It is not important, what we think who is the most progressive, it is important, which turns out to be the strongest. The White European was for a long period the strongest, but it is on its way to withdraw. The Chinese will take over the leading role. The reason is that Western Civilization had as a result a too widespread neurotic middle class, which preaches self-destruction and self-hatred. This class was always in love with its own enemies and especially with savages. Thats a weakness that will lead to the destruction of the Western Culture. It is wonderful that the Chinese copy our technological advances, but won't committ the same mistakes which lead to self destruction. IMO a kind of evolution. They dont have any doubts in removing a religous-fundamentalist-feudal regime in Tibet and don't romanticize them.
You used a couple of "likleys" to arrive at your "Double...standard", not much respect for reality there. Foaming, barking mad, racial hate, can at times be all that losers are capable of. Certainly not the MO of a winner.
Right, I can beat the sh!t out of someone because I can! Wrong, I respect and value life! The weakness is superficial intolerances developed through pure racism or ignorance! Even when many countries were homogenous there were divisions, who are you kidding! Hitlers wanted to destroy human life based on the colour of ones eyes! It's time to stop being silly on the issue, it is negative actions that cause deep ingrained resentment that will never be fixed in our lifetime! Why perpetuate such rot with such superficiality!
The romanticist view of Tibet is well deserving of critique. I believe that historically it was always part of China, but aside from that (if I'm correct of course) it was definitely a feudal theocracy. The fawning over the Dalai Lama - nothing personal - is an example of the failure of critical thinking and the triumph of marketing bull(*)(*)(*)(*).
Stepping back to the Northern Territory Intervention I suspect that someone living under an Intervention knows more about it than we do. "Experiencing" it overrides our ideas and ruminations about it. Worth noting that two strong Indigenous propenents FOR the Intervention don't live under an Intervention themselves - that would be Bess Price and Noel Pearson. The following is a piece written by a woman living under Intervention. It is a long piece, but I think worthwhile, and a first-hand account of Intervention: The NT Intervention - Six Years On By Barbara Shaw Barbara Shaw has lived on income management in Alice Springs for more than five years. On the sixth anniversary of the NT Intervention, read what it has meant for her and her community Six years ago my family watched the TV in my living room as John Howard announced he would be sending in the military and taking control of our communities. I have never been more frightened in my life. I locked the gate of my town camp and kept the kids inside for two weeks for fear of them being taken. I worried constantly about my family out bush who didn't understand what was coming. They said the Intervention was about stopping children from being abused, that it was going to stop the drinking and domestic violence. But all I have seen is racism and disempowerment of our people. It's the old assimilation policy back again, to control how we live. The government and many non-Aboriginal NGOs have taken over the assets and responsibilities of our organisations, both in the major town centres and remote communities forcing us to comply with their policies that take no account of Aboriginal culture and our obligations. Take income management, which I have been on for five and a half years. I ran for parliament in 2010 and outpolled both Labor and Liberal candidates in Central Australian communities. I have represented my people at the United Nations. But the Government says I can't manage my money. On their own estimations of $6000 to 8000 per person per year administrative cost for income management, the government has spent more than $30,000 dollars just to control my small income. This system has made it much harder for us to share and care for each other. I used to run an unofficial safe house here at Mt Nancy town camp. I'd get money off all the parents every week. If there was drinking and fighting and the kids needed somewhere to be, they knew they were safe here at Big Mamma's house and that I could buy meals for them. No one has the cash to chuck in any more. The Government has refused to fund a community centre here on our town camp. The town camps of Alice Springs have seen a massive influx of people coming in from remote communities. Taking away Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) and Aboriginal Community Government Councils out bush means people have nothing to do there. At the moment I have five families and four generations staying in my house, my little family and others from the bush, many trying to access services like respite care which should be available back in their home community. We are one family in each room and another in the lounge room. As always, I have given up my bed out of respect for older relatives. Many who come into town to access the services just stay here, or others come in just to drink. I am witness on a daily basis to the increase in drinking and fighting on our camps that has come from this. It makes me sick in my stomach when I hear Aboriginal MLA Bess Price attack me in Parliament as an anti-Intervention activist who does not care about the suffering of women and children. I have to deal with these issues every day and I see them getting worse because of the policies she has supported. The massive influx of her own constituents from bush communities that have been robbed of jobs and assets is a major driving factor. Bess Price promised on ABC radio after being elected to the Northern Territory Parliament last year that she would put back the Yuendumu community council. Where is that promise now? Her Country Liberal Government has made it clear they will not be bringing back the Councils. Her Government has cut funding for our youth programs, has cut funding for domestic violence workers in NT Hospitals. These are all things we have been campaigning for. The $1 billion that has been budgeted since the Intervention for the