Are We Racist?

[Mostrov]

Sir do you want more examples than the white austrailia policy look at austrailia nationalist party won 25% of the elections in 1998 thats not very far and going back to another aboriginal question heres an interesting fact :
n 1987, a sensational “discovery” was made by a Sydney University team, led by Australia’s most celebrated pre-historian, Professor D J Mulvaney. They reported that the Australian population in 1788 was 750,000, or three times the previous estimate. They concluded that more than 600,000 people had died as result of white settlement.

Your knowledge of Australia as a nation is rather limited considering the fact that you equate highly antiquated laws such as the White Australia policy; which was created at a time when women were getting the right to vote, with (a minority) of racially motivated attacks against Indians.

Also the National(ist) party is actually one that represents people living in rural and country Australia, which is representative of farmers rights etc.; although right-wing (In Australia politics stick very close to the centre, infact last elections were almost entirely decided on the personality of the party leaders).

http://www.globalissues.org/article/165 ... nAustralia

Disease mostly, its the same case with American natives, they died almost entirely from disease.

Quite. This is what a whole lot of people don't realise about colonisation. People in Europe and Asia had different diseases from those in the Antipodes (why the hell am I calling them that) and the Americas. Thus they had no immunity and died en masse. Also cultural disruption played a large role, but Modern People can hardly be held accountable for the failings of people 200 years ago.

Jedi 999, if you had actually read that arcticle you would have noticed the adverse reaction for the 1 nation party in the senate elections, and it occured in the state of Queensland which has relatively little population compared to NSW and Victoria and has always been right-wing.

This source doesn't actually have any real idea of the socio-economic conditions under which the aborigines dwell, particularly in relation to the concept that they are actively discriminated against. As someone who has friends in the Human Rights Commision, I do know a lot of these things firsthand. Also the poisoning of waterholes and other active 'attacks' against the aborigines, they were mainly carried out by stockman who aren't representative of Australian society.

[Sel Appa]

Due to the recent flurry of accusations that Australia is a racist country, such as the claims from India and the claims from the US, do you believe that we (Australians) are racist or tolerant?

I believe that the attacks against Indians are very unfortunate, yet not indicative of a larger problem of racism. The majority of people I know are tolerant people who may not fully understand other peoples culture, yet they accept them.

Whoa this actually happened??? I thought the Australia guy made it up on my RP...

[Sypian]

yes people who are most rascist are white people.

[Super fluffy]

In my opinion I don't think the majority of racist are of caucasian decent. But again the irony of where I'm coming from. Alot of people of all nationality and variation of origin (ect) are racist. Take racist as more of a mind set that can, possibly be " cured" but more of changend, instead of placing the blame. It is true America is racist, but so are others. White people are indeed racist. But so are people of African and Spanish decent. The " curing" thing I talked about isn't intended to be read as something like Hitler's " cure" but more like: We need to show these *insert nationailty* people that these people are ok and are equal to them like *insert similarities*.

[Kharsus]

I don't believe that Australia is racist.

[Manahakatouki]

Poor Aussies.....

[Oranges are like popsi]

yes people who are most rascist are white people.

and yet so are alot of other countrys populations in america look at the KKK are whites hateing Blacks and the Black Panthers are Blacks hateing Whites and in some parts of Mexico you cant even go certain places being white without getting shot or getting arrested so not all of America is raceist so please dont look down on all of us because of the ididots we have. Thank you

[Whole Conviction]

If we're going to be proud of what our nation did in the past, we have to be ashamed of the bad things it did, too. So yeah, I do feel ashemed about the White Australia Policy and the Stolen Generations. This is why it was entirely appropriate for a modern Prime Minister to apologise. Howard's 'Yes, we should all feel proud of what Australians did in Gallipoli; what, aboriginal policy in the 1950s-1970s? Ancient history, nothing to do with us' was extremely hypocritical.

That, of course, doesnt' mean we should all commit seppuku from the shame. It just means we need to recognise it, accept it and try to both make it better and to make sure it never happens again. The former is really beyond us as individuals. The latter mostly is... except that we can ensure our own acts don't contribute to a community sentiment, and try to persuade others to do the same.

