In praise of a beautiful land and its fine people

The mere volume of all the race talk, be it in this newspaper or elsewhere, literally makes my jaw drop. Writer after writer tries to prove a point in this perpetual HSC favourite: the incorrigible wog-bashers versus the more enlightened sections of our population.

While grateful to them all for this cafe latte topic and truly enjoying the often so beautifully crafted letters to the editor, I wonder why so many writers manipulate themselves into a dead-end discussion of that sort.

Christmas will make you ponder the continuing relevance of Christian values. Many will duly recall Christ's loving heart. Some will point out Jesus's Middle Eastern appearance.

Yet that's not what is relevant. If you read the Bible with your heart rather than get entangled in a jungle of the sometimes contentious meanings, you can free yourself from the black-and-white paradigms of those discussions.

Leave them for our students to struggle with, for the sake of mastering the clarity of the language, for example.

Racism is not simply about black or white, Christian or Muslim, Aussie or migrant. Neither should addressing it be polarised as either condoning violence or seeking easy scapegoats.

In broader terms, racism can be seen as intolerance directed simply against those who are different, be it skin colour, religion, accent, sexual orientation or even your somewhat too impressive love handles.

But then again, aren't all those reasons for being intolerant just the little smokescreens some of us use to have a go at our neighbour?

The bigger the banner under which we can vent our miserable little frustrations or display our inflated egos, the better.

This whole game is just a demonstration of the less palatable side of our otherwise so lovely human nature.

Australia is a beautiful country inhabited by beautiful people. Not at all the second-rate citizens that Donald Horne, the author of The Lucky Country, considered us to be.

As a nation we are not less iconic than our wondrous and unique surroundings, and despite the recent events we are still very much admired by the rest of the world.

Rather than cheaply moralising about racism, let's appreciate the beauty of our people and land: this rainbow harmony manifesting itself through its mosaic diversity.

Greg Jargiello Glenmore Park

Not ideology, or policy but our fine way of life

It amazes me that pollsters, politicians and the public continue to obsess about whether or not multiculturalism is a "good" or "bad" feature of Australia. One might as well evaluate whether or not the force of gravity is a positive or negative part of existence. Multiculturalism is not a policy; it is a simple fact of life. The vast majority of the time, it enriches our lives and makes our wonderful country better.

Take a look around, folks - the cultural diversity of Australia is here to stay, and the old monoculture horse bolted a long time ago.

Steve Ellis Hackett (ACT)

My mate Eddie is an Australian of Middle Eastern appearance who has lived in Maroubra for many years. He tells me that since the mayhem of a couple of Sundays ago, people go out of their way to greet him when he walks his dog along the beachfront in the morning.

He sees this as an expression of people's true feelings and as a rejection of the racist attitudes that have been aired of late.

Denis Hunt Maroubra

I agree with Miranda Devine - don't ya hate when that happens? - the spectre of Lebanese-Australian criminal gangs terrorising our city is frightening.

What scares me more are solution-free demands from brave journalists who appear to believe that police deaths would be preferable to police "running scared". Maybe next time we hear that a tribe of neanderthals with clubs has gathered in a public park we should send in a band of vigilante journalists to clean them up.

Max Fischer Scarborough

Why is it that senders of text messages are being investigated and charged in regard to their links to Sydney's recent race-related violence, but the principle and most effective distributors of such messages - the media and an assortment of bellicose shock jocks - are untouched, seemingly above such investigation?

Why does the law only apply to those structurally most vulnerable to legal machinations, while the buffered real purveyors of incitement profit?

Mark Johnson Hazelbrook

I note that the police task force has made its first arrest of a text messager allegedly involved in urging violence at Cronulla. This arrest came after a resolution to examine all "communication devices". Does this include radio stations?

Trevor McLennan Wentworth Falls

In the Antarctic, 'tis the season to be sorry

While we celebrate the joy of birth during this Christmas period, Greenpeace has drawn our attention to the tragedy of slaughter in the Southern Ocean. Japan's investment of resources and effort while killing thousands of whales must have generated enough scientific results to have produced at least one Japanese Nobel science laureate. Strangely, I have read nothing of the benefits to mankind, or indeed to any kind, from this monstrous research program. I look forward to reading these scientific benefits when they are presented for our review.

Mike Peachey Belmont South

Memo to Japanese ambassador from Australian Government: Cease and desist all hunting of whales in Antarctic waters or the ships involved in said proceedings will be torpedoed by Collins class submarines now patrolling same waters. Ah, if only we had a just world.

