Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

OT: Human Rights Framework 2-May-2010 At 11:19:27 PM Hendo

Message

On 2/05/2010 ambyeok wrote:
For some cultures,
>leaning english and accepting foreign customs is extremely difficult. Integrating
>into a foreign society and overcoming language and other cultural barriers
>is a fiercely dauting task.

I don't doubt this at all. I look at a number of my friends parents who have never really learnt to speak english and have therefore been isolated from the broader Australian society and spend most of their time in their own home and maybe a few other places. They also miss their family and memories etc. I often think they might have lived a more full life if they had stayed with their own people and therefore able to be active in their society. There is argument that their coming here is detrimental to them in some ways.

Perhaps they came from a poor country or a country you might consider 'bad' or inferior or too poor etc, but you can't really work with the view that there are all these countries in the world that people shouldn't be living in because you think they could do better somewhere else and Australia is so much better so they should leave and come to here or another place. It might limit them in some ways but I imagine people are often able make a life for themselves there. It would be fairly snobbish to think otherwise and their country needs them to develop.

>My point is that we should not expect our immigrants to instantly
>integrate and accept our culture and way of life, we need to understand
>that it takes time. We also need to accept that the process may not always
>be pleasant and that at times we will feel threatened.

Hence it is worth considering how many people to take, how forceful to be in getting them to integrate if at all, how to manage it etc.

>Bearing all that
>in mind, and accepting some hardship, most importantly we should see that
>a culturally diverese society is far more preferable to the alternative.

What level of diversity is ok? Would you let any amount of people come? If not how many? What if so many of one culture go to one area that the area is no longer diverse what kind of level would you place here? How many different nationalities? How much should they be expected to conform if at all? Interesting and important to consider if you ask me.