An email I got

[Beautiful Grotesque]

Now you don't have to send this to anyone. I just posted it here as I think it gives a good insight to what is happening today. Happy readings.



Letter to Editor

Thank God for the 'net. We're not being given any sensible guidance by our pollies (too busy with their noses in the national treasury troughs).

So the 'net is a great way to spread the word to each other.

Forward to your friends if you agree with this. If not just delete.

But if you delete, don't complain later.

Subject: Letter to Editor


Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people why today's Australian is not willing to accept the new kind of immigrant any longer.

Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to Australia, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in Sydney and be documented.

Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground.

They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times.

They made learning English a primary rule in their new Australian households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them.

No free lunches, no welfare, no labour laws to protect them. All they had were the skills, craftsmanship and desire they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out.

Australians fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Sweden, and so many other places. None of these first generation Australians ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from.

They were Australians fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan.

They were defending the Freedom as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages was looking for the people of France, they saw only Australians. And we carried one flag that represented our country.

Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were.

It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be a Australian.

And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges.

Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes an Australian passport and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country.

I'm sorry, that's not what being a Australian is all about.

Australians have been very open hearted and open minded regarding immigrants, whether they were fleeing poverty, dictatorship, persecution, or whatever else makes a person adopt a foreign country.

And I suppose when we say adopt, we think of those aforementioned immigrants who truly did ADOPT our country, and our flag and our morals and our customs.

And left their wars, hatred, and divisions behind.

I believe that the immigrants who landed in Australia in the early 1900s deserve better than that for the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life.

I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags, fighting foreign battles on our soil, making Australians change to suit their religions and cultures, and wanting to change our country's fabric by claiming discrimination when we do not give in to their demands.

P.S. KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING!! I hope it gets read by millions of people all across the nation.

 

[WellzY]

Interesting argument.

In a way, I agree, but then I'm not a huge fan of any kind of nationalism.

Also, the world of the 1900s was very different to the world of today. When migrants came to Australia back then, they were persuaded more by the prospects of a new land which lacked the distinctions and social hierarchy which dominated Europe, even though things were slightly changing. A land with vast expanses of cheap land, uncrowded.

Migrants today mostly come from a war-torn region, or a region affected by other such natural disasters. And these areas are usually not Europe, but from other parts of the world. The culture in these parts of the world is vastly different to that of Europe, even though Europe itself is not a land of universal cultures.

Also, nationalism in the 1900s was no where near as strong as it is today. The boundaries of Europe were very different, alliances of the people were rarely to the greater nationhood, especially in rural places. A person belonged to their area, their community, more so than their country.

Wow I can't be arse finishing.

You get the idea.  

[Falethial]

One has to wonder at times whether multi-culturalism and nationalism are opposites on the same spectrum, or whether they're close enough now to be one and the same. Australia appears to be re-defining herself as the multi-cultural capital of the world. That's starting to be our 'national' view. I honestly am not gonna start ranting. I am not necessarily racist, I have no problems whatsoever with other people's origins and nationalities. I do think that if you cant abide our 'Christian' based constitution then you shouldn't bother coming here. If you cant love our land, then why bother setting foot on it. And honestly, if you cant respect the people before you, what's the point?!

Now didn't I say I wasn't gonna start ranting...GAH! Someone tape my fingers together!  

[Black-Almaz]

i agree, im actualy from Ukarain from prev CCCP,

not only did i come here and love the countrie i decided to defend it, that was the reason for joining the defence forcess here. ive been to east teemor, and well thats all for now. and the s**t i saw there. i got home sick for aus really badly.

one other thing the email states is that our forces are very molti cultural, its true infact i work with 60% of people that wernt born in aus.

and they all agree on the issue, that the email raises. we live in aus we live for aus, and the only flag we march under is the one with the southern cross on it.

in fact WTF is with those uni students selling flags with lighters, i swear that pist me off more than any other incedent  

[Falethial]

I honestly felt like going to uni and handing out 'burn the uni students who're burning our flag' gas torches...I got soooooo irritated at that. And irritated is the nicest word I could think of to put there.  

[Homicidal Paperdoll]

A multi cultural country is about having people from all over the world live here and have different cultures. Not have people from different cultures live here but all have the one culture.

