has anyone blamed Abbott for it yet?

>>Such censorship has been the rule not the exception in Australia's State schools where boys' adventure books and other material have been quietly removed and sent to the tip.<<

I doubt they went to the tip. Librarians always try to sell their books when they're done with them. I think they probably donate them op-shops if they can't sell them. This is because a librarian knows that a book is a terrible thing to waste.

But yes they have been removed: the kids that want to read - if they still exist - don't want to read about Biggles and his chums. That stuff was well out of date when I was a kid. Even The Famous Five and The Chronicles of Narnia were starting to show their age although I remain an avid fan of the Narnia books to this day. Enid Blyton books not so much. Daft old communist biddy.

Kids these days want to read Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. There's only so much room on a shelf so Boy's Own Adventure must make its way to the second-hand bookshop.

Cheers,

Tony

No, I wasn't referring to pap like Blyton, Biggles and Boys Own Adventure.

Fathers need to involve themselves in State schools and not just as the hands and feet for yard clean-ups.

However I will leave it at that and not divert the thread.

Dear o sung wu,

Been a hell of a couple of days, up before dawn and only just now getting the chance to throw some words together as promised.

I will let you know I am sickened, saddened and angry with many of those who have responded in the interim, but I'm too bloody knackered to get stuck in tonight.

Instead you get the pleasant version so I am going to put the effort in to try and explain where I am coming from and my take on the Adam Goodes incident. My hope is that it might add a different perspective for you.

I love my footy and have been a long time supporter of the Cats, As a youngster in my late teens and early twenties I had the pleasure of watching the great Gary Ablett cut up sides with aplomb. I suffered through the bitter disappointment of lost Grand Finals but have stuck with them.

As a shallow and callow youth in those days anti-aboriginal jokes were a matter of course for my mates and I. Themes included lack of hygiene, deaths in custody, alcoholism, promiscuity, lack of intelligence etc, all was fair game.

It was a match against North Melbourne that turned me around. Now I had been to many matches where the racial taunts were continuous from the crowd, leaving me at best a little discomforted, such was its proliferation. Why the discomfort? Well this was not a bunch of mates telling 'Abo' jokes between themselves, this was directed at a human being in front of me. Yet I could distance myself from it as it was others doing the sledging. But on this particular day against the Roos the wit among my friends was in fine form. He had the whole bay we were standing in roaring with laughter.

cont...

cont...

Then one of the two Krakour brothers came and stood directly in front of us on the boundary line and the friend let rip telling him among other things to not to forget collecting his flagon on his way back to the mission and getting the rest of the bay to look under the seats because we just had to find the poor blokes missing tail. To my eternal shame not only did I not tell him to can it but I joined in like all the rest. It got more and more vicious and the whole bay started chanting at the player when suddenly he looked up at us, only for a moment, but the look of utter anger, powerlessness, and hurt has never left me.

I knew what had happened was badly wrong yet I never expressed that feeling to my mates at the time. At that age we all tended to egg each other on to do and say more and more outrageous things. If I had challenged them on it the replies would have been along the lines it was just sledging, designed to put a player off his game, not real racism, just exploiting his weak spot. In my heart I knew it was much more than that. It took me a few seasons before I started going to live matches again but the abuse from the stands seemed even worse, perhaps because I wasn't tuning it out or accepting it like before. The better the indigenous player the more he copped it and Nicky Winmar was one of the best so the tirade from the stands was particularly vicious when we played the Saints. I just got jack of it in the end and though still a supporter gave up going to matches.

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Then came the famous day when Winmar was playing Collingwood, a team whose supporters were deemed to be the most abusive in the league by a long shot. After cleaning them up on the field Winmar turned to face the abuse, lifted his shirt and pointed to his skin in a gesture of defiance. The story caused questions to be asked about racism in football. The then Collingwood captain Shaw tried to claim on-field racism was just 'part of the game' and the club president stated that Aboriginals would be respected as “long as they conduct themselves like white people, well, off the field ... As long as they conduct themselves like human beings, they will be all right. That's the key”.

To their credit the AFL and clubs moved past those attitudes and reacted by bring in anti-racial vilification rules between players. The clubs also did a lot of work internally toward educating their players. Winmar spoke of a steep drop off in racial abuse after the incident.

Later the AFL also brought in an indigenous round designed to highlight the role aboriginal players had played in the league, often against odds and pressures not faced by the rest of the playing group. Last week was the 20 year anniversary of Winmar's actions.

“Raising his guernsey and standing strong in his culture, 20 years ago Nicky Winmar gave us an unforgettable symbol of determination and pride. Today the AFL Indigenous Round is a celebration of our country's Indigenous culture and players that have shaped Australia's Game. A game that unites us all, players and fans, standing strong and proud for the past, present and future generations.”
http://www.afl.com.au/indigenousround

For Adam Goodes captaining a side who was playing against Collingwood, in such a special anniversary round for indigenous players, would have had a deep significance for him. A significance we others who are not part of a that group probably can't appreciate. He had every right to feel gutted by what had happened.

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