issue 1 09 - APS Member Groups - Australian Psychological Society

Muslim, Racism and Media16incompatible values and ‘their’ inherentbackwardness that we will not tolerate in thiscountry, as a secular society. The rhetoricaldevice, couching ones views as the‘overwhelming’ majorities, is clearly at workhere (Tilbury, 1998). What is more, is that theindividual speaking for the majority here is amember of the powerful ‘elite’, who to someextent determines what is and what is notconsidered legitimate and fair comment (vanDijk, 1992). Further examples of the discourseattacking ‘elites’ are provided in extracts 2, 3 &4:Extract 2“Let’s not wallow in self pity, selfflagellation and self criticism”….“Have Christmas and celebrate thefact this is still the greatest countryof the world in which to live, letnobody tell us otherwise”. ….“Thereis a tendency among insecureAustralians to be too sensitive toallegations of racism and tooexaggerate the effect overseas ofwhat happens here. There is also atendency to declare ourselvesinternational pariahs at the drop of ahat and indulge in self- flagellationwithout perspective” (Plan tosaturate City with Police: PM callsfor calm over holidays, 2005, p. 6).Extract 3Suggesting that the nation isswamped by racists that ordinaryAustralians need some fine moralinstructions from the like of Brown isjust the latest adaptation of theDavid Williamson school of thoughtthat treat ordinary Australian withdisdain. It’s a form of elitist selfloathingthat gets us nowhere inexplaining why thousands of peopledescended on the streets of Cronulla.This is racist and it’s wrong.Vigilantes’ bashing young men andwomen is criminal. But grabbinghold of Hansonism every timeracism rears its ugly head andtarring the whole crowd with thesame racist brush gets us nowhere .….Goodhart was hounded forsuggesting that throwing people ofdifferent cultures together cancause friction. Not because of anylatent racism but because “we feelmore comfortable with and sacrificefor those with whom we haveshared histories and similarvalues”…. As Goodhart says “Toput it bluntly – most of us prefer ourown kind”. Even to raise such anotion would have the lessthoughtful leftists crying racism.But the sooner we recognise humannature, the sooner we can work outwhere to go from that starting point(Albrechtsen, 2005, p. 12).Extract 4Culture is about how you think andact and can be changed………asingle unifying culture is thenational culture is the only way toachieve harmony and peaceful coexistencein a sea of racial andethnic diversity. And for those whoseemingly delight in the denigratingthe old Australian ‘monoculture’,evidences of its success areeverywhere to be seen. …IfAustralian culture is so bad, why doso many migrants still seek to comehere in the thousands? Stop theself-loathing and consider carefullywhy some think and behave inunacceptable ways? (Rodski, 2005,p. 13).Overall this discourse has the effect ofbringing ridicule on those who dareacknowledge racism as a social problem, firmlyembedded in Australian society by belittlingthem as ‘insecure’ and ‘too sensitive’.Therefore, through the accusations of havingThe Australian Community Psychologist Volume 21 No 1 June 2009