I attended a lecture last night at the Opera House (yay, my first time attending an event in the Opera House!) given by John Pilger, an Australian journalist and the 2009 recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize. He talked about censorship of the media, crimes committed by the super powers of the world (naturally a lot of America-slamming, which is pretty common) and he talked about Australia and its culture and role in all of this. I found truth in his assertion that Australia remains silent.
To compare, I would say that America is ignorant. Americans are ignorant, with the media reporting a skewed version of current world events, a version that is particularly skewed when America is involved in these events. This has a major trickle down effect and reaches its nasty claws all the way down to the education of children. We know that Hitler and the Germans committed atrocities during WWII, but what do we really know about the treatment of Japanese-Americans (and dare I say Asian-Americans in general) in our own country at that time? I learned nothing about that in school. I heard nothing about these occurrences until after I had graduated from college and a high school principal from podunk Yelm High School told me a few vague details, one of which astounded me--the Puyallup Fairgrounds had originally served as an internment camps for Japanese-Americans during WWII. How could my history class have left that out???
What do we really know about Vietnam? I know that hippies protested and that many American lives were lost. But what for?
What will our history teachers say about 9-11, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan? Will we ever recognize how the American military has committed crimes against humanity? And kept American citizens ignorant of the motives behind our invasions and military "relationships" in underdeveloped countries?
Ignorance. That's certainly true enough.
But let's also talk about silent Australia. While I may not be able to address this issue from from a more global perspective, I can address it from a personal perspective. Silence. It's everywhere. There's a vast silence surrounding the racial divides in this country, be it between whites and Aboriginal people, or between the various communities of immigrants that all stay segmented--Pacific Islanders, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Lebanese, what have you. People stay to themselves and within their cultures. Obviously this is something I have felt in my inability to breach into Australian groups of friends and my cognizance that my own friends in this country are all white. It's so strange for me to have only white friends. What happened to perspective? What happened to appreciating and befriending other cultures?
I can also address the silence in social contexts, with Australians' aversion to talk about anything controversial, something that might bring about friction or rock the boat. But why not address these things? Why stay silent? Silence doesn't bring about change. It pushes it away until the next time the issue comes up. Now, when I move to another country, I try to respect people's cultures and even adapt to their way of doing things. I've tried this "silence" bit, and not addressed times when I've been hurt or felt angry at the way I was treated or the way people have acted. And let me tell you, the silence does nothing. It sits bubbling under the surface and is so easily aggravated the next time around, thus inflaming an already sensitive issue. At some point later down the line, it bursts.
Why not try to prevent the burst by addressing these things as they come up? Why not be proactive and honest instead of ignoring, hiding, and remaining silent? Why the hell not.
So thanks to John Pilger for candidly talking about the issue of silence in this country and encouraging recognition and truth. These things combined with action will make this world a better place.
To compare, I would say that America is ignorant. Americans are ignorant, with the media reporting a skewed version of current world events, a version that is particularly skewed when America is involved in these events. This has a major trickle down effect and reaches its nasty claws all the way down to the education of children. We know that Hitler and the Germans committed atrocities during WWII, but what do we really know about the treatment of Japanese-Americans (and dare I say Asian-Americans in general) in our own country at that time? I learned nothing about that in school. I heard nothing about these occurrences until after I had graduated from college and a high school principal from podunk Yelm High School told me a few vague details, one of which astounded me--the Puyallup Fairgrounds had originally served as an internment camps for Japanese-Americans during WWII. How could my history class have left that out???
What do we really know about Vietnam? I know that hippies protested and that many American lives were lost. But what for?
What will our history teachers say about 9-11, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan? Will we ever recognize how the American military has committed crimes against humanity? And kept American citizens ignorant of the motives behind our invasions and military "relationships" in underdeveloped countries?
Ignorance. That's certainly true enough.
But let's also talk about silent Australia. While I may not be able to address this issue from from a more global perspective, I can address it from a personal perspective. Silence. It's everywhere. There's a vast silence surrounding the racial divides in this country, be it between whites and Aboriginal people, or between the various communities of immigrants that all stay segmented--Pacific Islanders, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Lebanese, what have you. People stay to themselves and within their cultures. Obviously this is something I have felt in my inability to breach into Australian groups of friends and my cognizance that my own friends in this country are all white. It's so strange for me to have only white friends. What happened to perspective? What happened to appreciating and befriending other cultures?
I can also address the silence in social contexts, with Australians' aversion to talk about anything controversial, something that might bring about friction or rock the boat. But why not address these things? Why stay silent? Silence doesn't bring about change. It pushes it away until the next time the issue comes up. Now, when I move to another country, I try to respect people's cultures and even adapt to their way of doing things. I've tried this "silence" bit, and not addressed times when I've been hurt or felt angry at the way I was treated or the way people have acted. And let me tell you, the silence does nothing. It sits bubbling under the surface and is so easily aggravated the next time around, thus inflaming an already sensitive issue. At some point later down the line, it bursts.
Why not try to prevent the burst by addressing these things as they come up? Why not be proactive and honest instead of ignoring, hiding, and remaining silent? Why the hell not.
So thanks to John Pilger for candidly talking about the issue of silence in this country and encouraging recognition and truth. These things combined with action will make this world a better place.
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