policing the muslims in oz., page-21

Muslims in Australia were invisible for many years and people did not even know too much about that religion.

There were two triggers.

First was the rapes and violence caused by a dysfunctional group in the south-western suburbs of Sydney.

Then there was 9/11 and the war on terror amplified by the Howard government to include all muslims, even refugees. They were all the enemy according to him.

So we end up with two dysfunctional groups each giving a bad name to their larger ethnic groups.

Muslims now feared and hated by many. Non muslim Australians seen as white trash redneck capital of the world.

Bad government. It is easy to see that both groups lived in harmony until representatives from both sides instilled hate and fear into their collective charges.

So if Australians do not want to recognise that persecuting anyone based simply on their religous belief is wrong then I hope they accept the ugly racist redneck yobo tag inferred on them by the world in general.

The article is correct in that the loss of freedoms afforded Australians will only serve to alienate those the laws were designed to persecute.

I have read over and over how non-muslim Australians do not care about all these losses of human rights, freedoms, civil liberties...call them what you will ,simply because they do not believe they will affect them personally. Given this reaction then these laws are racist in themselves and will inspire resistance...as well it should. I know if laws were designed to take away my personal rights I would fight tooth and nail.

Why we live in a western country. Hard to preach to muslims about Australian values when we toss them out of the window ourselves. Our ancestors fought hard to bring freedoms and human rights to Australia and we just sat back and allowed Howard to erase hundreds of them from our law books.