In the Fairfax press, the national celebration is a cue to get stuck into John Howard, denounce an "artificial fabrication designed by governments, the corporate world, media, Australia Day Councils and smug Anglo-Saxons" and insist that "a bit of coloured clay" is comparable to a Rembrandt if wrought by an Indigenous hand (and observed by Betty Farrelly).
And at The Drum, two articles give readers opportunities to rail against "racists disguising their bigotry as patriotism" (comment by Don't Ask Don't Tell. Oh, and there also is this comment (by Claire), which is a beaut:
I have no problems when people of migrant background affirm their love for their country in a public way. I am of a migrant background too and I have done it myself, though in different ways. I do object - and yes, think "bogan" - when it is a person from the Anglo dominant culture who wears the flag and has the tattoo.Those disempowered New Australians should make the most of their right to hail the nation that took them in. Come the next generation, by Claire's logic their kids will be no less stained by Ocker Guilt than the detested "dominant Anglos" who arrived before them.
From victims to cultural oppressors in one generation! Australia really is the land of opportunity.
AN INVITATION: Readers who come across further examples of the OCSIOV Syndrome -- Our Cringing Shame In Our Voices -- should feel free to provide links in comments.
Just think, someone probably lives with Betty Farrelly. Be they male, female, in-between, animal or plant, imagine listening to this sort of drivel emerge daily from the mouth of a grown woman.
ReplyDeleteEven more amazing though - does she actually believe it, or is she just mouthing the platitudes to get in with her crowd?
Anglo-Saxon derives from from Germanic tribes in the middle ages who invaded England and drove the original inhabitants further west. This tribe is inherently racist (eg the Nazis). Those of us who are descended from them have a lot to be ashamed of. We should use "Australia" day to make our repentence known if those of us with that lineage have any decency. As Teo said, we are a racist breed.
ReplyDelete"At risk of sounding like a Bible-belt loony - though few things cheer like glossolalia in the morning - I'm perpetually surprised by how hard it can be to pick the moral way."
ReplyDeleteI'm worried about Betty. I don't think she was chewing away on a Balmain bong when she wrote that; I think she was jabbing it straight into the vein behind her eye.
Hammygar,
ReplyDeleteit gets more complex that that with good evidence that the Romano-Britons adapted and became "Anglo-Saxon" in culture beside the invaders.
As for the "inherent racism" I can name you a long list of nations which are worse.
For some reason I think all this anglo bashing represents a golden opportunity to establish the credibility of accolytes of Alene Composta (MSRIP). When I read Claire's post, that was my first impression. No way could that comment be what she really thought.
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PeterB,
ReplyDeleteThere may be a few isolated communities somewhere in the world as bad as anglo-saxon Australians, but none of them actually worse.
You clearly haven't travelled much child.
DeleteI am wracked with confusion. I was born in Scotland. I have a fair supply of Hiberno-Cymric Celtic (read Atlantic coastal) genes, but also have that dreaded aggressor Anglo-Saxon blood, mingled with a smidgeon of the old conquering and miscegenating Romans and the input of some Norman French, which is basically the blood of the Viking violators, whom recent genetic work suggests probably started inseminating the British Isles in the Stone Age anyway. Am I all evil or purely good, oppressor or oppressed? I must be indigenous to something, but I'm not sure what. Who owes me, or who do I owe? I definitely feel quite a bit Australian. I've just spent Australia day at a prawns and beer BBQ amid a forest of flags, but reflecting on the above I'm thinking all those nice people there must really be racists.
ReplyDeleteNow I have the answer. I am Scottish. I may be eligible to vote for secession (and a big pay out for my oppression?) in the land of my birth. I'm putting up my tent Embassy next to Big Ben as long as there is money and luvvie sympathetic misery-points in it for me.
Hammygar, turn your computer off and go study some history. Many people came from the Russian Steppes and the Parthian Empire through the Caucasus and journeyed to north and western Europe. To name just a few, the Reubenite Franks went to France, the Sabulongoi to the Netherlands, the Nephtalite Huns to Norway, the Gauths to Sweden, Danites to Denmark etc. These, along with the Sacae Scythians (Saxons) and Angles all sojurned for some time in the area now called Germany, which in turn was a province within the Parthian Empire. There were others who travelled with them who have been identified as Edomites and Assyrians, who remained in eastern Europe including Prussia and other eastern portions of present day Germany.
ReplyDeleteThe Angles and the Saxons and the others who migrated with them to Angle-land (England) are not the same people as the majority of those who remained in eastern Europe.
One simple question for you, why do you associate the Angles and Saxons with the Nazis, when it was these same Angles and Saxons who, along with the Russians, smashed Nazi Germany?
One further point, I am neither Angle nor Saxon to the best of my knowledge, but I believe these people have done great service through the spreading of enlightened civilization throughout the world. They are not perfect, just better than any other world power before them.
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