Australian racial epithet

[Still Life]

It's about undoing a cultural genocide, and that's something that takes time and money to do.

I thought I pretty much stated that earlier. Maybe my language wasn't strong enough. I was discussing law and Aboriginality the other night with my friend, who is a barrister, and we both came to a conclusion that you could argue that the government has mostly skirted around the issue. Applying 'quick fixes' where it suits votes, for example. When you analyze the language used in the 2008 apology, its rhetoric feels like it is directed at the non-Aborginal people of Australia because Rudd's language simply wasn't very strong and definitive in describing the harm done to Aboriginal people.

Australians are so politically disengaged that they haven't really a clue about the genocide that is still essentially taking place at a systemic level.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Australians are so politically disengaged that they haven't really a clue about the genocide that is still essentially taking place at a systemic level.

A lot of that is because most people don't understand what cultural genocide is. Even fewer people realise that past a certain point it becomes self-sustaining - external agency is no longer needed for the cycle of damage to keep going. They don't realise that no longer taking negative action won't solve anything and that positive action needs to be taken.

 

[Still Life]

Australians are so politically disengaged that they haven't really a clue about the genocide that is still essentially taking place at a systemic level.

A lot of that is because most people don't understand what cultural genocide is. Even fewer people realise that past a certain point it becomes self-sustaining - external agency is no longer needed for the cycle of damage to keep going. They don't realise that no longer taking negative action won't solve anything and that positive action needs to be taken.

Mhm, that is very true. I see this every day when I interact with non-Indigenous folk who aren't privy to a more factual reality, as opposed to the authorized reality which skirts around a few things. It's tricky, because most people don't want to acknowledge that they're implicated in a system which perpetuates systemic violence.

It doesn't help when access to certain pools of knowledge are blocked/hijacked by political elements, and I count certain Aboriginal leaders/communities as part of that problem. I'll be frank: one of the biggest challenges Aboriginal communities face is that we currently stand divided.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Australians are so politically disengaged that they haven't really a clue about the genocide that is still essentially taking place at a systemic level.

A lot of that is because most people don't understand what cultural genocide is. Even fewer people realise that past a certain point it becomes self-sustaining - external agency is no longer needed for the cycle of damage to keep going. They don't realise that no longer taking negative action won't solve anything and that positive action needs to be taken.

Mhm, that is very true. I see this every day when I interact with non-Indigenous folk who aren't privy to a more factual reality, as opposed to the authorized reality which skirts around a few things. It's tricky, because most people don't want to acknowledge that they're implicated in a system which perpetuates systemic violence.

Well, it's uncomfortable and confronting if you're a good person to face that through ignorance and/or inaction you've allowed that perpetuation. That's a recipe for denial and anger, it's human nature, and an issue exascerbated when it's framed in a way that comes across as an accusation of informed and active complicity.

It doesn't help when access to certain pools of knowledge are blocked/hijacked by political elements, and I count certain Aboriginal leaders/communities as part of that problem. I'll be frank: one of the biggest challenges Aboriginal communities face is that we currently stand divided.

Which is something non-Indigenous Australia has a problem wrapping it's brain around - all too often Aboriginals are treated as a monolithic entity without regard to the variety of issues within.