A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. (Wikipedia)
Moral panics are a product of mass media. The media reports a statement or an event which generates a lot of public interest. The population become concerned about the situation and want to know more about it. The media responds by deliberately seeking out stories on the topic. This makes it appear the event is occurring more and more frequently. The situation rapidly spirals out of control as the new stories reinforce public concern, the public demands more information and the media goes all out to deliver stories that meet the demand.
Moral panic is a tool of trade for politicians. It is rumoured some political organisations have pre-packaged moral panics ready in case the opportunity arises where they can be used. Moral panics can be used to distract the public from an unpopular policy, to take media attention away from a successful opponent, or to manufacture an issue the politician for which the politician has a pre-arranged campaign strategy.
The recent media attention to illegal immigrants, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and indigenous child abuse are examples of moral panics.
A moral panic is a form of mass hysteria. It differs in that moral panic is usually expressed as outrage rather than fear. Politically this is very useful because outrage lasts longer than fear and is more easily directed against opponents.
In particular, outrage implies a moral decision the person is forced to justify even after it has become apparent the initial perception of threat is unjustified. The outrage takes on a life of its own and continues to motivate the person even after the initial fear is found to be groundless.
The most recent example of this is the moral panic over weapons of mass destruction that led to the invasion of Iraq.
We are currently in the throes of another moral panic, this time centred on indigenous child abuse.
Rationality can do nothing to prevent this panic from running its course. Once a moral panic has begun it takes on a life of its own. It is unstoppable once underway.
All we can do is recognise the process and take it into account in our own thinking.
Hopefully enough people will keep cool heads during the panic to steer the situation toward an desirable and achievable outcome.
The politicians who started the panic hope to surf the wave of public opinion to electoral success later this year. are they skillful enough to stay on their boards, or of they will be displaced by more skillful surfers.
We can only hope the less fortunate members of our society, those in the bottom socioeconomic levels, are not too badly injured as they are scraped across the moral coral in the backwash.
> We are currently in the throes of another moral panic, this time centred > on indigenous child abuse.
> Rationality can do nothing to prevent this panic from running its > course. Once a moral panic has begun it takes on a life of its own. It > is unstoppable once underway.
> All we can do is recognise the process and take it into account in our > own thinking.
This latest issue of "moral panic" is quite a few degrees worse than those that have been conjured before. Child abuse has a greater success to enrage people because it is digging a lot deeper into peoples' minds playing on the instinctual urge to protect the young and to deal with centuries long conditioning which effects our general attitudes to sexual behavior on a very basic level.
This "moral panic" has been specially engineered to push everything into the background ensuring the reelection of the present government.
> Hopefully enough people will keep cool heads during the panic to steer > the situation toward an desirable and achievable outcome.
I wish I could share your optimism.
> The politicians who started the panic hope to surf the wave of public > opinion to electoral success later this year. are they skillful enough > to stay on their boards, or of they will be displaced by more skillful > surfers.
Remains to be seen. Would be nice to be able to predict the future at least on the short term.
> We can only hope the less fortunate members of our society, those in the > bottom socioeconomic levels, are not too badly injured as they are > scraped across the moral coral in the backwash.
Well, there are always losers when certain unscrupulous bullies in our society decide to satisfy their ambitions (yet again) at a cost to the rest of the population.
What is sad about all of this is that the indigenous population does have quite a few problems which need urgent attention. Yet instead of a problem solving we will see meaningless sacrifices on the altar of political zealotry and ideological bullshitting.
Ördög (The friendly Hungarian Devil in service of aus.politics and Usenet) ## I usually treat pests with pesticide. That goes for the lying rodent too! ##
In article <MPG.20eb2605d8abcb8c98a...@news.bigpond.com>, David Moss <q0320...@mail.connect.usq.edu.au> wrote:
> Rationality can do nothing to prevent this panic from running its > course. Once a moral panic has begun it takes on a life of its own. It > is unstoppable once underway.
