Respecting Indigenous cultural beliefs

[David]

[Tannin]

I do not respect bullshite. I don't care what colour you are or whether your brand of kookery is dreamtime stories, jihadist fantasies, or Baptist silliness. They are all the same insofar as they willingly abandon sense and logic and reason and science in order to foolishly believe in nonsense.

Common politeness sees to it that I rarely mention this in contexts where it is not necessary. Common decency and a deep respect for the social tolerance which alone make society possible means that I'm happily willing to tolerate the most ridiculous beliefs and customs, up to the point where they impact on society, on the environment, or on other people. But if it harms no-one, then people have every right to believe whatever nonsense they please. Hell, I believe that Collingwood is going to win the 2021 and 2022 premierships, and how stupid does that me me look?

[David]

[think positive]

[David]

Effectively, though one could argue that the stakes are higher here.

[Tannin]

[David]

[stui magpie]

I'm personally very skeptical of any significance to that tree as I am with most "traditional" Indigenous things in Victoria. Many of them seem to be fairly recent inventions, compared to other states where there has been a significant and continual transfer of heritage.

Uluru is one such thing.

Many of the dreamtime stories are just stories designed to explain natural features, Sun, moon, stars, rivers, etc and have as much basis in fact as the bible.

Others however are basically history being remembered and sometimes warnings. "The First Woman" is a story in the Tiwi Islands which basically remembers when the islands were cut off from the mainland by rising sea levels over 5000 years ago.

Rock paintings I saw in Kakdu tell of an evil spirit in a cave that kills people. From memory, the evil spirit is actually gas and if you ignore the warnings and walk in, you won't get far before you fall over and die.

I don't believe in faith healing or crystals but traditional medicine using local indigenous plants is only just really being investigated and should be taken seriously.

My view, same as with all these beliefs, believe what you want as long as it doesn't have a negative impost on anyone else.

[think positive]

Effectively, though one could argue that the stakes are higher here.

only because you care more, not to the people involved

[eddiesmith]

What was interesting was the police were a lot more sympathetic and less forceful than they had been with anti government protests

But some of these things these groups come up with to stop a highway it’s easy to become sceptical. The protests against Eastlink were you can’t build the road as the dirty filthy creek was home to platypus’s. I’ve lived here over 30 years, walked the creek trail thousands of time, never seen one!

But of course ALP government caved to the greens, so this highway must be mighty important for them to not cave this time.

[David]

[Tannin]

And who says Morrison's happy clappers or those weirdos who have recently stacked the Victorian Liberal Party are "connected with mainstream Australia"?

[stui magpie]

^

Is there a group of politicians anywhere in Australia who is?

[David]

And who says Morrison's happy clappers or those weirdos who have recently stacked the Victorian Liberal Party are "connected with mainstream Australia"?

Not in some respects. But the key difference is that those are the people who run the show. They hold the power as opposed to being at the mercy of it.