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The Forum > Article Comments > Sorry, but not sorry enough > Comments

Sorry, but not sorry enough : Comments

By Adam Creighton, published 7/3/2008

The Left’s Holy Trinity of race, class and gender simplistically encourages inter- and intra-generational victimhood.

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"To those who say an apology is pragmatic and “heals the nation”, I say elevating particular group grievances in the name of “healing” some “national story” is, frankly, fascism-lite and will ultimately foster a more fractured and fractious society. Moreover, time is in fixed supply and the fuss over historical apologies wastes intellectual and physical effort. Apologise for all history, or none at all.

Let’s apologise for the present, not the past, and provide genuine redress. Far from being hesitant in removing Aborigines from their dysfunctional surrounds, we should implement the wholesale education and integration of Aborigines into modern society, as some Aborigines themselves suggested in 1938."

Amen
Posted by BN, Friday, 7 March 2008 9:48:24 AM
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Another one-dimensional tin-man IPA clone except that he presented his paper at that big-time homebase and breeding ground for all of the "western" pyschopaths to strut their stuff, the AEI. Command and propaganda central for the applied politics of SHOCK & AWE

The AEI has just given its big time psychopath (Kristol) award to John Howard.

Lenny Bruce would have had fun mocking all of their psychotic pretensions. Bruce being the modern equivalent of the venerable tradition of the Courst Jester who was employed to mock the pretensions of the King and his court.

The stern puritannical grim-faced, heartless, hard(round)-head Oliver Cromwell abolished the Court Jester.

Cromwell would be very welcome at the AEI. Indeed he would be given the Kristol medal, with a standing ovation.

He,Cromwell was one of the original practitioners of the applied politics of SHOCK & AWE. He exercised a particularly BRUTAL form of SHOCK & AWE against the Irish Catholics. Check out your history books for the details.

Meanwhile I quite like the work of Arnold Mindell and his dream-body, Deep Democracy and World Process work, particularly his book SITTING IN THE FIRE which explains how history is never dead and ALWAYS haunts the present via what he calls Time Spirits---the very REAL ghosts of past traumas. And that the acknowledgment and healing of these Time Spirits (traumas) is a PREREQUISITE for any kind of REAL moving forward in any and every place where abuses have occurred.

1. http://www.aamindell.net
Posted by Ho Hum, Friday, 7 March 2008 9:58:52 AM
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Woeful. But I bet it'll get them out from under their rocks again :)
Posted by CJ Morgan, Friday, 7 March 2008 10:17:53 AM
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“Yet if any group is most to blame for the status quo, it is the ultimately pernicious group of left-wing intellectuals, whose ideas have dominated public policy on Aboriginal issues for the past 35 years.”

Hear, hear! The very same people who were smirking and primping with delight after our shallow Prime Minister grandstanded with his silly and totally useless ‘sorry’.

The villains of the left and the self-styled spokespeople for the descendants of aborigines who said that they did not want to be “preserved like koala bears”, but wanted to be taught how to live in the modern age in 1938, certainly have something to be very sorry about.

They, who squeal racism when plans to raise aboriginal Australians out of their museum-like existence are mooted, are nothing short of criminals. It is these ‘nice’ goody goodies who are to blame for the state aborigines are in after more than 200 years of white settlement. They are aided and abetted, of course, by the big mouths who control the aboriginal welfare industry – black themselves, but totally immune from the dreadful lives their fellows suffer in isolated communities. Warren Mundine was reported by The Australian to have referred to the same old welfare system he feared would continue after ‘sorry’.

The Leftists responsible for the total chaos in aboriginal Australia must be shocked at being called ‘racists’ by this author; but that’s what they are. Anybody who still thinks that people must be treated differently because of race or colour is a racist. Yes. The very same people who call others racist when targets of their malice dare to disagree with them.

The truths of this article are too numerous to comment on in 300 words, but it is a splendid piece – a welcome relief from the usual left-wing sources intent on maintaining the murderously patronising attitudes to people who need real help rather than a wet apology and more welfare.
Posted by Mr. Right, Friday, 7 March 2008 10:37:21 AM
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Yet another article about how Kevin Rudd's apology to the 'Stolen Generation' was an act of mere symbolism, and does nothing to improve the lives of Aboriginal Australians. Creighton is extremely explicit in his suggestion that the Right is always Right and Left road will lead to doom for those 'marginalised' groups (i.e. Aborigines) it aims to protect.

There isn't enough space here to adequately spell out why exactly this kind of argument is flawed.I will give only three reasons:

(i) On the most painfully obvious level, it is very difficult to describe the Labor Party/Liberal Party divide as being a 'left wing/right wing' divide. Rudd may have a more overt social conscience than his predecessor, but he is hardly a poster boy for the 'Lefties' whom Creighton attacks.

