Interracial relationships

When meeting new people, a Caucasian will often get asked: “What do you do?”

An ethnic or coloured person will often get: “Where are you from?”

Despite our best efforts to be inclusive, it seems that skin tone is still one of the most important issues for most of us. Racism comes in many forms, and while this example is a minor infraction, it does demonstrate that even the most open of us can still display racist traits.

This simple example also highlights the fact that interracial relationships can face unique challenges on a daily basis. Cultural, language and religious differences can make a relationship both exciting and challenging. But the challenges can be increased greatly when you add external pressures like racism.

One of the most mindless things I hear regularly is that if a foreigner moves to Australia he should follow our way of life. It’s like a mantra for the stupid. The comment not only shows a complete disrespect for a person’s heritage and lifestyle choices, but it also completely disregards a lifetime of learning and habits, which do not change quickly. Even atheists base their morals on a religious upbringing, whether or not they’ve ever been to church.

For newcomers to our country, there may also be a fear of change; a lack of understanding; and the isolation we force upon so many new immigrants, making it harder for them to learn about our culture, and leaving them no choice but to mix primarily or exclusively with others of their own culture. Yet we have the audacity to blame them for not mixing with us.

For those who can break down the cultural barriers however, they may then face the discrimination of love. On personals websites, it is embarrassingly common to see comments like “No Asians” or similar listed under a person’s preferences.

Oh, so often, such comments are accompanied by remarks like “I’m not racist, but they just don’t do it for me”. Really? So ALL Asians are the same? It must be nice for the old, fat, hairy, scarred, cross-eyed Chinese labourer to know he’s on par with an attractive, smooth young model from Thailand. The fact that their personalities, sense of humour, and life experiences are identical seems are bit coincidental though.

Racism boxes people into a category, so yes, you are being racist by making such remarks. And yes, it works both ways too. Using the above example though, you can easily make your point in ways that avoid racist remarks – just say “I have a preference for Caucasians”.

Changing our choice of words is a big first step in eradicating bigotry.

When surfing the Net recently, I came across social & support organisations in the UK and USA for interracial relationships. Surprisingly, I’ve found none locally. With a growing number of people dating or marrying partners from other cultures, I’m surprised similar social networks haven’t cropped up here yet. Anyone who has faced discrimination can probably attest to the benefits of finding others to identify with; people who share and understand your unique experiences, both good and bad.

My point? No matter what your experiences in the past, take each person as a unique individual on all levels. There’s good, bad, ugly and beautiful in all races and cultures. Most people in the world are kind of heart and our migrants and refugees come seeking a better life. If we help them to adopt it, you’ll be amazed at how much you get back.

As Justice Michael Kirby once said, "Real beauty lies in the fact that so many are united – not in the negatives of hate and exclusion, so common today, but in the positives of love and inclusion."
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Round 2

Time flies. Has it really been so long since I’ve blogged? Time factors cut me off from blogging for a few months towards the end of last year, and then the habit just died, despite my intention to return to it.

Thanks to the surprising number of people who continue to ask when I will blog again. I didn’t know most of you were even reading it, let alone still missing it after so long.

My intention, from today, is to begin afresh, although perhaps not so regularly as last year. A daily blog is a challenge, so I’ll aim for a weekly injection unless time and circumstance permits more.

As usual, my blogs will cover a variety of topics, depending on what takes my fancy at the time. I’ll also be hoping to write more Nonsense Notions, where I create ridiculous theories about Life and all who sail in her. If you’ve got your own crazy theories, let me know them!

Don’t be afraid to leave comments – I’d love to hear from you, whether you disagree with my views or not. I enjoy opposing views because we all learn from each other. Just remember that my rants are generalised for the sake of simplicity. There are exceptions to everything, so take that as a given. It’s both impractical and long winded to acknowledge every exception. If you feel strongly however, then by all means let me know.

Feel free to share your experiences too. It's always good to know there are others on the same roundabout as me!

Here’s to Round 2. Let the blogging begin. Enjoy.
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Entertainment News

And in entertainment news today, here’s a few interesting tidbits I’ve read on the Net recently:

Those on the Harry Potter bandwagon may like to check out the new trailer for the upcoming sixth instalment of the franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

For lovers of the TV series Dexter, it seems the show has been picked up for a further two seasons. This means the show, based on the novels by Jeff Lindsay, will have at least five seasons in total.

There’s been a rumour floating around that the seven surviving actors who have played Dr Who will be banding together for a special episode called The Seven Doctors. The BBC has now issued a statement saying this isn’t the case. The rumoured special was to be a part of the annual Children In Need televised charity fundraiser in the UK, but they will preview the first two minutes of this year’s upcoming Dr Who Christmas special instead.

Disney's new film High School Musical 3: Senior Year has opened in the USA and broken the opening weekend record for a musical set last year by Mamma Mia!. The second sequel to High School Musical raked in US$42 million dollars compared to Mamma Mia’s US$27.8 million. In complete contrast to both these films, the second to top film in the USA at the moment is the gory horror sequel, Saw IV.
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