Giving multiculturalism a bad name

[erudito]

So, the Gillard Government, starting with the PM herself, is already distancing itself from a taxpayer-funded study which claimed that celebrating the centenary of ANZAC could be divisive. This shows that the Gillard Government is not suicidally stupid

Comments

[quatrefoil]

As an Anglo-Celtic Australian, I deplore the celebration of ANZAC Day. Not its quiet rememberance with regret, but the nationalistic, jingoistic celebration it became under the Howard era at a time not co-incidentally when the last veterans of the Gallipoli campaign no longer had a voice to protest (and protest they did). I loathe the glorification of war in all its forms, and I fail to see that we should be spending any more money to 'celebrate' such an anniversary. (Note, I'm not objecting to the kind of dignified commemoration that was held for the 75th anniversary, though I think it's kind of pointless when there's no longer anyone who remembers it

[quatrefoil]

Oh, and my views have absolutely nothing to do with multiculturalism, which since the Turks and the Japanese have been marching on ANZAC Day for quite some time now, seem to be an entirely moot point.

[jordan179]

You don't think that Australia (and New Zealand) should be proud of the courage shown by their troops in the First World War? Why not?

As to why Australia should "celebrate" this courage, for oen thing it is the reputation for that sort of courage which helps keep Australia free, by convincing potential aggressors that she would not be a pushover.

So what was it that our ANZAC heros were fighting for again?

What, preventing Germany from using military aggression to dominate the Continent isn't good enough for you? You would prefer some sort of fantasy-war with a Dark Lord and his demon-hordes?

(And yes, I know that the battle most commemorated was against the Turks, but Turkey was at the time part of the German coalition, the "Central Powers").

[cutelildrow]

I rather wonder if, by naming oneself a 'member of club virtue' one immediately assumes in one's own mind that their opinions are rendered irrevocably fact (as if simply expressing dissent against war were enough). The illogic had me blink.

Australia's pretty darned good about integrating its' (willing) migrant populace; it's the unwilling and unaccepting belligerent migrants (refugee, legal and illegal) that Australia and Aussies very rightfully have an issue with. I hope that Australia continues to hold fast against the xenophilia that seems to have seized England disasterously to the detriment of her people.

[yamamanama]

Any worry you have is misplaced. Australia hates other cultures. In fact, Australia hates culture.

[yamamanama]

Also, xenophilia is not a bad thing. Don't treat it as if it were.

[jordan179]

... Andrew Marston said, as part of the set of comments in which he went on about how much he hated another culture.

[yamamanama]

Australia is not a culture, it is the absence of one.

[jordan179]

Actually, Australia is the smallest continent or the biggest island on Earth. But the people who live in Australia have a strong and healthy culture, based originally on the cultures of Great Britain, with some strains coming from the Aboriginies and from later migrants.

[cutelildrow]

As I have the pleasure of working with an Australian author, I'm very happy to announce that sales with the books that carry my edits and artwork reached more than 10,000 units as of last night.

I am very happily contributing to Australian culture even if I am not physically there yet! As I told David - it is an honor, indeed, a privilage!

[jordan179]

Congratulations, Rory! You deserve the success that you are now enjoying, and I hope that this leads to further commissions for you and a great career in your future!

[yamamanama]

You mean that Seda thing on Aff's Diary?
*looks*
I'm two paragraphs in and already I don't like where this is going. It opens with a stereotype. And Tzaro are presumably like elves, they don't have thick wool coats or increased fat during the winter, so why are they completely insensitive to changes in temperature?

And for something that has such a huge following, there's scant information on it.

[jordan179]

Don't worry your little brain about it, Yama. Rory's career will take off just fine. Unlike your work, she doesn't need to pay people to read it.

[yamamanama]

I'm not the one promoting a ripoff of Paula Volsky's Illusion.

The mages have always been the elite of the people, but a revolution begun by one of their own has turned the lives of all humans, magic-wielding and mundane, up-side down. The children are the first to suffer the new world that was never what their parents, with all their good intentions, intended... and never would have dreamed of in their worst nightmares. Will the mageborn survive the world that now despises their kind?

[jordan179]

And in the alternate world where nobody ever writes stories with similar concepts to other stories, you'd even be right. Thankfully, we don't live in that world, and hence we can be enriched by much fiction that would otherwise not be written.

[yamamanama]

So, why should I read Revolution instead of Illusion?