Why? Why not?

Just looked over the archive, and noticed that my posts have all been wordy, high-falutin musings lately.

I apologise.

for the humour impaired:
This post = joke

Well, I’m back at work after a very nice holiday. A bit of battery-charging was just what I needed.

The thesis will be back online tomorrow. (This means you, Hugh!)

Read an interesting article in the SMH opinion section (again) about Noel Pearson’s stance on alcohol and welfare dependency in Aboriginal communities. Basically, he’s saying that there needs to be no alcohol or drugs, and the people need to be removed from their dependence on welfare.

I think it’s sad, and yet bleakly ironic. The Aboriginal way of life was systematically destroyed. Past tense. It’s done. And while I think that’s horrible, people need to have a framework, a system for fitting into society. The article notes that several prominent Aboriginal figures have said that ‘life was better when the churches were around’. For all the faults of organised religion, it at least gives people a framework, a system for living.

The most horribly ironic thing about all of this is that welfare agencies and churches, who could do the most to help, are reluctant to, because of the outcries about the stolen generation. Speaking about removing children from abusive parents, the article notes:

Carr encouraged welfare workers to use the same measures for Aboriginal kids as white kids, but added there was sometimes reluctance because we were victims of recent history. We had to be careful, he said.

That is, the release of information about the stolen generation has created another generation that won’t get what they need. Now that’s irony.

Alannis, are you listening?