When Julie Bishop appeared in Harper’s Bazaar in December last year she said women should “stop whingeing and just get on with it.”
“Please do not let it get to you and do not become a victim, because it’s only a downward spiral once you’ve cast yourself as a victim,” Bishop told the fashion magazine.
Is this woman who has come from a very privileged background, who has never faced hardship in her life, who jets around the world at our expense “living the dream”, telling women that it is their own fault if they become victims?
She seems to agree with Joe that we should just go and get a good job.
If people are poor it’s their fault for not working harder or being smarter or being born in the right place. They are leaners. People with disabilities are all potential rorters. Asylum seekers are economic migrants who have no right to seek a better life. Women in abusive relationships should be more independent.
Some believe that Adam Goodes is casting himself as a victim. Andrew Bolt says that he gets called lots of names and it doesn’t trouble him so why should Goodes be upset. Aside from the fact that Bolt gets paid a lot of money to be deliberately controversial, he patently has no idea what it is like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia.
None of us can understand what that is like unless we have lived it.
Over the past week we have heard many successful Indigenous Australians pouring out their hearts about the hurt they still carry from childhood experiences, about the discrimination they still face today. Stan Grant’s very moving article in the Guardian, Warren Mundine’s recounting of the humiliation his family faced, Charlie King’s passionate plea – Aboriginal people have been ostracised and vilified in their own country. They have been routinely humiliated and disempowered.
And when someone has the courage to show pride in their Aboriginal heritage, to call out the racism, they are slapped down for daring to speak up.
We’re not racists. We just hate uppity abos who already get given too much. We’re not racists. We just refuse to live under sharia law and eat halal food. We’re not racists. We just don’t want all those Asians taking our jobs.
It’s time for white Australia to stop booing and start listening. Face the ugly truth that we have become a selfish, uncaring society who doesn’t want to hear about other people’s problems. Be like us or piss off. Get a job ya bludger. Toughen up. Assimilate.
Greed, racism, selfishness, ignorance, fear, suspicion and violence are dictating community attitudes and political policy.
How many symptoms do we need to see before we address the illness that is creeping into our society? When will we draw the line and say enough? When will we remember that it is in everyone’s best interests to help vulnerable people?
In times of natural disaster we see the best of Australia. People pull together, communities rally to lend support, strangers stand side by side offering what help they can.
The death of empathy in this country is becoming a national disaster. Let’s drown out the racists and the fearmongers and the greedy. Let’s offer a helping hand to those in need. Let’s feel compassion rather than fear and resentment. Let’s show respect and tolerance and celebrate our diversity. Let’s build this nation together rather than ripping it apart.
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