Posted by Kevin Bates on February 28, 2006, 5:00 pm, in reply to "Re: Peter Costello and Multiculturalism" all good wishes., Kevin
spot on Cathy - thanks for that. I thought Hugh Mackay's piece on Howard's Australia was masterly and used it to good effec with some high school staff yesterday.
--Previous Message--
: I certainly agree that it all seems to be a
: bit of a worry! I heard on the radio this
: morning that John Howard is the most popular
: Prime Minister ever - apparently, many
: people feel that they can't believe him on a
: number of issues, but they still like him as
: a prime minister! The sad thing is, I think
: that there is still a lot of goodwill in the
: community. Many, perhaps most, people
: genuinely want to live peaceably and with
: integrity, in a diverse and multicultural
: society. All we need, it seems, is some
: good leadership.
:
: While we are on this issue, I would like to
: thank you, Kevin, for making available to us
: (in your "Current Affairs"
: section) the article about "those"
: cartoons. The article expressed exactly
: what I feel about this whole sorry affair.
: I couldn't help feeling a bit cynical
: whenever I heard about editors who justified
: publishing the cartoons on the grounds that
: "people could make up their own minds
: about whether the cartoons were
: offensive". As it's primarily Muslims
: who are likely to be offended, and as these
: newspapers had largely non-Muslim
: readerships, their rationalisations didn't
: really add up!
:
: I also really loved the little story about
: Muhammad near the end of the article. I
: really do believe that one good way to bring
: about understanding and acceptance between
: diverse religious (and other) groups is by
: sharing our stories - not just our personal
: stories, but the stories, parables and myths
: which give both colour and inspiration to
: our religious lives.
:
: There's still hope for the world as long as
: human beings tell stories!
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: This country is sliding deeper and deeper
: into
: a climate of confusion and fear. Peter
: Costlelo's eipc piece during the week where
: he cites "Australian values" as
: being the benchmark of acceptability was of
: real concern.
:
: The Kerry Packer-esque values of competition
: where we win at all cost, our beahviours
: over the Tampa and the children overboard
: story, the silence about the atrocious
: Guantanamo Bay circus, our participation in
: a war in Iraq that looks like leading to
: ever more dreadful violence, IR legistlation
: that will almost inevitably lead to
: disruption and suffering on a huge scale at
: home, environmental policies that are so far
: behind the efforts of most other countries,
: and so it goes.
:
: All these things are the result of so-called
: "Australian values"?
:
: It's hard to sense the spirit that we
: displayed during the Olympics just five
: years' ago. Maybe following the success of
: that event we have got a bit big for our
: boots and think that we are above common
: decency, above truth, and above
: accountability.
:
: Some of us had better try for a change of
: direction.
:
:
:
:
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