Dear Country Girl,

Chin up. As I said earlier - we can only try
to do the best we can in our dealings with
people. I think that most of us are pretty
tolerant on the whole, and wouldn't
go out of our way to hurt or demean anyone.
You seem to me to be a very fair-minded person,
I've always thought that from all of your previous
posts as well. And your actions speak volumes.
Were you a "racist," you wouldn't be concerned
about being proactive in trying to reduce racism.

Hats off to you!

Country girl,

I did in fact offer what I do about racism. Don't let my self judge people by their race etc.

In stead of saying that the Irish et al fight squabble with Koreans etc
I would weed out the trouble makers regardless of race and either warn them to pull their heads in or rack off.

I would simply identify back packers as individuals and deal with them accordingly. rather than as racial groups. It simply requires more effort.
CJ is right at least you are taking the first steps.

Desmond

If you generalise on the base of race e.g. If I said anyone that drink a particular pub in Alice were drunken brain dead yobs and should be (your word/terms) "castrated" or "it's in their genes.... that would be offensive to all who have ever drank in that pub....in short prejudiced ignorant nonsense. Despite what may have observed(?) add race component and it becomes racist.

Observations on their own don't necessarily mean accuracy or understanding.

You give all the signs of being a severe racist. Sure there are some indigenous people in Alice that have drink issues but then again so is there many individuals from other races.

The so called genetic link to drink addiction is highly tenuous and as Prof Susan Greenfields clearly showed occurrence/intensity depends on nurture.(circumstances, environment options etc) Watch ABC Fora on line.

NB many of the white bigoted racists in the NT and elsewhere forget that these indigenous people didn't start off from the same base as them i.e. belonging to the dominant culture type, languages, options etc

Country Girl, you take backbackers from other countries yet you seem to think that just because you've extended your welcome to the Koreans, you are proactively not racist. The fact that you've singled them out in your post is racist. If you thought of them as no different to any other backpacker from any other country, you would not have found a need for your post. If, however, you had written: "I open my house to backpackers from anywhere in the world" you would have been more convincing.

The truth is, there's a racist in us all and there's nothing particularly wrong with seeing people who are different.. as different. Everyone has personal preferences over the types of people they like best and get along with the most.

I could never see myself sitting down, having a drink and a chat to a Muslim woman dressed in one of those ninja suits. I mean what the hell are we supposed to talk about when we have absolutely nothing in common? I don't wish them any harm or mind sharing the street with them but I'm not going to open my house to them. If I do, I'd be doing it, not because I want to, but because, like you, I'd be trying to prove a point which is stupid. Does it make me racist for prefering to mix among people I share beliefs and values with, people I have things in common with and enjoy the company of? If it does then what can I say, I'm racist then.

A couple more thing I'd like to point out..

Are you opening your house to these backpackers out of the kindness of your heart or because you really like? Is there a small fee involved? Are you providing them with accommodation and food in exchange for work done around the farm? If so, your invitation doesn't prove your not racist. It's a business arrangement. Do you keep in touch with these Korean packbackers and remain friends with them?

Country Girl,
I apologise for being so abrupt.
I've been married to two country girls, from properties in Warwick and Biloela in QLD, and this has caused me to be acquainted with many country folk over the last 25 years. Sadly, in my experience not just racism, but prejudice of every kind seems to be broadly embraced in the bush; against race, sex, dole bludgers, urban dwellers, environmentalists, refugees, etc etc. This, in turn, has caused me to become prejudiced against the denizens of the bush, by and large. There seems to be a widespread superiority complex directed at anyone who's not "like us"; and if "we don't like it", it is bad by definition. Thus the cattle farming parents of my present wife loath nothing more than greenies, though they despise the other categories above with almost as much viguour.
Of course I know that not all country folk are like this; nevertheless, it's a big club!
So you have a tall order on your hands, I reckon, and good luck with it.

What do I do that's proactive? First, I acknowledge that I too am prejudiced, and in ways that I'm barely, or perhaps not at all, aware of. I don't know that I initiate anything that is likely to get taken up; I think about how I present myself to the disabled, or the overweight, or about difference in general. I try not to treat anyone any differently, at least not to their face, though I often can't help thinking to myself, "God! s/he has a weight problem!" or whatever. And yet These prejudices are inevitably transmitted, I fear. Anyone who strays too far from our cherrished norms cannot fail to be aware of the alienation, the unspoken comments, or the awkwardness of those they pass in the street--not to mention the cruel and deliberate jibes they undoubtedly contend with from family and acquaintances, even strangers. When I meet my kids after school I often see a young girl perhaps 11 or 12 walking home; tall for her age and very overweight; no friends around her and ineffably sad. I think about her a lot, and wish her happiness, though I imagine she has prescious little of it in her life.
I try to be proactive by talking to my kids about prejudice, and compassion, and the cruelties people inflict, by their thoughtlessness or with malice, and I hope, without much hope, that things will change.
All humanity is sensitive to pain, physical and mental; yet, perversely, there is precious little empathy on show.
A good book to look at is Terry Eagleton's "Trouble with Strangers"