racism in australia...

[Jubas]

ah racism
i think its taken too seriously by some people.. racism happens both ways. you hear people being called white boys, (with a negative connotation), and you see people being called other racial names based on their race. i don't think you're ever really going to get rid of it.. and to tell you the truth, i don't think its all that bad.. i've been called names based on my race/heritage.. and at the time it hurt, but hey, you get over these things ;P

i think as some people have said before.. racism in australia isn't all that bad comparatively..

 

[up all night]

I got called a 'white slut' today because I told a group of men that I thought it was perfectly normal for a girl to chase a guy [rather than the other way around].

I didn't really see it as a racist slur necessarily, just a difference in cultures.

I think sometimes people just take things too seriously.

 

[ashaman]

up all night: women who chase guys rock.

 

[UnSquare]

Incredible Dancing Dirt

i agree totally..... as a race, humans are very stupid..... look at the way our collective behaviour basically ensures our eventual demise.....

Is that just the Tuesday Blue's?

Com'on,

"The bleakness of the Modern Scientific proclaimation
In the extraordinary journey from matter to body
to mind to spirt, Scientific Materialism [a phase of
what you describe in consciouness evolution] halted
the journey, at the very first stage, and proclaimed
all subsiquent development to be nothing but
arrangements of fristy dirt.
Why this dirt would get right unp an eventually
start writing poetry is not explained."

-Ken Wilber
http://wilber.shambhala.com/

Or

Anima Naturaliter Christiana

"The soul is endowed from the outset
with the knowledge of 'God', and
what 'God' imparts in this manner can
at most
be obscured,
but never entirely extinguished."
^
(I'm not Christian)

I'm not into word shit like this,
'caus people draw religious/other connotations.
But if evolution of matter into consciousness is a force,
then wouldn't you think that involution of
consciouness into mater occurred, too.

And if Dirt's gonna leaarn dancing
than it might wanna learn better steps.
Or at least play too by ear and try and look cool.

UnUnSearching

[too obscure? *no sarcasm*]

 

[Sleaze]

I got called a 'white slut' today because I told a group of men that I thought it was perfectly normal for a girl to chase a guy [rather than the other way around].

I didn't really see it as a racist slur necessarily, just a difference in cultures.

I think sometimes people just take things too seriously.

I find it hard to believe someone so beautiful as yourself, needs to chase guys?

But if that's the way you like it, catch me if you can...

 

[up all night]

Living up to your name I see.

 

[SardonicNihilist]

Australia is definitely a racist country. From day one of the invasion it has been racist except now it's not "cool" to be openly racist, so I agree there are many "closet racists". These people exhibit their racism through their beliefs, political choice, and the indifference which they feel towards certain groups, eg. 'that's just an ASian problem, not ours to worry about'.


On the other hand it's "cool" to be a lefty, so many of the same people who want to welcome refugees and the less fortunate to our wide open lands, would rather see them in their natural environment on a hedonistic tour in the third world playground of cheap fun. Like whatever trend is fashionable at the time, rich westerners seem to make the best of any situation. This is something which I've noticed in some of my friends during overseas trips, which doesn't make them racist per se, just kind of selfish.

""They" are fine, I'm not racist but I'm not going to give up my lifestyle so they can have a better quality of life". I personally would rather see homeless Bangladeshi's sleeping in our office buildings, train stations and shopping centres overnight, overcrowding our public toilets, begging, or starting small street-side stalls selling tea and single ciggies, etc. because it means they have a better quality of life than they had back home. A life of poverty here is better than a life of poverty in many overcrowded 3rd world cities. Of course it would make us a lot more uncomfortable and create some waste management problems, some foul odours, and a lot of mess but I honestly feel it's worth helping out those less fortunate than ourselves albeit at our loss.. I'll leave it there getting a bit off topic.