'specially when Johnny's running the show.. talk about asleep at the wheel!
-- Howard's pathetic economic management : - Record 540 BILLION dollar foreign debt - Record 6th consecutive year of trade deficit - Second highest interest rates among OECD nations
In article <1182832606.803065.241...@i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
Ordog <tz81qm...@sneakemail.com> wrote: > What is sad about all of this is that the indigenous population does > have quite a few problems which need urgent attention. Yet instead of > a problem solving we will see meaningless sacrifices on the altar of > political zealotry and ideological bullshitting.
It's incredible isn't it? It's as though he woke up in the middle of the night with "Eureka!! .. I got a rabbit out of the hat!"... No consultation whatsoever, overnight he's committed police, public servants, army, Territory Pollies and of course the Koori to some knee jerk plan without so much as picking up the phone and talking to any of them. Even the cops are bewildered by all this!
-- Howard's pathetic economic management : - Record 540 BILLION dollar foreign debt - Record 6th consecutive year of trade deficit - Second highest interest rates among OECD nations
>A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or > exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently > a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a > menace to society. (Wikipedia)
> Moral panics are a product of mass media. > The media reports a statement or an event which generates a lot of > public interest. The population become concerned about the situation and > want to know more about it. The media responds by deliberately seeking > out stories on the topic. This makes it appear the event is occurring > more and more frequently. The situation rapidly spirals out of control > as the new stories reinforce public concern, the public demands more > information and the media goes all out to deliver stories that meet the > demand.
> Moral panic is a tool of trade for politicians. It is rumoured some > political organisations have pre-packaged moral panics ready in case the > opportunity arises where they can be used. Moral panics can be used to > distract the public from an unpopular policy, to take media attention > away from a successful opponent, or to manufacture an issue the > politician for which the politician has a pre-arranged campaign > strategy.
> The recent media attention to <SNIP> indigenous child abuse are examples > of moral > panics.
So you think the problem of aboriginal child abuse is based upon a "false or exaggerated perception"?
You have to demonstrate this to be true; you can't just state it as a fact. The perception of the problem overwhelmingly comes from reports authored by aborigines - if you think they have exaggerated the problem, you might like to start by describing their motives for doing so.
"Peter Webb" rolls up his sleeves and gets on with the hard job of word twisting and strawman creation. :
> > The recent media attention to <SNIP> indigenous child abuse are examples > > of moral > > panics.
> So you think the problem of aboriginal child abuse is based upon a "false or > exaggerated perception"?
False ...NO Exaggerated ... very much so.
Health issues resulting from sexual violence rank about the twentieth place among all the other health related problems of these poor kids. Not to mention, that child neglect is by far the most significant issue here.
> You have to demonstrate this to be true; you can't just state it as a fact. > The perception of the problem overwhelmingly comes from reports authored by > aborigines - if you think they have exaggerated the problem, you might like > to start by describing their motives for doing so.
Indeed Aborigines acknowledge that there are problems. But these problems are not new. In fact, they are older then eleven years. So why the bloody hell gnome has been sitting on his hands so long? Why the sudden, unilateral and heavy handed action? Is it because there is no new Tampa coming over the horizon to help with winning the next election?
Ördög (The friendly Hungarian Devil in service of aus.politics and Usenet) ## I usually treat pests with pesticide. That goes for the lying rodent too! ##
Indeed Aborigines acknowledge that there are problems. But these problems are not new. In fact, they are older then eleven years. So why the bloody hell gnome has been sitting on his hands so long?
*** He has no jurisdiction. These are State issues, and he has got sick of the States not acting. The only places that Howard has some form of jurisdiction are the ACT and NT, where under the Constitution he has essentially the same powers as a State Government (if he chooses to exercise them). He watched Claire Martin sit on the report for several months, realised she was going to do nothing, then eventually got so annoyed that he used his Constitutional powers to override the NT Government.
