Let me just try this one for the Fool's Gallery:-

What is it that drives a man to take to the hills in revolt, risking death at every moment in conditions of deprivation and living under a few branches to keep the rain off and in often semi-starved conditions?

If you read Richard K Barnet's seminal book from as long ago as the 1960's... "Intervention and Revolution".... he discusses this very issue in one chapter......

.....you can starve a man and his children, oppress them all, abuse his legal and civil rights, take from him his means of living a secure and prosperous life... and so on and so on....... and he will not take up arms and take to the hills to oppose you.

Barnet points out that people have endured dreadful living conditions for thousands if not millions of years..... and hardly ever risen in revolt .... BUT - he says there is one thing that will change that set of dynamics......

He WILL take to the hills and oppose you if you INSULT him. 

Now, poppets - what does that mean?

It means that at the root of every human being, there is a simple and underlying reality -  that each and every one is motivated by a sense of personal sovereignty.... which, in dealing with life's crises, equates to  the RIGHT to make his or her own decision about what is best for him or her.

That doesn't mean the decision is always the correct one.....

In the case of our Aborigines - they are CHOOSING, in the sense of their own personal sovereignty - to live the way they do.  The alternatives are there.... they CHOOSE not to take them because they PREFER their own way.

What astounds me is how some here carry on relentlessly about the 'neo-liberal economic obsession of government' etc - and yet fail entirely to see that the very same personal sovereignty that is being advocated for the Indigenous to resolve their own issues, and which is so despised as a way of handling things, is the very thing that is driving them to refuse to do just that.

So - again - there is NO solution until they themselves come to the party.

Are you with it yet?

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Oct 13^th, 2022 at 7:28pm:


Civilian death toll in the Vietnam War:

"  In 1995 Vietnam released its official estimate of the number of people killed during the Vietnam War: as many as 2,000,000 civilians on both sides and some 1,100,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters".

When villages are carpet-bombed, babies are killed.

You didn't actually murder babies? Good for you, but the combined US and Oz 'defense' forces did; the babies didn't die from malaria.

AusGeoff wrote on Oct 14^th, 2022 at 12:11pm:



All good in theory, Geoff - but the old days are gone... so you too are OK with killers, bashers, thieves and so forth roaming free because their rhythms of life are different?  Does Stan Grant have trouble keeping the hours of his job?  Do those people working in government departments have trouble with the hours of work? Do those at unis have trouble attending the lectures on time?

Maybe so - but if they do there are consequences.  Your heartfelt theories are all well and good, but of no practical value.

So - over to you - how do YOU propose to fix all their problems and the problems they foist on others?

thegreatdivide wrote on Oct 14^th, 2022 at 11:43am:

Civilian casualties during the Vietnam war?

This has exactly what to do with the Aboriginal voice?

     

AusGeoff wrote on Oct 14^th, 2022 at 12:26pm:


Conservative instinct-driven "freedom" ideology insists national sovereignty is paramount; hence the ongoing disaster of "legal" war. 

Conservative instinct-driven "freedom" ideology also insists individuals are responsible for their own economic and social circumstances, obviously absurd.

eg, homelessness is increasing, not through the fault of those becoming homeless.

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Oct 13^th, 2022 at 11:35pm:

I have to disagree with this.  Our aboriginals are effectively denied the
opportunity to choose their current or future lifestyle by a white society's
oppressive governmental directives—which are all too often misguided
or ill-advised.

A classic example of this discord is of course time.  For 60,000 years the
aboriginals had no concept of time per se.  Which is why it's often
hard for them to adhere to the white man's rigid compliance with time;
as per a 9 to 5 job for example.  Aborigines have always lived by the sun;
up at daybreak and sleeping after sunset—probably one of the best current
examples of a natural, human circadian cycle.  (And just look at the upset
cause currently by the white man's daylight saving issue.)

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Oct 13^th, 2022 at 11:35pm:

Quote:

All good in theory, Geoff - but the old days are gone... so you too are OK with killers, bashers, thieves and so forth roaming free because their rhythms of life are different? [/quote]
No, of course not, and I never even implied that.  You're putting words
in my mouth.

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Oct 14^th, 2022 at 12:15pm:

These are simply cherry-picked examples, and in no way represent the
values of the vast majority of other Aboriginals.  According to Creative Spirits,
only 1.6% of Australian university students are indigenous, for example.

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Oct 14^th, 2022 at 12:15pm:

I don't have any particular knowledge or expertise in Aboriginal affairs,
so I'm not qualified in developing a solution.  In fact I have no idea as to
how it can be done, but done it needs to be—by those suitably qualified.

And who are they?  I have no idea of that either.

NOW - about that proposed voice again...... you are beginning to sound like a cracked record, divide, and you will never listen or answer questions put to you.

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Oct 14^th, 2022 at 12:55pm:


I'm convinced you don't read my replies, no i don't support the voice.