 

[killarava2day]

Wow... I started a thread that i didn't start. Cool 8)

Pesonally, i feel that a lot of Australians are racist, albeit in a subtle yet insidious way. I grew up in rural Victoria and can safely say that racism is deeply ingrained there. I heard someone from bendigo, who should know better than to make such a remark around the company he was in, that he wouldn't live anywhere there were "boongs". This casual, off-the-cuff racism is very fucking prevalent in white anglo saxon Australia, you should hear the vitriol I used to hear at school about "gooks". It is very deeply ingrained, when Australia opened its borders to European there was wide-spread fear that an influx of southern europeans would sully the Austrlian race, PM Calwell made sure all the media images of the first arrivals were of blonde haired, blue eyed northen europeans. In fact, during the late 19th C and early 20th C Australia was a leading proponent of social-darwinism, the precursor to nazism (which adopted and expanded on many ideas that developed here), as probably the most progressive countries of the day racism was an accepted and encouraged attitude. One has to keep in mind that racial purity was considered a progressive ideal, its advocates viewed policies such as White Australia as protecting the rights of workers (as long as they were white). Aborinal people were, in frontier QLD, considered open game for squatters well into the 1920's. Attitudes such as these die hard, it is laughable to think they could have been shrugged off in a matter of two or three generations, especially considering the animosity developed by many war veterans during WW2, these sort of things have an almost ozmosis quality, passed from generation to generation. It's like child-abuse, with which is well documented that victims have a much higher chance of becoming perpetrators in later life, the effects ripple through the ages for quite some time. Which is why people who can't understand that indigenous people are still suffering for what happened to their forebears are fucking idiots who have little comprehension of how trauma is so often an inter-generational issue. for instance, if you have parents who have been heavily traumatised and escape through drink and you grow up seeing a drunk parent all the time then you are going to think that is normal. Unless one receives support and care from other influences then those environmental factors are going to play a massive role in a childs development, seeing as though the human brain doesn't fully develop until the late teens.

Bah... Fuck it, I don't want to get into this arguement again, I just offered a random comment about how i feel about insidious remarks about "muzzas" and their underlying racial insinuations, it wasn't meant to be a whole thread.

To quote The Herd (in relation to public support of Howards cold-hearted approach to the efugees on the Tampa:

"Seventy per cent of this country are racists,
I'll say it to your fuckin' faces..."

 

[killarava2day]

From my knowledge and personal experiences, there aren't many countries that will except such a diverse range of cultures from all over the world, like Australia does.

What other cultures have you experienced, pray do tell?

 

[onetwothreefour]

Originally posted by Sleaze
It's funny how no one has committed to a firm answer, yes or no. Maybe because half of you use the word RACIST a lot to loosely.

my answer was pretty firm. though the response itself is somewhat ambiguous, i think that's because that's what the answer really is. and fwiw, i pretty much agree with nezo in that it's not really a racist comment, just an (incorrect) generalisation. but the fact that it does not have any negative connotations (at least, that i can see) would presumably preclude it from being racist.

i'm sure other people's opinions might differ though, as i am aware that some people define racism as any incorrect generalisation or steretype, regardless of whether it is intended with/results in negative connotations.

Originally posted by nezo
kenyans aren't predisposed for anything except for being black.

They're better long distance runners cause they live and train in high altitude low oxygen environments which helps them develop a body more suited to long distance running. You stick any one in that environment and the chances are they will be better long distance runners.

It's all about environment people.

btw, nez, this isn't strictly true. you're point about the environment helping to develop their body is correct, but it's also true that black people in general are -and it's a fact- predisposed to be better athletes than your average anglo-saxon. i don't have my text books handy, and my knowledge is a little shakier than it was back in year twelve, but in a broad sense - the biological make-up of a black person is "athletically" superior than that of a white person. one exception, that i can think of is swimming, in which white people actually have a far better bone structure for the sport. these things have *nothing* to do with environment and are purely biological products of our evolutionary nature (though, i guess, it could be argued that evolution itself is a product of our environment, but i'm sure you do see my point ).

this biological predisposition does not mean that every white person is going to lose out athletically to every black person, and it doesn't mean that you *should* be an athlete if you're black or any of that kind of shit - it's just how the body is.

ergh, i've made one of those annoyingly circular and long-winded arguments again, which makes no more sense in three paragraphs than it would have in one sentence, but hopefully you sorta followed it through. in short, black people are just made better than me

 

[onetwothreefour]

sorry, i totally missed this when i posted the above. allow me to defend myself

Originally posted by nezo
I actually think this statement was the most racist one I've seen today on this board.

