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The Forum > Article Comments > Weaving new threads into our cultural tapestry > Comments

Weaving new threads into our cultural tapestry : Comments

By Andrew Leigh, published 19/2/2007

From a pure economic standpoint, immigration supplements our labour market with much-needed skills.

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Immigration has been good for Australia; Italian and Chinese migration especially has been very rewarding for everyone and stands out as a success story. Lebanese Muslim migration has turned it all upside down. There needs to be a total halt to all Muslim immigration apart from Turkey. Hopefully the Turks will be able to weave a few non-secular threads through our Islamic Community and bring them into the modern world.
Posted by SILLE, Monday, 19 February 2007 1:40:24 PM
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An interesting dissertation Andrew, apart from the fact that you have also been seduced by the mantra that we need to have migration to succeed economically. Billie, Sage and Sille seem to sum it all up fairly well, and once again Boaz has some useful points. Pity about Leigh.
I would have thought that "Neighbourhood-level analysis also throws up a startling finding: trust is lower in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods" would have been self-evident. Perhaps you need to get about more.
GuyV What you say is only too true. Who was the lawyer in the Aboriginal legal service?
.
Posted by VK3AUU, Monday, 19 February 2007 3:54:53 PM
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Andrew Leigh's study also highlights the irrationality of making trust decisions about people based on their ethnicity.

How is it rational to trust a stranger of your ethnicity more than a stranger not of your ethnicity? Or to trust somebody you know with different ethnicity less than a stranger of your own ethnicity? Or to trust two people you know differently because one shares your ethnicity and one does not?

Isn't the most rational approach to trust people based on whether or not they've earnt your trust through their actions towards you?

Anybody who, consciously or unconsciouly, allows ethnicity to influence their trust judgements about others is in for a whole world of hurt, be it in business, relationships or just daily living. Because they are allowing their very important decisions about whether to assign or withhold trust on spurious grounds that have nothing to do with whether the person is actually trustworthy.

Still, Andrew's study gives me some nice tips if I ever feel like becoming a con-artist. I'll just choose a nice WASPish neighbourhood where, if Andrew's study is to be believed, there'll be plenty of willing suckers ready to trust me because I'm of their ethnicity. Toot-sweet!

By the way, here's a great way all those people who are worried about overpopulation of Australia can help: leave.

And for all you "turtles" who don't trust our ethnically diverse society, here's another bit of rhetoric that usually emanates from your camp, and which I'm quite happy to throw back at you: If you don't like it here, leave.

Andrew's study probably has some anthropological interest in that it is further evidence, as if any were required that human beings, like all other primates, seem to instinctively regard with suspicion the primates from the next valley. What a staggering finding. Or, as Men's Health Magazine puts it - "They got a grant for THIS?"

:-)
Posted by Mercurius, Monday, 19 February 2007 5:26:23 PM
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Dear Mercurious.. I see I have still some work to do, in order to bring you fully into the fold of enlightened white people :) dig dig..
well..enlightened ANY people of course.

You made a good point..and credit where credit is due.. people DO build trust across ethnic barriers,... this is a reality of business and social interaction. BUT.. the type of trust referred to in the article is not that kind I feel..its about how much you trust a different ethnicity to stick up for YOU if you are getting the rough end of the discrimination or violence stick.
You saw what happened in Yugoslavia, happy neighbours one minute and raging militants the next.. 'the tribe' old son.. is very real.

Most of what you said sits best in the lecture halls and coffee shops of left wing and humanist sociology courses. Its an unteneble ideal which sounds good but never or rarely works.

You are now almost up to speed as a young jedi.. a few more posts from me should give you readiness for a light sabre of your own :)
Posted by BOAZ_David, Monday, 19 February 2007 7:38:26 PM
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All immigration to Australia should cease, and those people already here who are not citizens should be repatriated. And, quite frankly, I would like to see some of those who have taken out citizenship removed also.

It's a tragedy that we have the pathetic and gutless politicians that we have.
Posted by Leigh, Monday, 19 February 2007 8:08:21 PM
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Heck Leigh, why stop there. Go for the descendants of those wascally immigrants too.
Fathers, daughters sons, remove everyone that has any connection to being an immigrant.

Wait a mo... that would mean, yep, pretty much everyone except aboriginals.

But that isn't what you meant, is it?

I can understand people being worried about incohesion, but what you're referring to is far more vast. You appear to dislike all immigrants solely on the basis that they've immigrated here and are different. You're not being specific at all, you're simply saying get rid of all immigrants.

Well, I'm afraid the term for that is racism, plain and simple.

Whats more, your suggestion isn't only racist, it's also incredibly, amazingly, stupidly unpractical in the amount of harm it would cause to the economy, to Australias reputation, to our skills base, to our international relations, to the very fabric of our society.

You don't analyse the issue or come up with solutions; the mantra, I hate immigrants just comes back.

Your suggestion is dumb. Moronic in fact. And just, well, nasty.
I'll leave it at that, and bid good day to you sir.
Posted by TurnRightThenLeft, Monday, 19 February 2007 8:57:50 PM
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