Those people
A little while ago I wrote about my concern of how the power of scapegoating seems to be getting its tentacles into the Australian political scene. I am continually surprised by the level of fear of Muslims and refugees in my own church. Statements like “they are not like us”, “they look different”, “there may be a bad egg amongst them” - all seem to portray the myth that we are good and they are bad, or we are righteous and they are evil.
The Australian political scene led by John Howard has tapped into this fear and when the election was in full swing, our prime minister labelled refugees on a sinking boat to be people who we didnt want here. I am almost ashamed of the ALP and their inability to stand in contrast to this type of rhetoric.
The powerful lure of scapegoating is one that may be as hard to move away from as much as Gollum, Bilbo and Frodo did in removing the ring.
My favourite Australian political/cultural blog - Roadtosurfdom picks this theme up and asks where will we draw the line? We seem to be able to put aside our own standards of human behavior because “they” do it. Does this not mean we are now by definition “they”?
I think this opening statement sums it up well:
Why is that when this Administration and its supporters here and around the world define how others are to react or be regarded they demand that it be done in the plainest black and white terms, but when they seek to characterise their own behaviour we are suddenly urged to contemplate every degree of variation in the grey spectrum?
August 2nd, 2003 at 10:07 am
Hypocratic Oath Complexities
The hypocratic oath, in case you are unaware, is taken by doctors when they graduate and sets out moral and ethical obligations of doctors to their patients vis-a-vis the sanctity of human life, relief of suffering etc. So if you…