Has Australia become a "meaner" country? (1 Viewer)

Has Australia become a "meaner" country?

  • Yes

    Votes: 19 61.3%
  • No

    Votes: 12 38.7%

  • Total voters
    31

withoutaface

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absolution* said:
  • Undeniably racist conduct by parliamentary members; with respect to immigration policy and Muslim extremism exaggerations.
Explain to me how doing anything related to Muslims is racist. Last I checked Islam was a religion, not a race.
 

absolution*

ymyum
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withoutaface said:
Explain to me how doing anything related to Muslims is racist. Last I checked Islam was a religion, not a race.
If Islam wasnt racial than how did anglo-saxon Australians know who to attack in the riots in Cronulla. I mean, like it or not, race and religion are inextricably linked both in social thinking and in the media with respect to the Islamic community in Australia. As such, attacks on Islam by members of parliament with high authority do affect both Muslims and non-Muslims of Arab appearance.
 

withoutaface

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erawamai said:
Islamic people are a socio cultural group. Just like jewish people. They are not a race but it is 'racist' to discriminate against their sociocultural group. Unless of course you want to suggest that (pedantically) that Hitler wasn't a racist. Just someone who 'discriminated against people of the jewish faith'.
There are many Jews who do not follow Judaism, but who are still Jews by blood. Hitler was racist because he discriminated against anyone of the Jewish race.
absolution* said:
If Islam wasnt racial than how did anglo-saxon Australians know who to attack in the riots in Cronulla. I mean, like it or not, race and religion are inextricably linked both in social thinking and in the media with respect to the Islamic community in Australia. As such, attacks on Islam by members of parliament with high authority do affect both Muslims and non-Muslims of Arab appearance.
The riots weren't about Muslims, they were about Lebanese, iirc.
 

absolution*

ymyum
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withoutaface said:
The riots weren't about Muslims, they were about Lebanese, iirc.
Well that is debatable.

Sydney Morning Herald said:
Islamic elders read the riot act on Australian values

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February 22, 2006
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MUSLIM leaders will call on Australia's Islamic youth to assimilate and refrain from extremism, to try to prevent further racial violence.

A meeting of imams next month will urge Islamic leaders to teach "Australian values" and promote tolerance and harmony, the conference organiser, Munir Hussain, said yesterday.

The two-day conference will be held at Greenacre in south-western Sydney, the heart of Sydney's Islamic community.

Dr Hussain said the conference, being organised by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, would be a crucial step in improving relations between Muslims and non-Muslims following the December 11 Cronulla riot and retaliatory attacks.

He said Islamic leaders wanted to shun extremism and play a greater role in helping young Muslims to feel connected to the communities in which they lived.

"We'll be talking to Muslim youths … we're trying to assimilate them with Australian values," Dr Hussain said.

"That's the whole idea - to create better harmony in the community, particularly through preaching to the Muslim youths, so that these incidents like Cronulla could be prevented in the future."

Dr Hussain said he wanted imams to refrain from making "fiery" public statements likely to inflame tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The conference will also discuss religious vilification laws, which Dr Hussain wants introduced into NSW as a way to "protect" people's religious beliefs. The Carr Government had refused to introduce such laws.
Sydney Morning Herald said:
Making enemies … and the odd, unlikely ally


February 25, 2006
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"WHAT about deporting the people who participated in riots in Cronulla last year? Those people did not exhibit any Australian values in their actions."

Peter Costello's call for Muslims to embrace "Australian values" or leave provoked angry reaction yesterday, not least from the vice-chairman of the NSW Ethnic Communities Council, Justin Li. He said Mr Costello's comments had deliberately and unfairly targeted Muslims.

"Obviously nobody supports violent people in our society, but what we don't understand is why allegedly violent Muslims are any different from any violent people of other cultures or religions."

But the NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, who has a large Muslim population in his electorate of Lakemba, backed Mr Costello. Those moving to Australia should "leave the disputes, leave the extremism and leave the fights behind", he said.

Mr Costello's plan should apply to people living in Australia on long-term visas as well as those applying for citizenship, he said.

However, the Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, called the comments a "cheap shot" with no place in Australian society.

"Somebody has got to have the guts to say to Peter Costello, if you want to be prime minister, find the things that bring us together, not the things that divide us," Mr Beattie said.
 

Iron

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After q.time yesterday, I was surprised at how both sides seem to mingle quite well. A few Labor MPs even gave a weak congratulation to the PM once the microphones were off.

Of course, globalisation/neo-liberalism is the key reason for communities becoming fractured/meaner whatever, but only an economic girly-man would say that.
 

absolution*

ymyum
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Oh my, if you listen carefully enough, i think you can hear waf crying in the croner of this thread. And yeah, agree with last point by maggie.
 

absolution*

ymyum
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erawamai said:
Jewish race? Jews are a sociocultural group.

Nine races of the world.

