All- (et al),

My question:

“What, exactly, are these supposedly uniquely Australian values that we're wanting migrants to adopt?”

is deliberately provocative but by no means merely rhetorical. In this and similar threads which reflect on what it means to be Australian and what our response should be to newcomers, there’s been something fundamental missing from the discussion – any sense of shame. I don’t mean the sense of wallowing, self lacerating guilt which is toxic to any personal or national soul: I mean the kind of shame that is the difference between a glib and fatuous culture that expresses itself through thoughtless stereotypes and one with real soul. A grown up culture.

It’s this shamelessness that can view the Lambing Flat episode as simply the inevitable consequence of historical and political confluences – a very Marxist take, if I may say so – rather than an expression of a very nasty tendency in the Australian psyche to mob bullying (which is shamelessness par excellence).

It’s the attitude that can look at the Cronulla riots with a shrug of the shoulders and say “Boys will be boys,” and “Well they had it coming, didn’t they?” And no, I’m not defending either group: there were thugs on both sides. The worst of whom were the supposedly responsible grown ups who sat on the sidelines stirring up the mobs. The shame comes not from knowing that the pictures of this unedifying spectacle were beamed around the world, or that our neighbors might shake their heads and mutter “well we always knew this about them”. It’s because it was just plain wrong.

It’s the shamelessness that dismisses as “black armband” any attempt to deal with the uncomfortable historical reality of Australia as a colonial settler nation that forcibly displaced another culture (or, more accurately, many other cultures). And that those other cultures have inconveniently failed to die off like they were supposed to.

cont

It’s shamelessness that can justify the ill treatment of a smaller weaker group by claiming they brought it on themselves by being different, by not trying hard enough to be just like us.

Many writers have hinted at a sense of alienation from their culture, a sense of being “swamped” as Boaz (and Pauline Hanson) put it. Fragmented. Divided. Destabilized. Fearful. Disintegrating. And the target of this discomfort is the Other, the Newcomer, the Alien, the Different. We try to reinforce a fragile sense of self by defining it against what we tell ourselves we’re not. A good example of this is the tendency of some posters on OLO to indulge in fatuous and superficial dissection of the inconsistencies and faults of Islam in order to justify their own versions of monotheism. Of course Islamist terrorism is a genuine threat, and demands a serious, grown up and at times courageous response. But picking on women in hijabs, or drawing offensive cartoons of Mohammed ain’t going to cut it.

The angst won’t be fixed by joining mobs, by pointing fingers, by attacking the vulnerable, by creating nationalist myths. It actually demands some soul searching and reflection.

Much of Australian culture is charming but superficial. We make heroes out of sportsmen, contribute a little local colour to English, lionize the “true blue” in sentimental songs. But what of the deeper values, the most basic of which I think is that of “a fair go” (which is simply the universal Golden Rule in the Aussie vernacular.)

A Fair Go is not just a platitude to assuage a narcissistic injury. It is sometimes painful, and demands a generosity of spirit that seems to be missing in much of the nationalist myth making we see on this and similar threads.

Touche, Snout.

Snout

You are spot on about 'a fair go'. We see it as a fair go for everyone. It is a very positive part of our culture. However it is not a universal Golden Rule. It does not apply to many in many cultures.

I think it important we focus on the positives rather than our negatives. Focusing on the negative only tends to create division and fearfulness.

I am not being provocative nor do I feel any shame when I state my opinion of what they are.

Acceptance of a fair go for all.
Acceptance of the rule of law.
Acceptance of our form of Democracy
Acceptance of diversity
Acceptance of the principle of equality
Acceptance of freedonm of speech
Acceptance of freedom of religion
Acceptance of English as the national language

Do you agree? Are there any other great values you see as forming Australian culture?

Tolerance

Thanks, keith and bennie well said.

This brings me back to my first post. Why are The Prime Minister, Treasurer, and Chief Law Officer of The Commonwealth of Australia being so unaccepting and intolerant.

One thing I do know is that they are skilled political animals.