Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014 - Review #1

Am I Black Enough For You? by Anita Heiss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For non-Aboriginals, Anita Heiss adds a new dimension to the understanding of just what "Aboriginal" means to those who identify as such. As a Kiwi, I saw many of the same kinds of criticism (not black enough) levelled against those who identified as Maori if they didn't "look" Maori. The simple fact is, in a multi-cultural and multi-dimensional country, people of mixed race are the norm, and it is - and should be - their prerogative as to how they identify. The detractors, who intimate that identification is reward/financially based, would do well to delve into their own genealogy. They may be surprised at what they discover.

At the heart of the book is the story of the court case against Andrew Bolt for his racist remarks criticising Heiss for identifying as Aboriginal because, according to Bolt, this "helped her career". As the reader becomes enmeshed in Heiss' childhood, adolescence and beyond, it is clear to see that Heiss did not ever need to "decide" to identify as Aboriginal - she IS Aboriginal, and no amount of spin by people like Bolt can change that.

Heiss writes clearly and with feeling. Her descriptive passages based on her childhood memories are endearing, and her recollections of past activist activities encourage further research by the reader. She has been and is a role model not just for young Aboriginals but for anyone wishing to advance in a difficult environment.

This book does much to bridge yet another gap in comprehension of the difficulties of being judged on appearances alone.


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The legacy of Abbottism and the Murdochracy

Something showed up on my Twitter feed recently which frustrated me and, truth be told, scared the shit out of me. The discussion was on asylum seekers and this tweeter said that in his opinion someone who has had a nose job and plastic surgery couldn’t be a refugee.  I was like, WTF? Is this really how far we have deteriorated as a society that refugee status is now not determined by the war and strife in your country of origin but by whether or not you’ve had a nose job??

This same person said he didn’t believe that Muslims would flee to a Christian country because it was against all their principles. I responded that when you are fleeing death and destruction, anywhere will do as long as it’s safe. His response? “Yeah. Right.”

This LNP government and their puppet master Murdoch have damaged the thoughts of so many Aussies almost beyond belief. No longer can the “Aussie bloke” be considered kind and caring. Fit In or Fuck Off is their mantra, and they will use any sort of abuse and violence to support it. Never mind the fact that not a single one of them is any more than 5-6 generations removed from migrant status themselves. Never mind the fact that their own ancestors murdered and raped and plundered the Aboriginals who already lived here, took their children and then banished the remaining adults to rural and distant communities with little or no support so that inter-generational dependence on state and welfare has become the norm in far too many communities.

These are the fine Aussie blokes that Abbott and his cohorts preach to, implanting fear and stirring racist gutter tripe.  And Twitter is by no means the only social media platform that this happens on. Egged on by mainstream media, and Murdoch press in particular, these fine Aussie blokes see nothing wrong with suggesting refugees should be left to drown. They see nothing wrong with sexist attacks on any woman who happens to be in public office. They see nothing wrong with bashing a gay man. They see nothing wrong with denying women in refugee “detention” sanitary products. They see nothing wrong with Campbell Newman’s continuing attacks on “bikies”, whether or not these “bikies” actually have any proven links to crime.

Some of these fine Aussie blokes probably also see nothing wrong with bashing their wives.

How many of these fine Aussie blokes consider themselves to be good family men? Because if they are then they should wholly support other men who will do whatever it takes to bring their own families to a country where their lives are not threatened daily by bullets and bombs.

How many of these fine Aussie blokes have ever stood up in a public forum for what they believe in? Or are they are simply ignorant cowards who will not front real people in person to rationally discuss their feelings and beliefs and will hide instead behind pseudonyms and non-de-plumes and take pride in their “troll” status.

How many of these fine Aussie blokes have ever really given a thought to what the country – and the planet – will look like for their grandchildren in years to come with the policies they support now? Racist, anti-environment, sexist policies which will have killed off any pretence of democracy, humanitarianism and sustainability.

How many of these fine Aussie blokes believe they are fine, upstanding citizens who are models of what all Aussie men should aspire to be? When in reality they don’t care where their hatred leads, as long as they can do some damage and inflict some pain.

How many of these fine Aussie blokes have attended a church recently? Because any of them who have, and then go out and spout their racist, sexist, genderist hatred are not Godly men.

Something else has been popping up on my Twitter feeds lately – and on Facebook, and no doubt on other social media. Memes warning these fine Aussie blokes that the upcoming Australia Day is about celebration of country, not hatred for everyone who does not fulfil their ideals of what model Australians should look, sound and think like. This Australia, consumed with a middle class hatred of anything that does not slot into the Aussie Ideal, is a result of the scaremongering of politicians such as Abbott, designed to keep these fine Aussie blokes in a state of agitation.

