mohogony

l'm fed up with Americans, British and Inidans and everyone else calling Australia a racist country, most of those who say OZ is racist are totally thick and know nothing about OZ, or their own history and all the racist crimes and racist treatment they have handed out their own people and others.
For example some Americans going on about how we stole the land from the Aboriginies, how do they think they got America did the Native Indians invite them over there.

Broad Shoulders

I'm sick of seeing the Aussie press, politicians and its citizens responding to the accusations with the same old retorts
"that's just the Aussie way, we don't mean any harm", "the world has become too PC and we're just telling it how it is", "if you don't like it leave" and so on.

There have been so many cases against Australia in the last few years and I am yet to see or hear of a well balanced direct response to the accusations. Instead we see a procession of head burying in the sand

Sally Redux

You can't even spell that right

spartacus

I hate thick foreigners. If a venn diagram of thick and foreigner was constructed, the foreigner bit would be entirely within the thick bit, not overlapping . . . that's how thick they are . . .

Australia racist? I mean they don't even no nothin' about it or nothin.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...19/2796338.htm

Broad Shoulders

good start

Centurion

The solution is somewhere in between I feel. The UK is too PC to the point of madness and risks loosing its cultural heritage to some degree for it, alternatively it may end up swinging right wing to over correct itself, neither of which is desirable. Australia does hold racist undertones and to deny that would be foolish.

Sat around a table a few nights ago are three school teacher friends. Apparently "if the Muslims have their way we will all have to change". I was shocked at that attitude and when questioned it was pretty much that the church going white teachers who work at a prominent religious local school had not one clue as to pretty much anything concerning the Muslim faith. It was just wholly a redneck response.

Yes, we need to educate and change things in Australia. To do so will merely strengthen our immigrant diversity which we hold so proud. I for one though would despise attempts to become PC to the point of the UK. Migrants should be expected to integrate into society and embrace Australian culture, however they should equally not have to be exposed to redneck, uneducated racism packaged up neatly in the national flag.

For me the way forward is not to try to burden the country with cultural baggage or standards from the UK which would be wrong, rather cause change through grass roots education in schools concerning the strengths of diversity and religious awareness.

charw

Wirelessly posted (NokiaN73-1/4.0750.31.2.1 Series60/3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

I ve got my PR this month & hope to land mid 2010. Feel bit worried for a fair play for Asians.

Broad Shoulders

Completely agree with you. And the first step towards this should be recognition, surely? The country, its media, politicians and people are in complete denial when the racist topic comes up. They are not even willing to examine or study these accusations to see if there is actually any truth in the matter. So I can't see how they will ever improve.

I am not saying that all of these accusations are true. I certainly do not think most of these Indian attacks are racially motivated, nor do I think the recent KFC ads were either. But all the Aussies seem to do is dismiss it out of hand, negating the possibility of learning from the experience.

scottishcelts

We know what we hear. Whenever I mention it, I always get the same remarks that Broad Shoulders suggests.

Zambia

Can someone tell me a country where there is no racism?

Because we can all go learn from them.

Few places get it right, essentailly you have to trickle feed people into your culture and allow them to be accepted gradually. If you dump a load of new ideals and cultures together they just clash.

Christmas being an example

My schooling involved a lot of christian based stuff, story of baby jesus etc. Now in some places this is now banned as its not a multi faith thing. So in essence I cant see my kids go through that ,and I feel I have lost something of my way of life.

When my family where in an Arabic country we where told you have to do this. its their culture and you must respect it. Then in my country my traditions and culture seemed open to debate and change? But I did not want to change, as by comparisson my culture seemed very inoffensive but yet was open to attack.

But I don't want others to change their culture either. I want England to be England , I want Egypt to be Egypt even with the things I dont agree with. I want to go to Japan and greet people differently. I want to go to Thailand and have and old woman slap me on the head when I rest my feet to high.

I want to have respect for other cultures and I want to have them respect mine. I dont want to live in one huge diverseless dump where we all meet over Big macs and try not to have any differences

Australia is not racist it does however contain racists, but so does every country.

Lord_Farquar

I am not sure what Inidans are either.

Bernieboy

Every week there are attacks on the asian/polish community from loyalist british thugs in the North of Ireland,even to the point of 'ethnic cleansing' style attacks,but unfortunately we have kid fiddling priests to keep them from the front page.Thankfully these thugs see themselves as 'British' not IRISH.

lonndongeek

Everyone's a little bit racist.

Cheers

Steve

knockoff nige

Australia has a smiliarlity to Ireland when it comes to racism. Irish people (speaking generally, as thats what we're all doing here) are racist but its more of a behind their back sort of chicken way out. Its definitely one of the reasons I left. I didnt leave expecting to find a racist free country. But I was aware of how much more honest Australians are in the sense of they do it to your face. Irish people will claim that racist slurs are simply attempts at cracking a joke with no harm meant. Australians are the same. But have the guts to do it to your face. If I have to respect one method, it would be the Australian way.