Yet another multiculturalism article with the same old responses. Its all a left wing plot (even though introduced by the coalition) or an anti Islamic rant.

Get used to it guys we have many cultures in Australia and everyones idea of the "dominant culture" is different.

Ho hum, yawn.

'migrants agree that western values are superior since they flock here'

My Father made my Mother and I ( i was 10 at the time and only knew about Australia from what i read in a kid's book - it had weird, deadly animals) migrate here in the 70's because he was sick of going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark, getting a pittance for a 40 hour manual labour job and freezing his manhood off in the winter months during each trip. The only two 'Australian values' he considered were warm daylight and the ability to be understood (We speak English as our first language) - and the ability to earn money to put food in his family's mouth. Every migrant will have their own reason, not the one's you imagine.

Try actually checking your facts before you make ill-informed comments revealing your stupidity and bias.

'All we (I) want is for them to leave their racist ethnic hatreds back in the cesspits they left'

So Benjamin can be free to keep his redneck racist ethnic hatred here where it can remain unchallenged by different views to his own.

The biggest problem i see with multiculturalism is that it encourages rednecks from one country come into close and enforced contact with the local rednecks without requiring either of them to respect anyone who does not think exactly like them or to do as they are expected they 'should' by 'decent society' (as seen by the eyes of the commentator).

Correct me if I am wrong - but didn't Hitler have a policy to ensure multiculturalism had no place in his ideal society?

A culturally 'pure' society is not necessarily a decent one. All society's have law breakers and discontent radicals within them.

Too right David. Leigh has a dig at so-called 'elites' (y'know, the ones not in power), while DB takes the opportunity, again, to paint all Muslims as world-dominating maniacs, plus a little glimpse of how a totalitarian response would work. Benjamin seems to believe being white is as close to perfect as we're going to get; while for many others, 'showing tolerance' is akin to 'being reasonable and seeing it my way'.

Well folks, today's Australia is largely immigrant, largely multiculral, was so before we were born, and will be so once we're gone. We can make all the laws we like but nothing will alter the tendency of people (you, me, immigrants alike) to seek an environment they're comfortable with. If you happen to dislike foreign culture, foreign ideas, foreign languages, old belief systems, and discovering that immigrants are a lot more like us than you think...then today's Australia is NOT the place for you.

Well, Steve Madden, it may be "Ho hum, yawn" in the sense that all this heat and friction over multiculturalism is embarrassingly petty.

But there are undercurrents out there that these discussions bring to the surface and are important to recognize.

I'm talking of course of the Boaz "Ethnic Cleansing" David rants (OLO fora passim).

Here they are again, predictable as Christmas and as subtle as a 747.

>>MINISTRY OF CULTURE is to be appointed (mark my words) and... will be tasked with the process of integration and assimilation without apology... The ministry of culture will be to strengthen and emphasise the BODY ...not its individual parts.<<

Melbourne bootmakers are already ordering quantities of shiny black leather in anticipation of its formation, and the tailors are firing up their workshops to churn out those tasteful black shirts, together with suitable badging. They're betting heavily on double lightning forks.

>>IMMIGRATION and CULTURE. All immigrants will be informed of:
a)The nature of Australian society.
b) Their abiding responsibility to assimilate and integrate in terms laid down by the Federal Ministry of Culture.<<

The concatenation of immigration and culture ensures that we do not mistake this for an at-the-border policy. The enforcers here are the ones authorised to knock on your door at 3a.m. in order to provide you with instant education on the nature of Australian society, and the opportunity to contemplate its essence from the comfort of a repatriation camp.

>>EMERGENCY SERVICES and CULTURE. All emergency services will be restructured to provide a reliable service based on the 'Body' culture not the nose or ear parts. Emergency service personel will be trained in 'emergency services' not 'cultural adapation'.<<

Not entirely sure what he intends with this edict. Apartheid, I suspect, at minimum.

>>FAILURE TO COMPLY with this direction will (not might) result in.

a) Racist knee jerk backlashes
b) Violence and competitiveness<<

Yep. You have been warned. Step out of line and the men in those nice new uniforms will pop round to your place for a quick whacking.

Now that will make Australia a better place to live, won't it?

You can't force integration. The 20th century is full with examples where this has failed. From communist suppression of the orthodox church to fascism to the stolen generation, people kept their cultural identity and forced integration has failed. I can't think of a single example where forced integration has succeeded.

Forced integration = ultra nationalism.

The current attacks on multiculturalism are based on Europe's identity crisis. Europe has for centuries been the source emigrants. ie Europeans left Europe to seek a better life in the US, Canada, Australia Argentina and the like. However since the 50's guest workers on "487?" style visa flocked to Europe and decided to stay. Recently Euros have woken up to the fact that there are many immigrants in their countries too. This coupled with the expansion of the EU and loss of sovereignty to the EU has given European countries an identity crisis. eg What does it mean to be dutch, will the dutch language go the way of Gaelic in the next 100 years? Frisian has already gone that way. Anyway what does it mean to be dutch? Speaking the lingo, being able to taste the difference between Gouda and Edam blindfolded? Being able to rattle off the names of soccer stars past and present? Belonging to the dutch reformed church? Belonging to the dutch hervormde church?

Howard and Hanson have jumped on the same bandwagon and have taken on all these issues that are not applicable to Australia. It is time that we take the debate back. Australia is a nation of immigrants. Each wave of immigrants will change Australia a little bit, but by the second and third generations the new migrants are as aussie as the rest of us.

Oh Steve Madden, perhaps next time don't get out of bed, probably best for everyone.

Regarding your comment "everyone's idea of the 'dominant culture' is different", did you even think that when you wrote this comment you wrote it in the "dominant culture's" language and dated with the "dominant cultures" idea of time. So when our major newspapers, television programs, textbooks, on-line forums etc are written in langauge other than English perhaps you can argue your point.