The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Assimilation v self-determination > Comments

Assimilation v self-determination : Comments

By Mike Dockery, published 20/2/2009

Must Indigenous people give up their culture to 'close the gap' and improve their socio-economic status?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. Page 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. All
Bushbred “do have more claim on this country than we have.”

No they don’t

Every Australian citizen should have equal rights and claim under the law.

Anything different to that is racism

“yes, mainstream Australia will assimilate into indigenous society with decision-making conducted by agreement between womens and men's legislatures, that's a certainty, but when?”

It has had several millennia to happen and I am not holding my breath that it will change from the joint legislature we have now.

But you can hold your breath if you like.

“yes, and if mainstream Australians want to achieve equity between women and men, they need to adapt to what indigenous Australians have been doing over millennia.”

Again is not going to happen.. because

the will of the minority will not hold domain over the will of the majority

Banjo “whistler,
You are a fruit loop. You need, O forget it, not worth wasting the effort on ding a lings”

Succinct Banjo LOL

Whilst I agree I do enjoy nibbling on fruit loops, sometimes after drowning them in a bowl of milk, other times straight from the packet

Kenny spot on.
Posted by Col Rouge, Sunday, 22 February 2009 7:36:02 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
so because senior men allegedly asked your informant not to undertake a particular activity, indigenous women's and men's business is inequitable, Savage Pencil, is this correct?

did you ask senior women to confirm your conclusion?

and did you also ask senior women whether or not what your informant allegedly told you about the area of special MALE significance was what you wanted to hear?

Col Rouge, yes, "Assimilation will prevail, no doubt about it. Slam dunk, cannot be stopped".

Kenny, yes, "The answer is simple, Assimilation."

an inferior culture will always assimilate into a dominant culture, sustainability is everything.

since the culture that lasts the longest is the most sustainable, indigenous culture is dominant in Australia by a magnitude of breathtaking proportions.

the provision of women's legislatures will complete the assimilation.
Posted by whistler, Sunday, 22 February 2009 11:21:41 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Whistler “since the culture that lasts the longest is the most sustainable, indigenous culture is dominant in Australia by a magnitude of breathtaking proportions.”

Somehow this “dominance” you speak of seems very “submissive”,

Maybe it’s a “switch”

As for the length of endurance….

The British culture is just as long, chronologically speaking, as aboriginal. The British Isles being “inhabited” by humans probably longer than Australia.

The difference simple – the British culture has evolved, partly by the influx of different ethnic groups over time… Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Normans, etc etc…. which has built a strong and diverse gene pool, from which a strength of innovation and invention has allowed social development above and beyond the level of an aboriginal (primitive) “hunter gatherer”,

When we consider the ease of life in Australia and the expectation that “higher skills” only develop around a plentiful food supply, and Australia being rich in diversified food sources, one has to ask the question

Why, if it is the “dominant culture” have the aboriginal ways been stuck in a social order several thousand years behind the British?

One can only presume, since food source is not an inhibitor and nothing else to inhibit development, that “genetics”, most particularly a the lack of “diversity” may be an influence.

Somehow I feel the consequences of multiple generations of genetic inbreeding, isolation from the innovations which have spanned many other cultures and continents through the millennia’s, has not resulted in an aboriginal “culture which could, in any way ever be described as being either dominant of superior to the British culture, quite the opposite.

"the provision of women's legislatures will complete the assimilation."

but that will not happen, until after a pixie sit on the golden throne, lazarus walks again and the meek inherit the earth.
Posted by Col Rouge, Sunday, 22 February 2009 6:22:28 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
As an anthropologist, I think that Troll Rouge makes a good bean counter.

At least, according to his own assessment.
Posted by CJ Morgan, Sunday, 22 February 2009 8:41:32 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I found the author's article extremely interesting.

It confirms what the historian Henry Reynolds said
in his book, "Why weren't We Told?":

" ... Many Australians felt that they had been poorly
served by their teachers and by the nation's historians.
They are angry that they weren't told the truth about
the past and feel they were denied information,
interpretation and understanding. It is now possible
to explore the past by means of large numbers of books,
articles, films, novels, songs and paintings...
We can know a great deal about the history of indigenous-
settler relations. But knowing brings burdens which can
be shirked by those living in ignorance. With knowledge
the question is no longer what we know but what we are now
to do, and that is a much harder matter to deal with..."

The author of this article has the right idea. In order for
people to stand up on their own two feet, so to speak, they
need self-esteem, a strong self-image. That can't be achieved
in a society that doesn't fully recognise their culture,
languages and customs. Our tolerance and understanding needs
to be broadened out. Self-determination will only be achieved
through the preservation of the culture of the indigenous
people. To deny them that is to deny their worth as a people.
Posted by Foxy, Sunday, 22 February 2009 9:54:58 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I agree with what was written but also find amusing what jayb wrote...anyway it is going to be really hard to solve these issues. I feel the real problem is how everything is structured, it needs to be a community approach not from the bottom down, I really hate how the government bring the same ole people in these boards and committees, it just makes me think they are tokens (they are either yes people or people that are not listened too) having indigenous representation has helped in some areas but its sad that no full commitment is there to solve the continuing issues that aboriginal people face.
Posted by Billya, Monday, 23 February 2009 11:26:15 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. Page 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy