Mordy whacks bolt

[IluvHarvey]

He has not said anything remotely racist. He merely pointed out the fact that there are some people who have one indigenous ancestor and who choose to identify themselves as Aboriginal for their own advantage. He has not sought to deny them that right. He has merely stated a fact.
If you have one German ancestor, and the rest are Scottish, Irish, italian, English, Welsh...does that make you German?
Why does Aboriginality outweigh everything else?

The way I read this statement is you should not be proud of your heritage unless you look like the stereotype! Bolt has decided that only Dark skinned Indigenous people should be allowed to be proud of their heritage!

I love the term "choose to identify themselves".

[GrumpyOne]

We have said 'sorry', do we now have to spend from now until the end of time making reparations to everyone who has any Aboriginal background at all? Successive governments have spent billions of dollars on this.

If I punched you on the nose (be still my beating heart!), and said sorry afterwards, does it stop it hurting?

With all due respect, so what? My ancestors were probably raped, enslaved, had their education and their religion taken away, had their land stolen. Get over it.

Really..... didn't know that happened in Troglodyte history.

That's very funny. You can ridicule other people's ancestry....that must make you feel so good!

Sincere apologies....... I thought I was being presumptive and facetious in calling you a Troglodyte....... I had no idea that you actually were...... sorry.

Your script-writers need a new job.

Time you left the kitchen.... the heat is frying your brain.

God..... This is like playing table-tennis with a double amputee.

[ozrulestrace]

Any one that can take shock jocks seriously should look for some audio of the moral crusader Alan Jones swearing at his studio staff, he's a classy bloke. It goes something along the lines of "there is dust on this f$%#ing panel which c%$# is responsible you f$%#wits etc. and goes on for an extended period. He also got caught showing his John Thomas to a young boy in England but the charges were dropped and he went home disgraced. but at least he gets all the old birds revved up about trivial effects on peoples lives of a couple of hundred people going about their lives so he can turn good coin from his ratings.

Oh no! nudge, nudge, wink, wink AJ is gay! We can laugh about that, but we can't laugh at David Marr, Michael Kirby etc because they are Left-leaning (no pun intended).

We don't need to laugh at Michael Kirby or David Marr about their openess regarding their sexuality but we do laugh at that old sod (if you pardon the pun) on Sydney radio. He got caught in the men's toilet during a Rugby World comp in England, and to this day sides with the anti-gay, self righteous homophobic lobby groups. Very easy to laugh at him for his hypocriscy.

[Austinnn]

IMO he was just saying what everybody is thinking about the Aboriginals, in that its the truth

This little sentence is a perfect example of why lies about anyone in well-read tabloids should not be allowed to stand unchallenged. I'm part of 'everybody', as we all are, yet it is clear that I and a lot of others on this forum DON'T think that way about 'the Aboriginals' - well done for finding and using the 'riginal' part -

It's in a newspaper, shouted by a snake which according to some here doesn't even believe it HIMSELF, and all of a sudden, It's 'The Truth'. I know he was only doing his job, (just like Porky Bolt, it seems), but Mordy; well done, I salute you for not allowing more lies to stand as facts.

fact is.....many individuals with an absolute morsal of aboriginal blood in their vains yet choose to amplify their native Australian connection in order to profit from the vast array of benefits can now breath a huge sigh of relief knowing that an ex st.Kilda player has sat in judgement and gagged a vocal critic of this immoral practice ....yeah we should all be proud of Mordy for doing this

Many? Absolute morsal? (morsel) Vast array? Gagged? Really?
Look, I suppose I agree with the concept that if you have had the privilege of being raised as a white Australian and none of the prejudice of being identified as black Australian, or even those 'with a touch of the tar brush' as they thankfully no longer say knowingly, then yes, it's pretty immoral to enter competitions designed to recognise and celebrate Indigenous contributions to society. But, as Our Man Mordy pointed out, the nine plaintiffs concerned have had the stigma of being raised or identified as Aboriginal.

