What country are YOU from?
8:30 in the morning. 2GB talkback radio with my grandma's pin-up boy, the ultra conservative Alan Jones, a pillar of ignorance and intolerance to the lonely and marginalized elderly population. The topic: religious attire in schools such as Islamic head-cloths (I am sorry but I don’t know the name of them) or Jewish skullcaps (I know the name for these, but I don’t know how to spell it so will use the general term for convenience sake).
You see at the moment, there is a bit of an uproar raging throughout my home state of NSW over schools who have began to complain that religious apparel, particularly Muslim apparel is not compatible with school dress regulations, with certain students being threatened with suspension or expulsion if they fail to comply.
Alan Jones, in his infinite wisdom, summed up the collective opinion of the elderly and unenlightened when he said "We'll someone needs to tell 'these people' that this is Australia, and I am happy to keep telling them that this is Australia. If they don't like it, they can go home"
Where does one begin?
Intrigued by this sentiment, I began to do a little research only to find that this sentiment is a lot more common than I had first anticipated. You see, to many Australians, the idea that people who have different religious beliefs should be permitted to wear their religious apparel is a direct attack on Australian culture, and that 'these people' will slowly take over our society until there is no such thing as 'Australian'- Australia will become a horrible, steaming melting pot of mixed culture, with no identity.
2 things, since I don’t have too much time to spare.
1) I know many, many, many Jews and Muslims who were born in Australia, or whose parents were even born in Australia. Religion does not equate to nationality. This point seems to have eluded many conservative fuckwits who argue that people who wear headscarves should 'go back to their own country'. Wake up dickheads- this is their country.
2) Allowing people to practise their religious beliefs is not going to degrade the integrity of your culture. Rather, it will strengthen it, since you will be living in a society that is so comfortable with itself, so able to accept others, and so willing to celebrate diversity rather than stifle it, that people will be proud of their culture. When I travel abroad, I am proud to call myself Australian because I like to think that a central part of Australian culture is it's multiculturalism, it's ability to accept rather than reject, and it's success in uniting so many people of so many nations and cultural backgrounds. I know I am an idealist, but these are things that go through my head when people ask me what Australia is like. That is why this whole affair makes me so mad I suppose- it challenges the ideal that I hold dear. I know that we still have a way to come, but I think we have it in us to do it...
Ralph
You see at the moment, there is a bit of an uproar raging throughout my home state of NSW over schools who have began to complain that religious apparel, particularly Muslim apparel is not compatible with school dress regulations, with certain students being threatened with suspension or expulsion if they fail to comply.
Alan Jones, in his infinite wisdom, summed up the collective opinion of the elderly and unenlightened when he said "We'll someone needs to tell 'these people' that this is Australia, and I am happy to keep telling them that this is Australia. If they don't like it, they can go home"
Where does one begin?
Intrigued by this sentiment, I began to do a little research only to find that this sentiment is a lot more common than I had first anticipated. You see, to many Australians, the idea that people who have different religious beliefs should be permitted to wear their religious apparel is a direct attack on Australian culture, and that 'these people' will slowly take over our society until there is no such thing as 'Australian'- Australia will become a horrible, steaming melting pot of mixed culture, with no identity.
2 things, since I don’t have too much time to spare.
1) I know many, many, many Jews and Muslims who were born in Australia, or whose parents were even born in Australia. Religion does not equate to nationality. This point seems to have eluded many conservative fuckwits who argue that people who wear headscarves should 'go back to their own country'. Wake up dickheads- this is their country.
2) Allowing people to practise their religious beliefs is not going to degrade the integrity of your culture. Rather, it will strengthen it, since you will be living in a society that is so comfortable with itself, so able to accept others, and so willing to celebrate diversity rather than stifle it, that people will be proud of their culture. When I travel abroad, I am proud to call myself Australian because I like to think that a central part of Australian culture is it's multiculturalism, it's ability to accept rather than reject, and it's success in uniting so many people of so many nations and cultural backgrounds. I know I am an idealist, but these are things that go through my head when people ask me what Australia is like. That is why this whole affair makes me so mad I suppose- it challenges the ideal that I hold dear. I know that we still have a way to come, but I think we have it in us to do it...
Ralph
3 Comments:
Nice post Ralph. It seems appropriate that by coincidence I am listening to The Herd sing their song "77 percent" as I read it.
The future will be better. I know that, because we will make it so. Cheers.
I loved your post heaps, Ralph! Finally you did some proper update of your thoughts.
It is very interesting to see how a country full of immigrants have serious race/religion issues. Remember we watched 'American History X' and it was very powerful for me to be exposed to such realities. Yet understand the urgence of humanity evolution.
The reject of 'diversity' in Australia might come from a 'superior' mindset - personal opinion. I also think it is hard to make people understand the value of diversity while themeselves are advanced (forward - your word).
The world today is facing a serious problem with 'culture development' while the economic development is pushing for more interaction across borders. The cultural, social, political and economical factors have to go hand in hand. And it is a challenge not just for countries like Australia, many many developing countries are facing intensive western influence right now.
Well...a bit too long. But interesting discussion! ;-)
All the best,
Chris
Hey Ralph- thanks for the post...This is something I have been thinking about since arriving in Croatia. It has been a big shock to move from multicultural Australia to a quite homogeneous white Croatia.
People in Oz don't get offended when I wear a singlet top and skirt, baring my legs and shoulders- so why should I be offended if they are brave enough to look 'different' by wearing a head scarf or other such things.
I was just reading this BBC article : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4556233.stm about far-right parties gaining momentum in germany, and I wonder how many steps there are between these bigoted comments on mainstream radio being ok, and open racism becoming acceptable.
Renee
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