"Busy as a Blue-Arsed Fly"

[tcpip]

Apart from a veritable mountain of webdevelopment that I have to complete this week (currently half way through a 75 page site), tonight I also have to go to Boronia to do after-hours network forensics. In the meantime, have completed a draft of Tax Reform Australia. Please feel free to read, elaborate, criticise and, if you agree, join. Also managed to do a Tetum health booklet translation for Accents Ireland. Haven't slept much in the past few days.

Software Freedom Day was a big success; the Box Hill TAFE event apparently went well, as did the Melbourne Town Hall event and the Distribution Walk was completed within an hour. For our part, the Install Fest attracted roughly thirty people all told, including a couple of total novices.

Ran Cybernoia on Sunday; player-characters had been kidnapped and shipped off to a communications dead-zone in Fjordland, New Zealand. Were approached by their old employer who babbled on about "transformation of the human species" and required them to do an "kidnapping" of a goddam alien scientist. After crashing their 'copter and blasting their way out of the Christchurch compound, they eventually made it back to base where they took a quick jet the Cairns Space Station. In other words, it was damn good fun.

"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached, speaketh the Pope. The Islamic world is unimpressed. Some seem to justify the claim. Is it part of an agenda? Or just a big whoops?

On topic, caseopaya and I had the misfortune of overhearing a rather aggressive Anglo-Australian telling some Lebanese youths to "shut up and speak English, you're in Australia now" etc on the tram during SFD. Not being the people to let such comments pass, we came to the defense with justly seething remarks. I reminded the twit that "English" is not an indigenous language to Australia either. This is the second time caseopaya in recent weeks has witnessed direct, aggressive racism on Melbourne's public transport. It is the ugly side of recent public debates about "Australian values" and insulting restrictions to citizenship rules

Comments

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

How would you respond to an elderly person who claimed that Australia was a Christian country?

[angel80.livejournal.com]

That "real" Australians are atheists ;)

Win

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Possibly the best use of the "No True Scotsman" argument I have ever seen.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Hahaha I like it. I'll remember that one for next time ;)

[recumbenteer.livejournal.com]

The ABS
thinks otherwise.

In 2002, 23% [of Australians aged 18+] reported participating in church or religious activities over a three month period.

(And that's all children of the book, buddhists, and hindus thrown in for good measure).

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

If one was calculating religous attendence as an proof of faith the numbers would certainly be very, very different.

hmmm

[imajica-lj.livejournal.com]

Um ... that the clock on their bullshit dogma is ticking?

Re: hmmm

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

It reminds me a little of a East Timorese parliamentarian who tried to argue that because the overwhelming majority of the country was Christian that they should become, effectively, a religous state.

It wasn't a very popular suggestion.

Re: hmmm

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

This person wasn't a Christian himself, just old and stuck in an outdated perception of Australia. Interesting that those not involved in the Christian religion can still see our country as inherently Christian.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I would say the majority of the population are nominally Christian (even if they aren't practising), but our state and laws should be secular.

I would also point out the relevant section (116) of the Constitution.

"The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth."

I would try, and probably fail, to resist the temptation to mention that particular section of the Constitution was phrased by then Tasmanian Attorney-General, Andrew Inglis Clark, an ardent Unitarian.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

I think they were trying to make the case that our 'values' were built on Christian values. I didn't try to resist the temptation to point out that values such as "don't kill people or steal their stuff" aren't the eminent domain of Christianity.

This was part of a conversation half a year ago, when there was that kerfuffle about girls wanting to wear their headscarfs to schools who had a 'no hats indoors' policy. There was that ridiculous debate: Should they conform to our standards, our values? A stupid debate because they were simply freely exercising their religion, which as you point out is covered by our constitution and thus part of our value system.

Stupid old people.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

It's a very strange notion to suggest that there's something in Australian values which says "you may not wear a headscarf".

[jennifergearing.livejournal.com]

My (effective) M-I-L apparently has to "really fight the urge" not to rip the headscarves off women she sees walking down the street. The fact she repeatedly mentioned this in my presence meant I was doing some 'urge-fighting' on my own. And apparently all these young feminists are evil because we're not that keen on assaulting people because we find aspects of their traditional practices problematic. Apparently assaulting them would help, or something. Mmm.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

*nods*

Imagine the uproar if it was suggested that wearing headscarves should become compulsory...