Always good Budgie ... not long to go for some footy ... and then .. I hope my only combatants are the numbnuts that don't rate Keppie...
Cheers
Hey Woodsie - it's funny coz I'm called a cynical old basta*d and my wife and daughter keep telling me I've reached the Grumpy Old Man stage. There's no doubt I do still consider myself a social democrat (I don't believe in labelling right or left either - I think that's just too easy for people to dismiss a view. Things are more nuanced than that). And I do believe in free speech, just not a big fan of hate speech. Where and how you draw the line on that? I don't know.
So anyway, I was curious about my level of numbnuttery given that we had a disagreement yesterday about the Voice proposal. Just an aside - numbnuts and petticoat wearers have only come into my vocabulary since joining ST at the end of last season. Who said we're too old to learn new things??
I should mention first though, that you may have seen from my previous posts, that I'm a Keppie fan. I just want him to raise the bar this year. But I digress.
I should also say something relevant to this thread - I still think Aloiai is a goose! Do I believe in his right to say stupid things? Sure. Do I like him calling someone that showed extraordinary compassion and grace after the horrendous shooting in NZ, a monster? Well, no. And I probably wouldn't have bothered writing anything about it in the first place, if he wasn't a Manly player and someone that had already irritated me.
But quickly back to the Voice (coz I don't want to drag on - too late?) - it seems the only part we disagree on is your concerns about political grandstanding getting us no where and splitting the country on purely racial grounds. Both things I agree with coz I don't want either of these things ......... ahhhh, either. However, we just seem to be coming at them from different directions. I'm banking on the current govt being genuine (and I think they are) in wanting to get indigenous recognition in the Constitution and then having a formal body to advocate on their behalf to Parliament (not be a separate chamber of Parliament). I just think the recognition component is the right thing to do. And I won't bore you with the history of why, coz I know you're well aware of the history. We also agree that a lot of resources have been put into "aboriginal affairs" over the years and yet the disproportionate disadvantages remain. Again, I won't list those coz you understand what I'm talking about. I also had concerns about how that would work but listening to people like Marcia Langton and Noel Pearson (even something he wrote this morning in the SMH) or people like renowned Constitutional lawyers, give me cautious optimism that it will simply provide an avenue for more direct consultation on how to address some of the long standing issues. Of course, there's no guarantee. But again, we both agree something has to change. I would just note that some of the concerns being broadcast by certain people (people who may well belong to the petticoat brigade you talk about) regarding a separate chamber of Parliament or how there'll be separate laws for some people and not others etc etc are not new. We heard the same sort of noises from similar people around the Mabo decision and Native Title. All the bleating about how aboriginal people were going to walk in and take your house, or your sheep station etc. Anyway, I just don't see why it should be considered splitting the country on racial grounds. I just believe it's time to recognise that there was a population and a culture that existed so so long before colonisation and that 200+ years is a drop in the ocean relative to that. Yet the impact of dispossession has had a profound impact on those people and their culture. I mean the BS about terra nullius was maintained all the way up to 1992. It'd be great to have us all believing we are one country and not just have a song that tells us we are. But if I was an indigenous person, I know how I'd feel. But I'm not and they have more than enough intelligent and articulate people to speak for themselves. But I can't think of a more profound starting point to bring a country together as one, than to formally acknowledge the original occupants of this land. I know this will sound all painfully idealistic to a lot and I could be booted from the Grumpy Old Man Club ...... but so be it.
Anyway, I've think I've passed my use by date so like you, I wish for the next 6 weeks to pass quickly so I can talk some real footy with you and the rest of the ST crew. Cheers