income management system Bess Price supports but has never had to live under could fund the support and services that we actually need to deal with these issues. Many more police are employed now in Alice Springs, supposedly to deal with the social problems. But the relationship with Aboriginal people has seriously broken down. We live in fear of the police, always hearing stories about them bashing our relatives, or taking them 20km out of town so they have to walk back. We are scared what happened to Kwementyaye Briscoe, who died last year after being taken into protective custody by the police. The Intervention gave police the power to enter our homes without a warrant to search for alcohol, along with star-chamber powers that treat us as terrorists. I have heard that this week in a case brought by Palm Island residents, the High Court ruled that alcohol laws which target Aboriginal people are "special measures" under the Racial Discrimination Act because they are for our own good. Let me explain what this means for my life. Earlier this year there was a massive police raid here on my camp which they said was a "routine operation" to search for alcohol. There were paddy wagons, squad cars, four wheel drives, a surveillance van and police officers on dirt bikes circling every yard, going in to search every house. I was shaking in my shoes. I had many children in the house who are already scared of police and I didn't want them coming through. I was breaking the law that day. I had three cans left over from a six pack of beer in the house. I was worried I was going to be arrested and taken away with all these children in my house. I gave it to the police and asked them not to come through because of the children. But they said they had to. They walked through making comments like they were a landlord doing an inspection, "this is a nice house, not like those other ones". So many more of our people are going to prison. There are twice as many people locked up now than before the Intervention and three times as many woman. Close relatives of mine men, women and teenagers are all currently in prison. I'm giving support to my brother in law looking after a baby and young child while his wife is in prison. The house I live in is just one year younger than me. My father fought for funding to build houses on our town camps. We used to manage them ourselves before we were forced to sign over our leases to the Commonwealth government. Now I am paying next to market rent to the NT Housing agency on a house I have lived in for much of my life. We have so many problems with NT Housing. We used to get repairs and maintenance done through our Aboriginal council Tangentyere, but now we have to wait and wait for shoddy work from NT Housing. We used to be able to have people making trouble on our town camp dealt with straight away through Tangentyere. now we don't have that power and can't do anything about problem visitors. I sit at my front door and see Public Housing Officers, toy coppers who just cruise around our camps watching for trouble and calling the police. It used to be our Night Patrol our own people who would actually get out of the car, engage with us, try and solve problems where they could without police. Our Night Patrol is still active, but are being pushed aside out of their role. Living under Territory Housing rules and regulations is not culturally appropriate. For example, in Aboriginal society when somebody passes away, the family moves out of that house and another moves in. We swap houses. Or if a young fella comes out of ceremony camp, he has to stay in a house with other young men. We can't take our own initiatives to make these changes any more. There is a real ignorance and a hostile mentality towards Aboriginal people within the NT Housing department. I have fought the Intervention from day one. We built a massive amount of support from people and organisations right across Australia to try and stop the government from continuing the Intervention for another 10 years through the "Stronger Futures" laws. But they refused to listen to us. I will keep fighting. Self determination is the key to getting us out of the social problems that we face today. It is the only way to do this. It is just disgusting how much money has been wasted on bureaucrats to control us, or on ineffective non-Aboriginal services that can not engage with our people. Whether it's in a remote community or here in a town camp services must be delivered by our people. We must be given the power and resources to take control. We have the language, we have the communication, we can relate to one another. And there must be proper funding to our organisations, on a scale that can actually help lift us out of shocking living conditions. Not just peppercorn short term grants that set us up to fail. I want to appeal to all the supporters I know are out there to keep fighting alongside me. Income management is not just in my backyard, now it's coming to yours. Today, 21 June, there will be a press conference in Playford South Australia of a new coalition that has formed there to fight the expansion of income management into their community. Tomorrow on 22 June there will be a rally in Bankstown in Sydney which is also facing income management. We are all staring down the barrel of a Tony Abbott government. The Opposition Leader has said that income management should apply to all people on Centrelink across Australia. I truly believe he will be even worse for Aboriginal people than John Howard. I encourage everyone to vote for progressive parties other than the two major parties which have kept us under this Intervention. But most importantly we must continue to stand together and to struggle, to fight for Aboriginal self determination and to fight for jobs and services for all struggling communities not the punishment of the Intervention. Black and White unite! https://newmatilda.com/2013/06/21/nt-intervention-six-years
History demonstrates the tragic futility of racial hatred. Any human culture is vulnerable to criticism, no brains needed to "support" racial hate by the simple selection of convenient "supporting" facts, while ignoring balance. This process, simply amounts to dishonest distortion, a childish fantasy mentality. Good luck with that.