(ii) The act of saying 'sorry' to members of the Stolen Generation is not in and of itself a cure for the many problems still facing Aboriginal communities. It is, rather, an acknowledgment of the racist and devastating consequences of removing Aboriginal children from their families in order to "breed out the black". Governments (including Labor governments) of the day may have thought they were acting in these children's best interest (as Nelson acknowledged), though history has demonstrated that they certainly were not.

And while I'm on this topic, how exactly did Howard's last-minute and military-aided intervention into Aboriginal communities help these communities?

(iii)The argument that emphasising 'race, class and gender' leads to the victimisation of particular social groups. This argument is an old right-wing favourite. I agree, tokenistic references to these factors are unhelfpul. However, ignoring these factors ultimately means overlooking the very real ways they impact on everyday life (and, related to this, accepting the idea that the white male represents the social norm).
Posted by Jay Thompson, Friday, 7 March 2008 12:47:28 PM
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This attempts to pack what must be every critique the author could conceivably link with a supposed monolithic left. Some of the criticisms I agree with, but there's a lot of selective thinking and wishy-washy points that are unworthy of a Balliol scholar.

‘Inevitable squeals of “racism” emerged from the fashionable, trendy quarters of Sydney and Melbourne’

Even a cursory examination reveals the main criticisms were the lack of consultation, land lease, pension effects, and the suspicion that it was motivated more out of Howard’s desire to remedy his sinking electoral fortunes, rather than a genuine concern with indigenous welfare. This latter point is a potent perception given that Howard marginalised indigenous welfare as an issue for his whole tenure, only to be suddenly outraged by the LCS report.

‘rather than encouraging assimilation, the..government has..subsidised hundreds of tiny, remote, uneconomic communities to promote an Aboriginal “hunter-gatherer way of life”.’

I would agree that the policy of remote communities has been a failure, but there are broader issues to Aborigines joining modernity than some noble savage mentality. I think it’s pretty revealing, for example, that the author fails to even make the connection to Howard’s refusal to engage native title on a legislative basis – which has ensured that, unlike in Canada, Aborigines cannot claim native title without being locked to traditional lifestyles, unlike the Inuit in Canada.

‘It has provided ongoing passive welfare payments...’

Good point about passivity, but the whole article ignores the extent to which current conditions are also reflecting the broader history of dispossession. As with a lot of libertarian thinking – it’s just an appallingly inadequate treatment of starting conditions.

Also, there is no equivalency between the abuse of European wards of state, and the specific policy of taking half-caste Aborigines, frequently the result of rapes, with the intent to severe familial bonds, and breed their genetic and cultural impurities out of them. Such a suggestion is deeply offensive and represents a complete misunderstanding of the nature of the wrongdoing.
Posted by BBoy, Friday, 7 March 2008 1:09:54 PM
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Yet if any group is most to blame for the status quo, it is the ultimately pernicious group of left-wing intellectuals, whose ideas have dominated public policy on Aboriginal issues for the past 35 years.”
MrRight,
what you're saying is factual, so you won't get an argument from our Ostrich mates. It's always interesting how quiet they get when reminded of their shortcomings. In my area the Communities themselves are now restricting the sale of Alcohol because they realize how detrimental it is. Now if an official attempt were made to do that there would be one hell of an outcry of discrimination. Remember the years & years of claims of discrimination when indigenous people were either not allowed in pubs or severely restricted ? Well, those, including indigenous leaders who predicted that Alcohol was bad were shouted down as rednecks etc. Are they going to get an appology for being branded with bad character since they are now proven right ?
Come on all you Whitlamites & confess that your philosophies were & still are not synchronized with reality.
Posted by individual, Friday, 7 March 2008 4:24:12 PM
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Adam Creighton writes "Yet if any group is most to blame for the status quo, it is the ultimately pernicious group of left-wing intellectuals, whose ideas have dominated public policy on Aboriginal issues for the past 35 years."
Well that is the usual political "cover" for the right wing. Creighton tries to imply the lefts are in control which is sheer nonsense and straight out deceit. (I am not offering here an appology for the Labor lefts who are scoundrels.) There are no "lefts" in the Liberal Party which was in power since 1995. As far as the Labor Party goes the so called "lefts" have pushed no policies through on aboriginals since the Whitlam govt. Even then, and that was during the boom, a few small reforms (crumbs)were handed out. Creighton wants to right things by giving them nothing and to take from them! Like the right wing Creighton is hostile to any or all concessions and attacks the problem from the right. Creighton follows the howling pack in-chorus using the unspeakable conditions which are the direct interventions of both Labor and Liberal governments as a justification for military style intervention - just offer the aboriginals more crocodillian appologies.