He didn't gag a critic of this immoral practice, he stopped someone peddling incendiary untruths. If this was about one of the Hun's other journalists making up his* own facts about our proud football club, wouldn't you be happy to see a judge tell that journalist they weren't allowed to lie about anything to do with St Kilda? Unfortunately we're having trouble getting support for a Anti-Defamatory Footy Fact Law, but in the meantime, let's celebrate the fact that at least racially-prejudiced lying is illegal.


Perhaps now is the moment to remember that the reason these awards and prizes exist is to find great achievers within the Indigenous population, who can then be recognised and given their place in history, to give others in the same community something they feel part of to aspire to. If you do some research and even ask around, it's apparent that very few black kids look at history books full of Great White Men & Women and imagine a place for themselves alongside them. Most feel alienated from that, whether it's Australia, the UK, Europe, the US, or anywhere else where the words of posterity have been written with white hands.

It shouldn't be about skin colour or culture, or even ancestory, but it often is. Why do you think so many black kids in Australia identify with hiphop and gangsta culture, rather than rock music? When kids look in the mirror and imagine themselves as someone great, if there is no one like them already in that position, there at least needs to be no visibly entrenched obstacle. It doesn't matter if these great people aren't full-blooded anything. Not many people talk about the fact that Bob Marley and Barrack Obama, as just 2 examples, are as white as they are black, bloodwise. Black kids identify with them. They have become 'Black Heroes'. Don't we need more black heroes in Australia? Something that gives kids something they think they can be, rather than more things they feel they will never be allowed to be? Thankfully, the AFL recognised this a few years ago and are leading the way with inclusive policies designed to encourage other communities to take part, not just Eurocentric ones. The more heroes that all kids can relate to and aspire to, the better our future will be.

*'or her' not necessary - I don't think there are any female footy journalists at the Herald Sun; uh-oh, another can of worms...

[gringo]

Any one that can take shock jocks seriously should look for some audio of the moral crusader Alan Jones swearing at his studio staff, he's a classy bloke. It goes something along the lines of "there is dust on this f$%#ing panel which c%$# is responsible you f$%#wits etc. and goes on for an extended period. He also got caught showing his John Thomas to a young boy in England but the charges were dropped and he went home disgraced. but at least he gets all the old birds revved up about trivial effects on peoples lives of a couple of hundred people going about their lives so he can turn good coin from his ratings.

Oh no! nudge, nudge, wink, wink AJ is gay! We can laugh about that, but we can't laugh at David Marr, Michael Kirby etc because they are Left-leaning (no pun intended).

No I don't laugh at hypocrite paedophiles that claim to be moralists, I just can't believe people listen to them with out wondering if these people are the ones that should be held up as moral crusaders.
We don't need to laugh at Michael Kirby or David Marr about their openess regarding their sexuality but we do laugh at that old sod (if you pardon the pun) on Sydney radio. He got caught in the men's toilet during a Rugby World comp in England, and to this day sides with the anti-gay, self righteous homophobic lobby groups. Very easy to laugh at him for his hypocriscy.

[IluvHarvey]

IMO he was just saying what everybody is thinking about the Aboriginals, in that its the truth

You are a wanker!

Who do you think you are? It's people like you who make "the Aboriginals" lives hell. It's your mentality that proves that society is still filled with brain dead bullies! My god I hope you don't have kids and if you do they are well educated enough to discover the world for themselves and not what they are taught at home.

You are a disgrace!

Mods Ban me if you like but this statement nearly made me throw my PC.

[To the top]

So to put it to ILPK, he/she/it says "for their own advantage".

So have you never done anything to your own advantage ILPK?

As an example, if you are over 60 years of age, have you ever produced your Seniors Card to obtain an advantage?

Or have you used Fly Buys to gain an advantage?