Hope that helps you understand why the delay ... a far better question would be why none of the State and Territory leaders have acted ... sexual abuse, child abuse, housing, health and education are all State responsibilities. In the case of the NT Government, its pretty obviously political - Aboriginals form a far larger component of the NT constituency than in any other State or Territory - and Aboriginal adults vote, but Aboriginal children don't.
So why is it that the first person to actually seriously address the problem is the Federal Government, when this is all State responsibilities under the Constitution? Why aren't you asking why Claire Martin is sitting on her hands, when Howard clearly is not?
> > Moral panics are a product of mass media. > Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo communities, it's all a furphy > conjured up for political reasons.
If you snip the gist of a post no wonder you can twist what is left to prove any point you chose to make.
>So everything is alright then.
Surely not. David has never said what you are asserting here.
> Go tell all the bleeding hearts who demand more 'resouces' ( money) be > spent on them.
You love red herrings don't you? Is that why you are going so fishy on us?
David has never said anything about throwing just money at this particular problem. In fact, most of us, who are critical to the lie- beral way of solving such problems haven't either. So, sending the troops in just to satisfy the "law & order" wankers here to vote for the lie-berals at the next election will cost anything up to and over a billion. Please tell me, who is throwing taxpayers' money at what problem now?
Stan, don't you think it's time to pay attention to your high blood pressure and the onslaught of Alzheimer?
Ördög (The friendly Hungarian Devil in service of aus.politics and Usenet) ## I usually treat pests with pesticide. That goes for the lying rodent too! ##
> Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo communities, it's all a furphy > conjured up for political reasons. So everything is alright then.
No, everything is not all right. People who know about this kind of thing have been telling the government things are not all right for decades. Until the moral panic started the government ignored them.
> Go tell all the bleeding hearts who demand more 'resouces' ( money) be > spent on them.
More money is being spent. A lot of it. The trouble is, the money is being spent as a result of the moral panic, not as a result of the needs of these communities.
The chances of this knee jerk reaction showing any success between now and the election are zero. But we will no doubt be told we shouldn't change governments and jeopardise the program. A khaki election campaign on the home front. It might get the government re-elected but it will do SFA for child protection.
>> Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo communities, it's all a furphy >> conjured up for political reasons. So everything is alright then.
> No, everything is not all right. People who know about this kind of > thing have been telling the government things are not all right for > decades. Until the moral panic started the government ignored them.
And indeed, the State and Territory Governments are still ignoring them. At least the Federal Government isn't.
> >> Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo communities, it's all a furphy > >> conjured up for political reasons. So everything is alright then.
> > No, everything is not all right. People who know about this kind of > > thing have been telling the government things are not all right for > > decades. Until the moral panic started the government ignored them.
> And indeed, the State and Territory Governments are still ignoring them. At > least the Federal Government isn't.
The original contention is wrong.
A moral panic is, for example, everybody gets so upset with paedophiles that mobs form outside "paediatricians"' offices and throw rocks through the windows.
If there is any "panic" in Australia at the moment, it isn't a panic about paedophiles, or a panic about aboriginals, it's a POLITICAL PANIC by the mindless dribbling mythologising LEFTOIDS who are realising that they have handed Howard YET ANOTHER election on a platter.
Howard's response to the NT Report on Indigenous sex abuse was to agree with the report's recommendation and treat it as an urgent issue.
>>> Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo >>> communities, it's all a furphy >>> conjured up for political reasons. So everything >>> is alright then.
>> No, everything is not all right. People who know >> about this kind of >> thing have been telling the government things are >> not all right for >> decades. Until the moral panic started the >> government ignored them.
> And indeed, the State and Territory Governments are > still ignoring them. At least the Federal Government > isn't.
After this problem has festered for decades, after a decade in power and a few months out from an election they are desperate not to fight on IR. He's a dead set saint, that Johnny Howard.