(1) African, (2) American Indian, (3) Asian, (4) Australian, (5) European, (6) Indian, (7) Melanesian, (8) Micronesian, and (9) Polynesian.
By Australian you mean Aboriginal Australian? Shouldnt that be clarified in the same way that American Indian is.
 

riot_girl88

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brogan77 said:
1

verb

1. To have or convey a particular idea: connote, denote, import, intend, signify, spell1. Idioms: add up to. See meaning.
2. To have in mind as a goal or purpose: aim, contemplate, design, intend, plan, project, propose, purpose, target. Regional mind. See planned/unplanned, purpose/purposelessness.

mean2

adjective

1. Characterized by intense ill will or spite: black, despiteful, evil, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, nasty, poisonous, spiteful, venomous, vicious, wicked. Slang bitchy. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude.
2. Having or proceeding from low moral standards: base2, ignoble, low, low-down, sordid, squalid, vile. See right/wrong.
3. Ungenerously or pettily reluctant to spend money: cheap, close, close-fisted, costive, hard-fisted, miserly, niggard, niggardly, parsimonious, penny-pinching, penurious, petty, pinching, stingy, tight, tightfisted. See give/take/reciprocity.
4. Of low or lower quality: common, inferior, low-grade, low-quality, mediocre, second-class, second-rate, shabby, substandard. See better/worse.
5. Of little distinction: humble, lowly, simple. See plain/fancy.
6. Lacking high station or birth: baseborn, common, déclassé, declassed, humble, ignoble, lowly, plebeian, unwashed, vulgar. Archaic base2. See over/under.
7. Affected or tending to be affected with minor health problems: ailing, indisposed, low, off-color, rocky, sickly. Idioms: under the weather. See health/sickness.
8. So objectionable as to elicit despisal or deserve condemnation: abhorrent, abominable, antipathetic, contemptible, despicable, despisable, detestable, disgusting, filthy, foul, infamous, loathsome, lousy, low, nasty, nefarious, obnoxious, odious, repugnant, rotten, shabby, vile, wretched. See good/bad.
9. Having or showing a bad temper: bad-tempered, cantankerous, crabbed, cranky, cross, disagreeable, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, nasty, peevish, petulant, querulous, snappish, snappy, surly, testy, ugly, waspish. Informal crabby. Idioms: out of sorts. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude.
10. Hard to treat, manage, or cope with: troublesome, wicked. Informal pesky. See easy/hard.

mean3

noun

1. Something, as a type, number, quantity, or degree, that represents a midpoint between extremes on a scale of valuation: average, median, medium, norm, par. See usual/unusual.
2. That by which something is accomplished or some end achieved. agency, agent, instrument, instrumentality, instrumentation, intermediary, mechanism, medium, organ. See means.
3. All things, such as money, property, or goods, having economic value. asset (used in plural), capital, fortune, resource (used in plural), wealth, wherewithal. See owned/unowned.

adjective

Not extreme: central, intermediate, medial, median, mid, middle, middle-of-the-road, midway. See edge/center.

dude are u serious???? get a life and yeah i guess we r meaner.... i know i am
 
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absolution*

ymyum
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brogan77 said:
Burn in hellfire you gigantic down syndrome child who has obviously suffered severe brain injuries and is stoned out of their mind. Ever heard of copy and paste? Ya know, highlight words press copy then press paste, takes all of about 5 seconds. You are a waste of space and oxygen.

No, what am I talking about? I've obviously commited to memory every possible variation of usage and definition of 'mean' and then took the time to meticulously type it out, yes, of course, of course that is what I did, that would make the most sense. I didn't copy it from this link, at all:
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
http://www.answers.com/mean&r=67
AT. ALL!

FUCK, JUST DIE.

In all fairness, only one of those 4 definitions actually applied.
 

XcarvengerX

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From this topic, we can obviously see that Australians have become meaner...
 

Captain Gh3y

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erawamai said:
Jewish race? Jews are a sociocultural group.

Nine races of the world.

(1) African, (2) American Indian, (3) Asian, (4) Australian, (5) European, (6) Indian, (7) Melanesian, (8) Micronesian, and (9) Polynesian.
Umm, Semitic people are neither Asian, Indian nor European. So the entire population of the Middle East don't exist now?
 

XcarvengerX

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Yes, I am representative of 20 million people and an entire sovreign nation.
Sorry, but there are far less than 20 million Australians in Australia. Australians will extinct if they are not breeding quickly.
 

Not-That-Bright

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Jewish race? Jews are a sociocultural group.

Nine races of the world.

(1) African, (2) American Indian, (3) Asian, (4) Australian, (5) European, (6) Indian, (7) Melanesian, (8) Micronesian, and (9) Polynesian.
I guess it depends how much variation u want for it to be called a new race... By the way am I missing something or are u claiming south americans are not a separate race? or are they the same race as one of the others?

Maybe this is some joke that's over my head.
 

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