We all do things for our own advantage - indeed a lot of our associations are ultimately for our own advantage because (for example) we know a mate who can introduce us to an electrician who will do something on the cheap for us.

Exactly where is the crime in that?

But once you start to presume to know the intent of others when that intent is not obvious or declared (like using your Fly Buys points to obtain a product at a discounted price, therefore obvious) you are on very, very dangerous ground.

To draw the obvious conclusion, I could lower myself to present that ILPK associates with and supports the St Kilda FC because (and I could include a number of personally insulting reasons - for example because he/her/it wishes to associate with people who have been accused of rape).

No doubt ILPK will now become irate and agitated as such an opinion of him/her/it and the advantage he (presumably) seeks from following St Kilda.

Because I am idly speculating on why he/her/it purports to support, and taking the liberty of speculating on "for his/her/its own advantage" without knowing.

But that is the world he wishes to live in.

The Bolt's of this world presume to know everything about everyone - and that is why they are so dangerous.

The true irony is that they know nothing.

[gringo]

Aboriginal people use the advantage of dying at the life expectancy rate of a person living in the Georgian era, they are less likely to finish an education, they often live in areas with chronic social disadvantage and as such they have a certain number of places made available in higher education and governmental jobs. Affirmative action is a controversial mechanism designed to try to bridge the gap. Very little of these people were even given this leg up but it is an easy target for people like Bolt and Jones.

His statements about these people are the same as saying all emigrants are given lots of money and don't have to work or learn english, basic misinformation that is designed to get the population outraged against minorities. This law was designed so that people can't do this with the aim of damaging social cohesion not to stop some poor commentator from speaking his mind. I can't make up s*** about people with out being sued if I print it so why should he?

[Austinnn]

He has not said anything remotely racist. He merely pointed out the fact that there are some people who have one indigenous ancestor and who choose to identify themselves as Aboriginal for their own advantage. He has not sought to deny them that right. He has merely stated a fact.

I could be wrong but I think that by stating the fact, he has tried to shine a spotlight on something he sees as immoral to build a head of steam in a highly conservative and not particularly reflective readership who will then take their opinions shaped by people like Bolt to the polling booths to vote for politicians who are sympathetic to their cause and would be likely to change the parameters of those awards and funds, etc or at least put pressure on the particular bodies to alter the criteria, or at the very least to create a public awareness of it so that the public pressure the particular bodies themselves via media who solicit public comment, so let's not kid ourselves, ok? He wants it to stop.

If you have one German ancestor, and the rest are Scottish, Irish, italian, English, Welsh...does that make you German?

If there were German Ancestory Achievement Awards in Australia, this person could perhaps enter them as well. Likewise if these Grants and Awards and everything else specified Must have dark skin/Must be visibly 'Indigenous'/Must have 100%Aboriginal Australian heritage, then perhaps Bolt might have a point.

It's up to the people themselves how they see themselves, not you or Andrew bloody Bolt. If one of your grandfather's culture and history resonate within you, why shouldn't you be able to identify yourself as part of it?

Why does Aboriginality outweigh everything else?

It doesn't outweigh anything else, but it is different. It's one thing to have a grandfather from a different country and something else to have an Indigenous grandfather, from the same country. This is all to do with Australia's history with its Indigenous population, and it can't be ignored.

The real question is perhaps "Why should anyone get special treatment?"

Bolt claims he was saying words to the effect of "We are just people, we are one, there should be no divisions" and I agree theoretically. However it's a convenient position to take when your ancestors have had the whip hand of history. Through 200 years (let's be kind and not include the last 23 years of half-arsed 'reconcilliation') of marginalising Indigenous communities and effectively penning them into the least hospitable parts of the island, then only building a decent infrastructure with hospitals and schools in the nicer parts has had a devestating effect on the original Australians. Cutting and Pasting the British then the American way of life into the urban areas has given people with that heritage a distinct advantage over many generations, but let's forget all that. Let's forget the 200 years of struggling to survive in an inhospitable society.

