Rod, at 21:52 on Mar 06 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> Of course they're Australians by birth. Doesn't stop your average
BG> racist from calling them wogs or slopes though, does it?

RS> You are confusing political correctness with racism.
RS> Plenty of wogs call themselves wogs for example. You
RS> can hardly be a racist against your own race now can you ?

That's not true racism though, and it's much the same as you or I calling a
long-time friend "you old bastard!" or similar.  However, when
people call Australian-born citizens of Asian origins "slopes",
or of European origins "wogs", that's just another form of racism
IMO.

BG> Nope, Italians are dagoes or wops, Greeks are wogs,
BG> and even migrants from the UK are pommie bastards.

RS> Doesnt make us racist.

In your opinion.  I just happen to feel differently about it.

BG> And non-indigenous blacks are coons or niggers, while
BG> Asians are slopes, slanty-eyed bastards, or worse.

RS> You are confusing political correctness with racism.

Not at all.  Those are racially-motivated terms of derision.

BG> The really nice thing about Australia is that we don't
BG> discriminate when it comes to putting down migrants; we
BG> treat them all equally - with derision and suspicion.  :(

RS> Thats not racism either.

Of course it is!

PE> There are very few racist pollies (racist in favour of whites anyway).

BG> ROFL!  How can you say that, when most public figures keep such
BG> bigotry and hatred well hidden (although you might have noticed that
BG> a few of our local pollies have dropped a few clangers of late) ?

RS> You are still mangling what racism is.

Maybe your opinion about what constitutes racism is different then.

BG> our local Bread Shop and Post Office are run by Asians (Vietnamese
BG> and Chinese respectively), and I've almost come to blows with rude
BG> and ignorant customers who have made racist comments when the poor
BG> girl behind the counter can't understand these illiterate bastards'
BG> speech (which is not surprising, as half the time, neither can I).

RS> True, but the same thing happened with poms and it
RS> cant be racism with them, coz they are the same race.

So in the case of poms, call it xenophobia then, I won't mind.

RS> Same thing happened with stuck up squattocrisy bitches
RS> and even working class kids on the counters too.

I'd rather call that class distinction, nothing to do with racism.

PE> Have you actually lived in a country other than Australia?

BG> Not long term, only visits (mainly to SE Asia, PNG etc).
BG> However, my cousin actually lives in Chiang-Mai
BG> in northern Thailand, and has married a Thai.

RS> Drug baron is he ? |-)

That thought had crossed my mind too, but no, he's not.  :)

In fact, he's very quiet about what he actually does, but he's a Major in
the Army, and has been involved with Military Intelligence (is that an
oxymoron?) and the spooks from the CIA.  He's been there for 5 years now,
which is about 4.5 years longer than we thought he'd last (given his
dubious associates).

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20