Dear Special Delivery,

Could you please explain what qualifies you to speak with authority on the subject of social structure?

Is Mise, I would counter that European and Indian civilisations are not the same. In fact, they are clearly very different. To claim that they are somehow interchangeable is a bit silly.

For the overwhelming majority of people on this planet, ethnicity matters. It is a part of their identity. The particular mix of ethnicities also matters at the nation-state level. In fact, a 'nation' in the traditional sense of the word is build around ethnicity. So ethnic differences and distinctions aren't going to disappear. In fact, they are becoming more pronounced in increasingly 'diverse' societies like Australia. Just look at the whole identity politics movement pushed by the Left. Just look at multiculturalism, a policy which encourages minorities (but not the old European majority) to pursue narrow ethnic group interests. Just look at the ethnic group voting now taking place in Australia.

loudmouth2, can you point to an example of where this perfectly blended multi-racial, multi-ethnic utopia currently exists on earth?

Blending into a singular people can happen through intermarriage over time. However, this requires a lower rate of immigration and a degree of demographic stability. Australia is going full throttle with mass immigration and our political establishment seem to think this is all fine and dandy.

If Australia actually does survive as anything more than just a postcode - and that's a big if - and some blending does occur, the actual result of continuing intermixture will probably resemble Brazil: a more complicated social reality with fuzzier boundaries, but one in which people still identify by race and such identification continues to matter in all sorts of ways. Brazil's population is fairly mixed but still stratified. It's also a country with horrible levels of inequality.

In any case, I'm not sure why Australia has a special obligation to transform itself into a mirror of the world. Asian countries certainly aren't in a hurry to open up their borders to peoples from other continents.

Paul1405: "I totally agree with Joe on this one. Australia is a successful multicultural society."

Australia still has - for now - an English-speaking European majority. But when Australia ceases to have a core majority to cohere around and no longer has any sort of common culture, language or sense of purpose, what will hold this "multicultural society" together? A shared love of consumerism?

Mr Opinion: "There will just be a great majority of Chinese and other minor races."

That's an interesting point. The Chinese generally have low rates of out-marriage in every country they reside in.

ttbn: "One example is America, which is predicted to have a white minority by 2050."

Canada is in the same boat as the US and Australia:

"According to University of London professor Eric Kaufmann, almost seven out of 10 Vancouver residents will be “visible minorities” within two decades and 80 per cent of the Canadian population (compared to 20 per cent today) will be non-white in less than century.

Kaufmann notes that, with its continuing high immigration intake and the fact that four out of five newcomers are visible minorities, Canada is undergoing the fastest rate of ethnic change of any country in the Western world."

http://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/opinion-canada-replacing-its-population-a-case-of-wilful-ignorance-greed-excess-political-correctness