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?
>>
>>
>>
>>
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