There's an age old argument about whether 'Australians' are racists. Quite obviously the answer is 'there's racists everywhere'. But the argument is generally aimed at the fundamental under fabric of Australian culture.....the Australian cultural knickers, if you like.
There's one dude on Youtube that I kinda like, in some respects. He thinks he's hot shit but on some levels he has a certain........matey, blokey, caring sorta vibe about him. A good fella to get on the piss with, if ya know what I mean. On another level though, he typifies the Australian dominant psyche from an immigrant's point of view - me.
Check out this argument about banning the Islamic Burka in various areas of retail.
If you are ever looking for a definition of 'Yobbo', refer people to him, BUT, the "fuck off back to your homeland if you don't like it" argument is totally mainstream, down the line, typical.
Actually, Islam has been here longer than Christianity. They traded and bred with the Indigenous population up the top end for a LONG TIME before Christians arrived. But that argument aside, when does someones ancestral homeland stop being THEIR own homeland?.....after one, or ten generations?.
It's ignorance and bigotry pure and simple.
I couldn't tell ya how many times I've been told about how wrong it is for immigrants to be taking 'our' jobs. I usually reply, "I'm an immigrant", and theirs is, "yeah, but you're a kiwi, like one of us", and me, "you mean 'I look white'". (I actually hate the term 'white')
Indonesia is actually closer to Australia than New Zealand is. But they fall into that 'bad immigrant' status.
Now before I get haranged for being a generalising prat. If I know you, I don't think you fit into that category, but that doesn't mean that under current of bigotry isn't there, it is, and it made an appearance in Cronulla.
End vent.
Monday, 19 January 2009
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yeah. i'm not so much 'white' as 'putty colored.' and i'm with you as to the whole 'taking our jobs' philosophy. living in the american south, a liberal like me feels like a fish out of water some of the time. but my reasoning is, this place needs people like me, so i plan to stay put for the next few years at least. plus, moving is the biggest pain in the arse there is. wow. this is a very disjointed comment, isn't it.
ReplyDeletebut Kiwis do steal all the jobs. In my office there are 15 people, 5 of which talk with that weird noo zoolund accent.
ReplyDeletethats 30 percent from a country 1/6th of the size
you're kind is taking over the world mate
oh and lermontov called you a poof on my blogger page - http://uamada.blogspot.com/
- don't know which one i'll keep
I think you're not far from reality there Moko. Xeonophobia, racism and bigotry are played out of fear of the unknown. Racist slurs also become handy sledges on the sporting field. the answer is living and working with people from all sorts of backgrounds. Helping out a workmate or teammate can go a long way to riping up that fear and ignorance.
ReplyDeleteCurious. I'm not aware of any historical evidence pointing to commerce/exchange between the Indonesians and the Aborigines. Of course, it's an area I've never looked into, and you'd sort of expect some kind of contact, given the geological proximity. Can you point me to some resources on this?
ReplyDeleteIs that guy for real, or some very clever fellow doing his yobbo impersonation? I'll buy him the big NASCAR T-shirt right now!
ReplyDeleteActually, at least here, we do need to do something about illegal immigration. Unlike you, we of course have long relatively unguarded land borders, easy for sneaking in (or smuggling stuff in). That's got to be curtailed.
On the other hand, we gotta want to do the work the immigrants are doing (manual labor and domestics).
Capt ~ http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/788082?&#details
ReplyDeleteSearch the key words too. It's intriguing. Many from the Indigenous population went back with the 'Indonesian' - Macassarese - to sus out their origins. The Spanish apparently found some there.
YDog ~ Yeah, he's for real. lol
...and Capt ~ http://www.nma.gov.au/audio/transcripts/NMA_Mercieca_20080709.html
ReplyDeleteFor reference.
Hard to do anything but laugh!
ReplyDeleteCriminals? B–but modern Australia was founded as a criminal colony!
ReplyDeleteTo say that people shouldn’t be allowed to lobby for a change in law because they’re relatively recent immigrants is absurd. The laws in any country have been created by the people who’ve settled there – it’s a purely relative matter.
You get the same in any country of course, the UK and the US included, despite the fact that both were founded by settlers and/or invaders.
Ignorance and bigotry. Speaking from experience it is very hard as a mother with young children going shopping in a pair of slacks and blouse not feeling upset and indeed wondering why there are certain people allowed in our country, when you have a Muslim male complete with his wife and daughter totally in black, giving you a look that says he would dearly love to spit on you. God knows I am an immigrant too, now an Australian citizen, and I DO NOT appreciate being subjected to rude behaviour from anyone and I don't give a fat rats freckle where the hell they come from. Respect is a simple term, and above all something to be earned. NOT demanded.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Domestic Daze. Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDelete"...giving you a look that says he would dearly love to spit on you."
Maybe he was considering asking you if you knew where an ATM was too. You're a product of your upbringing and certain things beyond your control. You believe things that you never questioned - we all do. You hate judgement yet you judged them.
Respect is earned. Very true. You ever tried talking to them?.
Funny, thinking about this pattern where the immigrant who's been here for two hours looks down on the one who's been for for one.
ReplyDeleteWe went to see Mental as Anything (well really, it's just Greedy and Martin Plaza with a few ring-ins these days) at the Kedron-Wavell RSL club last week. My wife, who kept her maiden name because she's one of only three in Australia to have it (including her parents) had booked the tickets in her name.
Fine.
So the girl at the counter says "Now, that's not Australian is it?". I wasn't quick enough to come up with a "That's right, she's from Melbourne", my wife, who has a prety broad Aussie accent, just says "No it's Hungarian" and we head in.
I'd be willing to bet that my German side, which settled between Ipswich and Toowoomba in the 1860s have been here longer than most of this girlie's forbears. But one doesn't generally get the option to drag out actual facts to counter bigots, does one? Ah well.
Facts and Bigots generally don't blend to well.
ReplyDeleteBE curious to know what an 'Australian name' actually is tho...