Nice to able to wipe the board clean and say now that we're all the same. Frankly if Australia was serious about saying that we're all the same, it would be a very different country. Our history would be different. If all of our ancestors had been on equal footings with one another down the generations, you can believe that wouldn't need specialised Aboriginal grants and awards now. But what we are is what we are, and some people still need a little more help than others.

If you don't like this idea of help, the solution is simple. Let Aboriginal communities have the same amount of funding and support that nice urban suburbs get, give them access to the same amount of quality medicine and education that middle-class suburban kids get. Give them equal amounts of sewerage treatment, irrigation, running water and electricity. Provide their communities with the same employment opportunities that exist in cities. Respect traditional Indigenous ethics and laws in the same way that European ethics and laws are respected in Australia. Judge the petty crimes committed by members of that community in exactly the same manner that they get judged in the greater Australian community. Give it a generation, maybe two at the very most. After all this has been done, Aboriginal Australian communities won't need help from anyone. They will be as fully self-determinining as the rest of the country is. And maybe then we will all be a lot closer to 'equal'.

[I Love Peter Kiel]

Any one that can take shock jocks seriously should look for some audio of the moral crusader Alan Jones swearing at his studio staff, he's a classy bloke. It goes something along the lines of "there is dust on this f$%#ing panel which c%$# is responsible you f$%#wits etc. and goes on for an extended period. He also got caught showing his John Thomas to a young boy in England but the charges were dropped and he went home disgraced. but at least he gets all the old birds revved up about trivial effects on peoples lives of a couple of hundred people going about their lives so he can turn good coin from his ratings.

Oh no! nudge, nudge, wink, wink AJ is gay! We can laugh about that, but we can't laugh at David Marr, Michael Kirby etc because they are Left-leaning (no pun intended).

We don't need to laugh at Michael Kirby or David Marr about their openess regarding their sexuality but we do laugh at that old sod (if you pardon the pun) on Sydney radio. He got caught in the men's toilet during a Rugby World comp in England, and to this day sides with the anti-gay, self righteous homophobic lobby groups. Very easy to laugh at him for his hypocriscy.

David Marr: claims to be 'oppressed' as a gay man in Sydney. WTF?

Also has a hatred for the Catholic church, which he considers homophobic and evil.

He has said nothing about other religions, especially Islam. He probably doesn't venture too far away from North Shore and Mosman to places like Lakemba. He should go there. He'd be very popular!

[I Love Peter Kiel]

Aboriginal people use the advantage of dying at the life expectancy rate of a person living in the Georgian era, they are less likely to finish an education, they often live in areas with chronic social disadvantage and as such they have a certain number of places made available in higher education and governmental jobs. Affirmative action is a controversial mechanism designed to try to bridge the gap. Very little of these people were even given this leg up but it is an easy target for people like Bolt and Jones.

His statements about these people are the same as saying all emigrants are given lots of money and don't have to work or learn english, basic misinformation that is designed to get the population outraged against minorities. This law was designed so that people can't do this with the aim of damaging social cohesion not to stop some poor commentator from speaking his mind. I can't make up s*** about people with out being sued if I print it so why should he?

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc. This is a logical way of dealing with anyone, no matter what their race. It starts with education, giving kids a good start in life. Some of these 'remote communities' are disaster areas waiting to happen.

YOU don't care...you'll never have to live there. You'd rather let things go on as they are for fear of being labelled racist.

[I Love Peter Kiel]

We have said 'sorry', do we now have to spend from now until the end of time making reparations to everyone who has any Aboriginal background at all? Successive governments have spent billions of dollars on this.

If I punched you on the nose (be still my beating heart!), and said sorry afterwards, does it stop it hurting?

With all due respect, so what? My ancestors were probably raped, enslaved, had their education and their religion taken away, had their land stolen. Get over it.

Really..... didn't know that happened in Troglodyte history.