Swampfox wrote: > After this problem has festered for decades, after a > decade in power and a few months out from an election > they are desperate not to fight on IR. > He's a dead set saint, that Johnny Howard.
..so the Labs (leftoid faction) oblige him, by *not* fighting him on IR, and let him grab the limelight by this well-timed foray into aboriginal health issues?
In what way is that supposed to convince anybody of Lab competence?
Workchoices is an utter disgrace - in almost any other country there would have been riots, and the local "workers'" party would have been at the forefront of the barricades.
And what do we get from *our* "Workers"' Party? "We''ll be sensitive to Business in making changes..."
Crap. They deserve to lose. Again.
Maybe one day we can flush the smarmy leftoid shits from the Party and get the real people of Australia to vote Labour again.....here's hoping.
>> Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo communities, it's all a furphy >> conjured up for political reasons. So everything is alright then.
> No, everything is not all right. People who know about this kind of > thing have been telling the government things are not all right for > decades. Until the moral panic started the government ignored them.
>> Go tell all the bleeding hearts who demand more 'resouces' ( money) be >> spent on them.
> More money is being spent. A lot of it. The trouble is, the money is > being spent as a result of the moral panic, not as a result of the needs > of these communities.
> The chances of this knee jerk reaction showing any success between now > and the election are zero. But we will no doubt be told we shouldn't > change governments and jeopardise the program. A khaki election campaign > on the home front. It might get the government re-elected but it will do > SFA for child protection.
The money is not being spent because of moral panic but because the moral do-gooders have failed to do the job they were entrusted to do since 1975. The do-gooders thought the Abo's were 'just like us' and all that was needed was money and a decent place to live and they would demonstrate they had the ability to raise themselves out of their primitiveness. All those resources were wasted. Every friggin penny of it.
It just created public service hierarchies and play-school social-studies courses for queers at uni.
No amount of money and any resources will elevate them. They are primitives and will remain primitives. But at least the governments can make some effort to get the kids out of the endless Neanderthal misery they are locked into. That's what the early Christian missionaries tried to do with all natives.
It failed in Africa and it failed here. Only a few individuals among them will EVER make it to civilised thought and lifestyle, and they will make it despite any help from anyone. The rest are destined to misery and need to die out.
> >> Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo communities, it's all a furphy > >> conjured up for political reasons. So everything is alright then.
> > No, everything is not all right. People who know about this kind of > > thing have been telling the government things are not all right for > > decades. Until the moral panic started the government ignored them.
> >> Go tell all the bleeding hearts who demand more 'resouces' ( money) be > >> spent on them.
> > More money is being spent. A lot of it. The trouble is, the money is > > being spent as a result of the moral panic, not as a result of the needs > > of these communities.
> > The chances of this knee jerk reaction showing any success between now > > and the election are zero. But we will no doubt be told we shouldn't > > change governments and jeopardise the program. A khaki election campaign > > on the home front. It might get the government re-elected but it will do > > SFA for child protection.
> The money is not being spent because of moral panic but because the moral > do-gooders have failed to do the job they were entrusted to do since 1975.
If that was the case, why are we suddenly spending money when the problem has been known to government for years?
Incidentally, the current government has only been in place since 1996, not 1975. There have been a few governments since 1975.
> The do-gooders thought the Abo's were 'just like us' and all that was > needed was money and a decent place to live and they would demonstrate they > had the ability to raise themselves out of their primitiveness. All those > resources were wasted. Every friggin penny of it.
Really? perhaps you might care to explain that to the young Aboriginal bloke I took out on work experience last week. Bright chap, he will probably be running an IT department within the next 10 years.
> It just created public service hierarchies and play-school social-studies > courses for queers at uni.
Are there queers at Uni? I'll have to take your word for it. Most of the people I see at Uni are busy studying. Perhaps you are better at identifying queers than I am though. I hear they good at spotting each other.
> No amount of money and any resources will elevate them. They are > primitives and will remain primitives.
