What happens to towns when the main employer goes under?

ninky_2

Generali wrote: »

Supposedly a lot of the distaste for Aboriginals comes from their nomadic ways: they didn't really have a concept of property in most (all???)

i think i'm a nomad at heart.

Generali

StevieJ wrote: »

Not heard that one :cool:

Widely heard. It's because 'white people' played cricket and footie, 'wogs' (Italians and Greeks) played soccer.

My MIL uses the word 'wog' as an adjective to describe her friends.

ninky_2

Generali wrote: »

My MIL uses the word 'wog' as an adjective to describe her friends.

blimey....is that really as awful as it sounds generali?

Generali

ninky wrote: »

blimey....is that really as awful as it sounds generali?

It's what Australia is like.

There are many fantastic things about Australia but don't be fooled into thinking it's paradise. Nowhere is perfect.

I find the racism to be very annoying but it's a part of the culture here. All I can do is keep my integrity - I'm not going to persuade 22,000,000 people to change their ways but I can tell people they're wrong if they look to me to approve of their position.

The racism here (for the most part) doesn't have the same undercurrent of violence that it does in other countries (like British racists for example). It's hard to explain really.

I think British people think that they understand Australia because they speak the same language and watch Neighbours. They don't for the most part.

ninky_2

do you think that culture still has much to do with the way australia was colonised?

when i lived in nz i did a fair bit of research into the different ways the two were settled by europeans.

nz has a lot to owe to a chap called wakefield.

he was a bit of a maverick who got jailed for running off with an underage heiress. it put pay to his career in mainstream politics.

he then wrote a column in which he posed as an australian settler exposing the problems of the country as having an oversupply of land and an undersupply labour. many were absolutely convinced his writings were from a real life oz settler and based on genuine experience even though he'd never set foot in oz.

his ideas had a major influence on the thinking about how nz should be colonized.

so when we come to settlers headed to nz in the mid 19th century, the ships were made up of occupants designed to reflect the social makeup of uk (ratios of middle class to working class etc) and land was not freely available as it was in australia. the idea was to create a mini england, where the land owning elite could continue to afford to hire the labour of others and avoid the lawlessness that had exploded in australia.

sorry, this is not at all relevant to the original question. just thought you might be interested.

Generali

ninky wrote: »

do you think that culture still has much to do with the way australia was colonised?

when i lived in nz i did a fair bit of research into the different ways the two were settled by europeans.

nz has a lot to owe to a chap called wakefield.

he was a bit of a maverick who got jailed for running off with an underage heiress. it put pay to his career in mainstream politics.

he then wrote a column in which he posed as an australian settler exposing the problems of the country as having an oversupply of land and an undersupply labour. many were absolutely convinced his writings were from a real life oz settler and based on genuine experience even though he'd never set foot in oz.

his ideas had a major influence on the thinking about how nz should be colonized.

so when we come to settlers headed to nz in the mid 19th century, the ships were made up of occupants designed to reflect the social makeup of uk (ratios of middle class to working class etc) and land was not freely available as it was in australia. the idea was to create a mini england, where the land owning elite could continue to afford to hire the labour of others and avoid the lawlessness that had exploded in australia.

sorry, this is not at all relevant to the original question. just thought you might be interested.

TBH, it's what a lot of countries are like. I have a lot of experience of France having lived there twice and having a lot of holidays there too and they're a pretty racist bunch too.

I sat on a train going out to the (black only) suburbs to see a mate of mine. I was the only white face on the train (I was travelling with an African American friend). The ticket inspectors and some cops got on the train and asked everyone for their ID cards and tickets except me. When I asked the cop why he didn't need my ID he said, "You're European, why would we need your papers?".

A Spanish 'banter' insult between mates is to describe someone's mother as a 'black wh0re'.

The UK has a pretty enlightened attitude to race IME, when compared to most other places. Not perfect but better.

PS Interesting piece of history about NZ. I want to find out more about Kiwiland but I need to find out about my new home first.

ninky_2

Generali wrote: »

The UK has a pretty enlightened attitude to race IME, when compared to most other places. Not perfect but better.

and in my OH's homeland of iran racism is very much alive and kicking. it's directed against the turks, the arabs and, in fact, pretty much anyone who isn't "persian". hitler actually found some support for his aryan master race ideologies here too.

i think we'll only get rid of it once mass immigration results in so much intermingling as to make judgments on the basis of race defunct.

sarah_elton

They turn into Jaywick.

ninky_2

sarah_elton wrote: »

They turn into Jaywick.

i once made a film there. it was christmas and snowing. very atmospheric. not necessarily in a good way.

Austin_Allegro

hullight wrote: »

Maybe the UK will get ghost towns like in the USA.

Not so likely. The UK's high population density and reasonably good road/rail network means you can commute to other places fairly easily.

We don't have 'jingle mail' in the UK as people can't just abandon their properties and go somewhere else, plus housing benefit etc in the UK means people don't have the incentive to move to look for work if they can stay put on the dole.