That's very funny. You can ridicule other people's ancestry....that must make you feel so good!

Sincere apologies....... I thought I was being presumptive and facetious in calling you a Troglodyte....... I had no idea that you actually were...... sorry.

Your script-writers need a new job.

Time you left the kitchen.... the heat is frying your brain.

God..... This is like playing table-tennis with a double amputee.

If you knew anything about me, you would know that I am not what you appear to be accusing me of being: a racist.

You are a sad person hiding behind your own self-righteousness.

[I Love Peter Kiel]

As interesting as this thread is I believe it is living in the wrong forum.

For the record............ Can't stand Bolt!!

Glad you got that in.

Now we can all relax.

Thank god we can all relax.

Because there is a lot of pointless chest beating in this thread.

+1

[HardSaint]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc.

Sounds an awful lot like a policy they had in place up until not that long ago

Perhaps you could nominate yourself as "Commissioner for Aborigines" and get to work sorting Quadroons from Octoroons and nominating missions where these vulnerable could be shown the care and mercy of kind Christian Brothers on their path to whiteness

[Austinnn]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc. This is a logical way of dealing with anyone, no matter what their race. It starts with education, giving kids a good start in life. Some of these 'remote communities' are disaster areas waiting to happen.

YOU don't care...you'll never have to live there. You'd rather let things go on as they are for fear of being labelled racist.

Interesting, and I don't entirely disagree. How about instead of giving up on and destroying those communities, we try to develop them in the same way we develop our other cities, and let them make their own mind up about the kind of community they want?

We have tried to take children from their communities and force them to live in a Eurocentric society before; I think it's clear that it didn't work out.

[gringo]

Aboriginal people use the advantage of dying at the life expectancy rate of a person living in the Georgian era, they are less likely to finish an education, they often live in areas with chronic social disadvantage and as such they have a certain number of places made available in higher education and governmental jobs. Affirmative action is a controversial mechanism designed to try to bridge the gap. Very little of these people were even given this leg up but it is an easy target for people like Bolt and Jones.

His statements about these people are the same as saying all emigrants are given lots of money and don't have to work or learn english, basic misinformation that is designed to get the population outraged against minorities. This law was designed so that people can't do this with the aim of damaging social cohesion not to stop some poor commentator from speaking his mind. I can't make up s*** about people with out being sued if I print it so why should he?

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc. This is a logical way of dealing with anyone, no matter what their race. It starts with education, giving kids a good start in life. Some of these 'remote communities' are disaster areas waiting to happen.

YOU don't care...you'll never have to live there. You'd rather let things go on as they are for fear of being labelled racist.

bulls***, I know people that have given up time and money in good jobs to volunteer in remote communities and while I can't claim any personal assistance. I don't pretend to have any answers otherwise I'd help. The problem was exacerbated by the fact the people were moved from their areas into places we didn't want. when we find minerals on the land we gave them we want it back again. Add to that well meaning governments and religious institutions that tried to fix things but made it worse and we have a really hard to fix situation. Attacking their role models no matter how white doesn't add anything. Taking away self governance in communities is more likely to see governments do deals in their resources on their behalf than get anything constructive done. So what do you do to fix it that gets you labeled racist? Maybe you should have a go, you seem to know.

[IluvHarvey]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc. This is a logical way of dealing with anyone, no matter what their race. It starts with education, giving kids a good start in life. Some of these 'remote communities' are disaster areas waiting to happen.

Why stop there? Why don't we just breed "them" out?

[I Love Peter Kiel]

So to put it to ILPK, he/she/it says "for their own advantage".

So have you never done anything to your own advantage ILPK?

As an example, if you are over 60 years of age, have you ever produced your Seniors Card to obtain an advantage?

Or have you used Fly Buys to gain an advantage?

We all do things for our own advantage - indeed a lot of our associations are ultimately for our own advantage because (for example) we know a mate who can introduce us to an electrician who will do something on the cheap for us.

