To the crazy, loony, ratbags, fools, idiots and nincompoops Poirot, Lexi Csteele and Suseonline and I humbly include myself. I am heartened by your comments here in defense of people who in general have no voice.
Please do not feel insulted by my description of you as history is full of crazy, loony fools who at one time or another espoused "unacceptable" ideas Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr to name a few, how WRONG they were!

A link to one of my all time favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXRmJyIyJb

Sorry try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXRmJyIyJbM

"I see a warrior for Muslims, in his thread history..."

What you see, Belly, is a defender of fairness and tolerance.

It's easy to indulge in sweeping prejudice, especially in concert with others, but it requires a modicum of intestinal fortitude to speak out against it. That the women contributing here support the stance taken by csteele is something you seem to think is linked to some gender flaw.
I put it to you that intolerance and prejudice of the like regularly bandied about on this forum, when acted out on the world stage, are usually the incendiary precursors to unrest and animosities - no wonder the intelligent women here reject that stance.

You criticise divisive ranting. I reject ranting also...tell me how your rhetoric differs from that which you deplore?

Dear Paul1405,

While appreciating the sentiment I think the notion that the views expressed by us are exceptional is fraught. It allows those with deeply variant positions to attempt to claim the middle ground or speak for 'middle Australia'. They do not, nor in my experience are they in any way representative of them.

Instead what we have is a group who through the anonymity of the web are able to express views that normally would invite censure in most Australian settings.

As I said earlier I have no problem with the issue of immigration being raised including the suitability of certain groups to settlement in Australia in large numbers. To expect our older citizens to be as comfortable with non-Eurpoean migration as we are is not respecting their upbringing nor their experiences especially of the War.

The fear of invasion and its imagined horrors were part of every day life and would have left an indelible impression. Not to have the conversation would be doing them a disservice.

However there will always be those who instead want to incite hatred, to demonise, and to slander. Thankfully in our country they are not the normal, we are, and I think anyone who is respectful of what we have become as a tolerant nation would want to protect it. That in essence is what this is about.

Dear Poirot,

Thank you but I do recognise I am becoming an unfair and intolerant defender of fairness and tolerance. Others here including yourself are able to deliver far more measured responses than I find myself capable of on this issue, the type of which are much more likely to shift perceptions and thus far more valuable in the scheme of things.

Poirot

'"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me..."

The point is we have welcomed many Moslems in only to find that they poop on those showing them kindness. Many that don't follow Mohammed are actually very nice people. One day you will see past your dogma and see that Islam is the problem not the people.

People are people and all are sinners but paticular dogmas like secularism lead to murdering unborn babies while following the Koran leads to total oppression. One day you might get it but I doubt you want your glasses removed.

On the contrary, csteele.

Your responses are more robust, and your argument is well-defined. It's becoming increasingly rare on OLO to witness a vigorous rebuttal of (in my opinion) odious rhetoric.

I take my hat off to you.