2009 Self - delusion and Refugees

A society of polite, well-intentioned, law-abiding, self-deluded conformists.

Everywhere I go I meet very polite and helpful people who are friendly on the surface.

That has been my South Australian experience so far.

But we forget one thing: we are all migrants in this country.

But I've lived in many other countries and my impression of South Australia is that it is more like an Asian country in terms of the mentality of the people. We are very conformist.


People seem cowed and afraid of authority-whether it be the the police,the petty bureaucrat at Centrelink, or the receptionist at the Doctor. People  seem afraid of each other. There is fear everywhere.

Peopleare also self-deluded.

One example of self-delusion is that they consider themselves to be generous towards refugees.

I believed this too until very recently. I was as self-deluded as the next South Australian

Consider these figures from the Australian Refugee Association: Google them if you like...

• Tanzania hosts one refugee for every 76 Tanzanian people (1:76)
• Britain hosts one refugee for every 530 British people. (1:530)
• Australia hosts one refugee for every 1583 Australian people. (1:1583)

Almost a hundred times ( yes, '100') times as many refugees attempted to enter Europe in 2004 than attempted to enter Australia by boat or plane.

and yet everywhere you go it's ...

"We (in Australia) are so wonderfully generous in our policy towards refugees!"

I hear it several times a week from the so called 'Dinky-Di' Aussies. (and not many of them speak to me).


Why are Australians so unable to criticise themselves? We Aussies just love dishing it out to everyone else-poms, Asians Yanks etc. But can we take criticism ourselves?

Oh no...Ouch!

I think the answer is because as Australians we don't have neighbours to tell us what we are really like. That is what neigbours do. They act as a mirror for us to see ourselves as we really are.

We won't speak to the indigenous Australians because we have alienated them so much by our past behaviour. So, we have lost that resource to see outselves.

New foreign migrants are rapidly going the same way as the indigenous people. It's now illegal to murder the foreigners. (we need their money.) But we can still alienate them by not talking to them!

The most frustrating thing of all for me is that we Aussies don't see (we are in denial) that we actually NEED indigenous Australians and foreigners in order to see our own faults. We NEED to learn from them how to live.

I used the "N' word twice!

Look at the mess we have created in such a short time here - a high stressed world with fatal lifestyle diseases and global economic disaster.

It never occurs to us that OTHER people in our midst-migrants and indigenous people might be able to help 'US' to learn how to survive.

Oh yes, we can help 'THEM' when they get drunk or are down and out. But 'THEM' help US?

No way.

We live in this narcissistic space capsule  ontinually recyling crap from free to air television and newspapers which propagate the myths of our smug superiority in order to make us feel good about ourselves.

That is why I have given up at least one addiction-reading newspapers! Hoooray! I've done it -I can live without them. I now get my news from the net where I can choose what I want to read -and not have it thrust down my throat by some corporate ganch who has screwed up the world economy and is doing his best to keep it that way.

And I've given up another addiction- television. T.V.! Yes, the tyranny of the box is over for me at last. No more free to air television. (No more cable either -can't afford it).

I'm still alive and have survived the deprivations so far....