Exactly where is the crime in that?

But once you start to presume to know the intent of others when that intent is not obvious or declared (like using your Fly Buys points to obtain a product at a discounted price, therefore obvious) you are on very, very dangerous ground.

To draw the obvious conclusion, I could lower myself to present that ILPK associates with and supports the St Kilda FC because (and I could include a number of personally insulting reasons - for example because he/her/it wishes to associate with people who have been accused of rape).

No doubt ILPK will now become irate and agitated as such an opinion of him/her/it and the advantage he (presumably) seeks from following St Kilda.

Because I am idly speculating on why he/her/it purports to support, and taking the liberty of speculating on "for his/her/its own advantage" without knowing.

But that is the world he wishes to live in.

The Bolt's of this world presume to know everything about everyone - and that is why they are so dangerous.

The true irony is that they know nothing.

Yes, I'm sure you are all right.

Four legs good, two legs bad.


Nothing wrong with Aboriginal people getting some advantages.
There's been huge progress in the last few years...the AFL has led the way.

But look at the 'intervention'...someone finally tried to do something, which was condemned by many on the Left, who would prefer to think of Aborigines as the 'noble savage' living as one with nature.

If you think I agree with everything Bolt says, that is ridiculous. Bolt doesn't pretend to know everything. He has done pretty well for a son of poor immigrants.

He is considered 'dangerous' by the Left because he stubbornly questions a lot of the brainwashing we are subjected to by the likes of Bob Brown, Noam Chomsky, John Pilger etc.

I don't have to agree with Bob Brown and you don't have to agree with Bolt.
I'm sure many of you are happy that he has taken a 'whack', as you say. Unfortunately you can't competely silence him, much as you would like to.

[I Love Peter Kiel]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc. This is a logical way of dealing with anyone, no matter what their race. It starts with education, giving kids a good start in life. Some of these 'remote communities' are disaster areas waiting to happen.

YOU don't care...you'll never have to live there. You'd rather let things go on as they are for fear of being labelled racist.

Interesting, and I don't entirely disagree. How about instead of giving up on and destroying those communities, we try to develop them in the same way we develop our other cities, and let them make their own mind up about the kind of community they want?

We have tried to take children from their communities and force them to live in a Eurocentric society before; I think it's clear that it didn't work out.

The children their don't have a choice.

And they don't have your advantage of being able to read!

[I Love Peter Kiel]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc.

Sounds an awful lot like a policy they had in place up until not that long ago

Perhaps you could nominate yourself as "Commissioner for Aborigines" and get to work sorting Quadroons from Octoroons and nominating missions where these vulnerable could be shown the care and mercy of kind Christian Brothers on their path to whiteness

As I said, you can concentrate on the mistakes and cruelty of the past, and ignore the terrible situation many people are in in remote communities because it doesn't affect you and you'll never go there.

[IluvHarvey]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc.

Sounds an awful lot like a policy they had in place up until not that long ago

Perhaps you could nominate yourself as "Commissioner for Aborigines" and get to work sorting Quadroons from Octoroons and nominating missions where these vulnerable could be shown the care and mercy of kind Christian Brothers on their path to whiteness

As I said, you can concentrate on the mistakes and cruelty of the past, and ignore the terrible situation many people are in in remote communities because it doesn't affect you and you'll never go there.

Have you actually been to one of these communities?

Have you seen the amount of good work going on there?

Or are you just concentrating on what you would like to believe?

[I Love Peter Kiel]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc. This is a logical way of dealing with anyone, no matter what their race. It starts with education, giving kids a good start in life. Some of these 'remote communities' are disaster areas waiting to happen.

YOU don't care...you'll never have to live there. You'd rather let things go on as they are for fear of being labelled racist.

Interesting, and I don't entirely disagree. How about instead of giving up on and destroying those communities, we try to develop them in the same way we develop our other cities, and let them make their own mind up about the kind of community they want?

