polite_gandalf wrote on Jan 7
th, 2017 at 6:59pm:
Frank wrote on Jan 7
th, 2017 at 6:29pm:
I do not understand you point of view and I very much doubt that you do. You lost all your arguments along these lines, I am sure.
For example, if you reside in England but do not speak English but only some other language then you are not English. Or if you speak English but with an Australian or American accent - Clive James, say, or Kevin Spacey - you are not English either.
I've had this debate with someone before. I pointed out the absurdly arbitrary (and dare I say - racist) nature of this definition. For example, a black man who immigrates to England from the West Indies can never be 'English' because of where he was born - even if he takes up citizenship and adopts the English culture with gusto. Fair enough - its a chauvinist and unreasonable argument IMO, but it at least has some logic and I can understand it. But then he went on to say that not even his children, or his grandchildren - pretty much going on forever and ever - could ever be 'English' either. Why? Because they could never claim the heritage of an 'Englishman'. Whatever that means. Same deal with those with Pakistani or Indian or Arab etc heritage. So it then becomes nothing about self identity or the culture you adopt (as you seem to claim sometimes) - but purely about what 'race' you are born into. It is a blatantly racist approach specifically designed to keep identities like 'Englishman' or "Dutchman' or "Frenchman" an exclusive club, defined not by what culture you adopt, nor even where you were born - but whose genes you carry. It is a tool that literally has no other purpose than to maintain a stigma on certain minorities - to send the message loud and clear that 'you are not one of us' and therefore 'you are inferior to us'.
You hit he nail on the head despite yourself, Gandalf. Aboriginality is defined as being accepted by the Aboriginal community as being an Aboriginal, not by any other measure.
The same idea holds for every other cultural and ethic group, including the ones who, unlike aborigines, have passports corresponding to their identity.
You are English when the English accept you as English. You are Australian when Australians accept you as one of them.
This is what you are arguing against but also affirm - this is why you lose every argument. You are mouthing PC crap and try to back it up with common sense - only you do not realise because nobody, not even you, actually gets the PC crap. You mouth it because you want to be progressive but because it is daft, you don't - can't - think along its tenets.i