Criticism is usually the defense of racist people. Who knows if you are racist or not, but at the very least you show a callous disregard to the abused heritage of a people, and a callous disinterest in any sort of mediation of that abuse. Meaningless articulation doesn't validate it.
OK, I get it, you can`t handle criticism. Anyone who treads on your precious little toes is a racist? On the other hand, you are comfortable to pour out your racist hatred. What do you hope to gain by attempting to fan the fires of racial hate?
The criticism isn't about me, so what do I have to handle? Criticism, of course, is a very general term and covers both constructive and destructive criticism. By you saying "so you want your ancestral cave back" I don't even classify that as criticism. It sounds like a sneer to me. Also, where have I poured out my racial hatred?
If one has a window, it is highly education to look through the window, there is a real world out there. Inflaming racial hate, attempting to perpetuate and inflame old racial conflicts, are activities that we should resist at all costs. Racial conflict, is such an ugly thing.
You keep making accusations about racial hate being inflammed, but you haven' t shown where it was inflammed at. What I was pointing out was your callous remark, which seems to be either an endorsement or unapologetic response to the aborigine past in Australia. They know they can't ask for their land back because they'll never get it. They know they can't ask for reparations and get anything of meaning. I'm not even sure they've asked for apology, but the Reconciliation Convention is basically just a big meeting where one culture gives an apology for th collective abuses against another...at face value at least, because, apparently, there are people who can't give even that. But your response is typical. It's not you, of course, it's everyone else. You're the real victim here. All these racists bringing you down...why can't they just accept it?
You mean you don't have anything to reply with. You never had a substantial presence to begin with...
The problem is, he has the better of you. The problem is, you are not willing to admit you have been out witted. The problem is, you are really racist, you just don't want to admit it to yourself. The problem is .... YOU
As usual, when you have nothing to say, you say nothing. wtf has that remark got to do with anything other than you are lost for words?
There are predominately, two sides to most issues. In this instance, there are those who want to stir up racial hate, to squeeze every last ounce of bitterness out of the situation, to perpetually alienate and marginalise people. I oppose this view, it`s obviously your way, but it`s the most destructive attitude that Aborigines have ever faced. Look past self satisfied feelgood, and come to grips with reality.
Well, point out where the racism is that you feel is so evident. The most destructive attitude that the Aborigines had ever faced were those of the people who felt justified in destroying them...or trying their best to. This is how the word-game is played. Turn everything around so that the victims are now the abusers and the abusers the victims. The reality is that the imperialist culture has created the problems now faced by the Aborigines. How could they develop as a people when their land is occupied and they've been classified as secondary, when they weren't being bred-out or exterminated? But no, it's not those things, it's their inability to look past all that and deal with all the invisible racism they have to deal with in their own land. I think the reality is your inability to look at reality because you don't have to face the hardships they do. So you say they don't exist...and they're problems are their own.
