What does islam bring

[Rorschach]

Nice ironic choice there bwian...
Most Labor and Green ratbags are anti-semitic, just as many ratbag Unionists are.

[IQS.RLOW]

All groups, religious, political, social, etc. have idiots amongst them...

...and then there are some who are recognised as having reached peak idiocy.

[Black Orchid]

Oh, no, I wasn't hard done by. My father was. He worked to make sure I and my siblings didn't suffer any of the deprivations he had. Muslims at the present moment represent about 3% of the Australian population. They are being persecuted, exactly as the Catholics were, exactly as the Jews were, for being different. People like yourself make little effort to understand that difference, preferring your prejudices learnt from the Media. Tut, tut.

You must mean an extremely small number of Catholics somewhere in Hicktown, SA? A teeny tiny minority. I was raised a Catholic and was neither persecuted nor oppressed nor do I know anyone who was. Ever!

You appear to have led a very sheltered life with inherited prejudices.

[Rorschach]

Oh yes, bwian has many issues...

[brian ross]

Oh, no, I wasn't hard done by. My father was. He worked to make sure I and my siblings didn't suffer any of the deprivations he had. Muslims at the present moment represent about 3% of the Australian population. They are being persecuted, exactly as the Catholics were, exactly as the Jews were, for being different. People like yourself make little effort to understand that difference, preferring your prejudices learnt from the Media. Tut, tut.

You must mean an extremely small number of Catholics somewhere in Hicktown, SA? A teeny tiny minority. I was raised a Catholic and was neither persecuted nor oppressed nor do I know anyone who was. Ever!

You appear to have led a very sheltered life with inherited prejudices.

BO, there are many Australians who are wilfully ignorant about the history of their own society. Australia consists of far more than the suburbs of Sydney, you realise? Even inside Sydney, Catholics were discriminated against. I would heartily recommend that you read Thomas Kenneally's work, "The Great Shame". You might find it revealing. I would follow it up with a history of the Catholics in Australia, with particular reference to how the Federal Government was forced to fund Catholic education in the late 1950s. The Catholics were long considered second-class citizens in Australia. Today, however, that sectarian divide is finished with, just as the anti-Semitic one is long dead (in the minds of most modern Australians). Today, we have the sectarian divide against the Muslims to replace them, fuelled by the same ignorance and foolishness that fuelled the hatred and distrust of Jews and Catholics. It didn't happen in just "Hicktown SA," BO. It happened in Melbourne, Hobart, Perth, Brisbane and not least Sydney, as well as many country towns around the continent. That you decide to wallow in your ignorance just proves that you are what, BO? Pig ignorant? Tut, tut.

[Black Orchid]

BO, there are many Australians who are wilfully ignorant about the history of their own society. Australia consists of far more than the suburbs of Sydney, you realise?

Really Brian? What I type about is relevant to where I live ie Sydney and your responses to same clearly show you are totally ignorant of the trouble Sydney is in thanks to your "muslims are wonderful peaceful people" rants and then you keep just reiterating your sheltered views and always follow up with your own prejudices.

As for the rest, I don't need to read any book to tell you that I have NEVER seen Catholics oppressed and/or persecuted as you claim ... in my lifetime ... and I know many. Nor did my parents and nor did their parents witness any such thing.

[brian ross]

BO, there are many Australians who are wilfully ignorant about the history of their own society. Australia consists of far more than the suburbs of Sydney, you realise?

Really Brian? What I type about is relevant to where I live ie Sydney and your responses to same clearly show you are totally ignorant of the trouble Sydney is in thanks to your "muslims are wonderful peaceful people" rants and then you keep just reiterating your sheltered views and always follow up with your own prejudices.

As for the rest, I don't need to read any book to tell you that I have NEVER seen Catholics oppressed and/or persecuted as you claim ... in my lifetime ... and I know many. Nor did my parents and nor did their parents witness any such thing.

Muslims are people, plain, ordinary, often simple, people, BO. All they want to do is to be allowed to live their lives as they see fit, according to the laws of Australia and their religious beliefs. Some are more orthodox than others. Some less so. You seem to assume that posting a single picture of a single child holding a sign tells you something about the overwhelming majority of Muslims who live in Australia. I am unsure why. I have yet to encounter a Muslim who'd make their child carry such a sign. I don't doubt there are some who would but the overwhelming majority are just ordinary people.

I am also unsure why you dislike reading the truth about how the modern treatment of Muslims, today, in Australia reflects how other minority groups were treated in Australia's past. Catholics, Jews, Indigenous Australians - all were treated abominably by the majority of Protestant Christian, white Anglo-Saxon/Celtic Australian settlers. This is part of our society's history and cannot be ignored. Muslims suffer similar discrimination, similar outright hatred, all based upon ignorance and misunderstanding. You should be ashamed of yourself, the way you treat your fellow Australians, BO.

What you need to do is grow up, get out of Sydney and experience the real Australia. It would do you the world of good to learn how your fellow Australians cope with each other. It really would. Oh, and it might help you to understand that Australia consists of a great deal more than Sydney. Tut, tut.

[Black Orchid]

Brian you seem to have nominated yourself as chief spokesman for all muslims because you have met half a dozen over the years?

Why the hell should I leave Sydney? Hicksville, WA is obviously very ignorant and backward sorry to say which seems to have left you scarred and damaged and prejudiced against everyone white. Yes Brian it is OK to be white!

You also present yourself as an expert on multiculturalism and how wonderful it is now with the new wave of absolute dregs we have decided to import. I have lived in many places and Sydney is a perfect example of how multiculturalism is NOT working.

It would do you the world of good to stop trying (trying being the key) to patronise people and stop acting like an obnoxious prat. Your views are not only limited they show how naive and sheltered you are. I think it is YOU who needs to get out and look at the reality of what this is doing to our major cities and perhaps get a real education.

You honestly do not have a clue!

[brian ross]

I am not prejudiced against people on the basis of the colour of the melanin in their skin cells, BO. I am unsure why you believe I would be, simply because I tell the documented truth about Australia's history. Australia society has acted abominably towards minority groups amongst it's numbers. This has been because of ignorance and prejudice. We once believed in the Yellow Peril, today we have Indochinese, Chinese, Malaysians living in our society and they are welcomed. We once believed that Catholics owed their allegiance to the Vatican, today we welcome Catholics amongst our society. We once believed that Indians were sub-humans, today we welcome them in our neighbourhoods. BO, we were mistaken in the past. In 20 years, Muslims will be accorded the same respect all the other minority groups are.

As for leaving Sydney, that is up to you - if you're brave enough to leave the shelter of that over-crowded city and it's suburbs and experience the rest of Australia. I have lived in four different states/territories over the decades and the experiences have all been positive. I'd recommend you try it. It would do you the world of good. You would discover the realities of how Australia - the whole of Australia - is a Multicultural society - where people are welcomed and accepted. Sydney is not Australia, thankfully.

And as for my "patronising people", ever consider that you need some help to open your eyes and your mind to how civilised people live? Mmmm?

[Rorschach]

bwian is a LW prog lunatic that spreads his own version of history and libels and slanders people and groups left right and centre.

http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/chu ... ia/history

As for Keneally that little LW Prog Labor "Irishman" come leprechaun... let's not confuse his biased sensibilities with truth either eh bwian. He suffers like many of Irish descent and labor sensibilities from true Irish paranoia and issues with the English.... The Republic Movement for example like that LW Prog idiot Peter FitzSimons.