Colin J. Richardson Macksville

Why do we have two sets of rules for illegal fishing in Australian waters? If you're a poor Indonesian fisherman expect the navy to be sent out to bring you in, lock you up and burn your boat.

If you're Japanese, hunting endangered whales, expect no action from the Australian Government to stop your illegal activities and a warm welcome if you need medical help and refuelling. Seems some people from some countries are more equal than others.

Trish Collins Haberfield

Surely I am not alone in feeling absolute disgust that while Australian troops have been dispatched to Iraq to protect Japanese soldiers, a Japanese whaling ship is at this moment in Antarctica killing minke whales? Tell me I am not going mad! I ask John Howard to explain to me how we can defend their troops but allow this abhorrent slaughter to continue.

Llieda Wild Eastwood

The thorny problem of stem cell research

Tonti-Filippini's work has helped to shape the Catholic church's position on these issues. The church also had advisers who decried Galileo as a heretic and claimed that Darwin was wrong; it later recanted on both counts. We should not let the same situation occur with stem cell research.

Michael Boyle Stokers Siding

Wading through the Lockhart report, one is reminded of Orwellian practices of redefining terminology so that the propaganda of IVF and research businesses can be sold to a gullible public. Any notion of acting ethically ignores the fact that acts that create "surplus" embryos and ensure their destruction or commodification are not just sympathetic science, but big business.

Will the stem cell regulatory bodies be nothing more than a scientifically enhanced Egg Marketing Board? What do women think of this latest "liberation" of their biology?

Greg Briscoe-Hough Mortdale

A wasted windfall

Such windfalls must contribute to Peter Costello's ever increasing surplus so why can't it go back into health instead of this arguing the toss? Furthermore, I believe David Hicks should be brought home.

Dick Varley Coonabarabran

The Paris part of town

Long live William Street as Sydney's Champs Elysees.

Ilario Ermacora Woolloomooloo

Plastic trickery

Jennifer Sayers Carlton

The heart attack test

Tanya Harris-Roxas North Parramatta

It's Bob not Ben

While I cannot remember the '60s, the reason is not because I was there. Yes, I am a playwright, recently produced by STC and the Malthouse, published by Currency Press (which published Ms Brisbane's book), but I am not Bob. As for whether we might be in for another golden age of Australian theatre, well, I recall that things looked pretty dire politically back in '69, didn't they?

Ben Ellis London

A grovelling guide

If all the above fail, write to The Daily Telegraph. Evidently they publish anything.

The Very Reverend Dr Bill Carpenter, JP (age 105) Bowral

Cheers to the ghosts of Christmases past

Higher prices for petrol ("Holiday drivers face bush fuel sting", December 23) - now all we need is a brewery strike and it will really feel like an old-fashioned Christmas.

Brian Johnstone Leura

No declaration that the state is a tinderbox and no brewery strike. Petrol prices notwithstanding, it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Stephen Driscoll Carlingford

Twin piques

Eddie Raggett Mosman

Joined together

Daryl Aberhart Swansea

Hmm, hyphenating? I always wondered what gay people actually get up to.

Michael Phillips Wollstonecraft

Loaves and fishes

Sandra K. Eckersley Marrickville

A key request

James Cheeseman North Ryde

Season's weedings

Frank McQuade Kogarah

Spellbound

Albert Mispel Balmain

Would somebody please tell me how I can get in touch with Penelope Grace Layton-Caisley (Letters, December 23)?

Ronald Charles Garrard Folkard Avalon

The lost epistles

Arnold Elphick Beacon Hill

POSTSCRIPT

It's not an easy subject but racism certainly stirs the possum. While the Herald Poll this week found that 75 per cent of people believed there was underlying racism in Australia, the letter writers fell closer to a 50-50 split. Brian MacDougall reflected the "yes" camp: "The people introduced to this beautiful island in the last 200-plus years have been racist from the day we first stepped ashore and saw someone who was not the same colour." And Nigel Freitas plumped for "no": " I am tired of the usual suspects complaining that Australia is a 'racist country'. Australia is a beacon of liberty in the world and offers its citizens freedom of thought, speech, opportunity and religion." Bill Gemmell took a different tack: "Three out of four voters admit to 'underlying racism', eh? Well it's not me, so it has to be you." I offer apologies to David Jordan, whose letter on Thursday should have read: "Was it not Microsoft that was hauled before US courts using anti-monopoly laws?" And I offer thanks to readers for views ranging from the thoughtful, insightful and well-considered to the crackingly silly which make us all smile. Best wishes.

Jennie Curtin, letters editor