Do tell!
> But at least the governments can > make some effort to get the kids out of the endless Neanderthal misery they > are locked into. That's what the early Christian missionaries tried to do > with all natives.
> It failed in Africa and it failed here. Only a few individuals among > them will EVER make it to civilised thought and lifestyle, and they will > make it despite any help from anyone. The rest are destined to misery and > need to die out.
It would appear some of us in this very thread have a long way to go before they make it to civilised thought, lifestyle notwithstanding.
Year 12 graduates from remote Northern Territory Indigenous communities are about to be featured in a new motivational poster.
Territory Education Minister Paul Henderson says 31 students graduated from remote Indigenous schools across the Territory last year.
He says the Government is planning to capitalise on that success.
"We've arranged a poster to be printed that celebrates the success of 23 students from across the Northern Territory," he said.
"It's called 'We Did It, So Can You' and it's a colour poster that's going to be distributed to all remote schools next term to encourage other students to follow their own pathway to year 12 and succeed in the same way that these students did."
Eleven of the students to be featured on the poster graduated from the remote Arnhem Land school at Maningrida.
Principal Pamela Hepburn says students are beaming over their success.
"It'll be out in the school ground and around in the classrooms for people to look at," she said.
"Having a bulk of people like this, it touches a lot of families and hopefully this will set about a mind set that we can do this which is exactly the logo that the department has selected." </quote>
>> After this problem has festered for decades, after >> a >> decade in power and a few months out from an >> election >> they are desperate not to fight on IR. >> He's a dead set saint, that Johnny Howard.
> ..so the Labs (leftoid faction) oblige him, by *not* > fighting him on > IR, and let him grab the limelight by this > well-timed foray into > aboriginal health issues?
> In what way is that supposed to convince anybody of > Lab competence?
> Workchoices is an utter disgrace - in almost any > other country there > would have been riots, and the local "workers'" > party would have been > at the forefront of the barricades.
> And what do we get from *our* "Workers"' Party? > "We''ll be sensitive to Business in making > changes..."
> Crap. They deserve to lose. Again.
> Maybe one day we can flush the smarmy leftoid shits > from the Party and > get the real people of Australia to vote Labour > again.....here's > hoping.
The Labor Party has been a diappointment for a long time. The Liberal Party on the other hand has always been entirely predictable. We aren't well served by either of them.
> Really? perhaps you might care to explain that to the young Aboriginal > bloke I took out on work experience last week. Bright chap, he will > probably be running an IT department within the next 10 years.
The problem isn't aborigines. The problem is aboriginal culture and values.
Good one Stan, it is indeed a find example of ignorance, bigotry and racism! But you wouldn't know the Whiteman's way is not necessary the right way. Also if you knew anything about the Australian Aboriginal culture you would know that the problem has been caused by Whiteman. If Whiteman had bothered to assimilate with the Aboriginal years ago they would have learnt the Aboriginal culture by now, and we would have many more educated Aboriginal leaders mediating between white & black now. Stan you call them savages, but have you ever considered that it is really a location & education issue rather than an intelligence one. You see, unlike the Europeans who had time to educate themselves because of abundant food supplies and animals who had time to educate themselves, the Aboriginals had no time to spare because they only had the bare essentials. As for alcohol, the Whiteman discovered it 1000's of years ago when their food storage fermented. Since alcohol was sold to the Aboriginals only about 300 years ago, it is no wonder they can't tolerate the stuff. Naturally there is no excusing sexual abuse, but it is important to understand something of the Aboriginal sexual culture before arrival of Whiteman. Before Whiteman arrived the Aboriginal Elders had first pick of young women, and young men took what was left. Nowadays somehow through the alcoholic fog, lost pride and anger, the Elders still continue to believe it is their right to take young women. And young Aboriginal men still take what is left. But how that has lead to babies being abused is beyond anyone's understanding. The fact is along with treatment for Alcoholism, alcohol has to be withdrawn. Then the fog will gradually lift and Adults will pass on wisdom to their children.