I know a lot of wonderful Aussie men who are not scared to stand up for what is right and decent. I also know that too many of those good men are attacked time and again by these fine Aussie trolls for no better reason that the trolls are blind followers of Abbottism and Murdochracy.

I will be waiting for Australia Day uneasily, because I believe that Abbott and his henchmen have stirred up so much hatred in this country that it will boil over eventually, and it will be worse than the Cronulla riots.  I hope it won’t happen on a day this country is supposed to celebrate our national pride. It may not, but it won’t be too far away. It’s in the (political) cards.

When scammer alarm bells ring

The internet has made our world very small. In many ways that’s a very good thing – we have access to information and research that only 30 years ago was not freely available. We can keep in touch with friends and family who live in other locations. Through internet dating sites and groups like Meetup we can meet new people and maybe even form new relationships.

But with the ease of communication, scammers have become prolific. There are often stories circulating of another person – often a lonely woman - who has been scammed of thousands of dollars by someone in Nigeria or Eastern Europe or just about anywhere, posing as a nice, respectable person even locally. They have their stories down pat, and are obviously convincing enough that many of their targets are completely taken in. What they don’t have is a face you can touch.

I met my ex-husband on-line. He was local so we were able to meet in person and put the real human side – sight, sound, touch – to our subsequent 9 year relationship. I made friends in other cities, but I was able to meet them and know they were real people. It has been a rule which I have only broken a couple of times on my Facebook network, and then only because the contact was a friend of a friend of a friend or something similar. LinkedIn and Twitter are slightly different because it would be near impossible for me to meet all the people in those networks, given that they are spread across the world. It has sometimes concerned me how much of a public profile I have on those sites, but I have had no issues with anyone yet and most of my contacts are also contacts with many others in the network.

Early in 2013 I joined Meetup to meet new people in my local area and wider Brisbane. Meetup says about itself that it “helps groups of people with shared interests plan meetings and form offline clubs in local communities around the world.” I joined a range of groups associated with my interests, have met many people in person, made some wonderful new friends and know they are real people. So it was a bit unusual last night to receive a message from a person who had only just signed up to one of the Meetup groups that I am a member of who appeared to be there specifically, according to his profile, to “find his better half”.  I do not use Meetup as a dating tool, and I have not, until now, had any issues with Meetup because everyone I have met is local, and I can meet them in person. I responded to this gentleman suggesting that a coffee would be in order.  His response was a long one, giving me what was I assume was meant to be a more in depth look at him, including photos. I found many little warnings in what he wrote.

He claimed to be an architect and construction engineer, yet he could not make time for a simple coffee on a Sunday just after New Year with someone he opened the conversation with, when most other companies that someone in his industry would work with would be closed. He said that he would have to “check his schedule” to see when he could fit me in. If he is real, the fact that he has so little time available would not auger well for any future relationship.

He claimed to have a 20 year old daughter who lives in Sydney with her “Mom”. Immediate alarm bells – that is not a term widely used in Aus, except perhaps by immigrants from North America, yet this chap claimed to have been in Aus since childhood.

His email read like a cut-and-paste from a few different dating sites, trying to fulfil all the things he believed a woman my age would be looking for. In some places he did not use capitals (e.g. ‘i’ instead of ‘I’) but this was inconsistent throughout; he repeated himself a number of times but with different words; and in some places his spelling, grammar and English usage was excellent but in others it was atrocious.

If this guy is real, good luck to him, but perhaps Meetup is not the place to go looking for life partners. I can understand why, though, since the dating sites available are expensive and run from outside of Aus. However, I am tempted to believe that this is a scammer who has accessed the profile photos of some genuine bloke, probably not from Aus, and is using Meetup as a new platform for trying to get mature aged women to part with their money.

I’m not that desperate. I’m not interested in an email relationship, especially when I am getting those alarm bells in my head. It’s one reason why I don’t respond to men even from other cities within Aus – I can never know if they are real or genuine until I meet them in person. If someone truly is interested in meeting me, then they meet me. In person. And if they initiated the contact I would expect them to have time available to meet me within, at the very least, a day or two.

So thank you, whatever you name really is, but no thank you. I hope other women you contact also have enough sense to say no, unless you are prepared to front up and show you are a real person. Maybe that is the only way scammers will finally get the message.