Firstly, it makes a racial judgement against all other nationalities by saying that somehow, they are biologically less inclinded to be great long distance runners. what rubbish.

no, i'm not making "racial judgements". in fact, i'm stating facts gained from my (albeit small) knowledge of the human body which i learned in vce physical education. it's not the most amazing resource for knowledge, but i assume they were teaching us fact rather than fiction.

are you perhaps haven't difficulty qualifying my statement? yes, biologically kenyans are going to be -generally- better than, say, myself. this doesn't mean shit in any sociological sense - i'm not at all suggesting that every kenyan should therefore dedicate themselves to a life of athletics, nor in fact that every non-kenyan should give up any such endeavour.

all i'm saying is that their bodies are built a little better for it. and it's true; if you really don't believe me i'll go find some concrete evidence - i'm happy to do so if you would like.

remember that a biological inclination has zero bearing on a particular person's free will, and that they can still do any thing that they want - and i've never suggested otherwise.

Secondly, it says that Kenyan's aren't any good at anything else except being victims of the first world. More rubbish. Perhaps this is a judgement based on their economical and political state, but for me, it also implies a judgement based on race. Therefore, racism.

obviously i was implying here that kenyans (as in, here, people living in kenya, under the conditions of their particular social and political milieu) are a little more disadvantaged than your average person in western society. rather than a racist comment, i was actually attempting to draw attention to the unfortunate fact that it really doesn't matter whether they're going to be good at sport or not if their economic situation doesn't even allow them the opportunity for a decent meal half the time (and, more importantly, that this is a far more important issue in itself, imo).

my point: that some things are a little more important than biology, but biology still exists.

 

[papermate]

theres too much to say here, that more or less has been said before.

Do a search for ''racism'' for the last 100 days and you come up with 39 threads.

And thats just us bluelighters, and we cant seem to find solution to the issues of racism. How's the world going to do it??

 

[Tarsarlan]

I think the solution is simple. Don't judge someone else because they're different.

Getting everyone to implement that solution is the hard part though, too many people often have their own benefit in mind, and don't care if the means to their end includes a foot up someone elses.

 

[x2shy]

Make racism illegal.
That will stop it.

 

[Jubas]

^^ uh huh.

everyone in the world is racist to a degree. prove me wrong.
its always been here, it will always be here..
why make such an issue over it? you can't make it go away!

 

[x2shy]

^^I'm with you,.
Just make sure how feel doesn't make a diffrence as to how to how you act.
IE, don't make choices that are racist.
"I'm not hiring that gook!" etc.

 

[doofqueen]

heh. *starts to write up a huge flame, but squelches it with water*
Short answer: no. Australia is pretty diverse in its population and race, but there's no major racism... we *tolerate* each other pretty well, i would say.

Note tolerate... there's still a lot of improvements that can be made... we tolerate, but do not *synergise*

That's the thing...they "tolerate" multiculturalism but don't really accept or like it and i agree that there are alot of improvements to be made for diversity to be accepted and lived with happily. (to who ever said Australia is free and what not not COMPARED to other countries) So what if others are not as free as ours? That doesn't mean that we have to lower our standard to be equal with them. Why the fuck can't the whole world live in peace? I just don't undersatnd it 8) (yes i know there are alot of political issues and yada yada yada ) I'm just saying that i don't undersatnd why race and ethnicity is such a big thing. We accept people's personalities/thoughts/beliefs etc are different...why not our cultures?

 

[ashaman]

Racism will eventually go away. More and more interracial couples are forming these days; the typical chinese girl with a caucasian guy, indian with chinese, black with white, everywhere.

Once you get to a generation where more or less everyone is a mix, and that the only 'pure' people are the minority, then for the majority, racism wouldn't be exist.

imagine this, a half white half yellow guy goes : you mother fucking white boy. 8(

 

[x2shy]

/me waving the flag for a mixed marriage.
One things is for sure, our kids are going to be stunning
(half white, half asian)

 

[Raz]

^^ uh huh.

everyone in the world is racist to a degree. prove me wrong.
its always been here, it will always be here..
why make such an issue over it? you can't make it go away!

First of all, everyone in the world ISN'T racist,I know I'm sure as hell not. Not even to a "degree",whatever that means.

Secondly, it wasn't all that long ago that women had always been treated as second class citizens in the western world and didn't even have the right to vote. And I'm sure if you'd asked the average person in the 1800's, they wouldn't have seen that changing any time soon either. But hey, someone made an issue over it and while I wouldn't say those problems have "gone away", vast improvement have been made in women's rights in the last century.

The point is, saying that because a problem's been around for a long time nobody should try to change it...that's totally socially irresponsible. Our responsibility as a society should never be to maintain the status quo, it should be to ensure that everyone in that society shares equal benefits, rights and standards of living.