And of course every country has skeletons in their closet. Australia's, on the whole, aren't too bad. That doesn't give us any excuse to be slack. 'Better than Saudi Arabia' isn't a monker I like to live with.

[Whole Conviction]

Oh, and a bogan is like a chav.

[Rhodmhire]

Yeah, just like every other human being.

Except our Lord and Savior, Larry Platt

[Neu Leonstein]

In my opinion I don't think the majority of racist are of caucasian decent.

If anything, the stigma associated with uttering racist opinions is less in non-western countries in my experience. Some of the most openly racist commentary I have heard came from, well, an Indian person and a few people from Africa I know.

Or, to quote a girl from Cote d'Ivoire I met in Japan: "But you're white, how come you don't hate black people?"

[Dragontide]

That would be pretty racists of me to say that all the people of Australia are racists.

[Blouman Empire]

I wouldn't say Australians are racist per se, I would say they're quite nationalistic.

I used to sell Optus packages and the main objection was that it was owned by foreign companies, there are, or were, countless Buy Aussie stickers on utes everywhere.

One might argue nationalism is no different to racism but I'd say they're coming from different angles.

More patriotic and it is more a case of supporting local business not "we don't want dem philfy foerigneers shit"

[Neu Leonstein]

More patriotic and it is more a case of supporting local business not "we don't want dem philfy foerigneers shit"

Though even making a distinction between a "local" and a "foreign" business is in itself troublesome.

[Blouman Empire]

The way the Australian government treats the Indigenous Australians is extremely racist, and their attitudes towards their neighbours are not much better. I think there is an age issue here though. More so than other countries, the younger people have a significantly different outlook, though how this will affect the political landscape in the future I wouldn't like to say.

The way things are at the moment, I'm surprised no terrorist groups have emerged among Indigenous Australians, because the the way they are treated is borderline apartheid.

Got to stop living in the past, and probably there haven't been any home grown terrorists (at least large ones not just small gangs that want to get back at the white man in country towns) have grown because those that get out and do something actually contribute to society rather than seek to destroy it.

[Blouman Empire]

Though the government themselves aren't racist, I reckon the population itself is racist. Or maybe it's just Perth.
However, like Barringtonia said, Australians are too patriotic for their own good.
I, being Chinese, have suffered many racist comments during my school life. Maybe the world's just like that. Racism is everywhere.

And do you know whats racist? Banning Northern Territory's aboriginals from watching porn.

You mean banning hard core porn from being distributed in those communites?

That's censorship not racism, simply because it applies to everyone in the entire town.

It is like when Adelaide made Victoria Square a dry zone the aboriginals that would be half way through a carton of VB by 8:30 in the morning labeled it racist when in reality the dry zone applied to everyone not just aboriginals.

And Perth may be more racist because of the amount of South Africans living there.

[Blouman Empire]

More patriotic and it is more a case of supporting local business not "we don't want dem philfy foerigneers shit"

Though even making a distinction between a "local" and a "foreign" business is in itself troublesome.

To an extent, yes.

I'm not a big fan of the whole campagin myself, though if all things being equal I would go for the Australian product.

[Blouman Empire]

However, like Barringtonia said, Australians are too patriotic for their own good.

I've never met a patriotic Australian, and I live here. They're probably limited to the horrible convict infested places, though.

In Perth, every place you see has the Australian flag. Everyday you hear "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi! Oi! Oi!". And worse, they're not even aware how screwed up the government is.

How dare they chant, we must ban it they also sing the national anthem before major sports events. That is obviously showing that they are racist.

[Blouman Empire]

Anyway. I would say that the average level of racism in Australian society is no more or less than in other developed nations, but Australians are rather bad at confronting it. In the case of the Indian students, if you have a large number of foreigners arriving and all living around the same place there are bound to be some racist attacks no matter where you are. However if we look at how the police (and most of the public imo) have vehemently denied there is any racism behind the attacks this gets a bit suspicious, I wouldn't expect that from some other countries.

If there is some evidence that it was racially motivated then ypu could say that.

What is wrong is to say it was racially motivated like the Indian press did after the first attack simply because they were Indian.

They could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I guess that doesn't sell papers.

