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The Forum > Article Comments > The ten commandments for fighting bigotry > Comments

The ten commandments for fighting bigotry : Comments

By Dvir Abramovich, published 5/2/2009

Most Australians want to end prejudice and discrimination. And we can make a difference, one act at a time.

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In the commandment ‘Stand Up’, the author quotes Edmund Burke as saying that “All it takes for evil to triumph in the world is for good men to do nothing”.

In the commandment ‘Take racism seriously’, the author says: ‘Even if it appears to be a harmless racist joke or a sexist remark, treat it seriously. Don’t brush it aside as just silly, unintentional talk.’

OK. I’ll practise what the author preaches.

I take it seriously that the Edmund Burke quote treated women as invisible. He only referred to ‘good men’, not women. I’m not prepared to brush this aside as ‘silly, unintentional talk’. If the author wishes to end the kind of prejudice that treats women as invisible, then s/he could have inserted ‘[and women]’ after the words ‘good men’.

I also take it seriously that in the text under the commandment ‘Take racism seriously’, the author added the words ‘and sexism’. Yet the author chose not to put the words ‘and sexism’ in the title. I refuse to brush this aside as silly or unintentional. By leaving sexism out of the title, the message is that racism is a more important prejudice than sexism.

There … I’ve done my bit for ending prejudice.
Posted by SJF, Thursday, 5 February 2009 10:11:56 AM
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SJF,

You're dead right. I'd just add that in my experience it's most often the women of colour in Australia who get spat on in the streets and told to go back where they come from more often that the men.

Let's not frame this as a competition between racism and sexism - or any other form of discrimination. They overlap and intersect and all forms of discrimination require good people to stand up and be counted.
Posted by Spikey, Thursday, 5 February 2009 10:43:41 AM
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Quick clarification ...

In my previous post, para 5, I wrote: '... in the text under the commandment ‘Take racism seriously’, the author added the words ‘and sexism’.

Instead of 'and sexism', I should have written 'or a sexist remark'. Sorry for any confusion.

spikey

'Let's not frame this as a competition between racism and sexism ...'

I take your point, but don't agree. Racism has never been subjected to anything like the level of the backlash waged against feminism/women's advocacy over the last 20 years. Racism awareness has been elevated to mainstream consciousness, while feminism/women's advocacy still has to fight tooth and nail to even justify its existence. Also, Pauline Hanson-style 'White Crisis' counter-movements have been swiftly and drastically nipped in the bud. Yet the 'Men/Boy Crisis' counter-movement to feminism has been massively and ridiculously overblown in the cultural domain.

There shouldn't be a competition between racism and sexism, but unfortunately there IS.

One bright light is that the Obama leadership is shaping up to be pro-women's rights, as is the Rudd/Gillard partnership. If this trend continues, the divide-and-rule competition between racism and sexism over recent decades will crawl back into the woodwork ... where it belongs.
Posted by SJF, Thursday, 5 February 2009 12:06:34 PM
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I suggest that instead of trying to obey the 'ten commandments' that you face up to the fact that all people are born with a corrupt nature. Without any help from parents children will bully kids different from themselves. The corruption problem is only addressed when you acknowledge your own.

The second thing is to stop looking to be the victim all the time. The fact that I have been called white trash does not make me a victim unless of course I allow it to. My mother was in state care from the ages of 3-11 and yet not once have I heard her claim victim status. She could make herself the biggest martyr on earth if she followed the lines of many.

At the end of the day nothing changes unless a person's heart is transformed. Australia is far from perfect but far less racist than most African, Asian and Middle East countries. This can be easily confirmed by speaking to people from these nations.

Thirdly accept that sheilas are better at men at some things and a lot worse at others. Men and women are different which is not necessarily bad. In fact I am very pleaded about that. You would not watch very much TV at all if you were concerned with sexism. Almost every comedy makes the man out to be the idiot and the woman wearing the pants the smart one. Women's groups scream about being viewed as as sex objects and then support pornography. How dumb!

Fourthly acknowledge that some cultural habits are abhorrent. Pretending that all cultures are equal might ease the conscience of those wanting to act like animals but it is a fallacy. Promising young girls to uncles 4 times their age is revolting. Cultural practices of circumcising woman is barbaric. Murdering the unborn is sick.

The author sounds like he has good intentions which is admirable. Modeling to your children the acceptance of people on the basis that they were all created in God's image is fantastic. The acceptance of all culture as equal is ignorance.
Posted by runner, Thursday, 5 February 2009 1:57:14 PM
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Runner says, "acceptance of all culture as equal is ignorance." I didn't see Dr Abramovich saying that. And I think that there is a big difference between listening, paying respect, and learning where people are coming from and then maybe choosing to disagree, and what we typically do as human beings,which is to decide something is inferior before we have listened or understood.

