Categories: australia
Date: 03 May 2008 11:47:09
Thanks for all the wishes and prayers [and Kerensa for the unexpected laugh!]; my niece also had some advice. "Maybe you eat guavas [which she had brought from her backyard] and no snot come in nose." A medic in the making.
I got out the house for a little while and went to see Fear of a Brown Planet, on as part of Sydney's Cracker Comedy Festival. Extremely funny, and they seem like two great guys -- but also very confronting at times. But it needs to be: despite what people may think or the image we like to put out, Australia is still a very racist country. I have been very embarrassed at not only fellow Australians, but also myself sometimes for it so easy for stereotypes to enter one's mind: especially when the media plays them up. Some of the stories told by Nazeem Hussain and Aamer Rahman about racism they've experienced here were truly jaw-dropping, and had me so ashamed. Good on them for speaking up, and for, through humour, challenging us all and giving us a look at the ridiculous stereotypes and image the media pushes on us of Muslims and Islam. I can but pray we find a way forward in unity to overcome this.