|
|
“Yes, it does make you Australian, because you’ve assimilated, you fit in. I’m talking about Muslims and their like who come, take our jobs, kill our children”
Kat, the other student enters the foray “What about people who are Muslim who are born here, are they Australian. What about someone like Mohammed Ali - is he not American for being of the Islamic faith?”
Phil’s reply was sharp and quick - “they still don’t fit in. If they were to accept us for who we are, that would be fine, but they don’t. They hate us, even when they live here, that’s why they should all go.”
I could scarcely believe this logic. We should hate them because we think they hate us. It’s circular - break the circle, spread the word and the system evaporates. Just choose not to hate if there is no reason. And I just wish I had been able to explain the economic benefits of migration, the burden of Phil’s generation on the Australian Social Security system, the value of low-wage new arrived migrants filling our ‘undesirable’ jobs, the international push-pull factors of economic refugees, not to mention asking how he knew ‘they’ hated ‘us.’
Instead, I asked the question again “still, what is to be Australian?”
“Well, we’re a tolerant lot, so long as others fit in with us. We believe in a fair go, and leaving others to do what they want so long as it doesn’t adversely affect us. That’s where they’re the problem - they don’t leave us alone, all that preying, those clothes, and the hate, the terrorism - we’d be a lot safer if we were to get rid of them all. I don’t mean kill them, we can’t do that, even though that’s what they want to do to us, just make sure they’re not around us.”
Oh, he has humanity, what a relief. We’ll just deport them all for not being Australian enough, they were too intolerant, didn’t give people a fair go, were too busy telling us what to do - they just didn’t fit in. Righto, I want the entire social conservative right wing of the Liberal party on the next boat out of the country, those who voted for One Nation straight to Woomera, and anyone who has the gall to have had European descendants in the country for three or more generations, you have to go too - you keep telling people what to do. Great, we’ve just emptied the country of everyone bar a large proportion of the indigenous population and post second world war migrants. Yay multicultural Australia!
Seriously though, if I were to take Phil’s comments at face value, I would think that he’s set new levels of hypocrisy. Either that, or in his mind he unconsciously plays identity politics and casts those who don’t look like him as ‘them,’ projecting his fears and hatred onto a group he can define away from himself. Nice self-defensive mechanism, always blaming someone else, it’s much easier than actually doubting one’s own actions.
And on the conversation went for several hours. What I’ve recounted isn’t verbatim, hopefully it’s close, but it certainly does serve to illustrate the challenges faced by those who both talk and act on empathy, tolerance and hope. I would happily note that it is the older, Cold War generation who most often hold the views expressed by Phil, but that does not mean they are all soon to disappear. Quite the opposite - it is the baby boomer generation, unaffected by war, who too often see belligerence and hate as effective security measures, and it is their generation who currently make the decisions that will affect us all. If we want to change it, we need to get out there and do three things. inspire. inform involve.
Any comments, thoughts, whatever, please let me know - s.moss1@ugrad.unimelb.edu.au
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Simon Moss
This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
