Exactly so Banjo, it's been evident to me when speaking to Americans if they refer to their cultural background they throw American in front of their ancestor’s homeland. Not here, we place no value on our own culture, but it formed a society and country envied by the said Aussie migrants and their kids who still refer to themselves as Lebanese Australian Italian Australian, etc etc etc.

PC sees us selling ourselves short and empowering cultural norms from migrants that do not transfer to a first world society. What makes me laugh (regarding the intelligence of the PC practitioners) is that these same freedoms that allow other cultures to import alien traditions would be taken from us should the practitioners of the alien culture hit critical mass, and as we have and will see with our senate of Greens they only need to be a few key numbers to dictate outcomes.

Bugsy your right re the citizenship/ green card but the premise still stands, immigrants to the US identify themselves as Yank first, country of origin second. I wonder if Aussies who have taken US citizenship refer to themselves as American Aussies, if anyone knows, let me know. Personally I would refer to myself as Aussie Yank, but if I went to live in Holland I would have no problem referring to myself as Dutch Aussie, it’s a personal perception thing, I couldn’t be proud of America, but that is me.

Regarding what I expect as a cultural norm not being identified as that by others, that is an example of the watering down of the national celebrations and aspirations that bind us as a nation in a non political manner, as Aussies, not left, not right, not green, not wog, not chink, not fob, not leb, not skippy, just us poor non decision making taxpayers being manipulated by the social engineers.

Times have certainly changed.

Up until the early 1970s, assimilation and the preservation of
"White Australia," continued as the Australian Government's official
policies - where migrants of every ethnic origin were expected to
assimilate promptly into a monocultural mould of Australian
identity, based on the Angl-Saxon and Celtic culture.

The ideal migrant was the one who assimilated easily, one who
became more similar to the host population as a result of social
interactiobn and through shedding of attributes of their culture.

It was great to claim, "I'm British, you know," but definitely
not OK to say - "I'm Greek, Italian, or any other "different" culture."

At present, Australia is one of the most etnically
diverse societies in the world. Like it or not - there it is!

Some people still feel most comfortable with a
singular national identity and assimilationist policy. Like
our previous PM - John Howard.

Yet today - we live in a country which now involves living together with an awareness of cultural diversity.

Becoming a citizen gives people the opportunity to call themselves an
Australian. It's the final and most important step in their
migration journey. It's a common bond for all Australians,
whether by birth or by choice. With that comes responsibilities and
the opportunity of participate fully in Australian life.

It's unfortunate that the security guard was only taught to
"follow the rules," at his place of work. It was up to Management
to have foreseen and prevented the situation that unfortunately
occurred. Next time - Management hopefully will be better prepared
and will provide the necessary training to all of their security
staff.

sonofgloin,
The ideology of multiculturalism has pushed our own culture aside, even to the extent that little history and geography seems to be taught in our own schools, so maybe the poster is right, who said Legacy may not be so well known as we like to think. I wonder how many school kids know the significance of the '11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month'. Would your mall management instruct the security to allow the poppy sellers on that day. How many actually observe the minutes silence on the day?

Not long ago, I was speaking to a very bright young miss, about 12, from Melbourne and I asked her a few simple things about her state. When was Melbourne first settled, who is Governor of Victoria. Her reply was 'We don't learn that stuff' Frankly, I thought it was basic primary school history.

Herin lies the problem, we do not promote our own history and culture.
Mulitculturalism has made such irrelivant.

We need to do much more to promote strong nationalism in Aus. If immigrant parents wish to inform their kids about their heritage, they can do that at their own expense. Our government efforts should be aimed at promoting our own.

Millions have been wasted in promoting the cultures of other countries.

sonofgloin:" if they refer to their cultural background they throw American in front of their ancestor’s homeland".

What a load of rot. That doesn't happen at all. It's always Italian-American, African-American etc. That is because -American is the identifier and the cultural background is the modifier/descriptor, i.e. the last is the more important.

This whole thread is just another excuse to have a whinge about PC and MC, without even seeming to show any desire get any facts right, just what you perceive the world to be.

The premise still stands? The premise is rot.

Dear Banjo,

I deal with school groups all
the time and they certainly are taught their
country's History, as well as -
English, and Social Studies.
It's part of the school curriculum. What you're
saying is nonsense - based on bias and ignorance.

Teachers of English and Social Studies know
how difficult and time-consuming it is to
gather information and stimulus materials which
enables them to challenge students to explore and
understand the complex social issues which will
confront them both now and in the future. In response
to teacher requests there are a whole series of
texts provided dealing with a variety of issues which
provide a collection of readable, accessible and visual
material, providing a focus for discussion, clear thinking,
writing and research activities.

For example - articles from, "The Age,"
newspaper, and other sources, are carefully selected,
concisely edited, and enhanced with cartoons, and photographs
from various archives. These thought-provoking materials
are accompanied by questions that encourage
comprehension and invited reflection.

All these strategies
are used in ways in which teachers can even further
extend their use of the materials in the classrooms to clarify,
analyse, discuss and research the issues with the students.

You keep blaming "multiculturalism" on a variety of
problems. What you need to do is actually educate yourself
to the realities of this country.

Many of the 6.5 million people who have come to Australia
since 1945 were motivated by a commitment to family, or
a desire to escape war, persecution, or poverty. They were
determined to establish a new life for themselves and their
families and were willing to work hard to make the most
of their opportunities.

More than 100,000 migrants from 30 countries worked on the
Snowy Mountains Scheme, a huge hydro-electric power
generating project in the Australian Alps. The project took
25 years to complete, from 1949 until 1974.

Australia is a nation of migrants. Throughout Australia's
history, millions of migrants have helped build our country.
Twenty-two percent of our population was born overseas.
They have added to the rich tapestry of Australian life.