The "Australian Aboriginal people" as a group do not rape and murder each other. Your accusation is nothing more than a racist stereotype. No Australian aboriginal society condones rape or murder of innocents. It is true that there are rapists and murderers in every society, and aboriginal society is no exception, but extending that to rash generalisations about an entire race is just stupid.
Todays News: Culture no excuse for aboriginal abusers - Australia Tue 23 May 2006 CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia has been too slow to act on endemic sexual abuse of aboriginal women and children because of "cultural sensitivities", acting prime minister, Treasurer Peter Costello, said on Tuesday. "It doesn't matter what the colour of your skin is -- a rape is a rape, child abuse is child abuse," said Costello. "There is no such thing as a defence that says because you are aboriginal or because there is something in your culture this is permitted. It is not, it is a crime." Alcohol, drug and sexual abuse amongst Australia's Aborigines has been occurring for decades with periodic media coverage sparking emotional debates about how to improve black living standards. Australia's 458,500 Aborigines, around 2.3 percent of the population, are dying at almost three times the rate of other Australians and have a life expectancy 17 years lower than the rest of the population. In central Australia, homicide is the leading cause of premature death for aboriginal women, who are also 45 times more likely to suffer domestic violence than white women. Today's news: Aboriginal male rape problem in Australia CANBERRA, Australia, May 20 (UPI) -- A look at sexual abuse in aboriginal communities finds the rape of boys surprisingly high, especially compared with the rest of Australia. Thirty-three percent said they had been abused, much higher than the 12 percent of men in the rest of the country, The Australian reports. Researchers say the problem is exacerbated by a culture of silence where victims feel ashamed or afraid of speaking out. The findings come on the heels of major calls to address the abuse of aboriginal girls and women.
Do you have the ability to look beyond bare facts to consider possible causes, D'ster? Or are you content to simply put it all down to skin colour?
Ah, well that's discrimination for you. For fear of offending cultural sensitivities, Australia has failed to provide the same rights to Aboriginal women that they do to white women.
It's not for fear of offending cultural sensibilities. I think it's more due to sweeping inconvenient or unpopular issues under the carpet. Attention to aboriginal affairs doesn't always buy you votes.
Either way, I think the articles D'ster is posting say more about the Australian government's treatment of Aboriginals than it does about the Aboriginals. Of course, D'ster doesn't seem to read it that way...
You guys make Aboriginals sound like animals that were just brought up incorrectly by humans. I would love to hear how you guys think the Australian government is some how responsible for the extreamly high rate in where Aboriginals are committing child rape and murder of women. Does it make you guys feel superiour to believe that the way white people treat Aboriginals can change Aboriginal culture?
Aboriginal culture does not need to be changed by outsiders or judged by outside values. Futher, it is racist to demand that Aboriginals must conform to white standards of behaviour.
Absolutely, Aboriginal culture injoys sexual abuse of aboriginal women and children, this is what diversity is all about. James R needs to practice tolerance.
I think the point is that you have little evidence that the rates were that high before Austraila was taken over. Look at Native Americans. Confined to camps and reservations, tehy also suffered very high rates of alcohol abuse etc etc.
guthrie The point is that the Australia Aboriginal people are behaving today the way they want to or they would not be doing it. Do you think another culture has the right to tell them how to behave? What I believe your saying is that you believe white people are the ones who caused the Australia Aboriginal people to behave the way they do. And the white people need to fix it.
Quite so. Colonisation destroyed the structure of traditional Aboriginal society. That can never be replaced. The least the government can do now is extend them the same rights it extend everyone else.
It white people dislike certain sexual practices or think they know the proper amount of alcohol someone should consume, they should keep their opinions to themselves. Who is to say that Native Americans are drinking "too much" alcohol? White standards need not apply to others. Live and let live. Native Americans don't need whites to tell them how to live. They, and all races, are surely able to govern themselves and set their own appropriate standards for their communities without needing the white man to dictate rules that he had devised for his own convenience.
D'ster: You are remarkably uninformed. It's obvious that it makes a difference. Take just one statistic that I heard a couple of days ago: government funding for school children in remote aboriginal communities in Australia has, in practice, been only around 1/3 of funding for school children in other parts of the country, on a per-child basis. Do you really think lack of education has no impact on culture?
D'ster: I already informed you that there is no aboriginal culture which condones sexual abuse. I guess you forgot.
basicly what you are saying here is you believe that everyone should have a law unto themselves. that sounds like a real winner. one law here another law over there and yet a different law elsewhere your talk of "the white man" is about as racist as the klan firecross
