Thank you, Foxy, what a beautiful man ! He could even make Runner smile, or at least perk up a bit.

Joe

Foxy,

two fools met and a third decided to listen.
Why on earth would we want to hear about another person who is living a lie.
Between you Paul and your associates, you all put out enough fiction and fairy tales to write a book of your own.
First and foremost there is no way that guy is being honest, neither to himself nor the rest of society.
As for the book, it is a commercial venture, you know the type? the bottom line, money.
If he wrote something then put it out for free, say on the internet, I would be inclined to say he would appear to be getting his message out there through care and compassion for his fellow man.
The reason for the so called interview with that maggot, yes maggot, she earned that title for what she said and the way she attacked parents with boys accusing them of raping girls, again another journo maggot giving a much un-wanted, arrogant, and ignorant personal opinion.
Where was I?
Oh yeah, the so-called interview was a veiled and covert advertisement for his book.
You shmucks, always looking at everything with your personal and mis-guided view and never seeing the actual truth.
Think about it, if ANYONE of you/us had gone through what he claims to have gone though, would you/we be so magnanimous and forgiving?
Don't bother answering, if you dis-agree then you have an open mind.
If you agree, no-one cares, because when someone has been truly abused and so critically affected emotionally as I believe certain people here on OLO would be, there is no way anyone with even the most compassion and understanding, could EVER forgive and they certainly would not forget.
Forgetting about such atrocities would be the only genuine way of forgiving, but then it would not be forgiveness but forgetfulness.
By all means carry on, why start being objective and honest now.

Alt Rave,

Interesting rant. Perhaps you can join the dots between that and 'Closing the Gap 2.0'.

Frankly, I have little hope for closing any gaps unless the focus is on employment and education, the keys to the kingdom, as my wife titled one of her essays on Indigenous progress.

After all, Alt Rave - and Foxy too - after the War, what did migrants value most ? Employment: housing could come later. And for their kids, what did they value ? Education. Was it common for migrants to drive their kids with those goals ? Bloody oath.

Did they worry and bother about housing, etc.? Not primarily - I remember in the early fifties, out in Bass Hill, we (including a lot of 'Balts') all seemed to live in one-room shacks that our dads had thrown up on a paddock, often with no water, no electricity, no toilets. Decent housing came later. And it was vital that the kids worked hard on their schoolwork. Employment for the grown-ups, education for the kids.

In remote Indigenous communities, there is an added bonus: land. Certainly, across much of Indigenous-owned Australia, the land is pretty crap - except that most 'communities' have running water.

But at least down this way, there are 'communities' with thousands of acres of beautiful land. I used to drive my wife crazy by suggesting that a thousand Vietnamese could turn the twelve thousand acres of beautiful land that her 'community' owned, into a hundred viable projects in a year. A bit racist, in two ways ?

But of course, Aboriginal people had absolutely no experience of systematic farming. I think that the entire land rights movement (that we busted our arses on) was merely to get land back which OF COURSE had minerals under it - all land has minerals under it. And that means royalties.

Pity things didn't work out that way. No, no minerals. No, no royalties, at least down this way. Now, employment and education may be the only options.

Apart from lifelong welfare, of course.

Joe

Well it's taken me all morning to get over ALTRAV's
latest rant against Eddie Jaku, OAM. One of the
best-known faces in the Sydney Jewish Community.

I didn't think that I could be shocked by any of the
posts on this forum any more. But ALTRAV's rant against
Mr Jaku and Lisa Wilkinson - shocked me.

Mr Jaku (Jakubowitz), OAM, was integral in the
establishment of the Sydney Jewish Museum in 1992 and since
then he has volunteered at the Museum continuing to give
his time and heart to ensuring the lessons of the past are
passed on and that hatred of any group is not allowed to
spread.

Eddie turned 100 in April. He is a Holocaust survivor.
He has the number 172338 etched on his forearm from
Auschwitz. The horrors that he suffered are beyond belief.
Yet his aim is to send a message that will continue to
inspire positive change in future generations.

His campaign is to inspire people to do more for others and
their community and society at large, because he feels that
right now, the world needs more people doing good.

His campaign urges the next generation to think about their
impact jon the world and to create positive change.

ALTRAV does not understand any of this and questions Mr Jaku
whether he really is who he says he is. And he can't understand
how someone could forgive his enemies.

Yet ALTRAV says he was raised as a Roman Catholic? That can't
be true surely. Because didn't Jesus teach about forgiving
your enemies (turn the other cheek?) May be ALTRAV has his
own version of Christ's teachings. - Obviously, ALTRAV as
we hear all the time on this forum - he has his own - "Truth".

And only he knows what's right!

Sic!

Loudmouth,

have I not said previously, that instead of throwing money and benefits, even land, at the blacks AND greys, we should be leading and teaching them to, at least in the beginning, grow food, crops and start to have a real say in their own affairs by actually doing things like farming and agriculture, thereby demonstrating that they are willing and capable to become self sufficient, more independent and less reliant on the whites.
Maybe not, it's easier to just annoy the shite out of the white fellas till they get fed up and give in, that way they can have their cake and eat it too.
Joe I'm not sure where you got the impression I was referring to closing the gap other than my point was that disregarding what was discussed and presented, about this man's past, analysing his story, no thinking, mature adult could forgive nor forget what he purports to have gone through.
So if you were in his shoes and you were prepared to forgive and forget, I would still tell you, you are wrong to do so.

Foxy, as for your words of criticism and condemnation;
MOOT and IRRELEVANT!
When you decide to look at things rationally and with objectivity, come back to me with a clear response to what I said and not what YOU think I'm trying to say.
If the man has sold you on his rationale and motives, then that's your business, but until you or anyone else can prove my point as inconceivable, I would suggest curtailing the personal critique.
Can you say with absolute conviction that what I suggest is not conceivable?
And as for my religious beliefs HAH, consider yourself as just having been abused and put back in your rosy little box, because again, if you had the where-with-all to remember, I broadcast it long and loud that even though I was raised in the Catholic system, I rejected it for the million reasons I so carefully pointed out.
So stop it with the petulant little annoying child behaviour, you are losing face and cred.

ALTRAV referred to Lisa Wilkinson as a "maggot"
(his favourite term for powerful women).
Here's an appropriate ditty about "maggots" :

The maggots revenge.

The worms crawl In
The worms crawl Out
In your ears
And out your snout

They crawl in thin
And come out fat
They love to eat
And they won't scat

They'll eat your eyes
They'll eat your nose
They'll eat the jelly
Between your toes

Your stomach will turn
A slimy green
And puss will come out
Like whipping cream

You call women maggots
But they'll be in your bed
And they'll enjoy eating you
When you are dead!

The last laugh won't be yours.