Those Pesky People That Come To Australia on Boats.

I'm sure by now that we've all heard the statistics, "boat people" and what a delightful turn of phrase that is, make up just 10% of all people arriving in Australia, and that between 85%-90%(some statistics put it higher, but for the sake of argument we'll use the commonly accepted numbers) of them are found to be genuine refugees, which means out of the total number of people coming into Australia "boat people" contribute a whole 1.5%-1% to people not found to be genuine refugees. Those no good very bad people that come by boats. Statistics though, don't work against irrational fear (nor do they work on racism, but nothing works on racism). So instead lets talk about other aspects of this whole "boat people" fiasco.

The objection that I hear most from people that are otherwise quite understanding is that somehow the act of paying to get to Australia on a boat, rather than paying to get to Australia by plane somehow makes you less of a refugee. A quick look back in to the archives of history will tell you that this is simply not true. It is well known that Jewish people payed to leave Nazi Germany and I'm sure no one would try to argue that those people were any less genuine refugees because they paid. I realise now some of you are rolling your eyes and reciting Godwin's Law, but my point is it's the push factors that matter, and not the amount of money someone spends to get over here.

Push Factors there are, and plenty of them, whether it's the Sri Lankan government committing Genocide (Yes they do that) or Americans and Allies bombing the hell out of a country because of a war on a concept. Push Factors in recent years have gone up, and they are only going to get worse, global warming is going to put a lot of islanders out of a home and Bangladesh will also suffer, so make way for new waves of people who aren't white to come in to our country.

The other big objection I hear is that of "Queue Jumping" for those of you who are unaware, this is what a refugee camp looks like. Photo from http://eventingnation.com/home/international_security_image_6-_refugee_camp.jpg
note the conspicuous lack of a line or and sort of basic comforts. A queue as people envision it simply doesn't happen, it's not first comes first served, corruption is rife and life in these camps can be a living hell a hell which without the right connections you may be living in the rest of your life. Finally if we are going to talk about queue jumpers keeping the proper refugees (obviously false as seen by the statistics above) Lets talk about visa over stayers, This is the actual blight on our society, people who come from countries where they are quite welcome, who are taking up room in this country that could be given to actual refugees. Some how though, these majority white illegal immigrants don't seem to make such a splash with the media, gosh I wonder why that is?

There are legitimate concerns that you can have about asylum seekers, I'm sure, but none of them are the sexy headline sort so they never get mentioned, "boat people" on the other hand create the sort of knee jerk reaction that keeps people buying papers.

Gay marriage and why religion aside, you should be for it.

Gay marriage in churches is a religious issue, I don't think that many people would argue with that, but gay marriage in australia is a civil rights issue. It's about saying that we as Australians are all equal, are all worthy of the same treatment under law. I'm atheist and so this year I was thinking about voting for the Australian Secular Party, but I changed my mind after seeing that they, like the Liberal Party, are for banning the burqa in schools and courts and the like at least, now as an atheist and a feminist I am not particularly pro-burqa, But banning it makes a significant part of our population second class citizens, unable to exercise their right to freedom of Religion. Gay marriage is the same sort of thing, by denying them the right, a right all straight people have, to marry the person of their choosing, you are denying them the right to be full citizens of the country that they belong to, and who's next? When we establish the concept of secondary citizenship for australian born gay people(refugees are a whole other post) who else is eligible? Muslims? Jews? Maybe it will be your right to live the lifestyle that you wish that will come under fire next.

patriotism=zenophobia?

Given that Australia/invasion day is tomorrow, I think now is a good time to say "what the fuck Australia". When did patriotism and racism become the same thing in this country? I swear this wasn't the case 5 years ago, but somewhere along the line, loving Australia meant keeping other people out of it. Boat people fear is racism pure and simple, and Indians? Really nice people for the most part, so why the hell are Australians beating them up? Now don't get me wrong, I do love our sunburnt country, but I love it enough to want to share.

fatties, fast food and me.

