Mnemonic wrote on Mar 22
nd, 2012 at 12:08am:
Frances wrote on Mar 21
st, 2012 at 4:10pm:
To put the boot on the other foot, if you moved to another country, how would you react if someone said you had to denounce and hate Australia before you would be made welcome in your new country?
For me, it would be pretty simple. If I couldn't be loyal to that country, couldn't let go of my origins and if the people there didn't accept me, I wouldn't live there.
I don't see any reason why someone cannot be loyal to two countries (other than if those two countries were at war with eachother). I would expect though that more loyalty would need to be shown to the person's adopted country than to their country of origin.
Mnemonic wrote on Mar 22
nd, 2012 at 12:08am:
I think that is a question for you too. You may have overlooked the fact that many countries make it really hard for you to "become one of their own." Just try to become Chinese, Japanese or Korean. I don't think they'll ever completely accept you even if you learnt their language, table manners, ways of greeting people and ate their food. You may be allowed to live in Japan, China or Korea legally, but they'd never think of you as one of them. How many Westerners have become Chinese, Japanese or Korean? I assume it's a very tiny number. Maybe zero. Consider yourself lucky that being Australian isn't a matter of roots or ancestry, but law.
In a lot of countries and cultures it is expected that you will give up your roots and become completely immersed in the other to prove you are one of them. It isn't a surprise to a lot of people.
I used to know someone (an Australian) who spoke fluent Japanese, married a Japanese girl, and settled in Japan. I have lost touch with him now, but the last time I spoke to him he said that he was doing quite nicely over there (he was teaching English somewhere or other) and was accepted by the locals, but treated to an extent as an outsider. There would be quite a few countries where "incomers" would not be fully accepted, and not all of those countries are Asian.
Australia is not like that though, although there are a significant number of intolerant people here. I was once walking through The Rocks and an elderly woman leaning against a fence singled me out, started into a tirade about foreigners and shouted at me to go back where I came from. If I felt like an argument, I would have told her that I was Australian and therefore I was already where I came from, but it didn't seem worth it, so I just walked off. Sometimes I think back to that day and wonder where she actually thought I came from....
Mnemonic wrote on Mar 22
nd, 2012 at 12:08am:
I'm insisting that people give up their roots? If that's what you think this is about, then you've clearly misunderstood what I was saying. I was never asking you to force your friend or next-door neighbour to do this.
That was how I read what you wrote. It seems I misinterpreted some of what you said.
Mnemonic wrote on Mar 22
nd, 2012 at 12:08am:
Naturally, you have to "hate" your own kind enough to eliminate racism. We're all making sacrifices and compromises to accommodate the other. This isn't a one-way street.
I can't agree that you have to "hate" your own kind to eliminate racism. Surely if "hate" is involved, the object of the hate would be certain entrenched attitudes rather than "your own kind".
Mnemonic wrote on Mar 22
nd, 2012 at 12:08am:
Frances wrote on Mar 21
st, 2012 at 4:10pm:
Any normal person, with the possible exception of a refugee fleeing persecution, would retain feelings for, and fond memories of, the homeland they left behind. Of course a person's country of origin remains important to them - it is part of what has made them what they are today.
No reason to denounce your country of origin? What if your new country and original country were enemies? I think living in a country surrounded by a big blue sea, you've gotten a little too comfortable. If Australia was ever threatened by an invasion force, I think a lot of people would suddenly get paranoid. A lot of hidden racism would suddenly surface. White nationalists would get more support and if people haven't worked hard to ditch their roots, they'd have even more support. There may be a time in the future where you will be forced to choose. When that day comes, any lingering memories of your childhood in another country will have to be tossed aside. You can't serve two masters. You're claiming people are incapable of making that choice.
This would, I think, only be an issue if hostilities broke out between the two countries in question. Obviously, in those circumstances, a choice would have to be made. It would be a painful decision to make, but it would have to be made.