My tongue still feels weird
Jan. 16th, 2003 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gemfyreCan't wait for my tastebuds to grow back.
Must write about ants dammit.
Had a thought today, really totally irrelevant to anything, I think it came about from me thinking of the ol' "Land Rights for Gay Whales" slogan.. And here it is.
Open letter to the aboriginal community of Australia
I can understand having a sacred site. But, why, whenever there is a decrepit building somewhere that should be pulled down or restored, do you scream "sacred site" and forbid anyone to touch it? Like the Brewery and the Midland Inn. I mean, the little shits that commit all the crimes and give the race a bad name... It just makes it look like maybe the pub was a sacred site, which really doesn't look good. How can something built by a white person within the last century or less be a sacred site?? And why do they only suddenly become sacred when the building on them gets burned down or something? You should be able to understand why most people get so pissed off over the scream of "sacred site" whenever something like this comes up. I can understand a waterfall in the Kimberly or part of the Swan River or a lake or a hill or a cave or something being a sacred site. But a burnt out shell of an old pub? I don't get it.
And the two blokes I got stuck with for the labs. They turned out okay I guess. The older guy is still awkward, you try to explain some experimental procedure that makes perfect sense and he doesn't understand or thinks it's wrong. gah. As for the other bloke, he's actually kinda interesting once you get to know him, just the way he speaks gives a bad first impression.
Okay, I MUST write about these bloody ants.
Must write about ants dammit.
Had a thought today, really totally irrelevant to anything, I think it came about from me thinking of the ol' "Land Rights for Gay Whales" slogan.. And here it is.
Open letter to the aboriginal community of Australia
I can understand having a sacred site. But, why, whenever there is a decrepit building somewhere that should be pulled down or restored, do you scream "sacred site" and forbid anyone to touch it? Like the Brewery and the Midland Inn. I mean, the little shits that commit all the crimes and give the race a bad name... It just makes it look like maybe the pub was a sacred site, which really doesn't look good. How can something built by a white person within the last century or less be a sacred site?? And why do they only suddenly become sacred when the building on them gets burned down or something? You should be able to understand why most people get so pissed off over the scream of "sacred site" whenever something like this comes up. I can understand a waterfall in the Kimberly or part of the Swan River or a lake or a hill or a cave or something being a sacred site. But a burnt out shell of an old pub? I don't get it.
And the two blokes I got stuck with for the labs. They turned out okay I guess. The older guy is still awkward, you try to explain some experimental procedure that makes perfect sense and he doesn't understand or thinks it's wrong. gah. As for the other bloke, he's actually kinda interesting once you get to know him, just the way he speaks gives a bad first impression.
Okay, I MUST write about these bloody ants.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
rebuttal to open letter to the Aboriginal community
Date: 2003-01-16 04:57 am (UTC)looks like another controversial topic here, eh? I did a unit at uni last year "Aboriginal and Multicultural Education" (compulsory Education degree unit). And the idea of it was to teach me to argue points like this... so let's see how I go ;)
one point... you should capitalise "Aboriginal", as it's a proper name. As a mark of respect--a small point, but important. (like "English" or "Australian")
firstly, I half agree with you, and half disagree. I can see your point about how negative these things can look from the white side of the fence, but I do believe white australia needs to take off its prejudice-colour glasses and try to see the other side. And it is very hard to do, when the glasses have been worn so long (I mean, by society, not anyone personally) that we don't know they are there.
let's use the burned out pub for example. If an Aboriginal group claims a scared site, it's not the building on it, but the land that is sacred. And perhaps they only tried to fight for it *after* the pub was destroyed because they were unlikely to succeed while it was in use by the pub. And it was urgent after the burning, because the government would otherwise go ahead and build something else on it. However through the glasses, we may think their timing is too "convenient". Maybe it is, but they're working from a major disadvantage in numbers and popular opinion.
