(no subject)

[highlyeccentric]

Why Australia Needs Hate Crimes Legislation

interesting thing that i noticed though- the group he's describing, whom he feels aren't being appropriately sentenced after the Cronulla Riots, are 'white Australians', as opposed to 'lebanese australians'.

why are 'white' australians typified by skin colour and not place of origin? why not 'anglo-Australian', even if it doesn't encompass groups from western europe who migrated here and have now blended pretty much seamlessly. what about 'Euro-Australian' as a term?

'White Australians', to anyone who's sat through a year nine history class and/or is old enough to remember the Whitlam era or further back, carries an irremovable overtone of 'True Australians'. Oh, sure, we're told the White Australia Policy was 'bad', but if the terminology that goes with it continues to be used, then those values continue to be implicit in those terms.

Comments

[lepsdavid.livejournal.com]

Well said, I will make a point of remembering that whenever the term "white Australians" is used.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

of course it was well said, i said it. *halo*

[rxgra.livejournal.com]

Brings to mind Annie's report of her mobile phone thief. The policewoman asked if the criminal was "Australian", which I thought was pretty danged bad.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

*snort* he could've been german and how would you tell?

stupid policewoman.