So it is true that "some cultural habits are abhorrent" as Runner says. But they are often mis-associated. Female circumcision is not Muslim, to sit a common example, but happens in some places where many people are muslim. Abhorrent cultural habits apply to all cultures. Australians have a distressing habit of abandoning old people in underfunded nursing homes. I think the ten commandments as listed help us listen and also have our own shortcomings drawn to our attention.

BTW, the notion that all people are born corrupt is one common christian interpretation. Not all people see a need to accept that; not even all Christians.

Andrew Prior http://churchrewired.org
Posted by Andrew Prior, Thursday, 5 February 2009 5:48:44 PM
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Andrew

I take your point about listening and paying respect. England and France have done that for years and are now basket cases. I also think when something is obvious that you cut the pc crap and call a spade a spade. You might have noticed that I often point out that we in Australia have abhorrent cultural practices such as the one you mention.

You write
'BTW, the notion that all people are born corrupt is one common christian interpretation. Not all people see a need to accept that; not even all Christians.'

With all due respects the gospel message is a mockery if that was not the case. No adamic nature, no need for the last Adam. I suggest you read your Scriptures.
Posted by runner, Thursday, 5 February 2009 6:08:46 PM
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Dr. Abramovich, States - Noone is born a bigot, predjudice is a learned trait.

However we are born with a natural fear of approaching strangers and the unknown which serves the very real purpose of keeping us safe.

Sexual behaviour is born into us. In our society we actually have to unlearn agressive sexual behaviour which is probably inbuilt into the human male. Females are also taught to conform to societies expectation of women regardless of their natural sexual preferances.
It is born in, it has to be UNLEARNED not the other way around.

Before multicultural societies we lived in tribes so that we could recognise strangers and retreat to our tribe for safety. This also has to be overcome or unlearned.

This is why we are basically still racist or tribal because our tribe provides a safe haven for us where we feel safe and I don't think these ten commandments will alter that because that feeling of safety is not illusionary it is real. However, the villification of other races can reach silly proportions and the truth of the propaganda should be challenged by all thinking people.
Posted by sharkfin, Thursday, 5 February 2009 9:11:07 PM
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Befriend people from different ethnic backgrounds; I would like to add that it should be with a view not only to understanding but leading to attraction and intermarriage. Marriage between kings and queens, princes and princesses of different countries was used all the time in the past to bring about peace between different people and cultures, and it worked. There is wisdom in some of the old practises.

Actually when I think of it, ethnic groups only ever want us to understand them they don't actually want to marry us. How should I interpret that? Reverse racism perhaps.
Posted by sharkfin, Thursday, 5 February 2009 9:59:58 PM
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<< The second thing is to stop looking to be the victim all the time. The fact that I have been called white trash does not make me a victim unless of course I allow it to. My mother was in state care from the ages of 3-11 and yet not once have I heard her claim victim status. >>

Sometimes it skips a generation: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=7528&page=0#116955
Posted by Sancho, Thursday, 5 February 2009 10:26:58 PM
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SJF:"pro-women's rights,"

So much for ending bigotry.

Women at present in Australia have 30% or so more university places than men. they dominate the bureaucracy and are not shy about letting their "pro-women's rights" bigotry show. They expect and receive preferment at every level of life, from family to business to politics.

Yes, bigotry is a big problem: the shame is that the bigots are too busy pretending to be victims to see that they're the ones doing the oppressing. It's nice to see that the eternal verities are still true, regardless of gender. Power corrupts...
Posted by Antiseptic, Friday, 6 February 2009 6:33:40 AM
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Antiseptic: << Yes, bigotry is a big problem: the shame is that the bigots are too busy pretending to be victims to see that they're the ones doing the oppressing >>

Fascinating comment from one who persistently claims victim status in his dealings with women.
Posted by CJ Morgan, Friday, 6 February 2009 7:44:16 AM
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CJ Morgan: "Yap yap yap-yap-yap"

Will the owner of the geriatric pomeranian please come and collect it before it infests us all with mange?

Thank you.
Posted by Antiseptic, Friday, 6 February 2009 9:06:14 AM
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I kind of agree with Sharkfin's points about tribalism.

Basically, I believe that bigotry is an intense and/or institutionalised form of prejudice, and that prejudice is a fairly natural human ‘tribal’ emotion, like love, loyalty, territorialism etc. These are all feelings and responses that nature has provided to help us live within our own tribes and to ensure the protection of the tribe.