So being a little chubby myself, or "aerodynamically curvaceous" as Faye put it. I've been watching the the fatty alert ads that the government has been pumping out lately with no little amount of scorn. I will be the first admit in my case getting of my arse would be good for me, but you know what, I have the ability to go to roller derby classes, or burlesque classes even the gym, I have the money, I have the time, I'm privileged. How the government expects people who work 10 hours a day, then go home and need to look after there families to "find 30" is beyond me. Or how people who don't have cooking equipment or sometimes electricity to be able to eat much more than fast food, sure education is key, but that doesn't help people who have no way of impementing the knowledge they've just learnt/

And It Begins Again

Man, I Suck at writing blogs, so bad.

Anyway I had some thoughts I felt like sharing with Internet again, you wonderful beast you, So Non Existent readers, here I am to talk about movies, music, books, politics, how stupid the West Australian is how much I hate my job and how much I love (fingers crossed) this year of uni(not economics though, fuck economics).

So today I'd like to kick things off with a little conversation about avatar, this isn't a review as such, just my thoughts on the subject of archetypes in stories.

So I loved Avatar, I want to have its babies, and I'm sure the boy wouldn't object. It was beautiful, it was breathtaking, it was Pocahontas in space, and judging from the negative reviews that last thing is what most people object to, which in some ways is fair enough, if I was not the scarily pale skin colour that I am it's altogether possible I would be more than a little miffed with noble savages saved by super awesome white guy trope. I am more than willing to admit it may be my skin colour talking , but guys, I don't see it. I feel while this movie is an old worn story, it is one because it's a story we need to keep telling ourselves. "You are what you chose to be, not where you come from, not what other people tell you to be, you get to choose". It's a powerful story and something that we need to remember as part of being humans, You can choose to be a good guy, its hard thing to do sometimes, but it is always an option. Add that anvil to the environment anvil, and the anti imperialism anvil and you have a pretty heavy load for a movie, but I think that this one managed it pretty well.

Rant: An Education In Values?

So its an election year over here in Australia, and that means that a whole lot of half arsed ideas are coming out of both sides of the government. Education is a big issue at the moment so lots of half arsed ideas are to do with that. Such as the bringing back values to schools. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for values, how ever I question the idea that according to our current liberal government that the way to get values is though religious Chaplaincy In public, and hopefully secular schools, really what the fuck are they thinking?
I went to a catholic school and as far as a private school goes it was pretty moderate, but I remember that in year nine religion we talked about homosexuality, and how you should try and talk your friends out of it. Really talk them out of what is a genetic variant? hm. I have to say that as far as values go I don't see what Religion has to teach us that social workers and that councilors can not. What they do going for them, in abundance is religious bigotry, because unless you are hiring your chaplain from the Pastafairan Faith, or similar you are getting someone who has been assimilated in to a bunch of ridiculous in most cases socially acceptable bias . How you expect values to be taught by someone who's morally guidelines, and you can pick a religious book to suit your self, push male superiority, slavery, murder and racial and sexual discrimination?
I'm not saying that some chaplains can't be wonderful, I just don't see why they should be singled out as standards of morality. Why schools that would prefer to use the money to hire people with a non religious back ground shouldn't be able to.

Rant:spreading democracy?

So the war on Iraq(sorry terror) goes on, some two years after it was "won" and
George Bush expects a pat on the back for all his hard work, if by hard work you mean spending billions of dollars sending soliders to die and kill innocent people, spreading democracy. this to me rings a little hollow, do only countries that have oil deserve to have democracy spread on them? Seeing as China is a one party communist country, you would think America would be all over them, I mean they cersor the internet, have tried again and again to assimalate the occupied tibet, and has human rights violations left right and center. Could it be that America like China because its economy is essentially capitlist and america likes buying things from them or that seeing as China has the largest military in the world america won't touch them? It seems to me spreading democracy is code for taking what we want. So China should look out seeing as America owes it a lot of money and I think that as soon as that loan is called in, America will be spreading democracy there too. As it has a history of turning on once allies.