Note for all: a subscriber (Kathy Anderson) has attempted to write to me via Substack and the email has somehow failed, containing a single letter & nothing else. Please try again!
If people believe not using a person's preferred neo-pronouns is akin to genocide, you can take their definition with a grain of salt. The fact that Noah Smith of all people wrote that article means that public opinion is malable and every little thing you and people like you contribute is important,even if the audience feels small. Australia can sing,not only sneeze,(metaphorically unless you have secret talents) and other nations can clap and bow if they like what they hear
All of this for a piece of dirt. And it's not even edible!
There's a lot to be said in favor of the dispossessed and downtrodden, it's just a shame academia has gone psychotic and extremist on this topic, to the ends of the earth, because infinite growth necessitates infinite production and infinite consumption.
I hope someone in the future rekindles the idea of infinite harmony (Chinese cultural appropriation).
There is a show on Netflix. "You can't ask That" I believe it's named. It is filled with Australians in many different positions. My husband and I were watching the one with the Aboriginal population and wow. I guess I didn't realize it, but Australia has created the same monster the United States has nurtured. Those people were belligerent, angry, and filled with the idea they had been victims of something akin to genocide. This entire ideology is just ripe for grievances. It's unhealthy. If people want want others have, they must be willing to do what others do. You don't to keep ALL your old ways and get all the new benefits.
The show is on SBS here in Australia - free to watch - and our racism is not the same as the US. The indigenous people here are not Africans and none of the hereditarian evidence that suggests that Africans have lower IQ's is relevant to the Australian Aborigines. They have a different genetic make up from Africans.
Racists need to keep up with the new evidence.
When you say that people want what others have, I think you are mistaking what those grievance filled people want. It's not what you have, all your stuff and your yearning for more of it, ...... they don't want that, want their culture back.
They don't want to assimilate with the greedy cruel culture that some people call civilized.
And they don't assimilate. So they stay where they are. Thats not anyone's fault but the person who chooses that. If I want to open a successful business, I find a good business person and I do what they do. That is not a racist sentiment. And, as far as what their genetic makeup is??? I have no earthly idea. I know there is some Denisovan, but I never claimed anyone was black. I said nurturing grievance is a bad idea. Societies who have done so are still trying to placate people who don't want anything other than for people to leave. That's not going to happen, so what? Stay stuck? How many years should a failed route be tried? Is there an end date? It doesn't seem to be helping anyone of any culture because you have one culture who wants one thing from the other and vice versa. This conversation? You came here and injected your feelings and decided to read my statement as racist. I didn't bring up race, so you prescribed it. Why?
Why? Why bring up race? I brought up race cos you had no thought of that. I am sorry you think Australian aborigines are white. I can see you know nothing but I didn't realise you were truly race blind. How wonderful.
I am impulsive and Substack loads these uninformative articles on my feed and then I read smug and self-serving comments from people who have no idea what they are talking about and I can't help myself.
Your idea that it Indigenous Australians should not be having grievances is racist. Your idea that everyone should start a business and all will be well is stupid and shows a total lack of knowledge about indigenous culture and what it was about.
Your short description of the conversation and history how aboriginal and white colonists have interacted also shows a lack of knowledge about the history of our country and the possibility that we can work together sometime in the future to build a society that is not like the US.
The route as you call it has not been a complete failure at all. But I think the US is a failure.
Kirsch' purpose in criticising Fanon was to defend Israel; Manne's purpose in criticising you was to attack Australia. Wolfe piled on because he didn't think Manne was hard enough on Australia.
Apologies for (((noticing))), but there it is.
The conflict in the Levant would have been inevitable even without 'settler-colonial ideology'. I believe that, tangentially, this was Arafat's point.
Non indigenous Australians go down a rabbit hole when they try and comply to settler - coloniser framework. Look how toxic the debate on the Voice became where far left and far right wings of indigenous attacked the referendum as falling short. European Australians ended up looking patronising and out of touch. It set back the debate on ‘ what next ‘ for decades I would argue.
I mention European Aussies as most recent migrants were appalled being asked to supplant their rights to any other group. Their toe hold in their new country is tenuous. What else were they going to be asked next ?
The US has 9 distinct national holidays from Juneteenth to MLK’s Birthday to Indigenous Persons Day to Thanksgiving. Australia has two and they are constantly under threat. We can see what’s going on. “F*ck the Colony” Is a movement to erase the concept of Australia from history.
I am a progressive voter and from a blue collar background but this path to sign onto Franz Fanon Down Under will implode the vote that ALP / Greens and even Teal independents get. Telling people to be ashamed of one of the most successful multi cultural democracies on earth is madness.
Helen, a great article. Few understand that the 'settler-colonialism' paradigm was imported into Australia from the Ivy League via an obscure programme: Aboriginal Overseas Study Award Scheme (AOSAS).
AOSAS financed indigenous students to undertake studies overseas. Some went to do short courses, others entire degrees.
Graduates of the scheme included at least one very senior adviser to Paul Keating. The advisor who wrote Keating's Redfern speech of December 1992. Who also advised Keating about the responses to the royal commission into indigenous deaths in custody. Who was there when the Wik case made its way through the federal courts.
Try as you might, there has never been any public acknowledgement of this person's miseducation at Harvard and there appears to be nothing about AOSAS on the internet either. There is a good chance that AOSAS has never been audited. Most likely the program was renamed or rolled up into another scam.
Note for all: a subscriber (Kathy Anderson) has attempted to write to me via Substack and the email has somehow failed, containing a single letter & nothing else. Please try again!
