Foxy,
Remember, you said, "People who are in denial about racism in this country are simply ignorant. Lets look at the facts - we imprison
brown asylum seekers, we once celebrated our national day
with a white racist riot. There were assaults on Indian
students, a little political organisation called
One Nation, and of course "the intervention" - the heraldic
beak on our long hawkish treatment of Indigenous Australians".
Foxy, OLO Friday 18-4-2014 12.18.35

You could admit that you were misleading everyone here, as I am sure you know your 'facts' are incorrect.

On another thread, I just now used the term, 'It was the blood, sweat and tears of our forebears that made this country'. Strange, I actually thought of your parents and included them as forbears, along with all the others that came post war (until the 70s) and had it very tough to start.
Not as tough as the pioneers had it, but I don't recall them whinging about their lot. (Maybe some Poms did)

Shocker,
You may be finding that Foxy is a little loose with actual 'facts' which is not unusual for multiculturalists. You see DIVERSITY is the sole aim of the MC lot. They have no further aim, it is their end objective, even though they cannot explain how the diversity benefits us. Therefore if someone cannot see the benefits is automatically a racist. I think that social cohesion would be a better objective, knowing some cultures are too different to integrate

Banjo,
Yes, diversity eh?
I've also yet to hear a multiculturalist explain how diversity benefits globalism.
If we're all to become "global citizens" then surely less diversity is better?
Globalism is premised on standardisation, how is it possible to set standards with a diverse population?
I've also pointed out the the Australia of 1901-1975 was far more culturally diverse than the society we see in 2014 and that all but very elderly migrants are already "Westerners" before they leave home.
Migrants obviously don't value "diversity", middle aged immigration advocates still cling to such notions because they don't want to let go of the old Australia, they thought 1949 would last forever but it didn't.

Dear Shocker and Dear Banjo,

I fully understand the origins of your
complaints. They are deeper, located in
that part of every mind reserved for human fears.
Everyone is prey to these fears, to feeling
threatened by things that are different, to
feelings of sorrow at certainties lost in a future
that has already arrived.

If it all comes down to a fear of change, then
some Australians feel they have earned their qualms.
So many new faces, new cultures, new challenges, the
dizzy carousel of a multicultural nation.
Little wonder that some people (like you guys)
yearn for a pause, a chance for the nation to catch its
breath, to postphone the most potent social change -
of all - the full emergence of the new migrant faiths.

Catholics and Protestants still outnumber others, but
religions such as Islam, Judaism, Orthodox Christianity,
Buddhism and Hinduism are now claiming a fixed and
important part of national life. And, just as certainly,
they are claim8ing a place in the nation's fears.
Especially Islam. There's a perception that some of the
new faithful carry the threat of violence and discord.
The blunt question, is: Will their beliefs and actions
cause Australia harm? And the concern is also - how will
they change the nation, its laws, its politics, its
standards, in future?

Well lets take a look and try to put things into their proper
perspective without stooping to personal insults - I know
that may be ahard ask for some of you but lets try to get
this discussion onto a higher plane.

cont'd ...

cont'd ...

In some way all this comes as a surprise
because it was never planned. When postwar
Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell opened
Australia's rusted gates, he spoke only of the
hands that would help build a nation. It was
somehow forgotten that the migrants would have
hearts and souls as well, and that many would
carry their religion like a private treasure.

Europeans in flight from Hitler brought Judaism,
though there had been Jews in Australia ever since the
First Fleet. Judaism in Australia was revitalised by the
arrival of Holocaust survivors and their families
after World War II. Others from a war-torn continent
stayed true to their Orthodox Christian faith. Turks
arrived with their hopes - and with Islam. By the 1970s,
Vietnamese and other Asians were carrying Buddhism into
the migrant suburbs of every capital.

It is not longer a matter of whether these faiths exist in
Australia - they are a part of the nation.

In a sense, religion and religious culture are at the
heart of multiculturalism, though in all the controversies
about immigration and ethnic differences, about whether or
not there is still such a things as an Australian identity,
religion is hardly every mentioned. And yet behind a
great deal of the apprehension about multiculturalism
lies these questions: Will Australia remain a Christian nation?
Are the new faiths compatible with a liberal democracy?

These uncertainties feed confusion both among the migrant
faiths and within the greater community. This confusion
breeds fear at a time when many people seek re-assurance,
no less so because their fears are grown in part from false
seed and the perception of Muslim violence, created by
television images of frenzied Iranians and effigy-burning
Iraqis. The complaints by Australian Muslims are justified
that ignorance of their origins and their faith causes
some people to link them with the turbulance, of Arab
politics. Most of Australia's Muslims have
Lebanese or Turkish heritage, and
even those from Iraq or Iran make the obvious
point that, "the leaders of those countries don't ask
for our advice before they make their decisions."

cont'd ...

cont'd ...

Other images of zealous and antidemocratic behaviour
are home-grown: the headlines that tell of violence
involving not just Muslims,
but Jews and others. In Melbourne, arsonists attack a
Jewish comunity center and a few days later, 3500
Jews, gathered to mark Israeli independence day, are
evacuated from the Palais theater in St Kilda because
of a bomb scare. In Sydney, during the gulf war,
a molotov cocktail damages the Islamic Cultural
Center at Rooty Hill. Such incidents contribute to a
community sense that the migrant faiths are purveyors of
discord. But are they the culprits or the victims?

In Melbourne, the St Kilda bomb scare is traced to a
neo-fascist, and police suspect the same background to
the arson attempt on the Jewish community center.
Muslims were not involved, any more than Jews were connected
with the mosque bombing in Sydney.

As in almost every case of violence that has been
investigated fully, the most likely culprits have been
Australian-raised racists. In those circumstances
religious groups can only be blamed for violence in the same
way that Westpac can be blamed for bank robberies.

It is the Australian way to believe that things will come
good in the end. Looking back at the nation's placid
history, it seems an honest philosophy. But there has never
been a time quite like this.

Tribes and faiths are jostling, competing for a place,
and as historians of other countries will vouch, no
nation has come through that process unscathed.

In Australia, the process is just beginning.
The nation wanted people. It them to work watched them
build post war Australia. It liked the new tastes,
fashions, and sounds, and cheered the new sporting
champions, even if they did have odd names.

Now comes the hard part. Real multiculturalism is not just
pretty costumes, and spicy food, but gods and creeds,
the stuff of martyrs, death, damnation, eternity,
The stuff to test nations.

cont'd ...

cont'd ...

The challenge is to blend different beliefs
and the cultural differences they create into a
liberal democracy. Somehow, the whole must be
preserved while the ingredients and mix are
changed. It won't happen without problems and
some of the problems will remain for decades.
Jews and Muslims will no sooner find harmony
in Australia than anywhere else. Buddhists and
Hindus will go on suffering the suspicion dealt out
to many minority groups.

Churches and mosques and
synagogues will still become occasional targets at
each switch point of history. And some Australians
will always feel a wisp of fear with every new
headline. But they can cope with that much. The trick
will be to keep it within those bounds, and if that
is done it will be an achievement to dwarf
winged-keel memories and rugby triumphs.