Saturday, May 30, 2009

Racism and slander


This week our Prime Minister was accused of racism by Sol Trujillo, outgoing CEO of Telstra. In fact he said Australia was backward and racist.
By a strange co-incidence, the same day that news made the headlines, I was accused of being a racist for the first time in my life. Needless to say, I took offense at what I considered an unfair and unjust comment.
Further, the media frenzy is stirring up regarding the issue of Indian students in Australia being targeted by thugs as an example of Australian racism.

Racism exists in every country, it is human nature. Whether we care to admit it or not, we do feel uncomfortable around those who are different. I don't know to what extent racism exists in Australia or if it does, to the extent that it should be considered so severe that we should hang our collective heads in shame.

What disturbs me is how easy it is for someone to make the accusation of racism.
The accused is then left with the burden of proving themselves innocent of the charges.
The burden of proof isn't on the accuser but the accused. How fair is that?


If the term "racism" has any meaning left today, it implies hate for a particular group.
Within the context of the law, racism is a hate crime.

Australia is now burdened with the task of proving that it isn't a racist country.
Now that is a case of slander.


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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

he pinpointed Kevin Rudd as a "racist" after the Prime Minister said "adios" in response to the exit by Mr Trujillo, an American of Mexican descent.Adios!

Lexcen said...

Reading the story about the New Black Panthers in America makes we wonder about who is racist.

Anonymous said...

Libertine liberals used to tell me that only the people who controlled political power could be considered "racist". Now that Barack Obama is President, they seem to be using that argument less and less...

Anonymous said...

Of course, it would be considered highly racist for me to apply the same definition to the politics of the day by all those self-same libertine liberals...

funny how that works, isn't it.

Left Coast Rebel said...

2 points,
1 - Only whites are racist, and nearly all of them are such
2 - The Inquisition has nothing on what the Left does to opposition with the 'racecard'

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