Cossomby "My skin's kind of pink, but I'm not an albino so it's not actually 'white'."

Duh. White people aren't "white" (ala British Paints).

"be it a rather romanticised, stylised image of what it is to be an Australian"

And a Chinese restaurant and New Year dragon parade is a romanticised image of what "Chinese" is.
And doubly phoney since it's not even in China.

"or a man who arrived from Iraq just last year."

Australian? No, he's most likely an Arab.
Possibly Kurd, Turkmen or Assyrian.

There is no way a man who "arrived last year" (even from Britain!) would identify as "Australian".

Paul1405 "If you want to retain "Australianism" as at today's date, can't go backwards, you will have stop all migration, stop all outside influences, drive out recent arrivals"

No need to stop *all* immigration, only the contracultural variety.

External influences?
Australians adopted jazz, surfing, Latin American dance and rock n roll *during* the White Australia era.
These influences were voluntarily *chosen* by us.
We were never as insular as some claim.

The current non-White population would decrease to about a third of its present size, if there were no further arrivals.

About a quarter of immigrants leave the country.
And about half of those left are too old to have children, so will leave no permanent impact.

That leaves 1-2% of the population.
Whoop-de-doo!

"Are not your values, customs, beliefs, different from your grandfathers, even though physically you may be his spit image"

The internal voluntary evolution of a people/culture is quite different to an imposed alien transformation.

Dear davidf,

I'm afraid on the topic of male genital mutilation I am going to side with Christopher Hitchens' strong stance. This is despite the fact he was giving my favourite Rabbi a roasting to make his point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZTS6iVpSPI

There is absolutely no denying that male circumcision diminishes, not increases as you claim, the enjoyment of the sexual act. What is an incredibly sensitive part of the body toughens in circumcised males and becomes desensitised as a result. The true purpose of the act of male circumcision perhaps has been lost in the mists of time. As with FGM it may well have been an effort to curb sexual behaviour that gained cultural and religious significance.

The 12th century Jewish rabbi Maimonides who was a “preeminent medieval Spanish, Sephardic Jewish philosopher, astronomer and one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages.” (Wikepidea) offered these thoughts on circumcision;

“Similarly with regard to circumcision, one of the reasons for it is, in my opinion, the wish to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ in question, so that this activity be diminished and the organ be in as quiet a state as possible.”

“The fact that circumcision weakens the faculty of sexual excitement and sometimes perhaps diminishes the pleasure is indubitable.”

“According to me circumcision has another very important meaning, namely, that all people professing this opinion-that is, those who believe in the unity of God-should have a bodily sign uniting them so that one who does not belong to them should not be able to claim that he was one of them, while being a stranger. For he would do this in order to profit by them or to deceive the people who profess this religion. Now a man does not perform this act upon himself or upon a son of his unless it be in consequence of a genuine belief. For it is not like an incision in the leg or a burn in the arm, but is a very, very hard thing.”

Cont...

Cont...

For me however this was his most insightful paragraph;

“The perfection and perpetuation of this Law can only be achieved if circumcision is performed in childhood. For this there are three wise reasons. The first is that if the child were let alone until he grew up, he would sometimes not perform it. The second is that a child does not suffer as much pain as a grown-up man because his membrane is still soft and his imagination weak; for a grown-up man would regard the thing, which he would imagine before it occurred, as terrible and hard. The third is that the parents of a child that is just born take lightly matters concerning it, for up to that time the imaginative form that compels the parents to love it is not yet consolidated. For this imaginative form increases through habitual contact and grows with the growth of the child. Then it begins to decrease and to disappear, I refer to this imaginative form. For the love of the father and of the mother for the child when it has just been born is not like their love for it when it is one year old, and their love for it when it is one year old is not like their love when it is six years old. Consequently if it were left uncircumcised for two or three years, this would necessitate the abandonment of circumcision because of the father's love and affection for it. At the time of its birth, on the other hand, this imaginative form is very weak, especially as far as concerns the father upon whom this commandment is imposed.”

I lived for a while in the Philippines where males were circumcised in their early to mid teens. It was regarded a rite of passage toward becoming a man, often accompanied with a visit to a prostitute once healing had taken place. A favourite past time at my school was following suffering victims with pictures of nude women attempting to bring discomfort as teenagers have wont to do.

Cont...

Cont...

But there was another group of males, generally expat Westerners who underwent circumcisions before marrying Filipino brides. For many of their parners to be this was a prerequisite. There is also ample evidence of those who undergo the procedure later in adulthood mourning the loss of feeling and sexual pleasure.

But these were adults making these choices, not infants under the protection of their parents. Male genital mutilation is a procedure that should have any thinking person appalled. Intentionally harming a defenceless newborn just so he can be viewed 'right in God's eyes' is to me an utter abomination.

And you claim for circumcision “It arguably has certain benefits such as lowering the possibility of getting or transferring sexually transmitted diseases.”

Tell that to the parents of the infants who died from herpes as a result of infections gained from Rabbis sucking the penis after circumcision.

“Two more infants have contracted the herpes virus after undergoing an ultra-Orthodox Jewish type of circumcision, which has been linked to the spread of the potentially deadly virus to newborn boys, according to the New York City Health Department. In the ritual, known as metzitzah b'peh, after removing the foreskin of the penis the person performing the procedure places his mouth briefly over the wound, sucking a small amount of blood out, which is discarded.”...”Since 2000, there have been 13 reports in New York City of infants contracting HSV-1, two of whom died from the virus.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/07/health/new-york-neonatal-herpes/

I am normally sensitive to the cultural and religious rituals of others but the mutilation of the genitals of infants or young girls should be against what any normal modern person finds acceptable. They are archaic practices that should be consigned to history's waste chute.

Hi Guys, I was going to respond to several of the points raised, but I've been immersing myself over the last two nights in that pinnacle of 'White' culture - Eurovision.

And I have to say, that I may have to withdraw my previous qualifications. The competition was won by Conchita from Austria, a beautiful long-haired, bearded drag queen in a stunning dress and the voice of an angel. Maybe I've been underestimating the value of 'White' culture.

He/she is well an truly upholding our traditional cultural values - just google images of James 1, James 2 and other kings of England.

Dear Cossomby,

Forget the James' what about this;

http://tinyurl.com/kd7ewmm

It was a hell of a winning song. Loved it. Classy stuff.

A link for the lazy;

http://youtu.be/SaolVEJEjV4

Ahh Eurovision. To think just 60 years ago most of these countries were at each other's throats. There does seem to be a formula – more diversity – less war.