Re: How was your school day? 2008.
Jachie said:
agreed with cal 100% (whoa, first time for everything hey!)
Saying sorry is an empty symbolic gesture that is absolutely meaningless. It means nothing to the people the apology is directed to, it means nothing to the people the apology is supposedly spoken on behalf of. I'm not sorry. I didn't do anything. What happened was awful and I'm pretty sure everyone can recognise that, but there's a difference between acknowledging regrettable actions undertaken by people who have NOTHING to do with us today, and actually apologising for them. This generation is not responsible for past wrong-doings, we are in no position to apologise for anything and we shouldn't be expected to.
I think that it's more of a symbolic gesture to the Aborigines, a white institution admitting that they were wrong. I mean, of course they can't extract an apology from prime ministers in the 40s, 60s etc, but if the Aborigines who have campaigned for so long hold this so dear to them, then that's okay by me. I'm not exactly sure what the wording entails, but I'm sure that Rudd will try to apologise for the wrongdoings of governments gone by - who were jackasses enough to leave it to future generations... If there's one issue crossed off the Tent Embassy's "To Do" list, then I'm for it. Kevin Rudd seems like a genuine man anyway, even for a politician.
OTHER than that, it does seem somewhat of an empty gesture, I agree. You can't expect to erase decades of heartache and suppression with a simple "sorry" (I am sure Rudd will decorate the term). I don't know about compensation, but as long as Redfern is associated with "Aboriginal", we've got miles ahead towards reconciliation.