bus303, the only problem with what you wrote is your support for Souths.

Sorry, but supporting Souths means that you belong to the strangest cultural group known in Sydney, probably the only group that will never fully integrate into Australian culture even given a millenium.

nosy-t,

You ought to distinguish between the diversity of political groups within the "white" population. Not because some of us are 'on your side', but because you ought to reserve your "socially conditioned" racism for the middle class left. They're the only ones who want to keep you as their pet Other. To the rest of us you're as worthy of being subjected to criticism as anyone is!

Were Aboriginal Australians always living in the context of global politics, or did they begin feeling "Aboriginal" when they decided they were not part of this world, the one the last two world wars happenned on?

If 'land' rights accrue to those who were here first, then does that mean that the descendents of the English, Irish, Scottish, have more 'land' rights then the more recent arrivals of the past seventy years or so?

t800 may be I confused you with some on eelse and the corruption thing - you do seem however to want to isolate "our culture" from the influences of others - correct me if I am wrong -

As for me I dont care so much - I still fail to see how much genuine influence on the way we are they have had accept at the margins any way - with decades of multi cultural policies - as relient as their culture is so too is ours - we each take the bits we like and reject those we dont - so what?

The institutions that hold us together - Parliamentary Democracy, the court system etc all seem to be tickng over quite nicely in spite of the pollies best efforts - .

Dear Bus303, it is MOST refreshing to hear from an Aussie of Greek heritage here. Specially one who uses that exact terminology placing 'Aussie' first and ethnic background 2nd. We all should do that, including we Anglos. Only when we see ourselves as 'Australians' will be begin to build a truly unified and harmonious society.

MOST IMPORTANT...DANGER AHEAD.
There have been 2 very important posts which shed light on the issue of diversity and the absolute DANGER of emphasizing diversity over a homogenous society. One is in this thread and the other is in the Muslim political culture thread. All those who support MultiCulturalism should note these with a very focused mind.

1/ Nosy-t said:

"Watch out for the Aboriginals. We've been peaceful in our approach to gaining rights but the radicals are gaining momumentum. Keep oppressing us Australia but eventually we will fight back like Australia has never seen."

2/ Sir Zulkhanain said:

I MUST DESCRIBE THAT THE MUSLIM POLITICAL CULTURE IS CONCERNED WITH THE ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE THAT HAS BEEN SENT BY THE ALMIGHTY LORD THE ONLY ONE THE REAL CREATOR ,AND GOVERNING AUTHORITY WHO HAS BEEN SENT THE CELESTIAL HOLY BOOKS BUT THE ULTIMATE ONE IS THE QURAN

(capitals are his)

In both these posts, we see evidence of the extreme end of the social/political spectrum.

.....and this IS the problem with diversity. "The radicals are gaining momentum"

And in case there are still some out there who have not seen it when I've ranted about it 5 million times "It is the RADICALS who drive the social/political agenda"

Nosy, everything you said is true. Its tragic and regrettable historically. But also irreversable.

Just like Anglos are biologically products of Celts invaded by Angles/Saxons/Jutes/Vikings/and Norman invasion and intermarraige, the best thing for Aboriginals would be to do the same. (intermarry, be absorbed) after all, neither they/you nor we, are superior, just different :)

Welsh Celts still don't like the English, but can do nothing about it. We are all in the same boat at the end of the day.

So whay is it we need cultural diversity again?

Why does a nation need to be culturally diverse?

Why is it acceptable for some Nations to have a national culture but it's not ok for Australia and Australians?

T800 if we didn't have 'diversity' how could we prance on the world stage with such memorable events such as Cronulla ? :)

In the past it was Lambing Flat and Chinese.

aah...such rich diversity.