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I more or less agree with you. But I would add that it's a two-way street. I'm all for aboriginals empowering themselves but on the other hand the ingrained racism towards them by large sections of Australian society needs to end as well. Unfortunately, the current situation creates a chicken and egg problem. The welfare leads to stereotypes of aboriginals as lazy and living off handouts which makes it harder for them to integrate into mainstream society which leads to welfare dependency.
Not sure if 'lazy' is the right word? Due to their cultural background they don't have a work ethic, because they've never needed one, it's not in their culture or genetic makeup to work an 8 hour day 5 days a week like us idiots have to do. Basically we only do it because some idiot many moons ago came up with the idea of a form of currency, whereby we are *forced* to exchange a number of hours a day for a number of days per week for the means to survive. What is this thing called 'money' anyway? Culturally and historically they don't need to work 'x' number of hours 'x' days a week in exchange for pieces of plastic and gold and silver trinkets to enable them to survive. In reality, who are the idiots?
Money is what defines a civilisation today, remove money from the equation and what do we have? It's a false belief and sense of security, remove that money and total collapse of civilisation as we know it will surely follow.
We may all be forced to return to the hunter and gatherer lifestyle sooner than we may like to think? And that's what's happening to more and more people day by day, we just don't see enough of it...Yet!
'Whatever the case, here I am, just like everyone else and you take what you are handed and you make the best life for yourself. Yes, you respect your ancestors and their struggles and remember them, but also you need to look to the future generations and build a good life for you, your family and your community so the torch can be past onwards.
I think the Aboriginals have to start looking to the present and the future and building a good community for themselves. The "white guilt" crowd has tried to soothe everything with welfare and that never works.'
That's pretty much how I feel. Time to move on for Aboriginal Australians. The 'work ethic', as we know it, may not have been part of traditional Aboriginal culture but I suspect neither were Government benefits. Numerous expensive 'incentives' have existed and do exist to support Aborigines, to say nothing for the numerous positions which list 'aboriginality' as part of the criteria. Plenty of opportunities but the unemployment level amongst Aborigines is way higher then the general community.
I think it was Martin Luther King who said something like 'You may not be responsible for being down on your knees but you sure as hell are for getting up off them'.
To all white people who feel that they can not live near aboriginals in Australia due to their nature, your race in australia has almost destroy the original inhabitants on the continent. The whites have no rights to judge negatively on how aboriginals live. They lived peacefully until the white man came. And this is true to even indigeouness culture that white people have touch. White people are not in any moral rights to judge against those of color.
Bloody huge! The amount of posts here sticking up for the "white" race disgusts me. No wonder we have such a bad reputation overseas
I have heard of white men snarling that those "abos" should be shot dead and in other sentences that I do not want to repeat as it is too disgusting for words
When you take away land, children, rights, the opportunity to have an economic base; when you suppress language, limit educational opportunities, discriminate against a people because of the color of their skin or ethnic origins, and when you treat an indigenous people like refugees in the country they have occupied for thousands of years; then yes, it takes a very long time for people to recover.
The problems that exist amongst some Aboriginal communities cannot be magically healed by the band-aid of money or by chanting like a mantra "...go get a freaking job you lazy *bleep*" nor can you expect that getting a job at Maccas is going to fix everything because the wounds are very deep - to the bone, in fact. Poverty and hopelessness amongst some of these communities are now inter-generational, and probably the reason that many Aboriginals aren't seen outside of their towns is because of the almost rabid racism and discrimination they face in the land of their forefathers. It does something to the collective psyche when the pride and mana of your people are constantly trampled upon. The sense of belonging - to the land, to each other - has always been very important to indigenous peoples, and when you force a culture with their own, unique set of values towards assimilation with another culture that values objects, money, and self over the communal good - then a sense of despair pervades, and it's very difficult to dispel.
There is hope, though. Education is the key. Communication, tolerance, respect between the races are key factors (and I'm not just talking about between White Australians and the Aboriginals, but amongst all peoples). Leadership - positive role models that work tirelessly in the communities, educating, teaching, - are very valuable tools to equip communities with. Encourage these traits in the youth - give them something to strive towards. Set up Excellence Awards, educate your young, encourage the arts, sports, trades, industry, and uplift and motivate the people to have pride in their culture, language, land, ancestors - themselves, once again! Change must come from within the communities, and change must be implemented by their own - not well-meaning academics or government servants or the alien policies of a distant government - but by the community and culture itself. There is a saying: "To understand the future, we must look to the past" and it is certainly true, else we risk repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Another saying is: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime" and these proverbs are just so relevant in a modern context - and so succinct!
I don't want to come across as presuming to lecture an ancient culture and people about what to do. But as a New Zealand Maori, I have seen similar issues plague our communities also, though our history differs from the Aboriginals, we still face discrimination and resentment...it is still an ongoing, painful process at times, and we have the same social ills that exist everywhere in the world. Still, there's been a huge resurgence since the Seventies in our culture, language, arts, etc - and it's afforded our people pathways towards self-determination - it would never have happened if our leaders hadn't worked their asses off, and sparked off a revolution.
Australia is the most racist country I have ever visited. Many people have opinions about aboriginals and yet have never met any.
Right before the Olympics the Australian government paid aboriginals to leave Sydney. They didn't want the world to see aboriginals.
Please don't return.
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