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Hi.
Let’s talk about those 49% of Australians who want to change the date ‘because it’s offensive to Indigenous Australians’.
Let’s talk about those 49% of Australians who want to change the date ‘because it’s offensive to Indigenous Australians’.
Well, more specifically I guess we should talk about why the ABC chose to use that phrasing for the question in their 2018 survey. They didn’t have ‘because I have find it offensive’ or ‘because it’s a shit date to have a national day on’, but they really should have.
Saying you support changing it because it’s offensive to me says that you don’t find it offensive, but because I do and you’re benevolently willing to accomodate my sensitivities. You don’t have a problem with the date, because the date isn’t really the problem, I am the problem.
But as Rosalie Kunoth-Monks told us, “I am not the problem!”
People should want to change the date (and change the nation) because they agree with the strength of the argument of those Indigenous ppl who have made the case over many decades. Not because we are ‘offended’ by it.
People should want to change the date (and change the nation) because they agree with the strength of the argument of those Indigenous ppl who have made the case over many decades. Not because we are ‘offended’ by it.
Not only are you deferring responsibility back into us so that whenever racists come calling you can just say “Hey, it wasn’t me, it was those damn easily offended Aborigines” but you are abdicating your personal responsibility towards our shared collective responsibility.
If you want to have a collective sense of ‘Australian-ness” then you need to contribute to that, take ownership of your role within that, and say that you personally want a better and more inclusive nation because you personally understand the importance of that.
Bye.
Bye.
