Neo Colonials? The Elephant in the room, Aspirational? Ladders of Opportunity?
Great words and phrases for those who cannot think.
Hey! I'm not a neo colonial but Great Granpa was.

bushbred: John Howard doesn't speak for me on a lot of things, including apologising to Aboriginal people. I was born in 1976, so why in Bog's name should someone apologise for me, given that I had nothing to do with what happened to any Aboriginal people being taken from their families? By your logic, some French kid now should be apologising to me for the fact that some of his French ancestors did wrong to some of my Anglo-Saxon ancestors. Or maybe my Norman part should apologise to my Anglo-Saxon part, which should apologise to my Roman and Celtic parts, and my Roman should apologise to my Celtic. Then of course, my Norman part should apologise to my Viking part, which should also apologise to my Anglo-Saxon and Celtic parts. That's only for my British ancestry! Phew!

Of course, this says nothing of the fact that no one should be apologising for a Vietnamese or Lebanese person who arrived in Australia after 1976, and thus, also had nothing to do with anything that happened to Aboriginal people prior to 1976.

Likewise, I have no problem with admitting that one thousand years ago, my ancestors were vastly inferior to the Islamic world. However, I live in 2007, not 1007, so I have no problem with stating the fact that the Islamic world now is vastly inferior to the secular West. Probably in 1,000 years, my descendants will be inferior to someone else again.

People are not equal. Cultures are not equal. Enough of the political correctness already.

Could somebody, please, define ‘multiculturalism’. Is it a meaningful semantic segment? Or is it just a slippery political football?

It could mean sharing a beer or a cup of tea with your neighbour who has a funny surname (which is good), or a system of apartheid (which is bad), or anything in between.

Could the next person who writes an article based on this ‘word’, or throws it around liberally within their article, please start by defining the term so that we can at least have something to discuss.

Of course, in environment, where apartheid and segregation rule, “People are not equal. Cultures are not equal. Enough of the political correctness already” (By shorbe, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 5:58:08 PM).

Supposedly, in a democratic world people create cultures, and people are what they were taught and are told.

For you younger ones, who refuse to take lessons from history, it is to be reminded that even Winston Churchill said during WW2, that without a strong knowledge and respect for history, he would rather certain of his generals to be reduced to the lower ranks.

Furthermore, without a strong knowledge of Middle East history right back to WW1, it would be better that some of you pick subjects that you are more acquainted with.

Maybe this is why George W Bush is making such a mess of things in Iraq, without the necessary knowledge, he's relying too much on his own special God whispering in his ear.

Great to see the bush-researcher Stephany back to provide some comic relief. I almost fell off my chair when I read this: "Consider also the case of Indonesia where pre-Islamic culture has been largely obliterated."

I guess islands like Bali are just a figment of our imagination. I guess it is flying pigs who perform Ramayana ballets and preserve Hindu and Buddhist temples in and around the Javanese cultural capital of Yogyakarta. And why do Indonesian mosques keep a traditional Javanese Hindu drum to play before the call to prayer? Or did the Arabs of 7th century Medina worship Vishnu?

Keep writing, Stephany. I love it. Almost as funny as the Chaser.