“Perhaps a multicultural nation is better than an American culture- what do you think?”

You anti-American Cel? How come? I don’t want Australians to become American. But I can think of other cultures I’d prefer less.

“Does Australia not have a multicultural policy? I thought they have! Correct me if I’m wrong.”

Yes it does, One foisted upon it unasked for from the vast majority. Evcen the migrant groups never asked for it. Didn’t you know some groups don’t like other groups. Serbs and Croats for examples. Lebanese Christians and Lebanese Muslims, are just 2 examples. Greeks and Macedonians… should I go on?

“The fact that there is a multicultural policy… doesn’t that mean that Australia is a multicultural nation?”

Gee what were we before Fraser brought it in? What will we be when we change the policy?

“Why do you tell people to leave Australia if they love this multicultural country?”

If thy love Australia so much and want to be Australians then they won’t want it to be something else then will they. They will become Australians and live the Australian culture. Otherwise Cel they aren’t being Australian are they. They are still being Italiand or Greek or Vietnamese… only they live in Australia.

Sorry you are “not enjoying this conversation” can’t say I have been either. Too many misconceptions and misquoting for my likes. If you feel this is a “battlefield” perhaps it is because you cant handle people posting facts you find difficult to deal with. Facts you find conflict with your pov. Well that’s what debating is about.

Some migrants don't like other migrants as different nations have different feuds. The examples you have provided indeed reveal that racial divisions are not only a characteristic of Australian society. They reflect the sad nature of humanity and conflicted discourses.

That doesn't prove anything to demerit Australians' attitudes of cultural tolerance; instead it makes up a significant aspect of the 'values' that we profess to idealize over other 'non-western' nations.
We have a country where Greeks and Macedonians migrated, built livelihoods all while living next door to each other. In Australia children of Lebanese migrants whether Islamic or Christian belief, are educated together in schools. The same can be said about Serbs and Croats. Of course there may very well be tension between these cultures even when living in Australia but this is not the ‘Australian way’, and migrants who do not uphold discrimination laws are quickly labeled as being ‘un-Australian’.

(cont)

(cont)

On a personal note, the knowledge and understanding I have gained from being an Australian was only tested on traveling overseas. It was obvious that compared to my extended family, the way I perceived individuals was starkly different. They held racial grudges towards people they had never met, or been effected by, but based purely on the environment, political ideologies that shaped the country. I was able to contribute a viewpoint they had never heard before, (or could have imagined to have heard) coming from someone who shared their cultural identity. In fact, I shared stories of how many of ‘these’ people were friends of mine in Australia, and how I was often welcomed and exposed to their homes and customs.
They were bewildered. The conclusions they made about this obvious ‘cultural acceptance’ was that Australia was a nation of progress. They saw my viewpoint but in no way agreed with it, and declared that type of social harmony was impossible to achieve in most countries. Australia had done it.

I am proof of it. Ghassan Hage (in an article posted on this site) explained that after migrating to Australia realized his racist tendencies and after a period of time his views evolved into something variably different.

There is no need to compromise this for a sudden political urge to create these ‘Australian’ values. The irony is in order to preserve this ‘culture’ and these ‘values’ we are told we need to define it, or else… risk losing our political credibility on a global and humanitarian scale.

Well that allows us to define what it’s NOT to be Australian? American !

"That doesn't prove anything to demerit Australians' attitudes of cultural tolerance;"

Doesn't prove that with the sudden policy change to Multiculti, that somehow oernight Australians became culturally tolerant. In fact if anything it shows that that tol;erance or apathy was part of the Australian culture already... she'll be right mate, no worries.

"In Australia children of Lebanese migrants whether Islamic or Christian belief, are educated together in schools. The same can be said about Serbs and Croats. Of course there may very well be tension between these cultures even when living in Australia but this is not the ‘Australian way’, and migrants who do not uphold discrimination laws are quickly labeled as being ‘un-Australian’. "

Too right ntey are, but it doesn't stop their behaviour. These days the Lebanese in particular are proving this. The cracks are getting bigger.

"There is no need to compromise this for a sudden political urge to create these ‘Australian’ values."

They already exist as I have shown.

"The irony is in order to preserve this ‘culture’ and these ‘values’ we are told we need to define it, or else… risk losing our political credibility on a global and humanitarian scale."

Australians are already defined. Already recognisable globally. Only those who don't accept that or don't want to be part of that deny it.

Yes indeed - there is an Australian culture but like all cultures it too has diseases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim and pronounced "gonna re-elect him."

Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past 10 years. Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include:

Anti-social personality disorders
(especially whilst on the beach)
Delusions of grandeur with Messianic overtones
Extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new
information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia
Inability to accept responsibility for own actions
Cowardice masked by misplaced bravado
Uncontrolled facial smirking
Ignorance of geography and Australian history
Tendencies towards evangelical theocracy
Categorical all-or-nothing behavior

Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas and here in Australia , a shrub in Canberra.

They have warned us to take extreme care when handling ballot papers in 2007

Cutlure is a living moving mirror of the society.
Its not a 'fixed in time' locked object or set of values and traditions.

Aussie culture like anything else is subject to the natural laws of cultural evolution and Australia is in control because its an immigration country: attracting the qualified and academics will yield different results than with letting in the uneducated.

Look at the US culture today as a result of attracting the world's best skills and brains.