robo43

And there idea of "help" means handout. As for John Lennon what a load of idealistic tosh.Try telling that to the Afghans no religion.

robo43

But these economic migrants are not from such a culture.Never seen or heard anyone being chastised for working to hard.All immigrants should assimilate to the host culture not retain there own

Vash the Stampede

I think it's more reasonable to request integration rather than assimilation. Australia is a multicultural society, after all.

However, it should be clearly understood that the laws of Australia take precedence over any cultural or religions beliefs and practices.

robo43

Multiculturism has never worked and should be abandoned as a failed outdated dogma

Vash the Stampede

Not true. It works in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and plenty of other countries around the world.

Forcing people to give up their cultural identity and lose themselves in a vague homogeneous mass is a retrograde philosophy which has wreaked havoc in the past and continues to damage inter-cultural relations today.

robo43

Hardly the multiculture centre of the world those 3 and there have already been racial confrontations over east

bourbon-biscuit

What else would you suggest a civilised country do? Seriously? Bombing the boat or dragging them out of Australian waters or immediate repatriation/deportation are hardly the actions of a civilised country are they? We have to give these people the benefit of the doubt, process their claims in accordance withe the laws and professionals' understanding of the situation and see what comes. We don't decide if someone's going to be a refugee depending upon how well they'll integrate or how many more will come.

But multiculturalism is still quite a young concept and yes actually, I think on the whole it does work in those three countries. I certainly enojoy the benefits of multiculturalism here in Australia and did in NZ. Clashes and confrontations can't be seen as mass failure of multiculturalism- more a shaking down process, imo. Also, there are always thugs and idiots in any culture ready to cause trouble- that's not a new product of multiculturalism.

Vash the Stampede

Three of many, remember. They're not the only ones. Of those three, Australia is probably the most multicultural, but my point still stands. 25% of Australians were born overseas; that's even more than the UK!

Yes, there have been racial confrontations over east. There will always be racial confrontations of some sort; you'll never eradicate them completely. But for the most part, multiculturalism works.

How many Australian-born Muslims have killed their fellow citizens with suicide bombs? You can count them on the fingers of one foot.

paulry

Multiculturalism is a soft form of apartheid. It encourages ethnic communities to form their own racial groupings, ghettos, etc. ... it's a ticking time bomb - especially when the communities become large.

A melting-pot approach where all the racial and cultural groups fold into one to produce a single and united national identity is preferrable by far.

bourbon-biscuit

That's interesting. I wonder whether the first paragraph is always true or is most true in societies where there are huge socio-economic disparities between cultural groups?

The second paragraph rings alarm bells aplenty for me. What would happen to Maori culture (or any minority culture within a society) if this approach had been/is taken?

paulry

There are lots of potential lines of division. I suspect that some of the socio-economic disparities that exist today may be encouraged by multi-culturalism. Solution: don't create/encourage separate cultural groups.

The Maori culture... Is it not the result of the merging of the early (pre european) settlers cultures?

Wol

Exactly. Part of the problem is that "Multiculturalism" means different things to diffeent people.

Like most people, I have no problem mixing with individuals of any "race" (using "race" in the popular sense) but that doesn't mean I enjoy being with *ferals* of any colour.

If immigrants want to maintain their superstitions aka religious beliefs then that's OK by most people too - but where "multiculturalism" merges into intolerant ghettoes it's gone way past the line and I think the host nation is quite at liberty to think "why don't they go home and be intolerant there?"

Australia was built on an Anglo Saxon base*: fact, like it or not. If that's going to be overturned then the result needs to show an improvement - and I don't see that has happened anywhere where whole areas have been taken over by nationalities with different values.

(* Don't bring up the old Aboriginal argument, please: if you accept that one then basically the whole continent should be ceded back to the hundreds of tribes.)

SteveBannister

Anyone with an ounce of sense would have realised that they were lighting a powder keg when they started a thread like this.

The only person who is 'showing themselves up', is you by lowering yourself and using the language that you have just used.

So, as you say, 'if you don't like it here....'

seang

bloody hell theres a blast from the past

paulry

I fully agree with you.