G'day Dianne,



19 Feb 97 10:13, Dianne Lindsay wrote to Rod Gasson:



 >> would you feel if all the participants of AVtech decided to

 >> 'invade' your favourite echos and impose our views and opinions on

 >> you?  Most of



 DL> i couldn't care less Ron T said you were all interested in the racial

 DL> debate



Ron T Lewis is one of the biggest wankers this echo has ever seen, and

I certainly hope that you don't put all the participants of this echo

in the same class as him.



 DL> but i can see now why he was anxious to bring someone who

 DL> objected to the word abo in here



Funny thing is though, until you arrived here I can't recall a single

time where "abo" was a freely used word.  It was you that bought the

matter up, and until your comment no one here even knew you were one.

As far as I know, no one here has anything specifically against abos.



 >> You've done the equivilent of a nigger wandering into a Ku Klux

 >> Klan meeting and yelling out "white trash" -  Then you
wonder why

 >> you get dumped on.



 DL> you are right

 DL> however it would be even more interesting to see Ron T wander into

 DL> redfern and yelling out Abo and then try and excuse himself by saying

 DL> it is a shortened version of aboriginal  ROFL



LOL -  I'd like to see that too.  (and he'd get exactly what he

deserves for doing so).



 DL> now i have got used to seeing words that people use everyday on my

 DL> screen it is i have to admit a refreshingly honest echo and such

 DL> honest racist redneck blatancy is better than the sickening denial

 DL> that australia is not a racist country.



I agree.



 DL> Australia if full of racists

 DL> black, white, yellow and brindle.



I don't consider myself a racist - although there are some races of

people that I wouldn't go out of my way to be "friends" with.

Sadly, the aborigine people happen to be at the top of this list.

Don't get me wrong here - Over the years I have met and been friends

with several abo's - both full blood and half blood.  However, it is

also only the aborigines that have ever hassled me for no reason at

all. Because of this minority (I assume) I have a natural 'dislike'

for the race as a whole. I acknowledge that this is unfair of me, and

I treat most abo's I meet these days with a fair degree of caution

until they show themselves to be friendly.  In contrast, I tend to

treat Italians & Greeks as friendly until proven otherwise.

Beyond the initial contact though I tend to treat individuals for what

they are, irrespective of skin colour or race.



 DL> Words like abo, nigger, and chink

 DL> are there to fuel the hatred and violence.



I'm sorry you feel that way, because it isn't the words or names that

matter, it is the intent of which they are used which is important.

For example, in Australia, we think nothing of calling people

"bastards" ....  sometimes this is a term of endearment (he's a nice

old bastard), and other times its an obvious insult (Fuck off you

bastard).  It isn't the word, but how it is used.



 DL> Two wogs went into Hindley Street in Adelaide and thought they would

 DL> be funny and yell out Chink and had their brains blown. We have a



I assume you are referring to the shooting of last year, that is

currently in the news?   The bastard that shot them should be shot

themselves. From what I have gleaned from the news in recent days this

really is/was nothing more than a violent act of racism, but it isn't

just the racism that offends me - The shootee should pay the same

price regardless whether it was Asian, white or black that he shot.

What *offends* me about this particular crime is the way the "racist"

aspect is being played upon...  it is the shooting itself that is the

real issue.  Sadly, this person could get a lesser sentence than

normal because it is seen as a racist issue.  :-(



 DL> group called National Action (a supposed equivalent to the klu klux

 DL> clan) the only action they see is to wave placards around outside of

 DL> schools to educate our kids to be racists. My main objection to the



Yeah, extreemists such as these are dangerous...  it makes me cringe

to call myself Australian/Pom everytime I see them.



 DL> word abo is that my children have been hurt by it's use physically

 DL> and emotionally and now it is my grandchildren are coming home

 DL> telling me they hate that word. The only consulation is that after



This is a shame - I realise that in many cases it is used as a

derogatory term, but so is "Pom", "wog",
"dago", etc - but most poms,

wogs and dago's that I know have either become so used to it by now

that they don't see it as derogatory, or they simply don't care anyway

- after all, they are just different words to mean "English",
"Greek",

and "Italian".  As before, it isn't the word itself that is offensive,

but how they are used.  Personally, I feel that "abo" would be a less

offensive word than the others, simply because it is derived from the

full (and correct) word "Aborigine".   Abo is simply far easier to

say.