However, human survival equally depends on our interaction with other tribes as well. So we also have natural ‘inter-tribal’ emotions like compassion, empathy, a sense of fairness, wanderlust, curiosity etc that enable us to also reach beyond our tribes.

I don't think we can ever eradicate bigotry. The important thing is to keep getting our 'tribal' and 'inter-tribal' balance right. :)

(PS Sharkfin, I don’t agree with your point about 'natural sexual aggression' in males, but maybe that’s best left to another discussion.)
Posted by SJF, Friday, 6 February 2009 11:52:23 AM
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So, bigotry is eradicated from society, then what?
Posted by TRUTHNOW78, Friday, 6 February 2009 12:20:26 PM
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<< So, bigotry is eradicated from society, then what? >>

Then no more race-baiting troll threads from TRUTHNOW78.
Posted by Sancho, Friday, 6 February 2009 3:34:48 PM
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Sancho

I will pay you on your sharpness even though your interpretation of things is atrocious. The fact that many self righteous humanist despise anything about Christ does not make Him or His followers a victim. The real victims are those who are to self righteous to bow their knee to the only One who can save them.
Posted by runner, Friday, 6 February 2009 5:52:07 PM
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Yes, we can all make a difference.

I agree with Dvir Abramovich's gentle 10 commandments.

I'm sure that the various t-shirts that were worn at
Cronulla did not help matters on that particular day.
T-shirts with messages that read - "We grew here You
flew here", "Wog free zone," or "Ethnic cleansing unit."

As Eva Sallis points out in her article, "Australians All,"
published in the New York Times, Dec. 2005, updated Nov. 2006.

"...I would not have liked any Asian, Italian or Greek-looking
Australian to have been on Cronulla Beach on that Sunday..."

"In the last five years there has been documented and
anecdotal evidence of a massive increase in harassment,
vilification and violence towards Australians of Arab
appearance...Prejudice creates what it fears, because
through prejudice young people's prospects are curtailed.
Young Arab Australians in Sydney struggle to get an education
and jobs and are increasingly ghettoized in poorer suburbs.
Their own families often live defensively and are highly
prejudiced about Australians..."

"What happened on Cronulla Beach tells us clearly that
Australia's self-inflicted wounds are festering..."

We need more education, less fear mongering, and not least,
honesty about the culture of racism that is so damaging us.
Posted by Foxy, Saturday, 7 February 2009 6:19:27 PM
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Foxy wrote: "What happened on Cronulla Beach tells us clearly that Australia's self-inflicted wounds are festering...

We need more education, less fear mongering, and not least, honesty about the culture of racism that is so damaging us."

Rather than erasing "racism" (whatever that means these days) and creating tolerance, don't you find it strange that diversity seems to be in fact breeding more hatred and resentment?

I mean, who would have guessed that cramming together people from vastly different ethnic and cultural backgrounds creates animosity and tension? Animosity and tension that wouldn't have existed if these totally unrelated peoples weren't forced to live together within the same territory in the first place.

The harsh truth is that throughout history, conflict — not harmony — has been the rule wherever and whenever two or more well-defined ethnic groups have inhabited the same territory. Those who believe that Australia is somehow an exception to this rule are deluding themselves.
Posted by Efranke, Tuesday, 17 February 2009 3:59:00 AM
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sharkfin,

A couple of points.

"Before multicultural societies we lived in tribes so that we could recognise strangers and retreat to our tribe for safety. This also has to be overcome or unlearned."

Yes, humans are tribalistic creatures. It is an inherent part of human nature. The only possible way it can be "overcome" or "unlearned" is to erase all distinguishable ethnic, racial, cultural, linguistic, and religious distinctions between different groups of people.

Is that what you're proposing?

If so, I'm confused. I thought multiculturalists believed that homogeneity was bad and that we should all celebrate "diversity"?

"Actually when I think of it, ethnic groups only ever want us to understand them they don't actually want to marry us. How should I interpret that? Reverse racism perhaps."

By "us", I assume you are referring to Australia's white, mainly British Isles-descended majority. If so, why do you use the term "reverse racism", a term that implies that white racism is the norm while non-white racism is somehow abnormal?
Posted by Efranke, Tuesday, 17 February 2009 4:51:43 AM
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Efranke- No I wasn't proposing erasing all distinguishable ethnic,racial,cultural and linguistic and religious distinctions. I was responding to the article which stated that we learn racism and tribalism and I said I believe that it is actually inborn.

However given that I do not believe that these dangerous undercurrents can ever really be permanently overridden I don't propose erasing (which is the bloody solution of ethnic cleansing) I propose blending through marriage. True multicultural families. Anyone who objects to that idea is showing their true racial colours.
Posted by sharkfin, Saturday, 21 February 2009 12:48:09 AM
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