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| Down Under |
| One in ten Aussies racial supremacists: survey |
| 2008-09-29 |
| One in ten Australians believe some races are superior to others and Muslims are the most unpopular group in the country, the lead author of a new study said Sunday. Professor Kevin Dunn from the University of Western Sydney said a 10-year study of 12,500 people found that Australians were generally tolerant, with more than 80 percent viewing cultural diversity as beneficial. But about 10 percent of the population was racial supremacists. "Only about one in ten people across the various states would hold those views nowadays," Dunn told AFP. "It's better than in many other parts of the world, certainly in parts of western Europe where three in ten people would hold those views," he said. "But one in ten is a lot. It means one person in every lunch room, one person in every locker room, five or ten people on a train," Dunn added. Dunn, a professor of human geography and urban studies, said Muslims were most often seen as the group that did not "fit in" to Australian life. "They stand out at the moment as the group that people would be most concerned about," Dunn said. "There's stronger levels of social distance or fear of Islam or concern about Islam than of any other group at the moment." Dunn said indigenous Australians were the second strongest "out" group while there was evidence of an emerging antipathy towards black Africans after greater immigration from countries such as Sudan and Somalia. Despite being the focus for international migration, New South Wales -- with a population of 6.5 million people and home to the country's largest city of Sydney -- was found to be the least tolerant state or territory. Dunn said while in some states as many as 90 percent of people saw cultural diversity as a good thing, this percentage was only in the mid-80s in New South Wales, possibly because Sydney accommodated higher numbers of migrants. Asked how they would feel if a close relative was to marry a Muslim, 54 percent of people in New South Wales would be concerned, he said. And some 47 percent of people from the state indicated at least one group that didn't fit in Australia -- the highest percentage in the country. "It means that in New South Wales there is more of a narrow idea of what constitutes Australian," Dunn said. The study's results come as migrants account for a record high proportion of Australia's population of 21 million people, with 430,000 migrants arriving Down Under in the 12 months to March. Dunn's group, which is yet to fully analyze all the figures from the study, hopes to use the information to develop anti-racism guidelines. He said feeling about Muslims was strong across all of Australia, where Christianity is the most common faith, and that Muslims, who make up about 1.7 percent of the population, were the most unpopular group. "I don't think there's any doubt about that and that tells something about what needs to be done in terms of reconstructing images of some groups," Dunn said. Anti-Muslim sentiment flared on Sydney's southern Cronulla Beach in December 2005 when mobs of whites attacked Lebanese Australians there in a bid to "reclaim the beach." The race riots, the country's worst of modern times, sparked a series of retaliatory attacks in which churches, shops and cars were attacked. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 with more than 80 percent viewing cultural diversity as beneficial. But about 10 percent of the population was racial supremacists. One of those two groups need to be re-educated, to get back in touch with Reality™ and basic common sense, as experienced in any human population group, regardless of time and location up to a very recent time (and thus even only in the West), and which is even most probably engrained in our genes. But, which one? Oh, the agony of uncertainty. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-09-29 14:58 |
| #8 I have to wonder what percentage of the racial supremacists were Muslims, Asians and/or recent immigrants. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2008-09-29 14:38 |
| #7 The thing is some cultures are inferior to others and sometimes race can be closely tied with culture (especially in the super-PC era) so its easy to see how someone could mix the two concepts*. It's even easier to see when the media only gives half the story and intelligent folks know they aren't getting it all but might not be able to accurate figure out what is missing from the picture. * the example for this (beyond immigrants to the US who often succeed no matter what failures their home county was) is the Koreans. Same ethnic group in North and south but the North has developed a totalitarian Communist culture that has made them poorer than the lowliest dogs. It would be unfair to make up decisions on South Koreans based on there example. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-09-29 11:11 |
| #6 Asked how they would feel if a close relative was to marry a Muslim, 54 percent of people in New South Wales would be concerned And that is how to do with race because? You can be color blind but ides determine behavior. Too many French girls found to their sorrow that the attractive Mulim man they had married treated them like sh.t, and once they got divorced, kidnapped their children and brought them to Algeria or Morocco because in his Muslim supremacist views, his children had to become Muslims even if at gunpoint. And BTW, I don't see why you have to be ideas blind in matter of religion and not in matter of, say politics. Tell them one of those nice liberals if tehy would be so tolerant if their daughter were to marry a KKK man (that is one of is not a Democratic senator)? I for one, would be. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-09-29 10:45 |
| #5 Hmmmmmmmm...that would mean nine out of ten aren't. Have they ever done one of these surveys in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-09-29 09:11 |
| #4 When my nieces in Sydney started dating I made them both promise me they would never go out with Muslim boys. They just smiled and said, " Don't worry about it. We know." |
| Posted by: Grunter 2008-09-29 07:56 |
| #3 Asked how they would feel if a close relative was to marry a Muslim, 54 percent of people in New South Wales would be concerned, he said. There's a lotta dumb people in NSW. Thank goodness they're in the minority. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-09-29 07:18 |
| #2 And what percent of the Muslim population are religious extremists inquiring minds ask... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2008-09-29 01:10 |
| #1 Anti-Muslim sentiment flared on Sydney's southern Cronulla Beach in December 2005 when mobs of whites attacked Lebanese Australians there in a bid to "reclaim the beach." Am I to assume that the "youths" who threatened the Australian girls with rape were the tolerant ones? |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-29 00:37 |