cont'd ...

Besides, I should add that I also admire -
Joe (Loudmouth), David Fisher, O Sung Wu,
Hasbeen, Paul1405, Toni Lavis, Big Nana,
CHERFUL, Cossomby, Shadow Minister, and many
many others to numerous to mention. As a matter
of fact - I can't think of anybody that I
really dislike.

BTW - harbouring negativity and negative feelings
is bad for your health.

Dearest Foxy,

What I was trying to explore was there question": could the rest of the world have left Australia alone ? Could the world, today, in 2018, have witnessed an 'inviolate' Australia, populated only by foragers, without being tempted to 'invade' it ?

And what would it have required for all countries in the world to refrain from doing so, at least since the 1750s ? At the time, the British were about to wrest solo its in India and Quebec from the French; one of the Wars of Succession (I forget which: Austrian ? Spanish ?) was about to erupt across much of Europe. So would it have been practicable for European (and later, other) powers to agree, along with a very liberal George III, future French leaders of opinion, Benjamin Franklin etc, (exercising my rights as a would-be novelist to bend realities out of shape) that a permanent naval armada should be set up to patrol all of Australia's coast-line, and be regularly services with provisions ? Would all powers have agreed ? Could the French and Spanish, not to mention the Dutch - even back then - have been persuaded not to ever venture onto the Australian mainland ? And later, the Russians ? And the Americans ? And later still, the Japanese ? Then the Chinese ? Perhaps later again, the Indians ? And God knows who else into the unknown future ?

Could international diplomacy have successfully brought this about ? Would treasuries 'back home' have agreed to keep funding such a venture ? For 260 years ? And from now into the future ?

And -to take Burke's fictional point- would it have been eventually more beneficial than otherwise for the outside world to make close contacts with the Indigenous people here, and bring the benefits (and drawbacks - nothing's perfect) of outside civilisation to Australia ?

I do believe that, until we resolve these questions, we will be forever agonising over what should have been done, and condemned to the pointlessness of blame for past, and irredeemable, history ?

Love always,

Joe

Dear Joe (Loudmouth),

Your questions as to whether Australia could have
been "left alone," by the continents of Europe
does border on fantasy - because in world
history the reality was that the colonial encirclement
of the world was an integral component of European history.
This process shaped Europe itself as the following link
of European history online - explains:

http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/backgrounds/colonialism-and-imperialism

However, authors do indulge in fantasies - and if you
want to make certain statements and points regarding
Australia's settlement in the form of a novel - by all
means don't let anyone deter you. Perhaps you could
include which Aboriginal customs were similar to some
European customs of the past that you know of and are
Aboriginal legends very different from the stories of the
Bible? It would be interesting to see the similarities and
differences that you may have noticed.

It would also help if in your novel you could cover how the
tragic misunderstandings and hatreds between blacks and whites
in Australia's past be resolved? If you were Prime Minister
what would you do to this end?

Foxy,

I'm not interested in a list of posters you like. Liking or disliking is more appropriate to Facebook and other juvenile social media. I don't like or dislike other posters because they don't exist outside text on OLO. They are not real to me. They are opinions. I commented on the the posters/opinions you attach yourself to instead of openly declaring your Leftist attitudes for yourself. You pretend that you are the a voice of reason and moderation, ‘ever-so-nice’ and ladylike, well-behaved, but you are a hard Left ideologue who doesn't want to 'talk tough’, so you attach yourself to posters who bellow absurdities for you. For your online self, that is. The real you is probably not as irritating.

Dear Foxy,

Fantasy only up to a point, an imagining of some hypothetical meeting of key philosophers and future political leaders in a Swiss ski chalet, snowed in for months. From then on, realities.

As you point out - and this is what I've been struggling with for years -it's obvious that an outside invasion or settlement of Australia was inevitable. Philip only beat the French La Perouse by a few days. Within four years of initial British settlement, the Spanish had 'visited' Sydney with the intention of later invading and enslaving the colonists, and presumably occupying all of the country.

If 'trade' between Timorese and Javanese (a.k.a. Macassans) and Aboriginal groups on the north coast had blossomed, perhaps the Dutch may have got interested in colonising those parts of Australia, perhaps bringing in Javanese etc. labour, and displacing local Aboriginal groups. What the Japanese might have done doesn't bear thinking about.

Certainly, Foxy, if eighteenth-century Brits had had 21st-century mind-sets, perhaps some Aboriginal stories could have been incorporated into Australia culture and school curricula. Oh, wait a minute .... they are now. But speaking of mind-sets, Aboriginal people then had 60,000-year-old mind-sets, and the Brits did have 18th-century mind-=sets. Those were the realities. Neither side understood the other's mind-sets, as we now know with the wonderful benefits of hindsight.

So the next question is: can the current Aboriginal narrative ever be modified to incorporate the inevitability of outside occupation ?

A corollary of that question is even more difficult: was that 'contact' ultimately beneficial or mainly destructive ? In other words, would Aboriginal people, especially their leaders, prefer to be now sitting around a fire, contemplating their next day of hunting or seed-gathering ? As they had to do every single day for 60,000 years ?

Or are they currently more preoccupied with that pesky problem with the air-conditioning or the dimmer ? And whether or not to trade in their Audi for a Merc ? And what to have tonight, Bombay or Lebanese ? Or whether their kid should try law or medicine next year ?

Love,

Joe

Dear ttbn,

I don't like attaching labels to people because I
find that most people's views are not set in
concrete and whilst they may be conservative in
some areas they can be quite liberal in others. So
narrow labelling is usually not appropriate in most
circumstances.

You were the one who raised the topic of my liking Steele,
and I merely responded by
giving you a list of others that I also liked on
this forum. It was appropriate to do so.

The people that I admire on this forum are ones
that can debate issues in a logical manner. I find that
sound reasoning conquers unreasonable generalisations every
time.

In any case - as far as politics go? I don't belong to any
particular Party. I used to be a Liberal voter for decades.
My family still is. However, I now
prefer to go for policies that will benefit me and
my family. I don't vote for parties but policies. Although
I have to admit that I'm still drawn to the Liberal Party
in many areas.

Thank You for sharing your views on what you think of me.
It is rather disappointing of course. And inaccurate.
However, that's something over which I have no control.

I've been raised to always try to be civil, well mannered,
and not to hurt anyone intentionally.

Of course - I realise that there
will always be people that I will meet along life's
journey who will try to tear me down for one reason or another.
People who are intolerant, insecure, and see the world in
very rigid and stereotyped terms.

These are people whose views
will not change - and therefore are best avoided. Although
that's not always easy on a public forum such as this one.

My advice to you is - if what I post upsets you so greatly
don't read what I write. You're under no obligation to
do so. And, I will not remove your name from the list of people
that I like.