Without A Fabricated Them, There Is No Us

Or so the conservative nationalists would have us believe. Waleed Aly has an interesting article on immigration and how government is doomed to repeat the stereotypes that immigrants have faced in the past.

From the article;

Welcome to the doctrine of Muslim exceptionalism. Yet we have seen this all before. The Greeks, with their mysterious condition, Mediterranean Back, were welfare bludgers, addicted to the dubious business practices of the cash economy. The Vietnamese had imported Triad culture's noxious mix of drugs and gang violence. Before them, Catholics were untrustworthy misfits: their allegiance was unshakably to Rome, and not to Australia. This was ostensibly a uniquely Catholic problem for 50 years.

With hindsight, we see this for the hysteria it is, yet we are strangely condemned to repeat it. Howard now argues the Muslim case is unprecedented. But the case of the latest stigmatised social group always is.

We is royal there. It is the government which gains political benefits out of a fearful society and civic structure - one which is dependent upon the national security state for safety of any kind. Vilification and discrimination by government are attempts at statist policies.

Government is not really doomed to repeat the immigrant and stereotypical mistakes of the past as I suggested in the intro. It does it knowingly and deliberately, ultimately to secure more power to itself.
Permalink, Without A Fabricated Them, There Is No Us, Feb 2006, cam

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