The 200 year ongoing genocide of aboriginals to basically clear the land is a right wing perspective and an ongoing perspective. This is what is posed in the Northern Territory - clear the land again for the mining industry and large beef stations - serve up the aboriginals as cheap labor with no rights - no mining tasks will be too onerous nor too dangerous. As well, in the political circles there has been discussions about every new contract of uranium ore for sale overseas assurances will be given to take back the depleted uranium ore tailings and dump it in the Northern Territory; strange, the government are keeping that issue quiet.
It is interesting to note the political types Creighton wrote the article for - the rightwing American Enterprise Institute
Posted by johncee1945, Friday, 7 March 2008 5:09:11 PM
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It is a pity that so much eloquence, brain, and acute perceptions of the disasters of past indigenous policy is expended on berating something called the Left. The issues are real and not something to be used as a club to beat ideological opponents. Let us put the intelligence and passion to work at solving the problems rather than squabble. My guess is that those of the so-called Left are ready to change failed policies. But it is easier to know that we need to change from than it is to know what to change to.

A formal apology is a beginning only. What better way to start?
Posted by Fencepost, Friday, 7 March 2008 6:03:45 PM
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No, the author got it wrong, trying to wing it: a small minority, about a fifth, of the Indigenous population live in remote settlements. Around three-quarters live in urban areas, and close to half now live in metropolitan areas. There are more Indigenous people in Sydney and Brisbane than in all the remote communities put together.

Yes, what is happening in northern communities is a scandal, a disaster, from which it will be touch and go if most people survive.

But on the other hand, in the urban areas, where Indigenous people do not have land rights, do not receive mining royalties, were most subject to removal, cannot get onto the CDEP no-work program, many have turned to education, including tertiary education (i.e. university education, i.e. enrolment in mainstream university courses), in huge numbers: since 1990, at least a quarter of all Indigenous adults have been enrolled at some time or other in tertiary education, two-thirds of them women: twenty two thousand have graduated (check out the Census 2006), and a total of fifty thousand could graduate by the year 2020. These are the people most free of control by Indigenous organisations and bureaucrats, and from harassment by academics and careerists.

So the focus should be kept on the predicament of Indigenous people trapped in the remote communities, particularly the women and children, who have been kept unskilled, and therefore unable to escape from what must seem the seventh circle of Hell.
Posted by Loudmouth, Friday, 7 March 2008 6:19:18 PM
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The comment by the Nazarene Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount - Blessed are the Poor in Spirit - must fit most of our Aboriginals very well.

Certainly one wonders sometimes what any of us whites would feel in the same situation, especially when lining up for a job among whites
Posted by bushbred, Saturday, 8 March 2008 5:30:49 PM
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What I want to know is; who are all these 'leftists' responsible for the issues faced by Aboriginal people today. I can't see any leftists in the Labor Party and certainly not in the Liberal party. I can't see any leftists writing in our daily newspapers or involved in the tv news on 7, 9 or 10. I can't even see them on the ABC nor SBS for that matter. I'd suggest that any leftists who are out there aren't really in control of much to do with our the mainstream media and policy making bodies. Anyway perhaps the apology was a tad 'tokenistic'? Many Aboriginal people welcomed it, but perhaps many didn't. Who cares? The main issue I would have thought was that we all should get off our butts and do something. Yes ALL of us. Sounds simplistic? Well what good is all this squabbling and looking for 'reds under the bed', doing us? Just get on with it people!
Posted by Shaun Sheep, Sunday, 9 March 2008 3:02:14 PM
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Another piece of shite from another MR nobody.

This forum is loosing it.
Posted by Rainier, Sunday, 9 March 2008 9:16:18 PM
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Well said Loudmouth,

Again, Creighton adds his comments from the lofty towers of Oxford, opps! He is an Aussie so he 'know' about Indigenous issues. He and Andrew Bolt probably had the same Aboriginal friend when they were growing (groaning) up.

Regardless, can the online opinion editors please add as a criteria, the need to prove constructive strategies and solutions rather than just an unfounded (oxford inspired) rant.

As an Indigenous person, I would happily come to his country and tell them what they need but I would want to be thought of as rude. If I wanted to have such a righteous tone tell me what my mob need, I would sooner enjoy a beer at the local Townsville pub and hear the right (white) wing tales of objectivity...at least they would buy me a beer (or ginger ale) for the pain of listening.

What would Mr. Aussie Oxford offer to the ideas mix other than a fools perspective from afar.

Call me when you come home and I'll happily take you to Palm or Yarrabah Bungi for another glance...that is if you can breath the air down here on the ground...
Posted by 2deadly, Monday, 10 March 2008 2:01:17 PM
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Adam ,
Get out and have a look at the good stuff that is going on in Aboriginal communities.

Like a lot of white people with a certain set of coloured blinkers on , you seem to put Indigenous Advancement at their pace in the "too hard basket " and seem obsessed with Aboriginal People having to be like us overnight .

You are not really an academic at Oxford are you ??
Posted by kartiya jim, Monday, 10 March 2008 9:46:35 PM
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Rainer? MR? Please explain....lol Monronic Right? Moralistic Right? Monaro Revvers?
Posted by Shaun Sheep, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 10:24:21 AM
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oh ok Mr Nobody.... ok sorry for not being worthy enough to post an opinion. What 'shite' indeed.....
Posted by Shaun Sheep, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 11:00:35 AM
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