“racial tension threatens a real prospect of conflict as the recession bites. I’m not ignoring this issue – I don’t think we can – but I’m just not sure how to blog about it responsibly without inflaming a growing popular anger.” Responsible blogging on immigration – hard to do?
The Raedwald post coincided with a couple of emails that a dear friend forwarded to me, that had been sent to him by other friends of his, with genuine concern. The first was an article in 2002 by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard asserting that Muslims in Denmark consume a disproportionate amount of welfare spending and make up a majority of the country’s convicted rapists.
I don’t have time to research the facts in Denmark, but here is a research-based article that explodes similar myths about Muslims in America – and I can’t imagine that Muslims in Denmark are hugely different.
I am as careful as possible on A possie in Aussie to give references, especially when the matter is contentious. It is time-consuming, and can be deflating when I come across something that ‘explodes’ the point I am trying to make in a post. People like Daniel Pipes make a living from writing articles that grab people’s interest – in whatever manner works.
The other email my friend forwarded? Malicious, elderly, but still effective spam mail that begins
“Everyone needs to be aware of this one. God bless our seniors”
And continues with lies that say that Australian residents from a refugee background receive welfare payments that range from double to 10 time that of age pensioners.
If you receive one of these emails, or know of some older people who might be targeted, tell them that anyone receiving this scam email should delete it and should inform the person who forwarded the email that the information it contains is false -or a furphy.
A possie in Aussie 
The last email that you discussed in this post sounds very much like one that Media Watch on the ABC reported on last year, in fact, I dare say it is the same one. It was actually referred to by Alan Jones on his radio show, and was sent in as a letter to the editor in a number of newspapers. You can see the Media Watch stories at their website: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts. The stories are on 28 April, 14 April and 17 March 2008.
Hopefully, the impact of this email will lessen once more people realise its complete falsification of the information. Otherwise, it is very difficult to get Australians to realise the real position so many refugees find themselves in, even those lucky enough to make it to Australia.
Comment by Andrew — February 6, 2009 @ 1:12 pm |
Thanks, Andrew.
These things are like viruses, aren’t they – they seem to develop immunity to whatever you use against them.
I was actually honoured that my friend passed on those emails to me – I am known for my rather strong 🙂 views about refugees, which could make some people afraid of sharing and asking my opinion. We just have to keep keep dispensing the anti-biotics (anti-bigotrics?) against these viral, viscious emails.
Comment by nayano — February 6, 2009 @ 1:44 pm |
[…] Since unemployment is rising in Australia, and people will feel the pressure of less disposable income, or the threat of less income, expect to hear ‘They take our jobs’ more loudly and more often. This will happen even when recent immigrants are losing their jobs, and will ‘justify’ all kinds of racism. […]
Pingback by Unemployment, migrants and mindless media « A possie in Aussie — February 16, 2009 @ 8:13 am |