We have tried to take children from their communities and force them to live in a Eurocentric society before; I think it's clear that it didn't work out.

This is fine...in theory.

Like it or not, Australia is now a Western country with paper currency, technology, etc.
To live in this country, people need to learn to read (especially English) and they need jobs.
For these communities to survive on something other than welfare, jobs need to be created.
These are some of the problems which many people including politicians in Labor and Liberal governments have wrestled with since 1967.

[I Love Peter Kiel]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc.

Sounds an awful lot like a policy they had in place up until not that long ago

Perhaps you could nominate yourself as "Commissioner for Aborigines" and get to work sorting Quadroons from Octoroons and nominating missions where these vulnerable could be shown the care and mercy of kind Christian Brothers on their path to whiteness

As I said, you can concentrate on the mistakes and cruelty of the past, and ignore the terrible situation many people are in in remote communities because it doesn't affect you and you'll never go there.

Have you actually been to one of these communities?

Have you seen the amount of good work going on there?

Or are you just concentrating on what you would like to believe?

Have you? I'm sure there's a lot of good work going on. The fact is, people need jobs. Living on welfare is soul-destroying.

[Austinnn]

So just to clarify. I don't expect these communities to become perfect; black, white or migrant, NO community is perfect, and some have problems with drugs, some with education, some with gangs, some with tax fraud...

Affirmative Action was the first step, we should be focussing today on equal development moving towards self-actualisation. That way an aboriginal person isn't hostage to the constraints of their environment, just like they are not hostage to theirs.

That is to say, if the hospitals, schools, amenities, opportunities, communications were brought to the level of a normal town, after a generation or two, these 'disaster areas' will be just normal towns, with as many flaws and problems and stability and possibility as the rest of our country. Being born in a town like that will give you the foundations you need to make your own decisions on career, family, ethics, religion, just like the rest of Australia. Just like everyone else, Aboriginal people are individuals with different desires and directions. This foundation will allow them to express their autonomy naturally.

Or we could just keep the ghettos, pump in a token amount of money every 10 years and leave them to fight over it. Forget about providing real jobs or the possibility of creating a company or getting a mortgage and buying/building a house, or lasting education cycles or health care that resembles a developed country in the last 50 years, or even sanitation services and clean running water, they'll just have to try and make that happen themselves. It might take them another 80 years to get to the stage that we're at now, but that's life.

That's true for other communities, not just the remote ones dominated by indigenous people, but they are in the most urgent need at the moment.

[joffaboy]

I'm all for affirmative action. It starts with getting kids away from communities where they can be abused, exposed to alcohol and drugs etc.

Sounds an awful lot like a policy they had in place up until not that long ago

Perhaps you could nominate yourself as "Commissioner for Aborigines" and get to work sorting Quadroons from Octoroons and nominating missions where these vulnerable could be shown the care and mercy of kind Christian Brothers on their path to whiteness

As I said, you can concentrate on the mistakes and cruelty of the past, and ignore the terrible situation many people are in in remote communities because it doesn't affect you and you'll never go there.

yes and a sure sign of madness is repeating the exact same mistake and expecting a different result.

Seems like the defenders of the cultural communist, Andrew Bolt has changed tact a few times in this thread.

Started with denial, then defensiveness, than victimisation, finally resorting to the old populist "elite" furphy.

You guys who rail against the latte sipping leftie intelligensia are using a tried and true tactic of using popularism?

Been used by almost every tyrant in history. Hitler used it, Stalin, especially Mao. The Khmer Rouge used this type of populism to wipe out 3 million people in the 70's (Mao about 20 million in the 60's).

Obama used it, and will again next year, Hawke used it, Abbott is using it.

it is a facile tactic for the weak minded that the users rely on to divide the population against each other.

Bolt is using it against educated Aboriginies to portray them as one of the "others".

it preys on prejudice, insecurity, and fear. Welcome to your manipulation.