Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010 at 21:25
People will see what they want to see, and will look for common things to group people into classes, groups, races etc. Everyone does it.
I have seen individuals of non_Anglo Australian backgrounds sporting the
Southern Cross and I bet there are many same in the building industry that have the Eureka flag on their work clothes or car. Are they xenophobes? Are they "redneck, good ol'boys, KKK, Gestapo, Tampa, fundamentalist and intolerant (sic)"?
Make sure you dont have a pair of Doc Martens in the cupboard. Dont dare drive a
WB ute especially if adorned with Aussie paraphernalia. Dont cut your hair with a shaver. And more than anything do not ever enter into a debate on the side of the Aussie way of life, because it is centred on Anglo-Saxon, christian ideals which are clearly racist.
There is truth that there are groups that use all of the above, and more, to further their own racist ideals but to tar everyone with that brush is dumb, shortsighted and frankly just as bad as those groups of intolerant people under question.
The best way to prevent these groups stealing the
Southern Cross / Eureka flag is to steal it back (bit like what Bono said once about "Helter Skelter"). The more that moderate people adorn themselves with these items the less they will be seen as representative of unsavoury groups.
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