Dear Foxy,

I hold Windschuttle in very high esteem as a thorough historian, one who goes to the primary sources, not the secondary and tertiary sources only. In his books, when he deals with South Australia, I always learn something I didn't know, and about resources that I wasn't aware of. I have a wary interest in oral history, which usually means 'history without evidence, only someone's say-so'. If it can be backed up by independent material, primary documentation, etc., well and good: oral history, in that case, becomes an indicator of something which needs further examination. But that seems to rarely be the case.

Anyway, this has drifted far from its original thread: the diversion of legitimate concern about child abuse to the fraught feelings of snowflakes, whose, hides are as tough as old boots. The contempt that some of those 'spokespeople' have for the most down-trodden of their own people, the use and misuse that they make of the most vulnerable, is so disgusting that I sometimes feel like migrating, and not wanting to hear the word 'Aboriginal' ever again.

Let's get a few things straight: Indigenous life expectancy is at least ten years less than it is for non-indigenous people. But if you break those figures down, you will find that urban, working people's life expectancy is no shorter than the for non-Indigenous people. For Indigenous people in larger town, it may be ten years shorter. For people in southern 'communities', such as still exist, it may be twenty years shorter. For people in remote 'communities', it is thirty and even forty years shorter. Forty years. Many of them children. So nobody please bullshirt about the romance and glory of 'traditional' life.

Thirty and forty years ? Yes, half of the kids that my wife taught in pre-school forty five years ago are now dead. That's by no means uncommon.

No wonder those mongrels (and I use the word deliberately) want to divert discussion (and shut it down) from actual suffering and death, to hurt feelings. Slime. But it's what clogs up Indigenous action.

Love anyway,

Joe

Dear Joe,

Thank You for your understanding and patience with me
I totally acknowledge your expertise on this subject
(and Big Nana's as well). My knowledge after all is
limited compared to the years of study and the time
that you've spent on this.

I apologise unreservedly if I've caused you any upset
or distress. And I shall take everything you say on
board.

Foxy,
"Windschuttle has been dismissed ages ago."

Yes....by some. Particularly those with an agenda and no respect for the facts.

"You are wrong about me. I know who I am. You don't."

I can only base my evaluation on what I see. And I see someone who forms an opinion and then seeks the data to support it. I see someone who, when confronted with unwanted data, races off to Google to see if she can find something, anything, no matter how fraught, that will allow her to reject the unwanted data. I see someone who makes unsupported assertions which she simply refuses to support with evidence when challenged. I see someone who makes unsupported assertions about others and obfuscates like mad when challenged on those assertions.

Oh, and I see someone who could and should be so much better than that.

"The following may be of interest to you:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=3320"

And the following might be of interest to you:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=3292#5099

You see right through her, mhaze. She has been indulged for far too long just because she is a woman.

mhaze quote "I see someone who makes unsupported assertions which she simply refuses to support with evidence when challenged."

With that statement you have described ttbn.

mhaze,

The first link that you gave doesn't work.
Besides, I actually gave it (mine works) on
page 14.

BTW: I don't form an opinion and then seek data to
support it. That goes against my professional training
and ethos. I form an opinion only AFTER I've done my
research. After I've read the data - not before. And I
read from a variety of sources on the topic at hand.

I form my opinions carefully. I also do as much research
as I can to find what professionals and experts have to
say, and only after that do I form an opinion. I also
try to keep an open mind because I never know what I
might learn.

I need to point out that dismissing someone else's opinion
does not make our own any more valid. And for that I do
apologise - regarding Windschuttle's work. Instead what it
does do is - it dismisses our value as a discourse participant.
There's a lesson there for both of us.

Cheers.

Dear Philip S.,

Again - Thank You.