Cronulla .... WTF is in the water?

[Proud Pies]

[3rd degree]

This is another ugly event in our history. I agree very much with what london dave said.Thugs on both sides have more in common with each other than they think. howard's comments are a slap in the face to all concerned and illustrates what a pathetic garden gnome he is. How this guy was voted in is beyond me. This stuff will only fuel more anger hatred and fear that has been smirreing for a while and will allow cowards on both sides to step out and cause trouble. This is patriotism gone very wrong.

This bloke said to me today " if we have an open door policy and let everyone in they will bring their problems".

And I said " yeah the aboriginals must sick to death of all of us"

He went very very quiet.

[Dr Alf Andrews]

Congratulations, London Dave ... you have just won the Victoria Park Tavern Brownlow Medal ...

... for the Best and Fairest post of 2005.

[Joel]

What happened was a joke in the respect that innocent people were targetted on the day. The way the people acted was gutless and stupid. However, when people have enough, or when they reach boiling point they simply crack. That is not an excuse for the attacks on innocent pople on Sunday, but is a reason behind the people gathering.

The media have ALOT to answer for in all this. Most people probably wouldn't have even heard about the 'gathering' that was going to occur last Sunday if it wasn't for the media repeating the story over and over gain in the lead up to the event. The media sensationalise everything, and that too has a large impact. The media will tell 95% lies before telling 5% truth.

[Dale61]

So Joel, are you saying that the people who were attacked prior to this (the lifeguards) were not innocent? What about the schoolgirl that was pack raped? Surely, you're not saying she deserved it!

The guilty ones in all this are the 'sniper' groups, those 3-4 gang members who stalk their prey, then when their victim stands up to them, they quickly SMS for back up.

Yes, a lot of victims targetted were innocent, but who is really to blame in all this?

[thesleepysupporter]

Yes i think it is disgusting, but the lebanese community is not faultless in this whole debacle.

Both sides are at fault, both sides have reason to be angry but there is no excuses for their actions.

I lived in sydney for only a year so i can't fully understand the dynamics of the different ethnicities but i do know that the difference between sydney and melbourne is that, even though they are both racial melting pots, sydney has not yet settled in to accepting each race and working together and stop being lebanese, chinese, etc. and start being australian.

[RudeBoy]

London Dave is spot on. Anyway, what are these so called 'Australian values' people keep raving on about? My values have got nothing in common with those of lying Johnny Howard, or his creation Pauline Hanson and her cheer squad amongst the neo-nazi Sydney disc jocks like Alan Jones. This country is a country of immigrants, and no-one is any more Australian than anyone else. If anything, migrants - from Lebanon or anywhere else - have a greater claim on being Australian because they have chosen to be Australian, whereas the rest of us are only Australians by an accident of birth.

Quite frankly, when I saw those mobs of gutless, brainless pissheads, shouting "aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi", and bashing up anyone who looked mediteranean, it reminded me of how nazism started on the streets of Berlin in the 1930s.

It's also related to the mindless nationalist jingoism which has been growing in recent years, under lying Johnny Howard. All these pilgrimages to Gallipoli and the increasing profile of ANZAC day parades are simply promoting mindless patriotism. We have the temerity to demand of the turks that there be monuments to our soldiers who died at Gallipoli, but we ignore the fact that we were invading their country! What if Japan wanted to build monuments to Japanese soldiers who died trying to invade Australia? Do we ever stop and think about the 4 million (that's right MILLION) Vietnamese that we and the Yanks slaughtered during the Vietnam war?

My grandfather's brother was killed at Gallipoli, and I think it is vital that we remember the fallen. But we should not use such events to whip up nationalistic fervour. Instead, we use these events to remember the horrible waste of human life, and to redouble our efforts to avoid future wars.

Unfortunately, thanks to the Howard government's policies of invading Iraq, and treating refugees like terrorists, we are demonising whole communities and spreading fear and hostility around the nation. This is certainly not the Australia that I love.[/code]

[Dale61]

I have read (I've never lived in Sydney) that the problem lies with the fact that migrants are 'forced' to live in the same area.

For example, Cabramatta (also known as Vietnamatta by locals) is 'home' to the Vietnamese, and Lakemba (aka Lakembanon) the Lebanese.

This only induces these religious groups to maintain their former country's ties, and thus, not allowing them to fully learn how to live in the Australia society, as we know it.

Now, I'm not saying that Melbourne is any different - Footscray and Springvale come to mind - but migrants here have greater opportunity to live where they choose.

[RudeBoy]

[thesleepysupporter]

[HAL]

Who are you talking about?

[RudeBoy]

[David]

I think the only solution is to throw all lebanese gang members and dumbass surfies in jail

[Morrigu]

[RudeBoy]