Society & Culture January 26

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Kram said:
Most of the hipsters obsessed with changing the date probably hardly give a s**t about those things themselves because it's all too hard.
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Thirty years on from the bicentenary plenty of white people, usually through lack of any formal sort of education on the topic, have self educated on black history in this country and understand why to a great many this day represents the beginning of a shocking period for Aboriginal Australians. Dismissing these people as obsessed hipsters might help some rationalise the do nothing approach to this issue but I'd wager Richard di Natale is on the money when he says the date will be changed within a decade. Look how public attitudes to gay marriage changed over ten years, I think we'll see the same softening of attitudes around the date of Australia Day which will see it shifted to a less divisive day. We might even get one of those silly little surveys to fill out again if our elected representatives again abrogate the responsibilities they were elected to carry out.
 
Kram said:
Most of the hipsters obsessed with changing the date probably hardly give a s**t about those things themselves because it's all too hard.
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I am what you would refer to as a 'hipster'. It's not much and I would like to do more, but I volunteer one day a week at a community Aboriginal service.

I can tell you, the date is not popular there. There are an enormous amount of challenges that face Indigenous Australians but that doesn't mean the date isn't divisive and shouldn't be changed.

I don't think anyone will think that means the other problems will automatically go onto the back-burner either. Rather, it's just another step towards realising that every issue that faces the Indigenous population essentially has its roots in colonisation and that we should be doing everything in our power to make it right.
 
Gough said:
Thirty years on from the bicentenary plenty of white people, usually through lack of any formal sort of education on the topic, have self educated on black history in this country and understand why to a great many this day represents the beginning of a shocking period for Aboriginal Australians. Dismissing these people as obsessed hipsters might help some rationalise the do nothing approach to this issue but I'd wager Richard di Natale is on the money when he says the date will be changed within a decade. Look how public attitudes to gay marriage changed over ten years, I think we'll see the same softening of attitudes around the date of Australia Day which will see it shifted to a less divisive day. We might even get one of those silly little surveys to fill out again if our elected representatives again abrogate the responsibilities they were elected to carry out.
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fmd change it if you want but fiddling with the date IS pretty much doing nothing.
 
TheLoris said:
That is s**t and I hope the people are caught and punished. But what she was saying was intentionally inflammatory and divisive. Flying flags at half mast on a national day of celebration? Just another case of the greens desperately trying to find some relevance and attention.
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rape and death threats = her fault for disagreeing with white conservatives
 
Bomberboyokay said:
rape and death threats = her fault for disagreeing with white conservatives
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I think you missed the bit where I said it was s**t and the people should be caught and punished. Move the date if you naively think it will change anything, but to suggest we should have to fly flags at half mast on a national day of celebration is idiotic.
 
She has well thought out views on why January 26 isn't a day for national celebration.

"divisive", pfft. About as divisive as Obama daring to have black skin.
 

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I'm sure she does have well thought out views and a lot of courage for expressing them. But suggesting we should fly flags at half mast is only going to put a large % of the population offside. You need to engage people, not polarise them.
 
There was an article today that said reconciliation should happen before we become a republic and that changing the date for Australia day is just one step in the process of reconciliation (there are many)

the comment that it will do nothing is wrong, change tends to happen gradually, small steps and changes can snow ball into big change, but you have to start somewhere

It's not going to happen under this government but I believe it will happen

More people in the wider community are becoming aware of the issues with the date and at some point it will reach critical mass
 
Is January 26 appropriate for NSW celebration?

How about Foundation Day, sorry, "WA Day", over here?

Australia is pretty white. How do you have a non-racist celebration of a nation built from colonies?

fpcookie said:
No idea what you're talking about here. Expand?
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"It's fairly obvious the people saying "changing the date won't change anything" have spoken very little, if at all, with any Indigenous Australians"

This describes most people saying 'changing the date will change something'. You don't get to discount the opinions of people who don't interact with Indigenous Australians when you don't interact with Indigenous Australians.
 
Scotland said:
Is January 26 appropriate for NSW celebration?

How about Foundation Day, sorry, "WA Day", over here?

Australia is pretty white. How do you have a non-racist celebration of a nation built from colonies?



"It's fairly obvious the people saying "changing the date won't change anything" have spoken very little, if at all, with any Indigenous Australians"

This describes most people saying 'changing the date will change something'. You don't get to discount the opinions of people who don't interact with Indigenous Australians when you don't interact with Indigenous Australians.
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Haha, ok mate. How about this then, go meet/speak to some and let us know how it goes? Obviously I wouldn't be saying it if I didn't know the answer already.
 
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