reply to post by Lysergic
May I begin by saying that at base, I believe in the inherent goodness of the next person, and the next
The problem as I see it, is the conditioning or programming if you like, in childhood. Parents mean no harm, nor does the average clergyman.
They're simply trying to instill values in the young, just as those values were imparted to them.
The problem lies in the reverence for a flag and the instilled belief that this religion is the most 'right'. And of course, in amongst all that,
we form the impression that this flag, this religion, is ours and that we're part of it
As children, most of us are exposed to the wisdom of ' Give me the child until it is 7 years of age, and I'll give you the man '. Our parents
might even explain to us what this means. But we don't connect it with our own indoctrination per flag and religion. We simply think it has
something with education or decent values, tuition or whatever
At more prosaic level, we're collecting cues as we move through childhood, e.g. Dad drives an X-make vehicle and wouldn't touch Brand-B. Mum and
Dad vote for 1-2-3-Party -- always have, always will. At home, we almost always watch XYZ-Channel. Mother shops at LMN-chain because they have the
best prices and quality. Dad drinks GGG-brand beer, like his father before him. Our families go to a certain resort for holidays every year and so
do their friends - it's the best - those who go to that other resort are rough, earn less, not 'our' type.
We attend such-and-such school. Maybe it's a faith-based school. It's the best, everyone knows that. And maybe we mix almost exclusively with
kids from that school until early adulthood. We might marry classmates. They're godparents to our children and we to theirs. We select from that
same pool when we're hiring or seeking employment. We have connections with certain legal firms, with people in the local council. They're the
ones we help and who help us. Nothing wrong with that, we say. We like to know who we're dealing with and we know we can trust those from our
group
Often, we won't consider crossing those lines. There are parts of town we'd never visit, certain restaurants and retail establishments we just
wouldn't think of patronising. We prefer our own. Our own offer security. We enjoy that peace of mind
These attitudes are common to all divides. Right now, we live in an area that's undergoing considerable change. It used to be predominantly
Italian, apparently. Prior to that, it was a genteel WASP neighbourhood. The Italians replaced the WASPS and now -- because of its close proximity
to the CBD -- it's keenly sought by mid-life professionals of no particular persuasion
The Italians will move out, but at the moment it's a bit touchy, bit sensitive. The Italians are resentful, so it's always there, under the
surface. Enter a chemists/pharmacy, and older Italians still insist on speaking Italian to the chemist/pharmacist. The pharmacists are 3rd or 4th
generation Italian. Some have told me they had to make the effort to relearn Italian, in order to speak with Italian customers who otherwise would go
to the Italian-speaking pharmacists up the road. And as a non-Italian, I'm regarded as non-existent by those older Italians who take it for granted
I should stand and wait as they chatter on and on in their language about inconsequentials with the uncomfortable pharmacist . He just wants to make
a living, poor guy. To him, my money is as good as that of the Italians. But he must obey protocol or he'll lose his Italian customers. I don't
envy his position
Step outside and walk up half a block and there you'll find a cafe frequented predominantly by Lebanese - first, second and third generation
migrants. It's their opinion that they 'own' that location. They make it clear. They congregate almost in shifts at the tables and chairs on the
footpath. The local council allows the cafe-owner X-square metres of footpath for a fee. But the Lebanese push the boundaries to the extreme,
requiring non-Lebanese to squeeze through in single-file. It's resented by the general populace but the Lebanese are a dominant race generally
speaking, and always ready to rumble
The air around the Lebanese sector is blue with four letter words, quite often. They enjoy laughter and argument, table-thumping, running
commentaries on the physical attributes or not, of non-Lebanese females. Their music dominates the street. And there's a constant stream of noisy
vehicles trawling past with horn-honking and catcalls back and forth between Lebanese on the footpath and those in the cars. They're staking claim.
It doesn't go down well with the older Italian residents or with the general community. But few do more than mutter as they squeeze past - because
Lebanese aren't at all averse to a punch-up or to delivering loud insults. The nearest 'Lebanese owned suburb' is several kilometres away, is a
no-go area for most. So this new development is a rapidly growing outpost which the Lebanese contingent travel some distance to maintain
At the recent elections, the still strong Italian population voted predictably and as always returned their traditionally-supported party. It will be
the same at the next State elections, when they will return the same member, on the strength of the fact she's of Italian descent, with an Italian
surname -- despite that she's widely regarded as 'totally useless' as far as taking care of her constituents is concerned. I know her pretty well
and she quite candidly told me she owes her career to that Italian surname and was placed in this district to garner Italian votes. In predominantly
Greek suburbs there are politicians of Greek descent capitalising on it -- captitalising on Greeks strong tendency to vote for those with Greek
surnames. And so on
Asians generally stick to their own to the extent that on a current-affairs programme they interviewed (via interpreters) those from the large number
of second generation Asians who again quite candidly say that they won't bother to learn English because their entire life in this country revolves
around the large Asian community and business districts, etc. In other words, they've constructed a self-supporting Asia away from home and are not
particularly fond of - or of dealing with - the non-Asian host population
Which completes the circle. All the various groups programmed to believe their group, their religion, their traditions, their flag, their homeland,
etc. .... are 'the best'
It's not at all difficult for fomenters of wars and divisions (cultural and other) to drive in those wedges. The wedges already exist. And staged
and phony news-items are used to keep tapping those wedges deeper
When I was younger and idealistic, it was my philosophy that children should not be raised by their biological families
I thought about it and decided that the only way this could be achieved was via Big Brother society, whereby
' You want a child ? Ok. Come here
and have your child. When it's born, it will go into the holding-tank-nurseries. When you depart, you will be handed a child. It will not of
course, be your biological child. It will be whatever child is at the front of the conveyor belt as you depart. Raise it to the best of yoru
ability. Goodbye '.
In this way, I believed, parents would be provided all the joys and sense of fulfilment of parenthood, of having a child, a family
But -- this method would put an end to remarks such as,
' Look. He has eyes just like his grandfather. Look, he's good with his hands like
Uncle Mick. Look, he's turning into a thug, just like your brother ', etc.
It would also put a stop to the indoctrination by parents as regards traditions, culture, religions, feuds, etc. Not much point in a Lebanese family
attempting to instill their traditions in a child of Asian heritage. Not much point a white family continuing whatever race-biases they might
previously have held, prior to being provided with a black child. And so on
Any time I mentioned my 'great plan' to others, it was greeted with fear which emerged as anger. No-one liked my grand plan. I was insulted until
I could barely stand upright
I still believe my plan has merit, at least from a philosophical point of view
But then, of course, it wouldn't be profitable, would it ? It would eventually result in an end to divisions
And much as politicians bleat on about 'world peace' and 'harmony' -- it's a nice vote catcher and lie --- but if it ever eventuated, they'd
run around like mad putting all the factions back together again
.
[edit on 24-8-2010 by Dock9]