Novice Kneebone …

PM “What we need, Sir Humphrey, is a boonga … They’re killing us up there in the Territory. A celebrity boonga, that’ll do the trick.”

Sir H “But what about the incumbent senator, Prime Minister?”

PM “What has she ever done for us? And a Rudd supporter at that, we can safely nail her arse to a tree.”

Sir H “Well, she has worked hard for the last fifteen years, she is the co-convener of Emily’s list, much liked … ”

PM “Yeah, by K Rudd, stuff’er”,

Sir H “The local branch won’t like it …”

PM “Stuff them, too. Not likely that they’ll come up with a boonga is it?”

Sir H “Well, in fact they were thinking of doing just that, Marion Scrymgour has thrown her hat in the ring”

PM “But she’s been in and out of the ALP and in again …”

Sir H “… Well you can’t hold that against Ms Kneebone, she’s yet to join”

PM “But she’s a celebrity, we’ll fix it. Just remind me to keep her away from pink batts, oh, and education.”

Sir H “And the branch?”

PM “Bunch of hicks. Just tell them, Humphrey, Captain’s Pick … what’s Crossin up to today? I’d better let her know”

Sir H “Well, the lady you just dumped for not being black enough is in Melbourne today chairing the enquiry into the new anti-discrimination laws”

 

A sorry mess …

When a group is or has been discriminated against it is entirely proper that this group be targeted for redress of the injustice. This is not racism it is remedying racism.

Evan Hadkins: 27 Sep 2012 6:43:11pm

To the latter comment, I would counter that targeting a present-day “racial group” for the redress of historical injustice against other people of that “racial group” is actually racism at its most insidious and contemptible. According to this notion, I am regarded not as an individual with my own personal history, aspirations and choices, but as a member of a historically mistreated “racial group” that is now “targeted for redress”. I have become a representative of all other Aborigines, past and present. This means that if you feel bad about what happened to an Aboriginal person in the past, you can simply compensate me, because we are essentially the same creature. The ill-treatment or misfortune of a past Aboriginal person, unrelated or very distantly related to me, is apparently recorded in my Aboriginal genes as a hereditary grievance, which can be remedied by providing me with material compensation and perhaps an apology.

An alternative, but no less loopy explanation could be that all Aboriginal people are so cosmically entwined that awarding special concessions to me somehow mollifies the aggrieved ghost of an Aboriginal person who I never met and who has been dead for quite some time. Such is the mysticism surrounding Aboriginality, I would not be surprised if some otherwise rational people actually believed ideas as silly as these. Like all notions that are premised on the concept of “race” as something real, there is no rational basis for this sort of thinking.

– Kerryn Pholi

An excerpt from a very well written essay from a very sharp mind. The whole piece is well worth a read … just click on Kerryn’s name.