aquascoot wrote on Apr 17
th, 2016 at 3:08pm:
you are quite right in what you say but therein lies the conflict.
the city folk want to define "smart' as going to uni or other measures of "closing the gap" based on urban intellectual concepts.
and , no, they arent smart in this way.
sure they are smart in other ways,
if you sent a couple of aboriginal lads out in the tanami desert to check on some bores and you sent a couple of children of canberra public servants out on the same mission, i know who i would be putting money on to return safely.
it still boils down, in my experience, to the fact that a lot of country folk integrate aboriginals into their communities and really are rooting for them to succeed and a lot of city folk , intellectually masturbate about aboriginals and their entire experience of aboriginals is based on celebrities like Grant or Goodes.
The remote and rural aboriginal has bonds to the land the same as the farmer, they get on great.
the fly in , fly out miner....would never speak to one i imagine....he would live in his little compound in his air conditioned donger.
the city person trying to put forward ideas on aboriginals....oh please, give me a break.
They just embarrass themselves due to their ignorance
The Goodes, the grants, the inglis's, the dodson's all play their part. It's to say that you can make something of yourself. Look on the whole people do want the best for aborigines. Hey, you and I are aware that underlying sentiment isn't positive for various reasons.
David Uniopon on the $50 note was an inventer. A traditional man. He invented the sheep sheers and prototype of the helicopter blade. I also read an archival document a few years back and keen to locate again. Anyway, it was an experiment where they basically provided a traditional aboriginal girl exactly the same educational opportunities as all students over a period of time. I think in NSW and from memory back in late 20th century. The young traditional girl topped the state. They are smart.
I believe aborigines should harness the evolutionary effect just the same as us. We didn't create our society individually but we learnt to live with it and evolve with the changes. This means that they change their whole value system. While there are many breaking the cycle there are many still stuck in communities that are absolute cesspits. One elder suggested that many of these people feared leaving their communities, firstly a fear of not being accepted in the broader community due to lack of confidence and backlash as a consequence of being seen as a "big noter" who is turning their back on their family. It's a bloody complex situation that has no easy answers or answers that will provide a quick fix.
Good discussing this with you though. All the best.