Originally Posted by
dr dre
European fatalities were a few thousand, so the death toll was about 20x in the other direction. Some pretend it never really happened, but most would call it either a straight up massacre or genocide or would call it war. If it was a war then it wouldn't it be described as the first Australians bravely defending our Australian homeland against invading foreigners despite the odds being stacked against them? Shouldn't that be something to be honoured at the AWM?
European fatalities would have been higher and many settlements failed had the war fighting skills not been so primitive. The intent was often annihilation of the colonialists which is understandable. Australia would have been colonised by other European powers within decades or if not, the sprawl of Asian Kingdoms or Islam inevitable within a century. A primitive, nomadic and diverse tribal First Nation was inevitably doomed.
What happened wasn’t right but how are we supposed to look upon it? Painting Australians as all being homicidal isn’t telling the truth of brutal times of early settlement and a penal colony. The hanging of “Aboriginal outlaws” in the 1840’s saw thousands protest in Melbourne streets. There were terribly evil people throughout our early history but I actually don’t buy that It was an entirety.
Many young people I talked to who vehemently opposing our recent Australia Day celebrations lacked depth in their beliefs and lacked moral conviction when pressed. Will they holiday in Arnhem Land or the Kimberley’s? Nope they are all off to to Bali - with Indonesia being colonialists themselves after ridding themselves of the Dutch. I actually think many just want to protest something to display their virtue.
I never saw an Aboriginal flag flying in the truly remote communities. I wonder what they want? Virtue signalling? Some have their Land but their old ways are probably not palatable with modern society. What they want is going to be a lot different to the urbanised, red headed bloke claiming aboriginality. Yep, as some public servants say, it doesn’t matter how much milk you add, it’s still coffee. Absurd.
A new flag and a new national day won’t change a thing. People who have seen the big issues know this. White people who ignore the real troubling issues for partisan politics or expedient agendas, as they seem to, must suffer some sort of complex superiority that slants toward an unusual form of racism.