"SPierce" <ecre...@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
> >> Sure, there is no social breakdown on Abo communities, it's all a furphy > >> conjured up for political reasons. So everything is alright then.
> > No, everything is not all right. People who know about this kind of > > thing have been telling the government things are not all right for > > decades. Until the moral panic started the government ignored them.
> >> Go tell all the bleeding hearts who demand more 'resouces' ( money) be > >> spent on them.
> > More money is being spent. A lot of it. The trouble is, the money is > > being spent as a result of the moral panic, not as a result of the needs > > of these communities.
> > The chances of this knee jerk reaction showing any success between now > > and the election are zero. But we will no doubt be told we shouldn't > > change governments and jeopardise the program. A khaki election campaign > > on the home front. It might get the government re-elected but it will do > > SFA for child protection.
> The money is not being spent because of moral panic but because the moral > do-gooders have failed to do the job they were entrusted to do since 1975. > The do-gooders thought the Abo's were 'just like us' and all that was > needed was money and a decent place to live and they would demonstrate they > had the ability to raise themselves out of their primitiveness. All those > resources were wasted. Every friggin penny of it.
> It just created public service hierarchies and play-school social-studies > courses for queers at uni.
> No amount of money and any resources will elevate them. They are > primitives and will remain primitives. But at least the governments can > make some effort to get the kids out of the endless Neanderthal misery they > are locked into. That's what the early Christian missionaries tried to do > with all natives.
> It failed in Africa and it failed here. Only a few individuals among > them will EVER make it to civilised thought and lifestyle, and they will > make it despite any help from anyone. The rest are destined to misery and > need to die out.
In article <4680a4de$0$1921$afc38...@news.optusnet.com.au>,
webbfam...@DIESPAMDIEoptusnet.com.au writes... > So you think the problem of aboriginal child abuse is based upon a "false or > exaggerated perception"?
No, I think the current knee jerk reaction around the issue is based on false or exaggerated perception.
> You have to demonstrate this to be true; you can't just state it as a fact. > The perception of the problem overwhelmingly comes from reports authored by > aborigines - if you think they have exaggerated the problem, you might like > to start by describing their motives for doing so.
I don't treat reports authored by Aborigines as any more or less important than reports authored by any other category of people.
It is widely believed there is a child abuse problem in Australian society. Some Aboriginal authors have compiled a report that details the extent of the problem is specific Aboriginal communities. This, with the help of the Prime Minister, has ignited a moral panic.
The fact that abuse problems of various forms, including child abuse, have been known to affect the Aboriginal communities in the report for decades is lost in the hysteria. The fact that abuse problems are believed to be present in the wider Australian community is also lost in the panic.
So long as Draconian measures are being enforced on people 'not like us' out there where 'people like us' don't live, everything is OK.
I'm all for addressing the issue of child abuse. But restricting the action to remote coon camps is simply not good policy.
I know for a fact there is alcohol and pornography fuelled child abuse going on in major regional cities, as well as State and national capitals. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander IMO.
If banning porn stops child abuse, lets ban porn. It could be done in a few hours by raiding the production and warehousing facilities in Fyshwick, ACT.
If restricting alcohol availability stops child abuse, lets do that too. For a start they could rescind offlicences that are currently held by minimarts across the NT. We don't let corner shops sell grog in Canberra, why do we allow them to sell grog in the Northern territory?
Of course these measures would be just as restrictive 9and effective) on white Australians, and severely cut into porn profits and liquor sales. The Eros Foundation and the Liquor industry would retaliate politically if we didn't restrict our jackboot policies to Aborigines in out of the way places.
So we are left with the moral panic. It might be enough to surf the Libs across the line in the next election. But it will do bugger all to solve a problem we've known about for decades, and will take decades more to solve in an achievable manner.
