12th February 2008, 06:39 PM
I am speaking with the royal we... (well spotted)
What we (not royal) should worry about is sweeping generalisations painting a picture of a deeply racist society.. based on what Arthus says, the division is not just on a minority level but endemic and widespread... with most white Australians being racist .. now... take a look at the statistics ... a careful look... are we saying that 3/5ths of australians in WA are racist - how does this match with other areas... how many people are in WA?
lets see... with some collected stats
In terms of ethnic groups, 2001 census data reveal that Western Australia is highly diverse: the largest single group was those reporting English ancestry or ethnicity, accounting for 733,783 responses (32.7 per cent), followed by "Australian" (presumably Anglo-Celtic) with 624,259 (27.8 per cent), Irish with 171,667 (7.6 per cent), Italian with 96,721 (4.3 per cent), Scottish with 62,781 (2.8 per cent), German with 51,672 (2.3 per cent) and Chinese with 48,894 responses (2.2 per cent). There were 58,496 Indigenous Australians in Western Australia in 2001, forming 3.1 per cent of the population.
In terms of birthplace, 32.9 per cent of the population were born overseas â far higher than the Australian average of 23.1 per cent. 10.9 per cent of West Australians were born in Britain, 2.4 per cent were born in New Zealand and 1.2 per cent were born in Italy.
so if 39% are born overseas, then I assume they are not counted as racist.. then we have the 'other groups' so then once we have the population down to around half we then take 3/5th of that population and brand them racist.. (there may be more than one reason why they did not want an apology... though in my view it was an apology long overdue) so suddenly... 3/5ths of the Australians in WA being racist we go to around 20% - as I said... based on the assumption that they are racist. (and even that has shades ... from frothing nutter to accidental bigot)
To discuss this is all well and good, but wringing hands and saying how bad it is, did nothing.... I have yet to see one... ONE concrete proposal on how to tackle even the simple, small and manageable racism in Perth archaeologists claim. Any answers? or does it just come down to saying how bad it all is?
I do however apologise for the confusion I caused.. it sometimes becomes difficult to separate who I am
And yes I do agree with Artus... I do think there is a valid argument for challenging racism - I don't question the crap that aboriginals have to contend with... what I want now... is answers.
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
What we (not royal) should worry about is sweeping generalisations painting a picture of a deeply racist society.. based on what Arthus says, the division is not just on a minority level but endemic and widespread... with most white Australians being racist .. now... take a look at the statistics ... a careful look... are we saying that 3/5ths of australians in WA are racist - how does this match with other areas... how many people are in WA?
lets see... with some collected stats
In terms of ethnic groups, 2001 census data reveal that Western Australia is highly diverse: the largest single group was those reporting English ancestry or ethnicity, accounting for 733,783 responses (32.7 per cent), followed by "Australian" (presumably Anglo-Celtic) with 624,259 (27.8 per cent), Irish with 171,667 (7.6 per cent), Italian with 96,721 (4.3 per cent), Scottish with 62,781 (2.8 per cent), German with 51,672 (2.3 per cent) and Chinese with 48,894 responses (2.2 per cent). There were 58,496 Indigenous Australians in Western Australia in 2001, forming 3.1 per cent of the population.
In terms of birthplace, 32.9 per cent of the population were born overseas â far higher than the Australian average of 23.1 per cent. 10.9 per cent of West Australians were born in Britain, 2.4 per cent were born in New Zealand and 1.2 per cent were born in Italy.
so if 39% are born overseas, then I assume they are not counted as racist.. then we have the 'other groups' so then once we have the population down to around half we then take 3/5th of that population and brand them racist.. (there may be more than one reason why they did not want an apology... though in my view it was an apology long overdue) so suddenly... 3/5ths of the Australians in WA being racist we go to around 20% - as I said... based on the assumption that they are racist. (and even that has shades ... from frothing nutter to accidental bigot)
To discuss this is all well and good, but wringing hands and saying how bad it is, did nothing.... I have yet to see one... ONE concrete proposal on how to tackle even the simple, small and manageable racism in Perth archaeologists claim. Any answers? or does it just come down to saying how bad it all is?
I do however apologise for the confusion I caused.. it sometimes becomes difficult to separate who I am
And yes I do agree with Artus... I do think there is a valid argument for challenging racism - I don't question the crap that aboriginals have to contend with... what I want now... is answers.
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu