerns as hard as he can go. And he is therefore a part of the problem. He is not actually a good economic manager either it is all spin.

Rather than all this populist rubbish about English and Australian values, might it not be of value to point out very clearly to prospective immigrants that Australia does have a summer culture where people wear as few clothes as possible, that we are trying our hardest to implement sexual equality and that religious practices are generally low key as the majority are not religious.

Also we could point out that they must realise that their children will inevitably follow Austrlian values so they had better think hard about what there choice of where they live.

What ever happened to the word 'tolerance'. I think the author of the article should exercise 'tolerance'. The author should show a little patience with Mr Howard and his call for migrants to speak English.

What's that? We only use the word 'tolerance' to allow some migrants to indulge in their uplifting cultural practices like having their own 'members only' societies where knowledge of English is not needed? So sorry. Do carry on.

There are quite a few people in this country who don't speak English, or only speak a very basic version as their third or fourth language. Linguists classify their mother tongues as "Australian". Should they have to sit an English proficiency test as a condition of citizenship? See, they were born here, as were their parents and grandparents and ancestors going back, ooh I dunno, a few tens of thousands of years. Just asking. Trying to work out what "Australian" means.

Snout

You have of course hit the nail on the head.

WHAT....is driving the Australian Values/blame Muslims/Speak English debate ?

They are interwoven for a start.
Without question, just as there is a looming 'crisis of male identity' there is also a current crisis self understanding among many who would be termed 'traditional Aussies'... which would mean those most closely connected with the colonial history of this great land.
The union Jack is the symbol of that group. England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. We still constitute the vast majority of Aussies Coday.(even when all the various migrant groups are added together.)

In Anthropological terms, we are experiencing 'Culture Shock' or..as Alvin Toffler put it more generally in the Western Setting "Future Shock". Things are happening faster than our psyche's are able to accomodate, we feel disorientated, confused about cultural and gender cues, self doubt emerges and left unchecked, this will inevitably manifest in a kind of 'lashing out' at whatever can be labeled "The Cause".

There are 2 sides to this question.

1/ The 'actual' causes.
2/ The 'perceived' causes.

These 2 might even be the same, and the only difference may be a matter of degree.

SOLUTIONS.

a) Studied adjustment.
b) 'Go native' embracing the new and rejecting the old.
c) Totally reject the new, and clingggg to the old.
d) Studied adjustment combined with remedial action.

Blaming Muslims (or 'migrants') is more of a populist reaction in terms of 'c'.

This does not alter the fact that there are real (rather than perceived) issues which need to be addressed.

9 Muslim terrrorism suspects in Sydney.
13 in Melbourne.
These are not 'culture shock', they are real. The chemicals being accumulated were specific to bomb making. The phone taps and Al Qaeda videos were not 'nothing'.
Blaming the whole community would be in error, but understanding the ideology and it's dangerous origins is a responsibility for us all.

Logic & Snout,

Good comments.

Boaz David,

I don't recall you and I agreeing on anything before but your last
comment is actually very good.

Cheers,