MikiRei said:
4. Again, I say "please explain" *laughs stupidly* How much will be a fair bit of committment? WHAT contributes as "committment to Australia's way of life"? Do we needa watch the Footy Show and go to the AFL finals or drink at the Pub every Friday to be called committed?
- anywayz, enuff for tongith I think
WordNet ® 2.0 said:
"way of life"
n : a course of conduct; "the path of virtue"; "we went our separate ways"; "our paths in life led us apart"; "genius usually follows a revolutionary path" [syn: way, path]
S: (n) life style, life-style, lifestyle, modus vivendi (a manner of living that reflects the person's values and attitudes)
What's with the insistence on taking the most shallow interpretation of "way of life" and "lifestyle" possible? It might be great for comedic effect, but it got old after the first page, and I'm not 100% sure that all of you are even joking...
If I were to make a reference to the Islamic way of life, woud you go "olol wearing funny clothes and having beards!"? Is it conceivable that there's a bit more to an Amish lifestyle than "having no tv and not liking photos olol!"?
I know it's a great laugh to poke fun at
stereotypes, however I don't think it reflects any real depth of thought to consider these
stereotypes as being synonymous with the other terms. If this is deliberate (the lack of depth in considering the issue), then the indignant tone seems a little out of place. Again, I don't intend to single you out, but I made this point previously in relation to another post, but have noticed a few people repeat similar comments since then.
Of course, correct me if this seems unreasonable. Is there any good reason why "lifestyle" and/or "way of life" should refer specifically to hobbies and passtimes which are fairly widespread stereotypes about Australians, or alternatively; is there any particular reason why these terms should not include things of a little more significance like highly regarded attitudes and values, that is, those which are seen as desirable in people living in our country?
Edit: By way of explaining this response, I've seen a number of posts saying "hurhur australian lifestyle and way of life is all about sport and pies! that's not important". This concerns me a little bit, as I see a commitment to the Australian way of life as being to do with accepting and respecting others, helping out wherever possible, not seeking to ruin things for others, following the laws and respecting the institutional processes which are in place, as well as other similar attitudes along this vein (I've elaborated on this earlier in the thread, for those interested or not clear on what I'm saying).
The reason for concern here is that to me, this is the most important thing to look for in someone coming to the country. I see it as far more important that someone has a commitment to upholding these values and ideals when moving here than it is for them to speak English, or understand even the basics of our history. I'm not sure if I've seen anyone say the same thing yet, and I guess it just seems to me like maybe people are missing the importance here because they're not really giving the deserved thought to the idea of a commitment to the Australian way of life.
Are there values and attitudes which you think are desirable in people moving here, or, are there specific values and attitudes which are undesirable? I have a hard time believing that people posting here would assess capacity to communicate in English, but not be at all interested in the way which people coming here feel about the country and how people here go about their business, and how interested the person is in becoming a part of that (not a reference to assimilation, for those of you waiting to make a jump). If I was to advocate a test like this at all, that's what I'd be most interested in, not whether they spoke English, not whether they knew our history, but how they felt about our country and the people in it. I think that's what this is about, not meat pies.