From: Subject: canberra.yourguide Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 10:21:05 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0053_01C1402B.9FE5E660"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0053_01C1402B.9FE5E660 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=Your%20say&subclass=General&category=Columnists%20Analysis&story_id=88795 canberra.yourguide
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The = death of=20 trust and openness
By = Norman=20 Abjorensen
THE = TRAGIC loss of=20 life in the terrorist attacks in the US, while the worst = aspect of=20 this whole appalling business, is by no means the only loss. = To all=20 those thousands of souls who perished add also the death of = trust,=20 openness and multiculturalism, all of which will impact = heavily on=20 Australia.

If the trend of social progress since the = end of=20 World War II has been towards convergence, then that has = been=20 brutally terminated; in a curious historical reversion to = the Roman=20 Empire under siege, it is now very much a case of the = civilised=20 world versus the barbarians.

There is no doubt that = the=20 attack on New York and Washington was an attack on all = things=20 cherished in Western culture, most notably the sanctity of = human=20 life, and the only way the culture can defend itself is to = sharply=20 reduce trust and openness in all dealings with the world=20 beyond.

International and domestic air travel = everywhere will=20 now be more difficult, the fires of xenophobia are being = stoked, and=20 an atavistic distrust of others will soon permeate most of = the West,=20 if it has not already. Australia will undoubtedly suffer, = and the=20 great and admirable advances in this country in the past = half=20 century in creating a genuinely peaceful and dynamic=20 multiculturalism are almost certain to flounder. =

Already,=20 there are signs that the clock is turning back. The attacks = on=20 mosques are to be deplored, and we will demonstrate our = maturity by=20 assuring Muslim Australians that we are not reflexively = hostile=20 towards them.

Yet there are cracks appearing in our=20 tolerance. I received a call from an academic friend at an=20 Australian university a few nights ago that disturbed me=20 greatly.

She has been an active supporter of = multiculturalism=20 and a vociferous critic of the Hansonites, but she was = shaken and in=20 tears that day when she came across a group of foreign = students=20 loudly cheering as television monitors showed the = devastation in New=20 York.

Such appalling outbursts can only intensify = suspicions=20 that there are two totally different mindsets at work and = only one=20 of them is civilised.

Western culture as a whole has = been=20 dealt a telling blow, and its future direction will be = changed=20 forever by what has happened and in the ensuring and = inevitable=20 response.

Yet if it has been weakened by external = attack, it=20 has also been significantly vitiated by a curious = intellectual=20 malaise from within that sees the West as bearing the = responsibility=20 for outrages and atrocities as we saw last week. This = curiously=20 self-indulgent guilt trip, which permeates much of Western = thought,=20 insists on seeing terrorists and assassins as victims a = strange and=20 perverse mindset indeed.

It is hard to romanticise = poverty,=20 but it needs to be acknowledged that a great deal of Third = World=20 misery is created within its own confines and that has = become an=20 especially politically incorrect assertion to make. =

The fact=20 that not a single Arab nation has a democratic government = says=20 something of despotic tendencies towards their own, and the=20 grotesque plutocracies that command oil wealth in the Middle = East=20 exhibit a singularly callous disregard of their = people.

With=20 the simpering Western media hostile towards democratic = Israel, and=20 intent on portraying it as a bully, there is a deliberate = obscuring=20 of the facts that show a population of a few million = surrounded by=20 hostile people numbering hundreds of millions with armed = forces to=20 match.

If the West has a case to answer, it is in = the absurd=20 head-long rush into ideologically driven post-colonialism = after=20 World War II that has created a world far less stable and = secure=20 than it was half a century ago, devastating Africa, = fomenting civil=20 war and giving succour to despots in the naive belief that = Western=20 values were shared.

Cultural relativism has been = shown to be=20 an unsustainable notion. And its unravelling, alas, will = take back=20 many of the gains of the past half century as the West = strives to=20 protect what it values. We are all caught up in this epic = struggle,=20 whether we like it or not. We would be foolish, individually = and=20 collectively, not to recognise that the line has been drawn=20 indelibly in the sand.

More from The Canberra=20 Times:

Afghans = flee war fleet

Heart=20 of the nation mourns victims

Wall = Street stocks in steep falls

'Wanted'= =20 list of suspects tops 170

Tear-smu= dged=20 words as Canberra mourns

Parliame= ntarians=20 unite to pledge solidarity with US and mourn Australian=20 victims

Most=20 back offering our troops to US: web poll

63,000=20 tuned in to attack

Business=20 confidence tipped to take a dive

QBE=20 loses $1.5b in wake of US=20 attack

Analysis:

Mid-East=20 policy the key to terrorism

Passion=20 obscures detail as the drums sound

No=20 longer immune from the unthinkable

Would=20 you like to comment on this article?
<<=20 Click here to have your say


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