If people believe not using a person's preferred neo-pronouns is akin to genocide, you can take their definition with a grain of salt. The fact that Noah Smith of all people wrote that article means that public opinion is malable and every little thing you and people like you contribute is important,even if the audience feels small. Australia can sing,not only sneeze,(metaphorically unless you have secret talents) and other nations can clap and bow if they like what they hear
This is excellently stated. I've recently started a series on Islamic Settler-Colonialism, and the opening piece quotes you and Kirsch - https://open.substack.com/pub/anarrowbridgeburning/p/islamic-settler-colonialism-part
Just read & re-stacked--thank-you! As discussed, this piece focusses on the genocide issue, because I was involved in that particular debate.
All of this for a piece of dirt. And it's not even edible!
There's a lot to be said in favor of the dispossessed and downtrodden, it's just a shame academia has gone psychotic and extremist on this topic, to the ends of the earth, because infinite growth necessitates infinite production and infinite consumption.
I hope someone in the future rekindles the idea of infinite harmony (Chinese cultural appropriation).
There is a show on Netflix. "You can't ask That" I believe it's named. It is filled with Australians in many different positions. My husband and I were watching the one with the Aboriginal population and wow. I guess I didn't realize it, but Australia has created the same monster the United States has nurtured. Those people were belligerent, angry, and filled with the idea they had been victims of something akin to genocide. This entire ideology is just ripe for grievances. It's unhealthy. If people want want others have, they must be willing to do what others do. You don't to keep ALL your old ways and get all the new benefits.
The show is on SBS here in Australia - free to watch - and our racism is not the same as the US. The indigenous people here are not Africans and none of the hereditarian evidence that suggests that Africans have lower IQ's is relevant to the Australian Aborigines. They have a different genetic make up from Africans.
Racists need to keep up with the new evidence.
When you say that people want what others have, I think you are mistaking what those grievance filled people want. It's not what you have, all your stuff and your yearning for more of it, ...... they don't want that, want their culture back.
They don't want to assimilate with the greedy cruel culture that some people call civilized.
And they don't assimilate. So they stay where they are. Thats not anyone's fault but the person who chooses that. If I want to open a successful business, I find a good business person and I do what they do. That is not a racist sentiment. And, as far as what their genetic makeup is??? I have no earthly idea. I know there is some Denisovan, but I never claimed anyone was black. I said nurturing grievance is a bad idea. Societies who have done so are still trying to placate people who don't want anything other than for people to leave. That's not going to happen, so what? Stay stuck? How many years should a failed route be tried? Is there an end date? It doesn't seem to be helping anyone of any culture because you have one culture who wants one thing from the other and vice versa. This conversation? You came here and injected your feelings and decided to read my statement as racist. I didn't bring up race, so you prescribed it. Why?
Why? Why bring up race? I brought up race cos you had no thought of that. I am sorry you think Australian aborigines are white. I can see you know nothing but I didn't realise you were truly race blind. How wonderful.
I am impulsive and Substack loads these uninformative articles on my feed and then I read smug and self-serving comments from people who have no idea what they are talking about and I can't help myself.
Your idea that it Indigenous Australians should not be having grievances is racist. Your idea that everyone should start a business and all will be well is stupid and shows a total lack of knowledge about indigenous culture and what it was about.
Your short description of the conversation and history how aboriginal and white colonists have interacted also shows a lack of knowledge about the history of our country and the possibility that we can work together sometime in the future to build a society that is not like the US.
The route as you call it has not been a complete failure at all. But I think the US is a failure.
Seems to be more of an argument amongst Jewish intellectuals.
Kirsch' purpose in criticising Fanon was to defend Israel; Manne's purpose in criticising you was to attack Australia. Wolfe piled on because he didn't think Manne was hard enough on Australia.
Apologies for (((noticing))), but there it is.
The conflict in the Levant would have been inevitable even without 'settler-colonial ideology'. I believe that, tangentially, this was Arafat's point.
Non indigenous Australians go down a rabbit hole when they try and comply to settler - coloniser framework. Look how toxic the debate on the Voice became where far left and far right wings of indigenous attacked the referendum as falling short. European Australians ended up looking patronising and out of touch. It set back the debate on ‘ what next ‘ for decades I would argue.
I mention European Aussies as most recent migrants were appalled being asked to supplant their rights to any other group. Their toe hold in their new country is tenuous. What else were they going to be asked next ?
The US has 9 distinct national holidays from Juneteenth to MLK’s Birthday to Indigenous Persons Day to Thanksgiving. Australia has two and they are constantly under threat. We can see what’s going on. “F*ck the Colony” Is a movement to erase the concept of Australia from history.
I am a progressive voter and from a blue collar background but this path to sign onto Franz Fanon Down Under will implode the vote that ALP / Greens and even Teal independents get. Telling people to be ashamed of one of the most successful multi cultural democracies on earth is madness.
Helen, a great article. Few understand that the 'settler-colonialism' paradigm was imported into Australia from the Ivy League via an obscure programme: Aboriginal Overseas Study Award Scheme (AOSAS).
AOSAS financed indigenous students to undertake studies overseas. Some went to do short courses, others entire degrees.
Graduates of the scheme included at least one very senior adviser to Paul Keating. The advisor who wrote Keating's Redfern speech of December 1992. Who also advised Keating about the responses to the royal commission into indigenous deaths in custody. Who was there when the Wik case made its way through the federal courts.
Try as you might, there has never been any public acknowledgement of this person's miseducation at Harvard and there appears to be nothing about AOSAS on the internet either. There is a good chance that AOSAS has never been audited. Most likely the program was renamed or rolled up into another scam.