I know lots of lovely Australians from different ethnic groups (and Sydney has a lot of big ethnic groups) but in Sydney it is totally acceptable to…

Also, as we…

"The laws of genetics state that eye color is inherited as follows:

If both parents have blue eyes, the children will have blue eyes.

If both parents have brown eyes, a quarter of the…

Does anyone know of reputable studies that analyse bigotry in relation to gender?

Well funnily enough yes –

blue-eyed men find blue-eyed women more attractive than brown-eyed women

Although there's more clearly a correlation between testosterone and gang violence.

I had recently that the physical differences between races cannot be…

Please don't hurt me.

My unscientific impression is that both genders can be equally bigotted and racist, but actual agro tends to come from the younger males (testosterone is a powerful master).

As Tony Parsons said, having testicles is like being chained to the village idiot.

This was not achieved by some kind of political takeover, it was developed after years of research and dialogue. The key mechanism was discussion, not confrontation (although confrontation was used as a mechanism to spur disccussion).

Unlike Australia, we have a mainstream acknowledgement of our historical deeds and misdeeds. And…

can.hardly.frikkin.wait.

i'm going to eat a 350g, 5-week-aged-on-the-bone, black angus rump steak from la luna bistro in carlton north. beef so tender you can eat it with a teaspoon.

then there's gelato from gelobar on northern lygon street, vietnamese spring rolls from richmond, and BBQ duck…

in food anyway....best in Australasia by a fair wack.

Gotta go with you there, big guy. I haven't been to Melbourne a lot (and one time our plonker hosts insisted on taking us to the Hard Rock Cafe), but the best Italian restaurant I've ever dined at, by miles, was…

Melbourne smelbourne.

Melbourne has what edge?

in food anyway....best in Australasia by a fair wack. I used to have to visit Melbourne on business three or four times a year and it was always a matter of working out which eateries I could fit in on each trip....

There's a little Sicilian…

Fair call. Although, in my opinion, Melbourne still has the edge.

Heheh! Does anyone know of reputable studies that analyse bigotry in relation to gender? Not feminist theory necessarily, but rather something with a firm empirical basis.

My unscientific impression is that both genders can be equally bigotted and racist, but actual agro tends to come from the younger males (testosterone…

Sydney's pretty bad, Melbourne (which is an international city like none here in New Zealand) not so much.

perhaps true in the past but the past decade has changed that in Auckland, which has a mix that equals the capital of Victoria and is certainly a much browner city that…

[Written by Brian Wilson,] the song was originally going to be released on [the Beach Boys] classic 1966 album Pet Sounds. Mike Love however objected to the title of the song and some of the lyrics and insisted that it be changed.

Much as I would like to subscribe to…

I think the problem is not that Oz doesn't have a treaty but that guys have testicles.

Heheh! Does anyone know of reputable studies that analyse bigotry in relation to gender? Not feminist theory necessarily, but rather something with a firm empirical basis.

Why unlikely?

I think the problem is not that Oz doesn't have a treaty but that guys have testicles.

back in 99 there was spate of bombing of gang HQs in SA and Victoria.

also, italian gang warfare ("mafia") warfare is pretty entrenched too.

likewise vietnamese rivals in the heroin trade.

Particularly when the innate tendency is not racism but 'us and themism'. This is something that can be overcome (or at least minimised) through social and political conditions, constructive dialogue, positive engagement, peace building etc.

Neil,

Thanks for the book ref (link doesn't seem to work, but that's fine).…

And also, Ben said:

"Perhaps this is the true value of…

Are you familiar with Peter Singer's book – A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution, and Cooperation?

Left wing…

First it's evolution. Then comes plate tectonics and the Big-Bang...I've seen it happen again and again.

Ignoring the above ordering of events, I wonder if we have found our 7 million year old monkey!

We simply do not endure the same kind of social conflict. We don't have warring racial gangs staging riots and mob beatings...

But we do have warring racial gangs; it's just that it's on a smaller scale. I'm pretty sure if we had the same population and as OZ we…

on the race thing. i think we need to acknowledge that racism is actually normal. doesn't matter whether you like it and practice it or not, it occurs in near any society that has contact with outsiders.

Perhaps not Che. In his book Nature Via Nurture (pp 284-266 in the…

and alex, those were…

Did anyone else out there know that the Frank Black song "Hang on to Your Ego" was a cover? Of the Beach Boys song "I know there's an Answer"?

I heard it playing in a record shop one day and got stuck in a WTF warp trying to figure how…

well so far this year anyway. I work in a space with about 20 other stressed out researchers and most of us easily 'wasted' the last 5 hours or so huddled around 1 pc lol.

Do ya reckon fstdt.com is bought us by the same witty…

http://www.lovegodsway.org/ and the linked sites all suddenly appear about a month ago with no prior track record. All the domains are owned by http://www.domainsbyproxy.com/ and I'm getting the same IP address as Mike…

Did anyone else out there know that the Frank Black song "Hang on to Your Ego" was a cover? Of the Beach Boys song "I know there's an Answer"?

that's been a bonus track on quite a few of the countless Pet Sounds Anniversary issues...which still sounds best in Brian's…

on the race thing. i think we need to acknowledge that racism is actually normal. doesn't matter whether you like it and practice it or not, it occurs in…

"as a pro-lifer, I cannot support an organization that is opposed to the death penalty"

and I'm glad there's no one left in the office to hear my spluttering. That is genius!

I moved to Australia in early 2001 after having lived in England, New York and Portugal for the…

On a happier note, Mr. Slack has reduced my productivity today to something so close to zero a pure mathematician would round it off within a blink of an eye.

