we are fruit salad
So former Telstra boss Sol Trujillo is running like a headless chicken telling the world how racist Australia is and how politically backward we are. What do we Aussies really think about it? Are we really a racist a nation?
This topic teeters on the edge of political sensitivities. All in all I think multiculturalism in Australia has been a success. Compared with policies of forced assimilation elsewhere around the world, the multicultural experiment has given much to Australia. Look at the diversity in food and languages. Nowhere else in the world can you find good traditional food from so many countries within one city like Sydney. Walking along the street, you will find people that speak all sorts of languages. Signs are in all sorts of languages. Newspapers are in many different languages. Multiculturalism is an ingrained part of Australian society.
What is it to be Australian? I remember as a child, schools taught that multiculturalism is Australia's identity, or at the least a significant part of it. Thinking about it now, Australia's identity is really just us saying we are a mix of tens of other cultures, which defeats the purpose of identifying what our individual identity really is.It's like saying which fruit best represents us and the answer is fruit salad. We have apples, oranges, rockmelons and limes. We can't exactly pinpoint if we're a lychee or a durian either because they were here first. Lychees run the government and work as CEOs, but the streets are filled with apples and oranges. Heck, we'll just say fruit salad because everyone is included. Is that the best solution? Maybe?
Being Australian presupposes that you are of Anglo-Saxon background. Especially for new immigrants, to classify yourself as Australian would mean that you have to relegate your previous nationality. When it comes to nationalistic pride, can to co-exist in tandem or is one more superior than the other? When I am asked what nationality I am, I immediately think I am Hong Kong Chinese, not Australian. That comes second. Does that mean I'm un-Australian? I surely hope not. The same struggle is the reason for why many things are the way they are now.
Sydney's suburbs can be easily segregated by nationality. Naturally, birds of a feather flock together. People feel more secure and 'at home' when they live with people of similar backgrounds and ideals. This cannot be more obvious but in suburbs like Lakemba, Hurstville, Cabramatta, Refern, Brighton and Sutherland. There are pros and cons with geographical segregation. A good thing being a retaining and centralisation of culture and a bad thing is what I have already said above. A continued segregation of identity.
Australians are generally tolerant people. There will be people that will feel that certain values in different cultures are incompatible with theirs. To operate in multiculturalism, people need to be accepting and xenophobia needs to be minimsied. Trouble surfaces when any one individual race asserts dominance over the others. This disturbs the notion of 'multi' in multiculturalism and makes it monoculturalism. It is really just another way of saying we have fruit salad.
When the oranges start hating the way apricots think because they are somewhat extremist in their views, that's when the fruit salad becomes a mess. The oranges get too sour for their own good and attack the apricots. In the end the fruit salad just tastes bad. Things need to be in harmony, and that is really hard when stereotypes are drawn. The media doesn't help in that regard either. In the end it is up to the individual to have an open mind and be accepting of things. I admit that it is hard and there are certain things that I find hard to accept.
So for all the positives of fruit salad, is that sufficient for you to be tolerant enough to not spoil the fruit salad. It really is a question for the masses, and I am absolutely sure that everyone will say yes but with a buried resentment or reluctance to do so. I may be wrong?
benny | Saturday, May 30, 2009 
Comments
from
pang
When I am asked what nationality I am, I immediately think I am Hong Kong ChineseMate, that's so bloody unaustrayan of ya.