 DL> they get over the initial shock of being ganged up on for being an

 DL> abo they learn to become so tough as in the case of my eight year old



The thing here though is that kids themselves have no concept of

racism - kids are just naturally cruel.  How did your kids come to

understand that being called "abo" is a "bad" thing,
but being called

"aborigine" isn't?    Would it make any difference if your grandson

was being ganged up on and called "aborigine" rather than
"abo"? I

don't think so.

I went to school with a white fella that had a bright red birthmark

covering almost half his face - We called him "checker board" (among

other things). His nationality and what we called him was totally

irrelevent really - he got picked on because he was 'different'.  Kids

are like this, and sadly to say, if your kids are a minority in a

school they will be picked on, regardless of race or colour.

I'm not saying that ALL kids are this cruel, but those that are

generally aren't racist, they are simply being kids.

You will see the same thing if white kids are the minority in a black

school.



 DL> grandson that even the Grade 7's won't take him on. Yes he has

 DL> received a good education at school he has learnt physical violence

 DL> and to call white people, dogs.

                               ^^^^^

And where did he learn this term?  At school or at home?



 DL> ps

 DL> before you jump up and down on my mistake of brains blown, i will



I'm not (generally) one of the pedants in this echo. As long as I can

understand what a person means I don't bother to point out

typographical errors (unless I can get a funny line out of it) 



 DL> correct it to brains blown out with a gun, at least i have the brains

 DL> to acknowledge that words like abo, nigger and chink are fighting

 DL> words and not a hypocrite



I'm not calling you a hypocrite, but I do disagree with what you say.

The words themselves are harmless. I don't know many poms that get

upset about being called a pom, I don't know many wogs that get upset

by being called a wog.  The abo friends I have met over the years

don't *appear* to get upset at being called "abo", but again, it all

depends on the context in which it is said.



 DL>  to try and pass it off as merely not being

 DL> politically correct.



But that is all it is...  political correctness dictates that poms

should be called English, Ozzies should be called Australians, and

abos should be called aborigines...   That's not the way we speak

though...    and if we carry this PCness too far we won't even be

allowed to say "G'day" .. we'll all have to speak proper English and

say "Good morning" (or something).



 DL> The words that are acceptable to aboriginal

 DL> people are Koorie and down south, nunga, not that anyone here would



This is the problem...  it isn't that you want us to be non-racist -

it is that you want us to treat abo's as *special*...  we can call an

Englishman a pom, but we can't call an aborigine an abo.

This is being hypocritical IMO.



 DL> give a shit because it is easy to say abo and boong behind a screen



No, it is easier to say abo and boong in real life than it is to say

'aborigine' - We are not "hiding" behind a screen - we are simply

taking our every day speech and typing it in a message..  Email is

very good for this...   Do you have a problem when we use "shorthand"

such as BFN (Bye for Now), LOL (Laughing out loud), etc?  No of course

you don't...   why is this different than shortening aborigine to abo?



 DL> but i doubt whether anyone here has ever had the guts to say it in an

 DL> aboriginal's face.



I can assure you that I do, have and would.....  but just as I

wouldn't go down to chinatown and scream out "what a bunch or moronic

chinks", I wouldn't go among a group of abos and call out "what a

bunch of moronic abos"  (Nor would I say what a bunch or moronic

aborigines, or even a bunch of moronic Koories)... however, I'd have

no qualms about saying "Hi, I'd like you to meet Donga, my abo

friend" (and if Donga objected to this then I couldn't see how I could

call him a friend anyway, 'cos he should KNOW I don't mean it in any

derogatory way - He'd be a fuckwit if he thought differently, and I

don't have too many fuckwit friends).



As for you though, well, I feel it is a shame that you entered this

echo proclaiming yourself to be aborigine, and I ask myself why you

did so.  Had you just entered here and carried on messaging *without*

telling us of your origins then we would never have known, and ALL of

us would have treated you as an individual and would have no

pre-conceived ideas about you.



I feel that you are attempting to use your aborigine status as

"protection", because now when we disagree with you, you won't have to

take it personally, you will simply say/feel that it is BECAUSE you

are aboriginal, rather than because you said something absurd.



IMO, you are attempting to use discrimination to your advantage, which

is just as harmful as the discrimination you oppose.



Cheers,

Rod



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