as for the "bad apples", I'm sure they are as upsetting, if not more upsetting to the general Aboriginal community, since they are taken by white society as representing the whole, rather than the unfortunate few. And not that it's an excuse, but in 99% of those cases you can blame it on society's bad treatment. A higher proportion of Aboriginal ppl are in prison because a higher proportion of Aboriginal ppl are growing up in extreme poverty. Poverty causes crime. The settlers/invaders put them into poverty in the first place, and it just continues on, generation after generation because the cycle is so hard to break. It is the ame with white people in poverty, there just isn't such a high proportion, so we don't hear about it.
oh well... after six months of studying these issues, I am hardly an expert; but if you're interested, look it up on the web. You should be able to find arguments from both sides.
anyway, I'm not trying to be insulting or controversial (this is the disclaimer part, *g*) so please feel free to debate the point with me (Luke always does)
I got a Distinction for the unit, btw ;)
Re: rebuttal to open letter to the Aboriginal community
Date: 2003-01-16 05:09 am (UTC)Yeah, I know it's meant to be capitalised, I learned that at TAFE too.
It would be interesting to see ALL the places that were regarded as sacred sites, whether or not they have been developed, just to see. I can understand why the Brewery may be on an important site, it's a nice spot on the river, at the foot of Mt Eliza. Wagyl probably slept there (as a kid I used to play near Bennet Brook quite often, another of Wagyl's haunts). I like Wagyl, I sure wouldn't wanna invoke his wrath. Dreamtime stories are cool (see previous long post about beliefs and religions and stuff).
It is really unfortunate that due to various reasons more Aboriginal people seem to commit crimes (and most of the time it seems they are just petty crimes, like theft and vandalism). As said in latest LJ entry, people suck. Especially the white anglo-saxon type that decided they could take over half the world. Actually, in the eastern part the large Asian nations are also making a right fuck up of their worlds too.
Before white people got to Oz this primitive (I don't get the whole "primitive is offensive" thing. The definintion of primitive is something older, and simpler than it is now.) Original Aboriginal society IS primitive, that was why it was so great. They lived for thousands of years here without wrecking the place. Within less than 100 we were well on our way to destroying everything with our lovely European critters that went "wahoo!!" and ate all the native animals and pushed them out of their homes.
Blah... train of thought lost, I really hafta write about ants and pack stuff for weekend. Karaoke tomorrow!! *squeebounce*
Re: rebuttal to open letter to the Aboriginal community
Date: 2003-01-16 05:32 am (UTC)I was gonna say, what about the ants ;)
yes, hooray for Karaoke! Doubly so for me since I didn't get to sing last week due to horribly painful kidney infection and vomiting. And I got a new CD burner today! 52x write for $99!!
*goes off to play with it*
Re: rebuttal to open letter to the Aboriginal community
Date: 2003-01-16 06:03 am (UTC)Yes, I am sad :)
Insert Typical Shit-stirring Comment Here
Date: 2003-01-16 09:44 am (UTC):P
I went to my debutone ball with an aboriginal girl. She was such a nice gal too, good dancer. Her parents were nice (they seated us at the same table as the parents)
Every aboriginal I've ever met has not been nasty to me.
Not an argument, just stating whats happened to me in my life.
I've yet to meet a "bad apple" aboriginal. I've met a LOT of horrible fucking white kids I wouldn't mind putting through a blender. :)
Not that it has to do with your argument, but the above two Inserts are supposed to take care of that. :P
Re: Insert Typical Shit-stirring Comment Here
Date: 2003-01-16 01:48 pm (UTC)Re: Insert Typical Shit-stirring Comment Here
Date: 2003-01-16 03:29 pm (UTC)and i don't capitalise proper names much, it's just the way i write.
Re: Insert Typical Shit-stirring Comment Here
Date: 2003-01-16 09:44 pm (UTC)Re: Insert Typical Shit-stirring Comment Here
Date: 2003-01-16 11:29 pm (UTC)