Hi there PAUL1405...

Though a different country, and a different culture, but the same old theme, white people cheating and lying to black people particularly if the disenfranchised person could neither read nor write !

You know Paul, it's like accounts we hear of gross paedophilia - sometimes I'm ashamed to be a male ? Likewise, accounts of whites taking advantage of the ignorance of blacks and cheating them, I'm ashamed to be white ! Don't get me wrong, I'm no 'goody two shoes' far from it. It's just I don't like people in positions of power and influence taking advantage of someone who's not so powerful and without any 'clout' whatsoever. Just another instance of being a friggin' bully is all ! And gezz I hate bullies with a passion.

Paul, there are some blacks who really deserve a smack in the mouth, similarly there are many whites who deserve the same treatment. I will freely admit, until I started relieving other sergeants at small country stations, I did harbour quite a lot of racial bias and intolerance towards black men and women.

In fact I was brilliant at recounting the tired ol' raciest jokes to other members at the Station. That was until I went around and saw many of the humpies these poor buggers were required to exist ! The constant stream of instances of gross domestic violence, the same story, with different players and often sadder endings ?

The old man returns to the humpy, pissed completely out of his brain, and then 'wack' over goes his woman, shedding claret every which way. And it was up to us to 'try' and sort it all out...? It really opened my eyes Paul, in a very big way, let me tell you. But hopefully I now have a more balanced view concerning their complex problems and possible solutions ? 'night to you Paul !

o sung wu,
Glad to see you remember the country relief postings.
I loved them mainly for the variety of experience and the
nature of the people.
Had the time of of my life and finished my law degree runnibg the Broken Hill Gaol owned by the Police back then.
Most of my country stints were up around Lismore, Ballina and as far as Tamworth.

Have we all be watching 8MMM on iView?

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/8mmm/IP1330D001S00

You might learn summat.

chrisgaff1000, "..country relief postings. I loved them mainly for the variety of experience and the nature of the people"

Doctors, nurses, teachers and others would have said the same once. Maybe some can remember less formal arrangements too, such as by Rural Youth (Young Farmers).

We have a number of young doctors in the family who in recent years have undertaken country placements. However their negative experiences would deter them from ever considering a return. The demographics have changed. That is the crux of the problem.

A niece was the most recent to endure a country placement, although she had been looking forward to it, having lived in the country as a child. Before her country placement she had travelled the world and performed voluntary work in two overseas locations devastated by natural events and suffering civil unrest. Yet the place she remembers as threatening and presenting a real risk of personal harm was her country hospital placement in Australia, where medical staff and other public employees were regularly abused and threatened on public streets and had personal property stolen or living accommodation damaged (stones and bottles from drunken layabouts).

She is now a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology. Not in the country.

Dear onthebeach and o sung wu,

You both have had more contact with Aborigines than I have had, and I find both your experiences interesting. I used to be one of the editors of "Social Alternatives". Each issue was based on a particular theme, and there were stories and poems in addition. Some of the stories were from Aboriginal writers. In general they were lively, descriptive, often humorous and reflected their oral culture. One contribution came from an Aborigine who was doing graduate work in English. It had the same sort of turgid academic prose that one often finds in academic writing. Some academics write quite well, but this one's ability had possibly been destroyed by his English department.

Dear Paul1405,

Organised religion is one of the few social organisations in this modern world which build community. We interact with people at work but don't necessarily see them outside of working hours. Many of us get our food from an impersonal supermarket. Even members of a family may not have a close relationship. Religion provides fellowship in the midst of an atomised society. However, the beliefs of religion contain a great deal of nonsense.

To reject organised religion and to keep a belief in fairy tales such as God means to me to withdraw from what is worthwhile about religion and retain the nonsense. I am glad your partner has kept what is worthwhile about religion.

Emile Durkheim believed that the origins of religion were
social, not supernatural. He pointed out that,
whatever their source, the rituals eneacted in any religion
enhances the solidarity of the community as well as its faith.

Religious rituals such as baptism, bar mitzvah, weddings,
Sabbath services, Christmas mass, and funerals - serve to
bring people together, to remind them of their common group
membership; to re-affirm their traditional values; to
maintain prohibitions and taboos; to offer comfort in times
of crisis; and, in general, to help transmit the cultural
heritage from one generation to the next.

In fact, Durkheim argued, shared religious beliefs and the
rituals that go with them are so important that every society
needs a religion, or at least some belief system that serves
the same functions.

The cause of much of the social disorder in modern societies,
he contended, is that "the old gods are growing old
or are already dead, and others are not yet born."

In other words, people no longer believe deeply in traditional
religion, but they have found no satifsying substitute.