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In this Lunchbox/Soapbox, author and academic Sarah Maddison tackles the issue of mainstream Australia’s unacknowledged, unresolved guilt over the brutality of white settlement over two centuries ago — as well as its poor relationship with the indigenous population now. How can we redress injustice and convert our awareness of the past into a productive force?
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Great talk Sarah.
Fran
12 July at 06:53PM
I don't feel any guilt, because I refuse to agree that because of my skin colour, I am tied to crimes of the past. Should I also feel guilty about the crimes of the British against the Irish? According to this logic, because I am of British origin, I am responsible for all the wrong decisions made by my ancestors in the past. What racial solidarity and identity you must feel, in order to feel this guilt! This from academics who like to pretend race doesn't even exist and we are all one and the same. The contradictions confound.
Should Aboriginals feel guilty about their involvement in mass genocide of scores of mega-fauna over the last 10,000 years? How should they deal with this guilt?
This guilt is not only illogical it is also pointless. To remedy it, how about we start learning about and focusing on all the good that western civilisation has achieved, the art, the invention, the music, the culture, the legal tradition and the beautifully articulated morality it is based on. I can think of so many things to be proud of, if you define yourself by your white skin that is.
janet
09 October at 11:41AM
I thought this would be about getting beyond white guilt.
Instead it is about trying to feel more guilty and accept that we are a traumatised society, only then we can be 'truly moral'. Efforts to step beyond the past are not even considered, and if you don't feel guilty, you actually are and are just in denial. This is intellectualism of infallible god-like proportions.
Jan
09 October at 11:52AM