Banjo: "Fact 1. Australia is a multi-racial society. (undisputed)"

Banjo: "Are you some sort of politically correct nut or just plain stupid."

No, I don't think I'm a "politically correct nut", "plain stupid", or a "bloody idiot". I'm just better educated and have better manners than you.

You claim that it is "undisputed" that Australia is a "multi-racial society". This is plainly false, even within the context of this forum. Other correspondents have pointed out that the notion of 'race' when applied to humans is practically meaningless in biological and anthropological terms.

It does, however, retain some salience to those who wish to categorise the social world on the basis of the correlations they see between culture and phenotype. People who still subscribe to this anachronistic ideology are by definition "racist", because that is what the word means.

Put simply: "race" is an outmoded concept in anthropological terms, but it exists as a social category in the belief systems of racists.

Actually, if we can ignore Col Rouge's gratuitous vitriol, I find myself agreeing with much of the substance of his post above - except that I draw a diametrically opposite conclusion from his argument. Yes, immigrants invariably integrate (rather than assimilate) over a few generations, but in so doing they inevitably change Australian society and culture in significant ways.

That is why Australia is inescapably a "multicultural" society, regardless of government policies or the xenophobic sentiments of a large minority of the electorate.

Sharkfin,

"Ethnic cleansing" is a euphemism coined by a journalist, borrowing from a politician. At its root is nationalist politics and power. Unlike 'eather' or 'ideaology', the phrase is an accepted part of the vocabulary.

A little googling turned up the following. I've no reason to doubt its veracity.

"… the term didn't enter the English language until the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The earliest citation of a phrase like it is from the New York Times, July 1982:

"The nationalists have a two-point platform, according to Becir Hoti, an executive secretary of the Communist Party of Kosovo, first to establish what they call an ethnically clean Albanian republic and then the merger with Albania to form a greater Albania."

The precise phrase appears first in the Washington Post, August 1991:

"The Croatian political and military leadership issued a statement Wednesday declaring that Serbia's 'aim is obviously the ethnic cleansing of the critical areas that are to be annexed"

Regards scientific study of whether leaves absorb water, what on earth is your beef? That the question was asked, or that science has once again demonstrated its utility in its proposition-theory-proof-disproof process? Seems to me it worked pretty well in this case. Have you been expelled from class, Sharkfin? Einstein was indeed kicked out for disagreeing with his teachers. And Mick Jagger was told repeatedly by his teachers he’d never amount to anything. The point being….what?

If you really want a sympathetic, anti-intellectual audience, go here: http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forums

Braindrain,
Thank you for the compiments. Only others can judge the first two of your findings, however you are correct in that I am a non-racist. No big deal, I have yet to see any proof that any 'race' is better than any other. I have said, at least twice on OLO, that a persons ethnicity is of no interest to me.

C J Morgan,
While DNA may well show there is little difference between people of differing ethnic backgrounds, there is physical differences of people who's ancestory came from different parts of the world. Each group of people is commonly termed a 'race'.

You claim the term is outdated but there is as yet no replacement term so the word 'race' is still very much in common use.

When I say multi-racial everyone knows it means many differing groups of people.

The only reason you raised the issue of word meaning is so you could demonstrate, to yourself, that you have superior knowledge to that of the common person. For my money that is stupidity.

Rainier,
If you can make assumptions about me which are false and totally incorrect, it is reasonable that I put forward my thoughts of you.

Firstly, your underlying premise is that all 'whiteys' are racist.

Then you have a gigantic chitp on your shoulder, which makes you make those snide remarks on OLO occasionly and you hate any discussion against multiculturalism and promoting integration because it is contrary to your agenda. This agenda is to promote self-governance for aboriginal people.

Sorry to tell you this but integration will win out.

Obviously,

1/ what has DIVERSITY given you?

A more wired, more creative brain. I grew up in a suburb like the one you describe and was bored witless until some Chinese and Koreans moved in. I was fascinated by their different values and approaches to life, and every culture I have encountered since has increased my range of understanding, my recognition of the resources and opportunities that surround me, and taught me about adapting. I didn't manage to get overseas until I was 28 so I couldn't have got that from a holiday. And how many years would it take me to visit all the cultures that I can find right here? Having travelled and worked overseas, I've found that it doesn't sink in until you live and work beside people.

A better diet.

I don't have to leave the country to find a girlfriend ("Aussie" women and I just can't hold it together). Mind you, if this was a monoculture I wouldn't be here anyway.

A better sense of who I am. I can borrow different forms of expression and keep the ones that suit.

Fun.

2/ what would INCREASED DIVERSITY give you, that you haven’t already gotten?
Note- The answers to questions 1 & 2, can only be things that you can not get from a holiday

More of 1. I could really have used some Africans and Latinos while I was growing up. I might have realised before the age of 30 that I wanted to play the drums and dance the tango. Would have given me a headstart when I went to work in the Caribbean, too.

Beyond that I don't know - how can I know what a culture can offer me if I've never experienced it?

cont...

...cont

3/ And Is it worth the obvious negatives, and increasing extreme risks? i.e (crime, ethnic gangs, race riots, terrorism...).

I don't see any "obvious" negatives (although I forsee some social tension when local women find out that black men tend to have larger penises). We can make it negative by marginalising immigrants and increasing the probability that they will resort to theft to sustain themselves, or terrorism to obtain justice. If we are threatened by terrorists from country A, I would argue that we are much better equipped to protect ourselves if we have locals who understand A's thinking, culture, and language. Hell, if we listened to them we might even figure out how not to create terrorists in the first place.

I always liked the story of the US military using the Navajo Indians' language to communicate during the Pacific War. The (monocultural) Japanese never managed to crack the "code".

I would agree that some constructive "management" of Muslim issues wouldn't go astray at this point, but I think a lot of this will die down when we have more 2nd & 3rd generation Muslims, who will have greater capacity to integrate the differences in world view. Australia is more of a shock to a Muslim immigrant than they are to us.

The lesson from ecology is that if it is allowed to flourish, diversity = resilience, diversity = maximum utilisation of resources, diversity = minimum conflict. If we can't find a way to, say, convert Aboriginals' superior spatial abilities into better architecture, we've failed to take an opportunity to make our lives better.

Haven't been to LA, been to Jo'burg, and my perception was that the people causing most of the trouble were the Afrikaaners trying to deprive the majority of the population of country's wealth.

Curiosity is stronger than fear. Your African neighbours are an opportunity for you to make your life richer. If you don't wish to take that opportunity, that's your choice. I would ask you not to take that opportunity away from the rest of us

Banjo, I have made a clear distinction between whiteness and white people. You choose to ignore any theory i put forward in favour of your own ignorant myths.

Chip on my shoulder? Ha! RACISM ISN'T MY PROBLEM ITS YOURS! YOUR SHOULDER, YOUR CHIP, OWN IT, UNDERSTAND IT, BUT don't confuse your own lack of self esteem with my confidence. While you're at it try growing a brain.