40% of Australians xenophobic?

[gravelclimber]

It's a bit of a sad reflection on Australia in 2008 that this research sounds like it's fairly accurate:

FORTY per cent of Australians believe some ethnic groups do not belong in the country with one in 10 having outwardly racist views, a new study shows.

New South Wales tops the list with racist views, but lead researcher on the project Kevin Dunn puts it down to Sydney being the focus of international migration to Australia.

The study, led by human geography and urban studies Professor Dunn and his team from the University of Western Sydney, reveals racism in Australia has waned over the years but the figures remain high.

He will unveil the state-by-state statistics on Friday at the 4Rs international conference - Rights, Reconciliation, Respect and Responsibility - at Sydney's University of Technology.

Challenging Racism: The Anti-Racism Research Project has randomly surveyed about 12,500 people in different studies during the past eight years.

Prof Dunn attributes the results to people's overarching views.

"It's an indicator of a narrow view of what constitutes Australianism," he told AAP.

People were asked which cultural/ethnic groups do not fit into Australian society. NSW topped the list with 46 per cent of survey respondents saying some ethnic groups should not be in the country. The ACT had the lowest such response with 28 per cent.

Prof Dunn said people also revealed who they singled out the most.

"The most often-mentioned groups were Muslims or people from the Middle East."

The overall figures surge to 65 per cent for people over 65 but drop to 31 per cent for those aged 18 to 34.

"It's too high, isn't it," Prof Dunn said.

"We've got to bring that down."

On average, about one in 10 people said it was not good for people of different cultures to marry and about the same number said not all races are equal.

"It's only about one in 10 people now in Australia across the different states that would have that sort of view - the racial supremacists for instance," Prof Dunn said.

"That's still quite high I suppose - there's a lot of concern that comes out of that."

He said NSW ranked highest in most categories but attributed that to Sydney being the country's focus for immigration.

"There's just more cultural diversity here - there's more opportunity for cross-cultural contact and that means some of them will not be positive ones."

Prof Dunn and his team will release regional results within each state sometime early next year.

They will also recommend strategies to lower Australia's level of racist views, which he said remain low by international standards.

At least the younger generations are better than the older. But 1 in 10 still think that it is not good for people of different cultures to marry and about the same number said not all races are equal.

 

[nizai]

Id believe the study. I know alot of xenophobes just at work and within my family so the figure doesnt surprise me.

I think if you did this same study amongst white english, french or american populations youd probably find a similar trend. In fact I suspect most western nations would exhibit it.

That said, Australia was born out of outsiders coming to this land, youd think we'd cut people a little slack

N

 

[Spanky_Ham]

that is unfortunately true and quite horribly visible in NSW, and ol spanky's expect it to get worse, sadly.

on another note, spanky's grandmother has finally hit an age (90+) where the racism gene is highly overexpressed... she was telling spanky that she was worried about Towlies?? All spanky could think about was the South Park Character, Towlie...

"Wanna get high???"

 

[red death]

me too, sadly true.

...He said NSW ranked highest in most categories but attributed that to Sydney being the country's focus for immigration.

"There's just more cultural diversity here - there's more opportunity for cross-cultural contact and that means some of them will not be positive ones."...

A bit counter-intuitive I would have thought. Sure there's more likelihood of exposure to negatives but also more likelihood of exposure to positives. Almost invariably it's a case of once you get to know 'em- hey they're not so bad after all...

 

[slip]

You seem to slightly contradict yourself there. Once you get to know em, they aren't so bad after all. I read that as initially your experiences with them are negative, but after a while you find that they are alright, which is supporting the exposure to negatives initially.

This has been my experience. Most of my experiences with other ethnic/racial groups through previous work has been negative. When I moved to Sydney, I thought it was all a bit hyped up, but we had real problems with the ethnic groups and they stood out by far as being horrible to deal with.

Who do we have problems with at the Gym? Senegalese (dodgy dodgy stuff) and Asians (theft) being the main ones. They just keep reinforcing peoples xenophobic views.....

Although, it seems people forget all the negative experiences they have with their own race as well. (aimed at whites).

 

[Sethius]

try some smaller country towns, id be sure to see alot higher numbers than 40% easily.

 

[b_S]

I'm one of them... I don't think "Australians" belong in Australia.

 

[tskelding]

40%of Australians xenophobic

I had the (?dis) pleasure of growing up in the UK and went to a school where various races and religions mixed. I moved to Australia to Mt Isa where I started to get an idea of the 'mixing pot' that the city was so proud of. Since moving away I see it even more.

Australia claims to be the mixing pot of the world where various ethnic groups and religions live in so called harmony. Some people even believe this occurs. Sadly, while the numbers say that there are many different peoples in this great nation, there is massive segregation.

I wish there was a better fix for the problem but I honestly can think of only one. Saying that I mat a lovely muslim couple in Rockhampton at the swimming pool we took our kids to. He was an Iraqi doctor and they were both so pleased that a white australian would converse with them.

My suggestion would be to get over our hang-ups and start a conversation. So much easier said than done.

