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Comment by Фелч Гроган on February 3, 2010 at 9:00am

The inevitable side effects of whipping up racism hysteria in a vacuum -

Burned Indian faked attack to claim insurance: police

Comment by Фелч Гроган on January 28, 2010 at 6:15pm

This Indian thing has been spun out of control. One interesting aspect of this is that a lot of the attacks were perpetrated by middle eastern homeboy gangs. Now how do you classify that ? A minority that squeals about islamophobia perpetrating violence against another minority that is now squealing racism. Is that "Australian" racism ? If not, what is it ?

Comment by Sentient Biped on January 28, 2010 at 4:19pm

Ryan,

I'm no Australian, and have never been there. It sounds like your friend got her eyes opened, and is less naive than a year ago.

Australia has been in the news quite a bit lately due to racist actions against Indian immigrants or temporary residents. Here is a new search on the topic. Modern racist activities in Australia have included violence and killing. Is it less per capita than other places? I don't know. The heritage of discrimination and dehumanization of indigenous peoples is unique to Australia, other than US, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malasia, India, Sri Lanka, Russia, Nigeria, South Africa, Cuba, New Zealand, and maybe 50 or a hundred other countries.

If we exclude people in N. America, S. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Africa, and Island nations, you won't find a lot of racism. That doesn't excuse it, but it's there. Everyone makes assumptions based on inadequate information, such as "Always thought of Aussies as friendly, happy folk so this came as a bit of a shock to me." I don't mean that to be an accusation, just a way of showing that it's a generalization, stereotyping an entire nation of people, and we all do it. Doesn't make it OK, but we all do it.

The challenge to your friend, and to the rest of us, is what to do about it?

Comment by Robert Madewell on January 28, 2010 at 12:52pm

I've had several Australian friends (both online and in person). They did seem to be a bit prejudiced against Native Australians. Though, one friend in particular did seem to have an appreciation for their spirtual beliefs.

Comment by ryan cameron on January 28, 2010 at 10:35am

I agree every country has its racism, ignorance etc. but I somehow thought Australia was completely different for some reason, perhaps all the marketing. They certainly do a better job of hiding the "nasty stuff" than most countries do I guess.

Comment by Stephen Moore on January 28, 2010 at 9:33am

All walks of life she came across seemed to have nothing but scorn and contempt for "abbos" and used them as the butt of every joke.

Can anyone corroborate this? Was she just hanging in the wrong crowds?

Oh, we don't just tell jokes about abbos. We're equal opportunity racists.

Another thing she pointed out is that there are so many backpackers going there, that they have become the primary source of cheap labor for the country, and are exploited at every turn.

You mean backpackers aren't supposed to be used as cheap labour? Bloody hell! Then what good are they?

Always thought of Aussies as friendly, happy folk so this came as a bit of a shock to me.

Yeah, but you're white.

They also seemed to exploit every possible natural resource, have no regard for sustainability, and kill every wild animal there is due to their ever expanding and encroaching farms.

Now that's a lie! It's our sprawling suburbs, not our farms, that's killing the wildlife.

Comment by Фелч Гроган on January 28, 2010 at 8:16am

There are also tourists that will tell you we enjoy skinning baby kangaroos alive too. I wholeheartedly support all this rumour-mongering. The less whiny, pink, socially conscious fingerpointers that visit the better. Should ask her how many homeless people she ignores on her average trip to work each day ? It's always easier to find evil in far away lands. Also tell her if she wants to see real racism, she should try a holiday in Rwanda or Sri Lanka where they have 48 shades of brown that all want to kill each other. Oh wait, coloured people can't be racist. That's a whites-only luxury.

"Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem." -- John Galsworthy