Saw an ad for this creepy campaign of attitudinal reconstruction called Recognise a day or two back. Had well known footy player Adam Goodes fronting a pack of sporty types all urging us to get behind his movement to recognise Aborigines in the Constitution.
The whole thing is as annoying as it is ridiculous. I suspect it's gonna make footy fans even more pissed off with politically correct interference than they are already -- which is a helluva lot. After all, the last thing they want to sit through at a footy match is pompous political posturing and interference from the Left. They get enough of that in their working lives. They wanna see the big men fly -- and if there's biffo, that's a bonus!
And I suspect that most of those fans, er, recognise the classical (and correct) definition of racism -- that it's when you see those of a different race as fundamentally different and therefore inferior to your own. And being fair-minded people from all over the globe, racism is what they abhor.
Overwhelmingly they believe that the best way to combat it is to take the sage advice of Martin Luther King: Judge people "by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin". Implicit in that exhortation is the belief that we should see people as individuals above all other criteria. And when we do come to the category called race, isn't it best to define ourselves and others as members of the human race? Rather than seeing people as members of various minority groups, it's better to see each individual as a minority of one. That's a much more mature, humane and practical way of approaching the whole issue.
So when a bunch of latte-slurping nanny state tossers start telling them that to counter racism you must do the polar opposite of that -- that is, see racial groups as separate and distinct -- well, they don't like it one bit.
Now, smug right-on whitey-tighties like to bang on about how seeing Aborigines as different doesn't mean they see them as inferior. On the contrary, they say, as they puff themselves up with lefteous indignation, we think they're superior.
To that, I say, Bill Shorten! Apart from the well established fact that the cultural Left is incapable of honesty about anything, and is always using deceit to get what it wants -- namely coercive power over others -- you just have to look at their actions to know how insincere their words are. For example, notice how they happily tolerate the appalling suffering of Aboriginal people, particularly in remote communities, that continues partly as a result of the sinister separatism they endorse. There is no way on Gaia's green Earth they would put up with white people -- women and kids in particular -- enduring such misery and violence.
Clearly, this recognition push is about enshrining in law the difference of Aborigines. Difference implies separation. It's a subset of the grand global project of the sanctimonious socialist: apartheid with a smiley face badge whopped on it.
Now I know that the campaign's supporters argue that it is actually proposing the exact opposite of this. But look at what they're pushing for:
Remove Section 25 – which says the States can ban people from voting based on their race;
Remove section 51(xxvi) – which can be used to pass laws that discriminate against people based on their race;
Insert a new section 51A - to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to preserve the Australian Government’s ability to pass laws for the benefit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
Insert a new section 116A, banning racial discrimination by government; and
Insert a new section 127A, recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages were this country’s first tongues, while confirming that English is Australia’s national language.
Firstly, notice the inherent contradiction between the third and fourth points. They want to enable discrimination for a racial group, and simultaneously outlaw racial discrimination.
Eh? That's fluffy wuffy double speak at its finest, people.
Then there's the bit about this country's first tongue ...
Now these changes are not going to unify the country. They are dividing it, by race.
Why can't these bozos recognise that?
I'm seeing a double plan here. The Recognise people could hardly be ignorant of the record on changes to the Constitution - so, I'm wondering, have they already prepared their escape route? Because I cannot see their ideas winning majority support at a referendum.
ReplyDeleteFor years, Labor and their caring-sharing cadre told us that only an apology to the 'stolen generations' could heal the rift. Well, surprise surprise - indigenous children are still being removed from their families - or, worse, not being removed when they should be. The apology is an embarrassment to its supporters now. But having left one hollow theatrical gesture in the dust, they
clutch at another.
Apparently Tony Abbott supports the proposals. I doubt he'll find much support in his regular constituency.
But it might be fun watching the Abbott-haters trying to support the changes without explicitly agreeing with the man himself. Such contortions we will see!
Odds are that the hand wringers won't get their way on this. But you never know ...
DeleteIn the end I think the main function of the various campaigns they keep putting forward is simply to keep the pressure up and make sure that those to their right are always on the back foot. That way they still get to feel like they're important as well as boss a lot of people around, even if the don't actually get what they say they want.