Boaz, the arguments are interesting but the conclusions are suspect.

If I were to subscribe to your "all colonialists are bastards" philosophy, then of course the systematic annihilation of his own people by Mugabe in short order is completely analogous to the establishment of various trading outposts of the British Empire over a period of a few hundred years.

Ah, those were the days, we were all at it like rabbits, us Europeans. Brits, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Germans, even the Belgians - remember the Congo? - what memories.

I seem to recall that your lot were doing their thing too, bringing various versions of Christianity to the heathen continents. Creating conflict, wiping out age-old customs. Breaking up families too, I recall, all in the Name of the Lord. Cute.

It's important not to get too self-righteous about all this Boaz, isn't it?

And it is about time you faced up to the reality of the monster you want to create, 'One Nation, One Culture, One Race'. It is not "borderline fascism", Boaz, but straight-out, one hundred percent, warm-my-jackboots-mother fascism.

>>It worked for England.. (with the partial exception of Scotland and Wales) where the Anglo Saxons took over, but also intermarried, now.. they are all 'Brits'<<

There you go, the wrong end of the stick again. In your quest to bring everyone into a single cultural mould (yours), you completely misread the evidence. Homogenization is a bad thing, not a good thing; it can only lead to mediocrity.

Check out Rio Ferdinand (soccer player) born in Peckham of West Indian and Irish ancestry. Or Monty Panesar, a Sikh cricketer born in Luton. Or Saj Mahmood, a Bolton-born Muslim fast bowler who has played for England. There are many others who speak Cockney, Yorkshire or Geordie, but have their cultural roots intact.

It is respecting difference, as opposed to eliminating difference, that has been the driving force behind turning these - and many, many others - into what you call "Brits".

Pericles... I don't see my vision of Australia as Fascism at all... the simple reason is.. I don't see it ever happening in any forced way.. if it had to be forced then it would not be valid.. what I do say though, is that the government should 'faciliate' by structuring programs and policy such that people do not feel they are crossing some huge cultural gulf in order to marry out of their cultural or ethnic comfort zone.

Fascism is about concentrating power in the hands of an elite.. how do you get that from my views ?

This video makes a good commentary on 'militants' who are not yet 'terrorists' but I think they are proving one thing.. they will take the fullest advantage of the freedom they have, to destroy that very freedom for us. Do you concur ? do you see any reason to be concerned about this abuse of freedom ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO74GwUTZj4

I sure do. Highlighting this abuse, is just that. These are the radicals who are calling out to the moderate Muslims passing by, seeking to radicalize them also.
How would you feel P if this was the Union Jack or the Aussie flag ?
I'd be quite upset to be truthful.

So what's all this got to do with millitant and terrorists?

Well of course you don't Boaz, or you wouldn't keep doing it.

>>I don't see my vision of Australia as Fascism at all...<<

I have always given you the benefit of the doubt, and still do. You are totally unaware of the image that you present, and of the potential harm your rabble-rousing can create.

>>the simple reason is.. I don't see it ever happening in any forced way.. if it had to be forced then it would not be valid<<

Ay, there's the rub.

The society you envisage, One This, One That and One the Other, will never emerge spontaneously. History, if it has taught us anything at all, has been absolutely one hundred percent consistent on this.

Pick any country that has been created by politicians drawing lines in the earth, and examine it carefully. Iraq, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, Turkey, South Africa... the list is very very long indeed - and look at the internal tensions that are exaggerated by the presence of those lines.

Kurds in Turkey. Bosnians, Serbs, Montenegrans etc. in the old Tito-land. War between Iraq and Kuwait over an artificial boundary between them, created by the French and British at the end of WWI. There are twentysix major tribal groupings in Africa (and multitudinous minor ones), none of which map neatly into the countries that have been drawn on the map.

The only way you - or anyone - will be able to impose "one anything" on the Australian people is by the exertion of downward force. The kind of laws that are needed to bring it about can only be mandated; no-one in their right mind would vote for them, simply because they would confer too much power on the executive.

So please bear in mind that when the only tool available is a hammer, you need to be very careful whom you allow to pick it up and wield it. It is no use saying afterwards "I only gave it to him to fix the gutter", after he has left a trail of destruction in his quest to bring your vision into existence.

PERICLES said:

[The only way you - or anyone - will be able to impose "one anything" on the Australian people is by the exertion of downward force.]

Your quite right.. if we were to IMPOSE it... it would have to be by force.

But that is a straw man and a very red herring. I've not suggested anything about 'impose', but I've said a fair bit about policy which supports a breaking down of racial and cultural barriers..how hard is that to understand ?

How hard is it to highlight successful cross cultural marriages in the media, and in government articles.. to the point where it creates an ambience of acceptability ? I mean.. surely you...even you...can 'get' this ?

While Andrew Bartlett cannot see a problem with "They haven't found out about you yet" and "Your cousin is involved in a 'project' in Scotland" (i.e. Project 'Ka-boom').. you.. could surely see that there is a difference between 'facilitating and creating a positive atmosphere' and 'forcing'....right ?

I sure hope so.

I still don't see in the slightest how this is 'fascism'. So, "yes" I will continue to seek to persuade all races not to hate or hold in suspicion other races and cultures within Australia. (with the notable exception of radical Islamists)

As usual, we will have to agree to disagree Boaz.

>>if we were to IMPOSE it... it would have to be by force. But that is a straw man and a very red herring. I've not suggested anything about 'impose', but I've said a fair bit about policy which supports a breaking down of racial and cultural barriers..how hard is that to understand ?<<

We are on the opposite sides of a logical fault-line. You believe that a "policy which supports a breaking down of racial and cultural barriers" is one where diversity is discouraged, whereas I believe that such a policy would necessarily be tolerant of cultural differences.

Witness the number of times you have banged on about people in Melbourne who still support the Greek or Italian soccer team, instead of being part of the "Ozzy ozzy ozzy" crowd. It is a common theme of yours - "cleave to a single Aussie culture, forget your history, be a real Aussie" - that has culminated in that ridiculous and inflammatory slogan of yours.

Your policy ideas on One-Australianism can be summed up as "homogenization into a single culture is necessary to make it happen". Mine is "tolerance of differences is necessary to make it happen".

The difference between the two is that mine can include yours, but yours cannot include mine. In other words, if tolerance of difference eventually leads to homogenization, that's great. But you cannot get to tolerance of difference via homogenization - they are mutually exclusive.

Hence my conviction that the only way to achieve your goals will be through coercion. People are different - and I'm not even talking about racial, ethnic or religious differences - because they want to be. To suggest that there is a single path to harmony, that you are in possession of the knowledge of that path, and that people should therefore follow your path, can only be achieved through coercion.

History says so, not just me.