> In article <4680a4de$0$1921$afc38...@news.optusnet.com.au>, > webbfam...@DIESPAMDIEoptusnet.com.au writes...
>> So you think the problem of aboriginal child abuse is based upon a "false >> or >> exaggerated perception"?
> No, I think the current knee jerk reaction around the issue is based on > false or exaggerated perception.
>> You have to demonstrate this to be true; you can't just state it as a >> fact. >> The perception of the problem overwhelmingly comes from reports authored >> by >> aborigines - if you think they have exaggerated the problem, you might >> like >> to start by describing their motives for doing so.
> I don't treat reports authored by Aborigines as any more or less > important than reports authored by any other category of people.
> It is widely believed there is a child abuse problem in Australian > society. Some Aboriginal authors have compiled a report that details the > extent of the problem is specific Aboriginal communities. This, with the > help of the Prime Minister, has ignited a moral panic.
But for it to be a "moral panic", it must be based upon "false or exaggerated perception".
That's the definition *you* gave at the very start.
So, if its your contention that it is a "moral panic", this means that you think the public has a false or exaggerated perception of the problem, which means that either it doesn't occur, or its not as bad as most people think.
So, which is it?
<Snipped about 200 lines of meandering crap that doesn't address the subject of why you think it is a "moral panic" according to your own definition>
> A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or > exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently > a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a > menace to society. (Wikipedia)
[snip]
True, but this transcends all rhetoric. And if there is one decent aspect to John Howard, surely we can allow him be remembered for one decent decision.
> Maybe one day we can flush the smarmy leftoid shits from the Party and > get the real people of Australia to vote Labour again.....here's > hoping.
No Arthur, It won't happen again. I was a Labour voter for 40 years until Bob Hawke sold the Australian people to the Chinese and deregulated the Banks.
People like me had knowledge of what the Banks did to Australian farmers during the Depression. I wasn't here at the time but I had the nous to learn about them. Very ugly story. Post-war politicians of both parties never forgot either until the 60s Lefties like Hawke thought they knew it all. People with memories will never give them another chance.
So now you can only hope on younger people who only vote for queer Greenies or anyone who says they hate George Bush....you know, the really * really * intelligent people.
Shades of Grey wrote: > Good one Stan, it is indeed a find example of ignorance, bigotry and racism! > But you wouldn't know the Whiteman's way is not necessary the right way.
No, of course - living naked in the bush and eating grubs is almost surely "the right way".
Sheesh.
> Also if you knew anything about the Australian Aboriginal culture you would > know that the problem has been caused by Whiteman.
What problem? Abos beating their wives and children and raping them?
Are there evil Whiteman out there holding guns to their heads and forcing them to behave like savages?
Sheeesh.
> If Whiteman had bothered to assimilate with the Aboriginal years ago
You mean give up science, agricutlrure, learning, transport, domestication, putting food away for winter, government, technology?
You really are an idiot.
> Before Whiteman arrived the Aboriginal Elders had first pick of young women, > and young men took what was left.
The sooner this pack of savages learns civilisation the better.
Taking all their children away is the only way to protect them and give them skills their own culture cannot provide them with and which will allow them to funciton in a modern society.
> > A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or > > exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently > > a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a > > menace to society. (Wikipedia) > [snip] > True, but this transcends all rhetoric.
Transcends? We'll see! I wouldn't be so sure of it.
> And if there is one decent aspect to > John Howard, .....
There is none. And there never was one.
> ....surely we can allow him be remembered for one decent decision.
I am yet to see a decent decision originating from him. And even ones which are only half objectionable. Why? Because these latter ones tend to be executed in the end in a very ineffective and half hearted way once you remove the spin and the rhetoric. Or they just fizzle away as non-core promise.
Ördög (The friendly Hungarian Devil in service of aus.politics and Usenet) ## I usually treat pests with pesticide. That goes for the lying rodent too! ##
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