[Blouman Empire]

Many Australian people are racist, and this racism stems from ignorance. Ignorant people typically come from uneducated, "working class" backgrounds. However, not all racist people in Australia are from that background, so it would be a gross generalisation to say so. I find that racism is Australia is usually directed at "new arrivals" rather than races that have been already been accepted and integrated into the Australian identity. Racist people often don't have a problem with Europeans, but they may have a problem with Indians. They think that "new people are coming into OUR country", not realising that a few generations ago, those "new people" were, for example, the Italians, and just like the Indians, they didn't speak the same language or dress the same way, eat the same food or have the same culture. When they first arrived, some Australian people were racist toward them, but over time this seems to have changed.

Indeed a good point, which is why it is safe to say that Australians are Xenophobic rather than racist. It happened to the Italians when they came here en masse now they have been accepted and you will find many of their children and grand children now hating the new arrivals as well. It happens to every new group that comes to Australia, the Irish were hated when they started coming here freely there was a quote which I will paraphrase by a senior politician. They are coming in their thousands and our a threat to our way of life and to our culture we must seek to stop them. That was said in the early 1800's and was about the Irish. I hear stories of what happened to many English people when they came in large groups in the 1950's as well. It wouldn't surprise me that in 10-20 years the children of the current influx of people act the same way. It is apart of the culture of Australia.

[Blouman Empire]

Australians are racist to the core remember the cronulla riots and the white australia policy and now they are targeting my people i have fought so many aussie trolls on social netoworking sites

There were a host of reasons for the Cronulla riots, including a disenfranchisement of the youth of Cronulla, racial tensions over the bashing of a surf-lifesaver by Lebanese youths, and gang violence between Lebanese and Australian gangs. Was there a racist, nationalist element to the riots? Undoubtedly. However, there are mitigating factors that warrant consideration in the social and cultural context.

Thank you, someone actually knows that there is more than simply "We don't like them Islam Lebs" behind the Cronulla roits.

[Blouman Empire]

bingo i am Indian

Alrighty.

Well, I think I should tell you that your impressions are completely false. We have racists here, but your internet experiences are hardly an accurate representation of the reality. Furthermore, you are being quite racist in your categorisation of all Australians as racist (at least as much as you can be racist to a multicultural, multiracial country).

It's alright when Indians do it, just like when our black cricketer came out to bat and the Indian crowd jumped up and down and acted like monkeys and made monkey noises at him and members of the Indian team did the same. There shouldn't be an outcry over it, see the difference?

[Blouman Empire]

That would be pretty racists of me to say that all the people of Australia are racists.

I like the old line from Ted Bullpit "I'm not racist, I'm Australian"

[Jedi 999]

Anyway. I would say that the average level of racism in Australian society is no more or less than in other developed nations, but Australians are rather bad at confronting it. In the case of the Indian students, if you have a large number of foreigners arriving and all living around the same place there are bound to be some racist attacks no matter where you are. However if we look at how the police (and most of the public imo) have vehemently denied there is any racism behind the attacks this gets a bit suspicious, I wouldn't expect that from some other countries.

If there is some evidence that it was racially motivated then ypu could say that.

What is wrong is to say it was racially motivated like the Indian press did after the first attack simply because they were Indian.

They could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I guess that doesn't sell papers.

Austrailians just attacked a gurudwara is in that enough evidance or this is also a "opurtunistic crime"

[Uawc]

'Black people like fried chicken' is one of the worst racial stereotypes in terms of pure absurdity.

What is it supposed to mean? What reasons could there be for it? What conclusions are we supposed to draw from it? If it were true, would it tell us anything remotely useful about black people at all? What would someone possibly have to gain by propagating the stereotype?

While Americans may have their own historical reasons for this, I'm fairly sure this makes not an iota of sense to the rest of the world, like saying Eastern Europeans like swivel chairs.

I suppose you could say that black people are poorer... fast food is for poor people... but in the States as well as here everyone eats fast food... no I have no idea.

Also it's pretty funny how people complaining about this don't seem to distinguish between African Americans and people from the West Indies. They all have dark skin I guess, so they're the same.

You're damn right black people like fried chicken, just like everybody else. In my opinion, there's something wrong with you if you don't like fried chicken.