 

[Oddjob]

I think if you did this same study amongst white english, french or american populations youd probably find a similar trend. In fact I suspect most western nations would exhibit it.

Now put the shoe on the other foot and imagine if you did the same kind of study amongst middle eastern countries .

• Armenian holocaust: 2 million Armenians either murdered or forced onto death marches by the newly formed state of Turkey. Forget gas chambers, the Turks did it the old fashioned way with rape, bayonets and bullets.
• Lebanon: 20 year civil war with the Maronites against the Druze against the Shia. If that wasn't enough of a shitfight the Syrians, Isreali's, Iraqi's, Iranian's, US and France all got dragged into the mess as well.
• Iraq/Iran war: 10 year war with Sunni/Arab Iraq being funded by the west and Saudi Arabia to fight with Shia/Persian Iran. Note use of chemical weapons against Iran and even against Shia Iraqis. Nice!
• Isreal/Palestine: On again off again internecine warfare between Ireal and all of her neighbours. Highlights include 2 million Palestinian refugees, 3 full scale wars and a very paranoid Isreal armed to the teeth with nukes.

This is before you consider the efforts of Europeans and Asians to wipe each other out.

I'm not trying to down play the problem just give it some perspective.

 

[dunndog]

Take each person on their own merits and do your best not to pre judge based on preconceptions or what you heard on the news lately. Sure not a lot of suicide bombers are bred in regional Australian towns, but go to some isolated Aboriginal communities in the top end and ask yourself what you've done about this? And ask what those people have done about it? Some make it better, some make it worse. We are each our own person. I think in this country with each new generation attitudes change slightly more for the better, due to who you grow up with and how you are educated. It's all about education and respect for the individual.

 

[J@se]

I'd believe it.

Just read some of the comments in this thread.

 

[Bretty.]

If by xenophobia you mean fear of

Then yes, count me too!

I have nothing further to add, other than love and respect are the building blocks of a better life, stop the hate!

 

['Ross]

Id say that figure is a gross UNDERSTATEMENT, its just everyone is so concerned with being politically correct, and lying so that others will not think badly of them.

How many times do you see people on this forum calling others out for being homophobic, but then in real life the call people fags, or homos, or say 'thats gay'

Nobody is going to openly admit that they are xenophobic, however their behaviour, attitudes and opinions would suggest otherwise.

 

[velolove]

If by xenophobia you mean fear of

Yea Im scared

 

[wespelarno]

Fairly recently there was a muslim school being planned to be built in sydney. The protests surrounding that were disgraceful. I'll never forget a woman wearing a giant top hat painted in the green and gold saying "I'm not a racist but we just don't want their kind around here". Any form of racism appalls me and I'll always try to make the person who said it feel dumb for making the comment.

The one in 10 figure doesn't surprise me.

 

[Viv92]

I could believe it, especially going to the high school I do with so many different racial groups.


I was brought up incredibly anti-racism, and for about 14 years that's what I was like. I'm still definitely not racist, but I do think some negative stereotypes for different racial groups exist for a reason, however it tends to only be a small age bracket that gives people the negative impression for the whole race.


At my school there is a very large amount of pacific islanders, so called 'fobs' (fresh off the boat, for those of you who don't know, initially a racist term now reclaimed by them so they call each other that). Anyway most of them are a annoying pains in the arse. They go around being disrespectful for everyone else, not often hurting anyone but just being annoying for the sake of it. There are definitely some good ones, but the majority (I am very careful saying that too) I really dislike. Weirdly enough almost all older islanders are the opposite of this young generation and are awesome people. I don't see the connection...

The other one is the stock standard 'wogs'. They all talk the talk and never walk the walk, which is probably a good thing. I really don't need people telling me 'I'll bash you c*nt' because I 'looked at them the wrong way'. They also seem to try and tell you you're racist then slag off white people, WTF? This often goes un noticed since white people are the majority here, but it's racism none the less and why should they be treated with anymore respect than they treat us? Yet again it's only the teenagers who are like this, however I've definitely seen instances where the adult community can promote this behaviour, or at least not care about it.

 

[sockman]

I only scanned over the article and the thread, so my apologies if I missed something.

Who exactly did they interview for the survey? By the sounds of it, it was a majority caucasian european australian polling. I think if you were to interview people of every race you would find exactly the same result, only the asians might hate the whites, who in turn hate the leb's who hate the asians... Not trying to be racist here, it's just that something about the survey smells a little biased.

In saying this I'm sure its true... every second person i speak to seems to make a snide remark about that "apostrophe eyed, yellow bloke" or the "towel head with the briefcase". Maybe I should stop hanging about the north shore of sydney...

EDIT: I think everyone should listen to the song "Why do I try so hard?" by Two Up... pretty fucking funny

 

[axertes]

I'm still definitely not racist, but I do think some negative stereotypes for different racial groups exist for a reason

Just as the stereotype of White Australians as xenophobic, insular yobs exists for a reason.

 

[slip]

How concise. Summed up my thoughts on the matter in a single sentence. Nice one.

 

[axertes]

Thanks mate. Even with the temptation to troll this thread being extremely high.