Dear Realist,

All of us who are proud to call this beautiful
brown land our home , who've been accepted here,
who've toiled, sweated, and worked to make this
country what it is today. We've paid our dues and
should be made to feel welcome.
Not to do so goes against
the very ethos of the Australian "Fair Go" for all.

We all have our histories,
no matter when we came, or from where.
We're part of this country's history.

Nobody's history is more worthy than anyone else's,
each is a part of the rich tapestry of this
country.

We all have our past heritages, but we also
have a future that we want to leave for our children
and grandchildren.

The kind of future that they will
have depends on us. It's our choice whether this
country will be united or divisive. Putting labels
on people does nothing for cohesion and is so
"yesterday."

We should move beyond that - this is not
the 1950s - this is the 21st century - and we should
have nothing to fear from newcomers anymore.
We were newcomers once too.

"We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian."

For a start the attempt at satire in your initial post is totally, like, lame. If your arguments against multiculturalism were going to be considered and intelligent I'd presume you wouldn't need to oversimplify and misrepresent the case for it in order to make that case easier to dismiss. I notice you do the same thing on your website, including making the fascinating assertion that some people who engage in criminal behaviour WERE BORN OVERSEAS, ergo multiculturalism doesn't work.

See? Lame.

Basically I agree with Pericles, as usual. Australia became multicultural — in the sense of having more than one culture — the day the British settled. And people are swarming round the earth more than ever. This is a colonised country, and new arrivals keep coming. As a nation, we're a collection of mostly mutts.

If ethnic diversity makes communities withdraw from community life, then we identify and address that. Multiculturalism is not a perfect instrument and requires constant tuning.

Besides, what's with the "they're taking our cultures" stuff? Last time I looked we were still a parliamentary democracy. I celebrate my northern European heritage all the time. I relish my George Elliot like a good Englishwoman, I wear clogs like a good Swede. Similarly, I love the fact that living in a multicultural society I have friends from all over the shop who have different culture and customs.

I think the conclusions you are drawing from the study in question is far-fetched phooey.

Sams,

When you bully by calling people *haters* you are only doing your causes harm.

Veronika,

Multi culture hasn't worked. A huge voice in society is still deeply opposed. Basically it's not yet been accepted, and obviously won't ever be.

I think it is time to look to other ways to deal with sharing our planet, god knows how or what...

The Realists claim(s): "The study confirms what other studies, both here and around the world, point to: That members of multicultural communities are less altruistic than members of more homogeneous communities. It's pretty clear."

Earlier today, I quoted what Dr Healy, the author of the study, actually said: "... it would be wrong to conclude migrants from non-English speaking countries were unfriendly and uncaring and less altruistic than Australian-born people."

"Wrong to conclude". How is it that TheRealists can get it so wrong?

It's possible, of course, that TheRealists is illiterate and just couldn't read his own favourite quote correctly.

Regardless of the real motives for TheRealists quoting (and misunderstanding) this study what did the study show? "About 18 per cent of Australian-born middle-income earners aged 25-64 were volunteers, for example, but only 13 per cent of those from non-English speaking countries." Big deal. If your English wasn't too good and you were a relative newcomer to this nation, would you be out there volunteering for the local footy team or trying to get your family organised and established and developing good relations with your neighbours?

TheRealists also quoted Dr Healy: "When you create societies from mixed backgrounds it may not lead to overt violence … but to something scarier, a withdrawal from the civic sphere.” Pardon me for rolling about on the floor, but not volunteering at the same rate as the rest of us is worse than violence? Something "scarier"? Come on, get a grip.

I think it's stretching it a bit far to use marginally lower rates of volunteering as a surrogate for withdrawal from "social life". A lot of hot air if you ask me.

We could all examine our own ancestry and see if it is multicultural, then see if the result is pleasing or not.

Personally I come from a very diverse background; predominently Scots and English, then Irish and Welsh. Going back a bit further the oldies were Normans,Vikings, French, German, Lombards, Bretons and Saxons and as far back as I can get (and probably ever shall) the Kings of Wessex. Now there's multiculturism and I feel OK about it.

There were over 50 nationalities on the First Fleet and two of the people were Negroes. One of whom lost his life by drowning when he tried to save someone who'd fallen into the harbour at Sydney.
There you have it, folks, our first recorded hero and volunteer was an African.