My favourite so far from www.fstdt.com is:

I had to consciously force myself to cease with it. But I thought…

How would you know that? You said the onlookers were as peeved as your mate. In Australia or Britain their sympathies would most likely be with the yobos. I have lived in some racist countries and this is not one of them.

Relatively speaking, I think you're right. We are…

Lest we run away with the notion that the entire continent is mired in ill-will:

That's a nice gesture, I hope it helps reduce the atrocious number of Aboriginal kids that die 'mysteriously' in police custody.

Has anyone seen the John Safran vs God episode where he satires those Melburnian…

I have lived in some racist countries and this is not one of them.

My feeling too (having lived in Africa, UK, Europe and NZ). Still, it is a fragile state that can change very quickly for the sake of a few votes. The tenor set by Howard in Australia…

How would you know that?

Because in my everyday life I tend to 'pass' as a Pakeha. So I hear a lot of things that most Pasifika, African, etc people never would. I also have a tendency to 'collect' other peoples bigotry, meaning I will often steer conversation in the…

From a forwarded email doing the rounds of a university in Sydney:

Hi there.

You may have heard that Google intends to take high resolution photos of Sydney on Australia Day as part of its…

We learned jack about the Aboriginals, zero about the shameful past, "open…

But what so many NZers express when they think they're in private or not in front of their 'others' is really no different to what Aussies do in public

How would you know that? You said the onlookers were as peeved as your mate. In Australia or Britain their sympathies…

I've also had the (mis)fortune of attending a Millwall footy game when the other team (Crystal Palace) had the likes of Ian Wright, Paul Parker, and Mark Bright in their ranks, and gazing in fear and wonder at more veins standing out on more shiny foreheads in the crowd…

"Lucky New Zealand doesn't have foot and mouth aye? Then it'd be an STD".

Gold. If it's…

I am sure that by and large Australians are not more racist…

but two, i've been to AFL at the MCG, and was pretty bloody shocked by the things blokes were yelling at the aboriginal players on the field. i've never heard a…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TQ0o3FR2hWA&watch_response

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1533491675

The difference, in my own observation, is that in Australia there is more social latitude to be brazen about it. Here, it's muttered, or scrawled on a cyber toilet wall like this.

I don't believe Australians are on average any more racist than NZers or anyone else

I generally agree with this statement, however I do think that Australian racists are much bolder in their views and I think this is, in part, related to the crap policies Australia's pursued under Howard.…

If New Zealand does have lower levels of interethnic violence,…

I don't think it's about who is the more racist nation, how can we measure that? It's not about nation anyway, it's about individuals resisting the urge to otherfy others.

Resist the urge to otherfy others ya muthas!

It's a very different country to ours.

I don't believe Australians are on average any more racist than NZers or anyone else. So the differences as far as I can see are its higher population – therefore a greater pool of young males from which can come fuckwits, and the…

While it can now be seen as a pretty brave move and helped bring long-term results (as evidenced at last world cup), David Hill didn't survive for long, the 'old-school' ethnic rivalries banding together at the first available opportunity to force him out.

Thanks – interesting.

When it came to the "If you're a fag, he hates you too" aside, I laughed and spurted coffee on my jeans.

And yesterday someone spat all over their geeky twin monitors. I am not up for your cleaning bills, folks ...

When it came to the "If you're a fag, he hates you too" aside, I laughed and spurted coffee on my jeans.

The NSL 'de-ethnicising' was an interesting case study. David Hill was brought in as a top business-man in the 1990's to make Australian soccer the biggest sport in the country (he was a decade ahead of John O'Neill but was given a similar brief).

He concluded, quite reasonably, that…

Not ideal, but far better than the postulated alternatives.

The suggestion isn't about recapturing the spirit of the BDO, it's about preventing the misuse of the Australian flag to abuse people of colour. Banning the flag, or discouraging attendees from bringing flags on the day before Australia Day won't recapture…

I have my theories, though.

It points out that the National Soccer League was de-ethnicised in the late 1990s:

Melbourne Croatia became the Melbourne Knights, Preston Makedonia became the Preston Lions and South Melbourne Hellas became the…

But seriously Graeme, the idea of responding to problems by pushing the event into being some sort of flag day is silly.

Not ideal, but far better than the postulated alternatives.

The suggestion isn't about recapturing the spirit of the BDO, it's about preventing the misuse of the Australian flag…

But lest we get too high & mighty, part of the…

we were able to follow up the the incident (to get victims compensation) because…

Perhaps the drug dogs are just a way for thousands of music fans to have their music festival back too – it's the Big Day Out, not J-Day :-)

Right. So we can go back to the golden era when everyone at the Big Day Out was stone cold sober,…

The clip is here

Looks as though a filthy sinner is still picking out his shirts.

Once you've picked your jaw off the floor, check out this one, helpfully noted by Not PC.

Fundies Say The Darndest Things

The clip is here

Waiter: Gidday guys, my names Tony and I'll be your waiter for this evening.

Kiwi: Hi Tony – can we get a bottle of mineral water to start .…

on point a), it worked the other way too. aboriginal nations saw little value to many aspects of european culture and ignored it (floggings, hangings, indentured labour and christianity), and europeans themselves, while happily and enthusiatically uptaking technological advances like metals.

this lead to untold frustrations on the part…

I have a theory about Australian racism, which boils down to:

a) unlike in Aotearoa, the Austronesians (to use Jared Diamond's term for indigenous Australians) had a culture that was largely unrecognisable to Europeans…

Perhaps the drug dogs are just a way for thousands of music fans to have their music festival back too – it's the Big Day Out, not J-Day :-)

The music bone's connected to the dope bone...

Perhaps the drug dogs are just a way for thousands of music fans to have their music festival back too – it's the Big Day Out, not J-Day :-)