birding-aus

Racism and parrots

To: colin judkins <>
Subject: Racism and parrots
From: Graham Buchan <>
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 15:48:46 +1100
Yes, Debbie is sadly correct.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing." 
(after Edmund Burke)

Regards, Graham

On 01/12/2010, at 3:37 PM, colin judkins wrote:

>
> Very well said Debbie,
>
> Congratulations on saying what a lot of us were thinking.
>
> Regards from Colin.
>
>> From: 
>> To: 
>> Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 13:44:34 +1100
>> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Racism and parrots
>>
>>
>> I have been reading people's opinions about the money being charged to see 
>> Princess Parrots and can hold off no longer. There is an underlying racism 
>> that lurks, a nasty little secret, beneath the comments of many. How else to 
>> explain well-meaning discussions along these lines (and I paraphrase):
>> 'If it teaches them - Indigenous people - to run birding tours then I 
>> approve' (for our - whitefellas' - benefit, of course);
>> 'If they share the money among their community then I approve' (since when 
>> were Europeans called upon to share their profits with their communites?);
>> 'They've been given enough money already so I don't approve' 
>> (over-simplifying an unbelievably complex situation); and
>> 'If they can get that sort of money, let them try (but I don't approve)'.
>> These sentiments imply a superiority and moral high ground we simply don't 
>> possess. They are more offensive for being subtle.
>> People have also objected to the traditional owner's scruples about (white) 
>> birders running around on his land, when we don't have a clue what it means 
>> to be custodians of the land. To protect the animals, birds and plants; to 
>> have a spiritual connection; to be diminished when the land is trampled on 
>> and ignorantly invaded.
>> Look at how we have managed custody of our own (stolen) lands, here in our 
>> cities and degraded, agricultural areas - we know only how to exploit.
>> I am fed up with reading this correspondence, couched in economic terms but 
>> informed by ugly, masked racism. From now on, could it be limited to the 
>> facts?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ==========
>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
>> send the message:
>> unsubscribe
>> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
>> to: 
>>
>> http://birding-aus.org
>> ==========
>                                         ==============================
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
>
> http://birding-aus.org
> ==============================

==============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 

http://birding-aus.org
=============================
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU