My neighbour comes from a very different background to me and is to put it politely not very bright. He likes to engage in racially, sexually and religiously offensive "jokes". I have tried explaining that words such as n****r, Paki and Abo are offensive and despite his protesting very different to terms such as Kiwi, Aussie, Pom etc I have explained that those terms are meant to be offensive and derogatory and have been used as such whereas Kiwi etc aren't. I also explained if you really have to tell those "jokes" to pick your audience and he just comes up with stupid answers like "people these days are offended by hello". Unfortunately he comes from a 1970s working class background it doesn't sink in he says people have "too much time on their hands and the abos or whatever group he is talking about should get over it". He also offended me tonight by saying "oh you have only let your cat out 10 times and you lost him once" I couldn't help that my cat ran out from under my feet and got caught in a shed but I got him back eventually despite being destraught. He makes comments such as "Indians stink" even when we are in public it is embarassing. In my state the Racial, Sexual and Religious Tolerance Act 2001." It was passed on 2001-JUN-14 and came into effect on 2002-JAN-01. The act prohibits a person from publically engaging in jokes, comments or any form of potentially offensive words such as Abo, n****r, Paki or darky. The act covers racial or religious groups such as Jews, Aborigines, Muslims, Indians Females etc. Any person in society who is offended by such acts weather it be directly or indirectly have legal recourse to report it to Victoria Police. Under the act police are required to investigate and if there is sufficient evidence either issue and warning or prosecute. The stated purpose of the act is to promote religious and racial harmony, in our ‘open and multicultural democracy’ and thus help preserve Australia’s secular and democratic way of life. Not that this seems to phase him.
Also in my country people of my age under 30 were brought up differently to other generations in the old days kids had few rights we were taught our rights and treated much better. Here spanking is although not illegal rarely used now. I get tired of hearig all this BS about "oh people have no respect these days", "it did me no harm" he keeps saying "oh bullying is solved by giving the bullied a kick up the arse" it was thaT I found particularly hurtful I was severely bullied all through school and I strongly beleive violence (spanking) did anything but solve the bullying if anything it made the bullies more violent towards me. He was hurtfully callnig my generation the whinging generation I beleive these people should butt out with their 1960s values and realise times have changed.
07 Dec 2009, 8:28 am
