In the wake of an apology

Since Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generation -- or should I say the bi-partisan apology on behalf of the Australian nation? -- I've been asking different people how they felt about an act of such national significance. Here is a sample of the responses, plus a brief description of the respondent*:

A refugee from Sudan, c. 20 years old (male): What's with the sorry? Where was the compensation? (To which, someone at the same table stated that calculating the compensation would be impossible. By this, it became clear that he meant that no dollar figure could be put on the loss and pain suffered by many of the effected aboriginals.)

A 91-year-old lady: I don't think we should apologise. Many of the people who took these aboriginals were good people, with good intentions. Some of those who were taken got a better education than my husband. Others did wonderfully. By "others doing wonderfully" I think she had in mind people such as Polly Farmer (footballer) and Sally Morgan (author).

A 17-year-old refugee from Eritrea (female): I don't get it. What's the problem with aborigines? Why don't they do something to better themselves?

A 30-something 'professional' (female): It's not before time. Actually, she raised the topic with me in the week of the apology. She also suggested that Brendan Nelson's more qualified and stifled apology was probably due to the deals he had to cut to get his party's support. I'm not sure if this is true, but it seems plausible. (The Australian's Michael Costello called Nelson's apology "half-hearted, grudging, [and] far from the mood of the occasion". From what I heard of it, I tend to agree. For Costello's full article, see In thrall to the Libs' darker angels.)

I've talked with others about the issue, but can't remember what they said. I'm particularly interested in the views of those who've exprienced significant hardship -- refugees and the like. I'll try to post about any other interesting responses I come across.

* I don't necessarily support or endorse any of these views; I merely thought they were an interesting, perhaps representative, sample.

What causes wars

Today I was sitting outside a café musing on the causes of war, my thoughts fixed on the following sentences by Herbert Butterfield:

One can hardly fail to recognise the element of tragedy in many conflicts that take place between one half-right [person or group] that is perhaps too willful, and another half-right that is perhaps too proud. It is even possible that great wars should come about because idealists are too egotistical concerning their own plans of salvation for mankind, and because the self-righteous are stiff-necked (Christianity and History. p. 88).

I looked up and saw a late middle-aged man walking past. Well-tanned, sparsely whiskered, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, he carried a back-pack the ‘wrong’ way, so it bulged in front of his chest. I caught his eyes and smiled. He took this as an invitation:

“I never drink at this café,” he bellowed.
Pointing at the sign overhead, “Until they tell me what that crap Exomod [name of café] means, I never drink their coffee. Stupid.”

I said nothing and tried to look pleasant: he had a point about the name Exomod, but I didn’t want to encourage him.

“I have money in France, Switzerland, United States. But I not spend it here. Stupid. F#%! them.” He walked away, making hand gestures to reinforce his last two words and express his vehemence.

I went back to Butterfield, mindful of my strange object lesson in what causes wars.

Boofheads Celebrating Badly

If you live in Perth, you're probably thinking: "Ah-ha, I know what's coming: a tirade about Australia Day violence: young blokes on beaches throwing beer bottles and biffing one another." Not so.

My Australia Day reflection concerns a new practice of Conspicuous Vacuous Patriotism (CVP). The practice was attaching small, flimsy Australian flags to various parts of the car -- a few of these can still be seen on the streets. Owners of chunky 4WD utes seemed particularly attracted to this form of CVP, and the more zealous Patriots had flags flapping at their driver and passenger windows.

Now a flag in the front yard is one thing, but these car-flags were like teenage pimples: too many, too quickly and far too conspicuous.

My question is: what the heck was with this?

A friend suggested it might be related to a rise in nationalistic feelings following the election of a new government. I'm not convinced. Anyway, where did these tacky flappers come from? Did BP have a buy-a-pie-and-get-a-free-flag special? Did Big W ship in flags by the thousands to cash in on CVP sentiment?

Call me a curmudgeon, but I found this latest form of CVP irritiating.