What immigrants are making Australia change to suit them? I don't see that happening anywhere. The only thing I see happening is Australians making immigrants change to suit Australia.

Quote:

Australians have been very open hearted and open minded regarding immigrants

Yeah right...  

[Black-Almaz]

lol

but Australia is very intresting in a way that only we except other religions the way we do, other countries vilontly supress this kind of stuff  

[WellzY]

Black-Almaz

lol

but Australia is very intresting in a way that only we except other religions the way we do, other countries vilontly supress this kind of stuff

Other countries, what the ********, yeah the ******** up countries in Asia and Africa, but you can't say that as an exclusive trait for Australia, where as most of Europe and North America has the same approach to other religions, or at least they, and we, used to.  

[Black-Almaz]

yeah the garmmer of the msg was poor, i meant to say that it dosent happen here  

[the_weird_1]

I walk down the street and I hear at least two languages other than english being spoken by ordinary citizens. I always see women with head scarf's and I am delighted by their colours, and I know that these women are all Jewish, Christian and Muslim. I am concious by the community that I live in that I am a European-looking descendant in a county that exists just beneath Asia, swamped by American culture, with our indiginous people struggling to maintain the honour of the land with native title claims.

AUSTRALIA IS NOT EUROPEAN. AUSTRALIA IS NOT AMERICA. AUSTRALIA IS NOT ASIAN. AND I THINK IT IS MERELY RIFE PARANOIA THAT PEOPLE THINK AUSTRALIA IS TURNING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST.

I love the Australian flag because it has the southern cross, I have been told that this constalation can only be seen from our country and we are all living underneath it. (Although the union jack is as outdated as the term 'colony' with new nationalism, we need a new democracy, and new little square where that union jack sits today).  

[WellzY]

the_weird_1

I walk down the street and I hear at least two languages other than english being spoken by ordinary citizens. I always see women with head scarf's and I am delighted by their colours, and I know that these women are all Jewish, Christian and Muslim. I am concious by the community that I live in that I am a European-looking descendant in a county that exists just beneath Asia, swamped by American culture, with our indiginous people struggling to maintain the honour of the land with native title claims.

AUSTRALIA IS NOT EUROPEAN. AUSTRALIA IS NOT AMERICA. AUSTRALIA IS NOT ASIAN. AND I THINK IT IS MERELY RIFE PARANOIA THAT PEOPLE THINK AUSTRALIA IS TURNING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST.

I love the Australian flag because it has the southern cross, I have been told that this constellation can only be seen from our country and we are all living underneath it. (Although the union jack is as outdated as the term 'colony' with new nationalism, we need a new democracy, and new little square where that union jack sits today).

The Southern Cross is visible from the Southern Hemisphere only, which includes a lot of other countries besides Australia. On top of which, it also appears in several other flags of southern nations, most notably New Zealand.  

[Lynx Raven Raide]

the_weird_1

I walk down the street and I hear at least two languages other than english being spoken by ordinary citizens. I always see women with head scarf's and I am delighted by their colours, and I know that these women are all Jewish, Christian and Muslim. I am concious by the community that I live in that I am a European-looking descendant in a county that exists just beneath Asia, swamped by American culture, with our indiginous people struggling to maintain the honour of the land with native title claims.

AUSTRALIA IS NOT EUROPEAN. AUSTRALIA IS NOT AMERICA. AUSTRALIA IS NOT ASIAN. AND I THINK IT IS MERELY RIFE PARANOIA THAT PEOPLE THINK AUSTRALIA IS TURNING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST.

I love the Australian flag because it has the southern cross, I have been told that this constalation can only be seen from our country and we are all living underneath it. (Although the union jack is as outdated as the term 'colony' with new nationalism, we need a new democracy, and new little square where that union jack sits today).

hehe, maybe they should replace the Union Jack with the Eureka flag. i did see one, i think that was green and gold, and had the coat of arms instead of the union jack, which looked quite good.

i pretty much agree with how you feel. even these days it seems as though no matter where people originally come from, they still call themselves aussies. and not (insert background here)-ausralian like they do over in america, just plain aussie, and i like that. we are a blending pot of nationalities, and are pretty much defining the australian culture ourselves. technically, austalia is a very young culture. i have seen where america could be concidered a teenager, culture wise, and if that is the case then we would still be a child, finding our own way.