I don't entirely disagree with your argument. In fact what you say is true. Firstly I think the word racism these days is used out of context and has been used as a word to add severity to the meaning of discrimination. Two close cousins but different in nature. Racism is something that is bred, and feeds off hate. Discrimination is learnt and fed of jealousy and misunderstanding. Like two brothers, one a carnivore and the other a vegitarian, yes they are related by blood, but can be differentiated by nature. These days few people understand the difference, mainly because of the devaluing effect the media have created. Calling and aboriginal man a blackfella, is that racism or labelling. If it is racism, the calling a man of European lineage a whitefella would also be racism. These type innocent terms have been labelled racism or discrimination, but I only ever see it cut one one. I know real racism. These days I have to say I don't see as much of it as everyone seems to claim. I do see discrimination on a daily basis, but real racism is becoming a much rarer beast. Thank god for that. I have said this before. We must never forget the past as it must be used to shape our future, but we can not live in it. Then it becomes as destructive as what we wish to never return to. it is time we moved past the blame game, as it is creating what I think is the most destructive effect on aboriginal australia........ The victim mentality. When a man has an excuse to hide from his flaws he will. When a man has an excuse to take the easy way out, he generally will. And when a man constantly finds himself bogged Down in the past, he cannot grow into his future.
When people like you say completely untrue things like, " So you say they don't exist...and they're problems are their own", the fact that you are lying about me, dosen`t bother me in the slightest. This isn`t about me, or you. It`s about the damage done to Aborigines, by your attitude. It`s about the racial tension that you are stirring up. If you genuinely have the interests of Aborigines at heart. I suggest that you take a more open minded view, place some value on truth.
Excellent post. How can we condemn the wrongs of the past, while we ourselves, knowingly indulge ourselves in the formula for their ultimate destruction?
You've got a strange view on this as far as I'm concerned! I would have to say that aborigines are bogged down because of attitudes of the past! Slippery, you may not experience racism as an aborigine, and I obviously wouldn't know if you look like the typical aborigine, if so, I don't think you would be able to really gauge broader attitudes! I'm not sure you also know what the word racism means! Anyway, racism is one of the main underlying factors of discrimination! These words could be used interchangeably as far as I'm concerned! I challenge my family on these issues and attitudes, not that all have immature attitudes but too many for there not to be a concern! I would not give up on challenging racism if I were you slippery, before you know your own people will be segregated again! The past is an important reminder, and what we should be aiming to do now! I think pat Dodson said that acknowledgement of the past is the driver for the future, and denial is the spoke in the wheel! He is basically saying that the current situation for aborigines is like a sore that can't heal because it keeps on getting bumped and scrapped over and over again! Saying that the past needs to be forgotten is like denying the real issue!
TV you should know better than to put words in other peoples mouths to suit your own argument. Not once did I suggest to forget the past. At times I am sure you selectively read. And TV I will not lose sleep over your opinion of my views, as I have lived all that is being portrayed on this thread, have you ? Try growing up when you are not wanted by either race or creed because you look like neither. Did that cause issues for me ? None I haven't been able to relinquish for the good of my future. Was I an angry teenager, you bet your right one I was. In and out of. Trouble 24/7. An elder from another aboriginal tribe far removed from my line was coaching me at the time. He said to me something that will always remain with me. He said until you let go of your past you will never move freely into your future. He did not profess to forget your past, just don't let it debilitate your future. You talk about sores that can't heal because they are being rubbed. It is not only the biggots that rub them. They are far more occasional than those who have good intentions always reminding us that we are different and were treated badly. Newsflash scoop, we already know that. What we need is to be accepted, and by the constant reminder that we are poor downtrodden blackfellas, that holds the acceptance back. Please for gods sake let us all move on......... Find another bloody cause !
The damage done to the Aborigines by my attitude? How does that make sense? You probably can't even describe my attitude because you're just shooting blanks, shouting racism this and that. On the scale of things that have negatively affected the Aborigines, my attitude, whatever it is, doesn't even register. But I am curious... What, exactly, is your view on the Aborigine's condition. The "truth" as you call it?
