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| Sad day for political correctness | |
Australia's indigenous
population has always been a bit of a problem for the rest of us. From the
time that white settlers abandoned any efforts to form a treaty with a local
government and declared terra nullius to ease their consciences, right
up to the death of Bob Hawke's populist declaration of 'A treaty with the
Aborigines', Aborigines have been a thorn in the side of mainstream
Australia. Sort of like the occasional embarrassing smell emanating from the
bathroom. Annoying, but not annoying enough to actually do anything
about. Cleaning the bathroom is such a chore, and can't we just pay
someone else to do it? And besides 'it was like that when we got here'. Of course the situation has not been without it's opportunities. The
International Socialists
used the plight of the Aborigines to discredit Australian nationalism, to damage capitalism and to justify
higher taxes to punish the
rich. Feminists used the
plight of Aborigines to prove that dominant white males were the source of all
evil. And migrant
groups used their plight to justify open borders - on the basis that invaders
had no right to stop further invaders. Meanwhile, embarrassed governments did what what governments do best - pump
huge amounts of money into embarrassing holes in the hope of keeping them
covered them up until the next election. Whether the money had no effect on the
well-being of the Aborigines, or whether it was actually detrimental is a
debate which we will still be having a long time in the future. But the social
policies which came with the leftist self-serving disguised as compassion have
been immensely damaging. But the tide on this one seems to be turning. Collectivists may feel
that it's acceptable to punish someone for the actions of another (as long as
both are in the same identifiable group), but mainstream Australia has taken
about as much guilt as they are willing to put up with. Even the ABC, normally the
bastion of indigenous victim brigade, seem to be documenting the turn
around. The headlines over the
last week tell the story all on their own:
Culture of violence revealed in central Australia
NT defends efforts to tackle remote community violence
Indigenous groups warn violence worsening
Break up Indigenous paedophile rings: Brough
Brough urged to hand over paedophilia evidence
Child abuse reporting scheme works: doctor
SA program 'can stop Indigenous violence'
Health worker says Indigenous violence widespread
Police allow feuding families to slug it out
Money won't end Indigenous violence: Howard
More help urged for Indigenous men to cut sexual abuse rates
NT Chief Minister to boycott violence summit
Aboriginal leaders excluded from violence summit
Pay Aborigines to leave communities: Senator
Martin's violence summit stance under fire
Legal service supports feuding families' fist fights
PM takes stand against customary law
Indigenous Council head backs violence summit
Concerns over understanding of carnal knowledge case
Send Army to Aboriginal community: AMA NT
Minister calls for women-only Aboriginal refuges
One in 10 Indigenous men raped, survey
Labor criticises Indigenous violence summit
Readers are welcome to read the gory details, but there seems little point.
The tide has turned. Of course we still have Aboriginal lobbyists screaming
that all the problems are because the government didn't spent enough
money on the problem, or that they didn't spend it on the right things
(presumably not enough went their way). And of course the ALP are screaming
that after ten years in power, the government should have done something
(anything!) much sooner. Of course a decade ago the ALP
was still following their politically-correct
agenda. Any suggestion that Aborigines should answer to the law, (and the same
punishments) as the rest of us was met with howls about racism, genocide, cultural
relativism, the evils of mainstreaming, black deaths in
custody and (who could forget) The Stolen
Generation! In 2006 The Left has
suddenly discovered that the wonderful culturally enlightened
enclaves which they so carefully curated in the '80s and '90s are cesspits of
endemic violence, child abuse, pedophilia, wife bashing and gang warfare. How could this happen? Weren't these descendent's of the 'original Australians'
supposed to be the the spiritual caretakers of The Land? Weren't they supposed
to spiritually mentor the rest of us and provide role models to lead us away
from soulless consumerism? What went wrong? The Left doesn't really know, but somehow it must be John Howard's
fault. Thankfully, the collapse of leftist political correctness will allow the
government to take some positive action to improve the lot of the majority of
Aborigines who want the same thing the rest of us do: safety, security, and a
comfortable income. It is unfortunate that so many of them have had to suffer
for so long to get there.
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